[Alsfastball] Saturday afternoon in the ball yard - and Zack update

[Al Doran]

Saturday afternoon in the ball yard

Eau Claire, WI

4pm

You can't beat this.

75F, partly cloudy, light breeze, no humidity, and a perfect 
afternoon for a ball game in one of the most beautiful settings you 
will find anywhere.

The drive into this complex is similar to the one that takes you to 
Currie Stadium in Midland Mi, a park like environment, with lots of 
lush green trees and grass, ponds, a beautiful spot.

The Carson Park complex has lots to offer including good seating, 
especially on the main diamond. The press box is hard to beat, with 
room for teams of people like Gary Baughman, our stats man, and myself.

The ball has been very good so far with promises of a lot more to 
come and a mystery playoff scheme to be announced sometime next week. 
No, don't ask, I have no clue who plays who in the playoff round.

The umpires are well taken care of here, with a well-equipped change 
room in the stadium, complete with lockers and showers. And its true, 
Bob Henning is buying furniture at the local store; he must be 
planning to stay.

There are lots of concession stands and a small tent city that offers 
all the usual things one would expect at a world tournament. There is 
a very well stocked trailer offering tournament souvenirs, complete 
with silk screening if you want a special design or a special size made up.

There are lots of food choices and they look good. About the only 
complaint here at the 2001 World Tournament was the one about food, 
too expensive, not enough choices, and, not so good quality. Eau 
Claire has bent over backwards to avoid that complaint in 2005. There 
are several outlets here, and each has a wide variety of choices. 
Gary and I are working our way through the menu and so far Gary gives 
complete thumbs up to the cheeseburgers and I give similar thumbs up 
to the roast beef sandwich. Beware of the killer mustard; it has 
great horseradish in it. Their ham sandwiches are almost as good.
We will have more to day on that as the week moves on.

Almost overshadowing the ball play and most everything else is the 
situation with Darren Zack. I noted in my reports last night about 
the County Classic game that Zack was not here, and shared some of 
what I know about why he is not here. I said:




"A very sad note this evening, pitching great Darren Zack of Garden

River Ontario is NOT here.



Zack, on the County roster today when the teams registered, has been

cut from the team. He is not on the line up card tonight.

Zack is home in Garden River.



Up until today, at least two Wisconsin teams, hurting for pitching

help, had hoped to pick up Zack, but County reserved the right to

keep him on their roster.



This is indeed a sad day for fastball. So many wanted to see Zack

pitch again, he is the best known pitcher in the game and truly its

best ambassador."





To the best of my knowledge this information is correct. Over the 
past week and a half I have had dozens of conversations with the 
executive of the ISC and with Darren's family.



As has been reported to me, County told Darren very recently that he 
would not be one of their two pitchers at the ISC world tournament. I 
know he was disappointed, but he had hoped that County would provide 
a release or at least a conditional release to play for another team. 
Darren this year is considered a Wisconsin player due to his OOA 
status and if released, he could be picked up by a Wisconsin team if 
they could prove a hardship status.



The ISC became aware of this and did their utmost to encourage County 
to release Darren to play for a Wisconsin team.



I have not commented on the story that County tried to sell Darren 
off to the highest bid by a Wisconsin team. But since Bob Tomlinson 
included this in his story, I will admit that I had heard this from 
reliable sources. As Bob so aptly pointed out, this is within their 
rights to do so, or to at least try.



I guess what comes to mind next is what if a team from Wisconsin 
cannot afford their price? One would hope they would do the "right 
thing" for the game and make sure Darren could be at the WT.



A week ago I approached the team management of County Classics with a 
suggestion that they release Darren to one of the Wisconsin teams 
that could use his services. I already knew that the ISC executive 
would give reasonable and speedy review of any hardship case 
presented by a Wisconsin team. I did hear back from John Becker but 
not Mr. Sonnentag.

Subsequently I gave all the contact information on the team 
management of County to the ISC executive and I do know there were 
many conversations trying to encourage them to release Darren, even 
conditionally (like to the two local teams who could use him).

I had daily updates from several members of the ISC executive on 
progress or lack of it.



As noted in other fastball stories we have reported here, I 
acknowledge there are always two sides to every story. When I was 
trying to communicate with County last week, I was not getting their 
side of it, for whatever reason. I have offered John Becker to share 
their side of the story, if they care to share it here.



I have known John Becker and Tim Lyons for years, and have always 
considered them reasonable people. I do not know Mr. Sonnentag from a 
hole in the ground. I have it from his colleagues that he is as 
notorious for not finding the reply key on his keyboard as I am for 
hating the telephone.



The bottom line as of late Saturday afternoon is that Darren is not 
here, he is home in Garden River, Ontario, and very disappointed. His 
family is very upset about this, they know he lives for this game and 
they are aware that just about everyone who knows this game consider 
him its best ambassador ever.



As of this afternoon, Darren is still on the County roster, although 
he cannot pitch for them as they have used their two OOA pitchers in 
the tournament already.



That is what I know so far, and state that I am willing to share any 
reliable information on this story when it becomes available.



The fans here are very disappointed and that is almost all they are 
talking about.



Darren wishes he were here, I had a note from him this evening. He 
said he really misses the fans and he hopes to return next year.



Let's be straightforward here. I do work for the ISC and would not do 
anything knowingly that would hurt them. So far, all I have observed 
is a very positive reaction from the ISC on this case. They spent a 
great deal of time over the past week or so trying everything they 
could to resolve the problem, notably to try and convince County 
Classics to conditionally release Darren to another Wisconsin team, 
so the fans could get to see him in Eau Claire. I have no idea what 
else they could do.



Not the end of the story, I am sure.



Please remember, these opinions are mine and not those of the ISC. 
The information I post to my own web site is for the enjoyment of the fans.



 From Eau Claire.



Al Doran






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