Here, for your viewing pleasure, is one last taste of New Market Rebels baseball for 2011. It’s a bit long, but captures the sights and sounds of our Virginia summer quite nicely.
Movie Monday: New Market Rebels Tribute 2011
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Tag Archives: New Market Rebels
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
The curtains have closed on another VBL season in New Market, VA. Our beloved Rebels were eliminated in the decisive 3rd game of the first playoff round. Last games are always a sad event, and this year was no exception.
The season as a whole was up and down- up, mostly, in the first half, and down in the latter. We lost several key players at the end, which didn’t help our cause any. The guys never called it quits, though… they didn’t just roll over and resign themselves to a losing fate. They did not, to quote poet Dylan Thomas, “go gentle in to that good night.” As far as I am concerned, that’s all you can really ask of a team, that they fight. There were intervals in that short playoff series where, for some reason, I kept feeling possessed to shout, “Goonies never say die!” (But I didn’t.)
I will miss a lot of things about the 2011 team and about Rebels baseball in general. Here are just a few of them…
- The choir of chirping grasshoppers backing up Tacy Hawkins’ National Anthem from the hayfield beyond the outfield wall.
- Explaining the various dishes of food to the hungry boys at postgame meals. Most of them will eat pretty much anything, but they always want to know exactly what everything is, and what is in it.
- The now-traditional 6th inning rally song. The player involvement is always amusing, but I won’t miss that so much as watching all the older ladies who sit behind homeplate pumping their fists to the beat. Always puts a smile on my face.
- Coming home with an inch of dusty dirt on the hems of my pant legs.
- Antonio Callaway’s fro.
- Jaren Sustar’s defense at third base. Sparkling.
- Seth Greene continually attempting to get tossed baseballs to land/perch on a beam in the roof of the dugout. The silly game never seemed to get old.
- Waiting for an appropriate opportunity to shout “Nobody puts Gaby in a corner!” in the direction of outfielder Tyler Gaby. I never got it…
Almost works here…
- Reciting poetry in my head during hard-to-watch losses. Though I still have the Cubs for this, I suppose.
- The sort of random, assorted antics that inevitably hatch from the minds of college-aged relief pitchers with enough time on their hands.
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A few more photos, for fun:
Rebels participate in New Market’s 4th of July parade. It was a damp one this year.
11th annual Reading with the Rebels event, put on by the New Market Library.
The Kodak moments always outnumber the cameras at Reading with the Rebels. Always.
“Orphan” pitchers Max Kreuter and Cam Ward escort each other during Parents’ Weekend.
I might miss the unbeatable loveliness of cool summer evenings at Rebel Park more than anything.
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So long and farewell, 2011 Rebels squad! I salute you, one and all.
While I Was Out…
I am afraid the FBB has been sadly neglected over the past few weeks, but I promise it has not been without just cause! I have been to and fro all over creation (well, really just New Market, Chicagoland, and Washington DC) and have had few moments to spare for writing.
Instead of spreading out or just ignoring the happenings of my hiatus, as I would probably usually do, I’m just gonna cram them all here into one awkward post. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it!
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Love & Marriage: I can’t not include this… My most loyal reader/commenter (who also happens to be my cousin and one of my favorite people in the whole wide world) was married on June 25th. It was pure joy being there with her on that special day. Congratulations, my dear Melinda!
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Cubs: It was sort of nice to be able to ignore the Cubs for awhile, as both losses and injuries have continued to heap up. Marlon Byrd, Matt Garza, Reed Johnson and Darwin Barney all returned from the disabled list. Carlos Zambrano went in the opposite direction. Jeff Baker also came off of the DL, but then he hurt himself again. But I think he’s OK, now. Ryan Dempster was on the fritz as well. Marcos Mateo had a really lovely outing on the same day that Big Z went down, then he went down himself in his next appearance. DJ LeMahieu and Lou Montanez were sent packing to triple-A Iowa. Casey Coleman was brought up from the I-Cubs and promptly sent back down. Chris Carpenter was sent down to the I-Cubs and promptly brought back up. It’s all very mind-dizzying and, as I said, it was nice to not pay much attention for a week or so.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, however, the Cubs had pretty much ALL my attention, as I traveled with my siblings to see them play a pair of games against the Nationals in our nation’s capital. In classic Cubs fashion, they lost both games. Our experience was most fortunately redeemed thanks to our success in the “souvenir” collecting department (autographs, baseballs, etc.,)
A few notes about individuals:
“Professional” ballhawk and grade-A nincompoop Zach Hample was in attendance at Tuesday’s game. I watched him push by an innocent person right in front of me, saying loudly and flatly, “Watch out.” What ever happened to “Excuse me?” I was incredibly disappointed that no opportunity to bump, fall into or step on Mr. Hample by “accident” presented itself. It probably would have been wrong, but I would have enjoyed it immensely.
Koyie Hill: I have decided that Koyie is a really cool guy. And I think that people need to quit treating him like a kitten-eater. I don’t care what his batting average is.
Sean Marshall: Also a really cool guy. Sean probably does really deserve to play for a team better than the Cubs, but I am a selfish fan and I hope he never ever goes away.
