GAME 5: Hey Dude

Scheduling Note:  Due to this week being fairly crazy, The BLOG late Thursday / Early Friday will be the typical game fare.  There will be two editions on Saturday, one that's specifically about Fan Appreciation Night and another on Stats.  All should have links to each other, so hopefully you get a chance to read them all.  Cheers.

INTRO

Tottenham, Ont. - Dog Catcher slugger Don Swabuk is a superstar without the excess swagger.

He hasn't forgotten what it was like a few years ago when he was a part-time player struggling to even adequately umpire in the Old Timers League. Now he's the face of the Dog Catchers franchise and a leader on a young team with a bright future.

"He knows what it's like to crawl through the mud to get to the top," said fellow Dog Catcher, Paul Hargreaves. "He's smart enough to know that you can't take it for granted." 

Strolling up to the batting cage on a warm, sunny Monday morning at the team's spring-training complex, Swabuk is a friendly sort who also knows when to dig in and get serious. 

He'll joke around a bit with teammates, engage in some casual banter and then focus his steely eyes on the mound before taking a few swings in the batting cage. 

Swabuk is coming off of a career season but the spotlight hasn't got to him. He's quite comfortable with his progression and is keen to weigh in when teammates come to him for guidance. 

"I think it's something that kind of falls in your lap," Swabuk said. "People start gravitating your way when you start having this kind of elevated success."

This reporter was somewhat taken aback by the quiet confidence that Swabuk effortlessly exuded.  I decided to go back to the beginning.  His roots.  I spoke with his father, Donald Sr., about Don's childhood.

 Swabuk, Senior & Junior.  Circa 1963.

"Mr. Swabuk, Donald if I may," I asked, "what were your expectations of Donnie as a youngster?  Did you see him becoming who he is today?  Donald's reply was, "I always thought young Donnie would do more than any man in history to change the course of humanity."   I was quick to remind him that such a list would have to include the likes of Mandela, Gandhi, Buddha, George W. Bush and Groucho Marx.  He went on to say, "Yes, but Donnie has a larger forum than any of them. Because he's playing a sport that's international. Because he's uniquely qualified through his Eastern European heritage to accomplish miracles. He's the bridge between the East and the West. There is no limit to what he can do because he has the "guidance" from above. I don't know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One. He'll have the power to impact nations. Not individuals.  Not groups. Nations. The world is just now beginning to get a taste of his power. Donnie will win because of God's mind. Can't you see the pattern?"

I could only reply, "No, not really".

He went on say, "Think of Wyld Stallyns from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and you may begin to grasp the magnitude."

 Wyld Stallyns, "be excellent to each other".

Then I understood.  Well, not exactly, but I nodded.  I nodded a lot.

It was a challenging climb to the top for Dog Catcher's star Don Swabuk.

Expectations were high for the first-round draft pick, who toiled in the minors for years before breaking through at the Old Timers level in 2011. He cracked the starting lineup late in the season and yet was still a question mark to make the team this spring; let alone establish himself as a franchise cornerstone.

The team was patient with their sophomoric fielder and it seems to have paid off.

"Now that I look back at it, I'm thankful that I went through those times," Swabuk said in a local radio interview Monday. "Being in the minors in Bradford for years, I learned a lot about myself as a person.  I mean, I started to look outside the sport for inspiration.  Guys like Ringo Starr for instance.  I don't listen to his music, but the mere fact that he can write at all, let alone string a sentence together is...is like....wow!  And look at Tracy McGrady in basketball.  She never said, "I'm not good enough to play with men" and she made that happen.  That kind of stuff gets me misty, man.  Its inspirational"

"I matured a lot and I was able to learn to deal with failure.  Of course, that was mainly from watching other people fail."

 Like this guy.  Don laughed all the way through his stitches. 

 Or this kid who Don convinced that slides were "scored" like in gymnastics. 

 And this kid, who Don taught to keep his eye on the ball. 

Don might have had one fail. 

 

There were plenty of trying times after Poland's favourite son was taken with the sixth overall pick in the amateur draft. He struggled during the first half of last season, barely staying near the .500 mark in batting against big league pitching for the 1st time.  Dealing with the likes of Jonkman, Gaudet, Farah and Gee on a regular basis can't be easy. There just isn't ever an easy match up.

This year, he is wearing the mantle of a super star, having started and starred in all three Games for the Dog Catchers thus far and leading the team in hitting.

"When I got to the big leagues (T.O.T.), I wasn't going to let one bad at bat get to me or get to my head," Swabuk said. "It was just move on to the next one.  All I can do is hit the ball.  If the ten guys out there are incapable of catching it, well, screw them and lucky me!"

After a health scare last year in the prime of his career, Swabuk came back with a new lease on life.  "I look at it more as a new rent on life, rather than a lease.  As I understand it, there is no buy-back option at the end; so leasing seems like an odd description".  Regardless, once the The Chosen One returned to the field, the Dog Catchers quickly mortgaged their future with a lucrative season long contract plus bonuses for appearances and at bats.  The exact financial terms of which have not been revealed.

Don, the day he signed his HUGE contract

If there was any thought that Swabuk had lost a step, he dispelled those fears by going 3/3 in each of his first two games and hitting .800 overall.  If the rest of the Dog Catcher's players could play like Donnie, they'd be given an automatic birth to the championship final said one league insider.  Like Captain Randy Hipken said, "This is a great, great league.  The only way I could see it being better is if every team had a Donnie Swabuk".

