by John "Choo-Choo" Shannahan
8/14/2013

One game. Six years in the making, two hours in the playing, and forever in our collective memory.

The results of last weekend’s Mudville versus Mudville encounter have already been reported elsewhere. For those locals who have chosen not to subscribe to The New York Times, The Ottawa Citizen and other print and electronic news sources, please be informed that Holliston’s own Mudville Base Ball Club lost 10-4 to the Amador County Crushers last Saturday in Stockton, California.

The vintage base ball contest was played by two teams representing distinctly different communities, each professing to have provided suitable inspiration to Ernest Lawrence Thayer, the result being his 1888 classic poem Casey at the Bat.

The Mudville team, consisting of fifteen aging veterans, stood in sharp contrast to the aptly named Crushers, who took an early lead and never looked back.  Both teams agreed that the encounter fulfilled all expectations.  In its playing they honored the game that they love, and the hero that they share.

(Kevin Conley and Allen Goldberg review the "Other" Casey at Bat Plaque)

For Mudville, the game provided a confirmation, a revelation and an expectation; that Marc “Go-Go” Golding still has the sweet swing that powered Randolph High in 1972, that Allen “Rooster” Goldberg can really bring the heat from the hill, and that David “Hops” Robinson is the best shortstop around regardless of what type of ball he is playing.

As the players returned home to Holliston during the past week, they understood the calling in the words once sung by teammate Jimmy “Pipes” Cormier:
                                            
                                             My whole life has been a blessing
                                             And although I’ve traveled far
                                             I will go back, back to Mudville
                                             For it’s closest to my heart
 

 ...and we had fun too!