Matt Garza: The Muppet Man definitely gained a few cool points in my book this week. We saw him outside Nationals Park and he declined to sign any autographs, saying he’d “get us inside.” I assumed he was just saying that, but he proved to be true to his word. I thought it was very good of him.
Tony Campana: What a sweetpea. That’s all I have to say.
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Starlin Castro: Starlin gets his own heading in bold because he is just that cool. And because I love him. And because he was elected to his first MLB All Star team. Let us hope it is the first of many! Congrats, kiddo!
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Rebels: As always, the New Market Rebels have been bringing much fun, excitement, and chaos into our lives. Last Friday I sat through the longest game (inning-wise) I’ve ever attended. It spanned 19, easily beating the previous record 17, and we won, so it was more than worth it.
On Saturday morning, Rebel Park hosted an open batting practice for whomever wanted to participate. It was a small group, but we had a good time. I managed to hit a few balls that made it past the infield grass, and I think one of them might have rolled all the way into the outfield grass if it hadn’t been fielded. That’s right! Look out, Albert Pujols.
Among our number were two Rebels alumni, pitcher Tim Adinolfi (1999) and third baseman Adam Frederick (2004-05.) It was extra awesome to have those guys there. I turned into a total fan when “Freddy” pitched to me on my last turn in the batter’s box. Is it fair to blame my poor contact skills on the fact that I was thinking more about that unforgettable playoff series in ’05 in which he drove in 6 runs? No? Well, I’m doing it anyway.
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Elsewhere in baseball: I was definitely jealous of the hard-core campaign the Nationals have going to get Mike Morse onto the NL All Star team via MLB.com’s “Final Vote.” If I had that kind of fire-power, the Darwin Barney initiative might have gone somewhere. Oh well.
The Cardinals released former All-Star closer Ryan Franklin. On the surface, this was not a significant piece of news to me. BUT, as St. Lou chose to fill Mr. Franklin’s roster spot with none other than legendary 2006 New Market Rebels all star closer Cotton Dickson, it quickly became very significant indeed! Major, major congrats to Cotton! Here’s hoping he sticks around in the bigs for a good long time!
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Well guys, I hope that my posts here at the FBB will be more consistent the next few weeks. Thanks for sticking out the craziness with me.
“There’s no place like home…”
‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there
Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere
For me, home is New Market, Virginia (population, about 1,800.) It is a town of little consequence to the outside world for most of the calendar year, unless you happen to be a big Civil War buff. In June and July, though, we have something to be proud of. These are the months in which Rebels baseball fills our lives, the months in which home seems the sweetest.
Every sentimental, idyllic thing you’ve ever heard or seen written about baseball could be applied to what we have here in New Market. You know, the smell of the grass, the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the hope springing eternal… all that jazz. I usually try to avoid over-romanticizing baseball, but every once in awhile I can’t help giving in to its poetic charms. These qualities are rarely encapsulated at pro games, but in the Shenandoah Valley, baseball still seems like a poem. Sometimes it’s a beautiful poem, full of graceful defensive plays, heroic swings, and the soft white light of a full moon hanging above the night-swallowed mountains. Sometimes it’s a sad poem, with strains of injustice, injury, and heartache. Always it is a meaningful poem, bound together by a powerful sense of community that you will not find many other places.
I promise I won’t be this sicky-sweet for the whole duration of the Rebels season (which kicks off tomorrow with a picnic and scrimmage.) I can’t promise not to speak of them at all, however, because that would be utterly impossible. I will do my very best to impart a taste of the joy given to me by the New Market Rebels to you.
To whet your (by which I really mean my) appetite, here are a few Rebel goodies from years past:
A few years ago, we got some pub from the Washington Post. It’s a really nice article. Read it.
All of my own Rebels musings can be seen here.
The 2010 season in 10 minutes:
Brett Gardner (of a little team called the New York Yankees) played center field for the Rebels in 2003. He is one of six former Rebels who have played in the Major Leagues in 2011. Chris Ray (Seattle), Javier Lopez (San Francisco), Brad Ziegler (Oakland), Mike O’Connor (NY Mets) and Rob Delaney (Tampa Bay) round out the list. We hope to see a few more debut before the year is out!
Home.
Movie Monday: The Love is Gone
Summer in New Market, Virginia goes something like this…
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
I hate to get mushy on y’all, but… my sentimentality always peaks at this time of year. After two months of watching our Rebels play, cheering them on, following them on the road, and (in my family’s case) cooking their dinners, last night the time came to say goodbye.
The Rebels put up a mediocre 19-25 regular season record, and were quickly dispatched from the playoffs by the powerhouse Haymarket Senators. We’ve had better years in New Market, in terms of on-the-field success, but I can think of few seasons that I had more fun watching. In my mind, the greatest difference between the Major Leagues and a league like this is that winning isn’t everything. I don’t mean to suggest that winning isn’t important here, only that it is possible to have a 19-25 season, get swept out of the postseason, and somehow still enjoy it to bits.
I could probably muster up another 16,000 words memorializing the 2010 Rebels, but I’m going to leave you with some pictures (worth at least a thousand words apiece) instead. And a song, of course. I offer my personal thanks to the team for all their entertainingness and hard work, and wish the truest of blessings to each one in the coming years.
Photographs are courtesy of Anna Kipps and have been used without her permission. Please don’t tell.