Perhaps we need more of Randy's pie-in-the-sky, science fiction, cloning type thinking?

Perhaps the prime of Swabuk's career is right around the corner?

THE SPEECH

Rob Farah Esq, Captain, CEO, President and yes, Founder of the Grisslies; determined in the off season that he was going to write a song about Craig Escott.  Craig was a rookie last year with the Dodge City Rounders and participated in the Grisslies annual rookie night.  He was a good sport about it and Rob wanted to "lyrically" reward his participation.

Many of you may not know Craig Escott, but many of you same people would know "Dude".  They are the same person; like Kevin Boston and Radar.

So Robert, clever sausage that he is, determined that he'd shock the world with altering the lyrics of the Beatles "Hey Jude"; to "Hey Dude".  Please people, they can't all be winners for god sakes.

But then a quirk of fate occurred.  Despite the 99.44% improvement in timing, delivery, quality and accuracy of the shirts this year (and thank you Mr Piellusch on an exceptional job), Craig "Dude" Escott fell victim to the only identified shirt issue thus far.  The name on Dude's shirt came in as Dube.  While this was inconvenient for Dude, it was a tragedy for Rob.  He had laboured long and hard in the off season with "Hey Dude" and it would appear that it was all for naught!.  Damn it, as Jack Bauer would say.  Damn it!!!

So back to the lab again yo, for Robert.  In fairly short order (only a couple of weeks) Rob completely scrapped "Hey Dude" and worked from scratch to come up with "Hey Dube".  Most people won't understand the complexities that one letter cost or the strain it bore on Robert.  But you'll like this version WAY better anyway.   Here is the music for people that have never been on an elevator.  ===> MUSIC

HEY DUBE

Hey dube, don't make it bad
Take a bad shirt and make it better
Remember to swing it from your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey dude, don't be afraid
You were made to take a little banter
But the minute you let it get under your skin
Then you begin to make some blunders

And anytime you feel the pain, hey dude, refrain
Don't carry all the bats upon your shoulder
For well you know that it's not cool, you'd be a dube
Admit it; you can't really spell well either

Ha ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha ha
Hey dude, don't let me down
You hit a grounder, now run to first base
Remember to run with all your might
Then you can stop and tie up your shoe lace

So let it out and let it in, hey dube, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you? Hey dude, you're a dube
The whole team calls your bat "big thunder"

Ha ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha ha, yeah
Hey Dube, don't make it bad
Take a bad shirt and make it better
Remember, don't let it get under your skin
Then you begin to make plays better
Better, better, better, better, better, oh!

Ha ha ha, ha-ha ha ha
Ha-ha ha ha, hey Dube
Ha ha ha, ha-ha ha ha
Ha-ha ha ha, hey Dube

THE GAME

None of you really have reason to remember Sunday May 29th, 2011.  Why would you.  It was the day before the Grisslies squeaked out a dramatic 17-16 win on rookie night against the Dodge City Rounders (the irony).  That was of course the night that introduced the league to Dude (or Dube); hence the irony.  That was the evening that DCMT became a Grisslie as he drove in the tying and winning runs with two out in the 7th.

But the 29th of May?  The day before the game mentioned above?  That was the last time that the Grisslie franchise was below the .500 mark.  For the record, that's 355 days over .500 and a 21-9 record (including playoffs) during that stretch.

It was a fantastic run, but its over.  Now its time to regroup and start a new run!

The Grisslies, despite different players over the past four years have displayed similar characteristics.  One of those characteristics is that if you're gonna get us you better do it early because our defense gets wicked good as the game goes on.  Also, if you get us down you better keep us down because our bats get better as the game goes on as well.  I'm seeing signs of these traits, but we're not quite there yet.

Tonight we gave up 5 in the first inning.  Not ideal, but it happens.  We scored 3 in the first.  That's about normal for Grisslie teams.  We gave up nothing in the second.  It was feeling like many of the last 30 Grisslie games have felt.  Slow start, get it under control defensively, chip away, put it away with a big 5th or 6th inning.

The Grisslies took an 8-5 lead with 5 in our half in the second.  Perfect.

But it unraveled.  Unraveled to the tune of 20-14.  Unraveled to the point that Rob pulled himself to try and get SOMETHING going defensively for the club.  Cal Russel, Vince Basacchi, Phil Glecoff and Ingofische Bartens were all 5/5.  It was too much to overcome.  Farah and Art Sagert did their parts, in going 4/4 but there wasn't enough Grisslie bats on this night.

Up next is fan appreciation night on Thursday which will be a HUGE test for the Grisslies as they face the undefeated Dislocated Joints who are led by their captains Terry Doucet and Downtown Billy Brown, Super Short Stop Doris Casullo, Raging Rookies Emeil Edward and Martin Ranby and the reborn Steve Wynnyk who is hitting over .900.

See you then!

Things to check out:

Check out the Donini Three Stars of the game here ==> STARS
Check out the Dislocated Joints game notes from DTBB ==> JOINTS
Check out the Tap Master's game notes from Jason Bowers ==> Tapped Out
Check out the Brew Jays game notes from Rod and Bo ==> Jays Squawk
Check out the Hurtin' Units BLOG ==> Hannibal Lecter
The League's Official Website ==> League