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The Prospector: Fielding at the Home Run Derby

The Prospector gets to play ball on the same field as the Renegades as he retrieves balls during the annual Home Run Derby to benefit Pitch For Kids.

Thursday, Aug. 16—With the Renegades on the road for a week, Dutchess Stadium was clear tonight for the first round of the annual Home Run Derby, which benefits Pitch For Kids, the team’s charitable arm. As in past years I volunteered to help shag fly balls and grounders along with stadium staffers, Bob and a few other fans interested in helping a worthy cause while playing a little baseball on the same field where our Renegades play.

As the name implies, participants try to hit home runs over the outfield wall, which some of the hitters did effortlessly and repeatedly. Points could also be earned if a batted ball struck one of the assorted targets about the field.

My primary responsibility was the bucket, a ball collection point behind a screen in shallow center field. Fielders who chased down fly balls and grounders and retrieved balls hit over the wall would throw them in toward the bucket, where I caught them directly or picked them up off the grass. As the bucket filled we periodically emptied it into the ball cart by the pitcher’s mound.

Hitting and ball retrieval went on for more than three hours. For me personally it was a great thrill to be playing ball on the same field as my Renegades. Refreshments, including wraps, potato and macaroni salad, cole slaw, chips, soft drinks and water, added to the enjoyment. On the down side, I would pay for the experience through soreness of muscles and assorted other body parts that I had forgotten I had. Was it worth it? Absolutely! And I’m looking forward to the next rounds of the derby, scheduled for Aug. 27 and 30.

Bob and I inherited some leftover wraps, potato salad and cole slaw, which, combined with a few bottles of water, made a nice post-derby meal in the corral as we put the finishing touches on plans for our trip to Connecticut and Boston. Bob does not get along with provolone cheese, so he pulled it from his wrap and flung it toward the garbage bin; as luck would have it, two of the resident skunks had no such problems with the cheese and sallied forth to devour it. It even sounded to us as though they were calling to each other.

Having eaten our fill, we left the remaining wraps on a plastic platter near a light pole. Before long, my flashlight picked up the skunks chowing down on the leftovers. We respectfully gave them a wide berth and had no problems with each other.

To learn more about Pitch For Kids, please click here and then on “Pitch For Kids” in the upper right of the page.

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Danny May 18, 2013 at 12:20 pm
It is dangerous and a menace to our already horrible traffic on 6. Thank God none of those kids gotRead More hit running in between cars looking for change. Traffic was backed up all through Mohegan...Poor choice of a way to raise monies for a good cause.
Robin Seggs May 18, 2013 at 11:02 pm
I get that Mr. catalina blames the current mayor for this situation but This is what I dontRead More understand. He finishes by saying that as a Lawyer he would not support an appeal to the court decision. so what would he do? IF Mayor, what would catalina do about the clinic? i cant believe he wrote that much and never said what his plan to address the issue is.
W Kelly May 18, 2013 at 05:39 pm
Look who's talking : we have always said we wanted it to remain at HVHC why don't you call Mr.Read More Federspiel and ask him why he is dumping it in a undesirable area that will immensely affect the businesses, real estate, dangerous roads and community at large. You know as well as everyone else he doesn't want it there to tarnish his newly renovated beautiful complex. Ask him how much he is making off his other services. 200 K in the business world is a drop in the bucket. I bet you $10 all those patients that said I am going to contact he didn't even do so. So you are telling me this patients are law abiding citizens? Doubt it I know many people that have confided in me and said their sons, daughters, brother ,sisters have lied cheated stolen, and done time. Guess we will all see what happens in this community. Remember there are kids that will be walking to school. It is going to take one incident to wake up people.
Look Who's Talking May 18, 2013 at 03:17 pm
@ Wendy, there are people that would say your fight against the methadone clinic is ridiculous. ToRead More some people, gay marriage is a very REAL issue. Recovering drug addicts need to be able to turn to a clinic in order stay on a path of sobriety and many people disagree with your views. I have yet to see methadone zombies all over the streets of Peekskill. Instead we see non-recovering addicts and dealers in the news all the time. Those people are NOT the people that seek the help of clinics. Drug dealers don't hang out in clinics, they hang out in their homes and wait for the next call to come in. I'm sorry that you don't consider discussion about how Frank was removed from the School Board for LYING about living in Peekskill is something to discuss. To me it shows that he already has a very real history of being a liar and shady in order to keep himself in the spotlight and feeling important. However, I do agree that any of those GOP members sitting on that board could've EASILY raised money every year to keep themselves out of the hole if that's what the methadone clinic was doing for them. As far as Mary emailing you back within 24 hours, while you are a taxpaying resident, she is a part-time Mayor and she does have a life of her own. Let's not think that we are all so important that we deserve answers immediately. We've been posting directly to Frank's blog for over a day now and he has not addressed a single thing that has been discussed. We all know that he's reading this. Seems that in a world of transparent government, Frank doesn't want to answer many questions.
Teleman May 17, 2013 at 05:27 pm
Rose, why is it that you would call me a name? Why not have a productive debate about the issueRead More instead of name call? I'm sure the anti-gun lobby does not like those numbers- but they are the facts. I know it flies in the face of all of the propaganda- millions of gun purchases and gun crime goes down? This is what we've been saying all along. Leave my natural rights as affirmed by the Constitution alone.
Rose Rowland May 17, 2013 at 11:32 am
Go away, you Troll.
Teleman May 16, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Plenty of laws on the books- they are obviously working ok, and would probably work even better ifRead More vigorously enforced.
Teleman May 15, 2013 at 04:11 pm
I stand by my statement- until these contracts are fully re-negotiated and the unions startRead More contributing to their benefits and taking zero % or minimal raises, the taxes will continue to increase year after year- Buchanan will no longer be the so-called "bargain" some claim it is.
Sick of the Lies May 10, 2013 at 10:04 am
Hey Fly, before you make comments, you should check the facts. The contracts are alive and well.Read More Mr. Donahue should try learning to read and checking the facts before sending his brilliant letters to the editor in for publishing. They are almost always entirely fictional....but perhaps he really believes what he says. Yeah, right. He intentionally makes up stories to sucker people like you into believing his nonsense.
Fly on the Wall May 10, 2013 at 02:47 am
All of those lucrative 2% contract raises have since expired! DUH. Unlike the 15% raises yourRead More glorious mayor has doled out with great regularity.