These cool, crisp autumn evenings are receiving universal praise from literally everyone I talk to throughout the Valley. I’ve always said that, in East Tennessee, the beautiful falls we enjoy are the payoff for suffering through ‘the long, hot summer.’
While most folks have their own associations with fall days and nights, for an ex-baseball coach, my first thought goes to this: fall ball (fall baseball).
Farragut Baseball, Inc. had (still does) a very robust fall baseball program. In fact, we frequently got calls from folks from around the region who were looking for a place to play ball in the fall. They knew we had a good program and they wanted to come and join.
Generally, we practiced once a week (sometimes twice) and played a fall schedule of roughly 10 games. We’d start with practices about the time school started in August and we’d go through late October. Our fall season started with a coaches’ workday before the games began and ended with a wrap-up workday to get the fields ready for winterization.
Sometimes, there’d be an end-of-season tournament but not always. Also, on occasion we’d have a slate of ‘interleague’ games with our friends up at Rocky Hill – some at our place; some at their’s.
I’d say our league had roughly half of the participants in the fall program as we did in our regular spring program. The fall league was instructional, in nature, and therefore it was not as competitive. For our team, the Choppers, we looked at a time to develop our returning players (give them a chance to experiment with some different positions and skill sets) and to look at adding players for our upcoming spring season.
In fact, we’d often schedule open tryouts for our spring team at the conclusion of the fall ball season.
On a personal level, I remember warm autumn days on the practice field or crisp fall nights of playing fall ball games. The league didn’t have a formal team photo day, so we’d schedule our own and make a big deal out of it.
I have some great memories of our fall ball seasons, too. When we’d play early on a Saturday morning, the fields would be dew-covered and fans would be all bundled up, holding cups of coffee or cocoa. By late morning or early afternoon, the fields were framed by electric blue skies and the air was full of talk about the Vols’ game that evening.
We had some great team memories, too. When we were playing in the 10-Under age bracket, we ran the table during our second fall season. We didn’t lose a game. That’s when I knew our team had made the jump from lovable losers to regular contenders.
Two years later, when we were playing in 12-Under, we put on a tremendous rally to beat one of our top rival teams on day (and seems like we finished that season 8-2 or something like that).
And, in his first at-bat of our final fall ball season, Paul hit a home run (just inside the foul pole down the right field line on Field 6). He actually hit the first pitch thrown to him that fall; he tomahawked a high, inside pitch. What a way to kick off our final fall ball season in 14-Under!
Those were some glorious times. As you can tell, I have amassed a scorebook full of wonderful memories. Our fall baseball seasons were always fun and full of action.
If I sound a little wistful, that’s because I am. In a way, I’d love to grab my gear and head to the fields to coach tonight.
Then again, as the scripture says, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” There was a season for my time as a youth baseball coach; these days my ‘season’ is that of a dad with a high school senior.
There are other kids and other coaches playing on those lovely fields “On the Hill by the Lake.” This is their season for fall baseball and what a wonderful season it is.
JG
Originally posted 10/2/2012
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