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Smith Park Ball Diamonds

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409 View Drop Down
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    Posted: Oct 10 2012 at 4:37pm
The ball diamonds have been excavated and the backstops and fencing removed. New topsoil is in the process of being installed and I would guess new backstops and fencing installed.
Not sure who is doing the work or who is paying for this.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 10 2012 at 8:46pm
Ahh Smith Park. Diamond #5 just to the left of the entrance off Tytus Ave. 1956. Barry Cohen, our starting pitcher, brother(?) of THE MMF'er Ken Cohen, throws ball overhand and as he gets more tired as the innings go by, let's the ball go higher over his head.......right over the backstop and in the hydraulic canal running behind the backstop.

Diamond #4 down by the main office......Olgesby-Barnitz Bank- 17 and 0 on the season. Can't be beat. Have all the talent. Until that fatal day in 1956 when Coach Mike Tykach's team, Lions Club, with son Mike Tykach playing shortstop and some other unknown kids including me,pin a 3 to 2 loss on Barnitz Bank, shocking all. As the games finished up on the other diamonds, word got around and diamond 4 became packed in the late innings as everyone wanted someone to beat Barnitz. Little old middle of the pack Lions Club did it that day.......

Jimmy Thompson (Shotgun) playing shortstop and a talent then. Teddy Frisch, a good little catcher back then. Mike Phillips, twice as big as any kid on the diamonds, pitching for 77 Taxi, scaring the crap out of all us kids who faced him at home plate. The boy threw hard.....and sometimes wild and when you got hit, it stayed sore for weeks. Great fun.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stanky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 10 2012 at 9:26pm
409, are you sure about this? Someone mentioned they might be getting rid of the diamonds altogether.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mike_Presta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 10 2012 at 10:10pm
Vet,
 
Great memories of the ol' Knothole days!
 
I played on the same team as Mike Phillips one year...I was the catcher and he, of course, was the pitcher.  Other noted Knothole hurlers that I caught over the many years that I played:  Butch Donisi (another noted "fireballer"), Rick Meyer, Jim Ousley, and Bret Whisman.  (I apologize to the ones that my old brain cannot recall.)  I even remember Mike Romans (husband of juvenile court Judge Kathy Romans), usually an infielder I think, coming in as a relief pitcher occasionally on one of my teams.
 
Great days, great times, and great memories of playin' ball.
“Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012
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409 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 409 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 10 2012 at 10:37pm
Originally posted by Stanky Stanky wrote:

409, are you sure about this? Someone mentioned they might be getting rid of the diamonds altogether.
Stanky...I would agree you are probably correct. Today they were spreading topsoil in the diamond areas. I was guessing at the fences & backstops.
This brings up another point. Parking for the Ohio Challenge was moved from this area to the airport because of complaints of diamond damage from the league using the diamonds in the past.
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409 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 409 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 11 2012 at 4:07pm
Found out today the ball diamonds are history.
Neal Excavating is doing the work.
I was told this area will be used for soccer fields.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 12 2012 at 2:42pm
Originally posted by 409 409 wrote:




Found out today the ball diamonds are history.
Neal Excavating is doing the work.
I was told this area will be used for soccer fields.



And so it is. Middletown has lost it's interest in the nation's past time. Another sad event as what was once popular goes by the wayside. First the old schools, then the old swimming hole and now the ball diamonds. Now, nothing to look at but open tracks of land, offering little interest. What's next? The Wade E. Miller Gym? The Jug? The town is slowly losing it's identity and character and substituting it for an empty, boring personality. Sad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acclaro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 12 2012 at 3:22pm
There aren't enough businesses remaining in Middeletown to sponsor a Little League roster of teams. That's the pathetic state of the city.
'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote swohio75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 12 2012 at 3:26pm
Or perhaps they are being relocated to another park in town? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LMAO Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 12 2012 at 7:40pm
Heard that they are moving basball to Lefferson Park.Which if its true,I bet the school is upset.Thought they was going to build New High School there?This town is so back asswards.LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spiderjohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct 12 2012 at 8:06pm
Correct--soccer rules these days.
Knothole and Pee Wee are endangered species.
They might still play Pee Wee @ Douglas
Doesn't matter--the leaders usually steal all of the $$ anyway
 
Vet--funny that u mention Wade E
It will go when the old school adjacent is demoed
They are too closely tied together with plumbing/heating
New gym at the current HS site(where the HSwill be renovated)
New freshman school 2 b built on the Verity site probably?
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