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Richlands Baseball


cityofRaven
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I really hope this program can get back to the tradition it had under Hovis and Strong in the early to mid-2000's.

 

It has to start at the Little League program though which has seen some drop off over the past few years.

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That's a lot of it but the Richlands Senior League program used to be one of the best around and now is either non-existent or barley holding on.

 

One of the major downfall currently is the fact they play their home games at SVCC. A field in town somewhere would bring a little more interest back into the program I believe. 

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One of the major downfall currently is the fact they play their home games at SVCC. A field in town somewhere would bring a little more interest back into the program I believe. 

 

I used to love playing at the field between all the schools beside Ernie Hicks Stadium.  Fond memories...the only place I hit a HR in high school, landed beside the elementary school.  It wasn't the "power" of the batter that caused it, it was the fact that the pitcher was throwing a nasty fastball and I just got the fat part of the bat on the ball.  I still have the ball boxed up somewhere at home.  We still lost the game 2-1...

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I used to love playing at the field between all the schools beside Ernie Hicks Stadium. Fond memories...the only place I hit a HR in high school, landed beside the elementary school. It wasn't the "power" of the batter that caused it, it was the fact that the pitcher was throwing a nasty fastball and I just got the fat part of the bat on the ball. I still have the ball boxed up somewhere at home. We still lost the game 2-1...

That was a fun field. Home run derby in my JV days. I knew if I could just put it in the air that it would go.

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That was a fun field. Home run derby in my JV days. I knew if I could just put it in the air that it would go.

 

Yeah that field was a band box and with the lack of arms in SWVA anymore there would be more 15-13 games if they still played there.

 

I think they could put a nice field behind the elementary school but who knows. 

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I always thought it looked tight as a baseball field when I went there to work a football game.  It looks to be a decent softball field now.

 

It was 270 -290 down the Left Field line and 315 down the Right Field line. I think it was about 330 to straight away Center.

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It was 270 -290 down the Left Field line and 315 down the Right Field line. I think it was about 330 to straight away Center.

 

I remember there were two poles in left field...the foul pole and a second pole towards center that if you hit the ball over the fence between the poles it was a ground rule double.

 

I also loved the hill in left field at Gate City, hit it into the hillside it was a ground rule double.  The also had the track running through center and right field.

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The old GC field still wasnt the most putt putt like baseball field in the county though.  Twin Springs LF was the only outfielder who didnt have any obstacles.  CF had to deal with a light pole, storm drain, paved section of driveway, gravel section of driveway, concrete pad going into field house.  RF had to deal with with field house especially the entrances that were recessed, gravel, septic tank box that was partially out of the ground around the foul line.  It was only 220 maybe right down the line.  Hit the roof of the field house ground rule double.  Depending on the year, LF was all you could get so basically 600 feet plus.  They put one of the orange movable fences up in the 90s and made it probably 330.  All dirt infield that was probably 110 feet from first to 2nd. Playing SS sucked on that field.

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I'm pretty sure Patrick Henry used to be "all you can get" to most fields.  The baseball diamond was where the softball field diamond is now.  I remember one of our "big guys" hit one to right-center, almost to the football stadium, but he was so slow he only got to second base.  That place was a dump, I don't remember it having any dugouts, just a bench to set on behind a partial fence.

 

The only other place I came close to hitting a HR was Devault Field in Bristol.  I thought it was gone but it hit off the top of the fence in right.  Ended up with a double and got picked off two pitches later leaning toward third on a steal sign.

 

 

Another incident my junior year that was kinda funny.  We were playing Abingdon, who had Trey McCall at catcher...he was the best player I ever played against and was being scouted by a dozen or so MLB teams.

 

Anyway, I got on first with a walk.  I look over to the third base coach and he give me the steal sign.  So I got my lead, pitcher throws the pitch and I just stand there and watch, stepping back to first as McCall catches it. 

 

Look at third again, still getting the steal sign.  So, same thing, pitcher pitches, I step back to first as McCall catches it. 

 

Coach over at third is getting pissed and emphatically gives me the steal sign again.  First base coach steps over to me while I'm on the bag and asks "did you get the sign?"  I nodded that I had it.  So, the pitcher throws to home and I step back to first as McCall catches it again. 

 

I look over at third and coach has hit hat off with hands on hips and a scowl on his face, really pissed off.  First base coach steps to me again and asks "are you sure you got the sign?"  I looked at him and said "yeh, but I'm not going to try to steal off him" pointing towards home plate. 

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I'm pretty sure Patrick Henry used to be "all you can get" to most fields. The baseball diamond was where the softball field diamond is now. I remember one of our "big guys" hit one to right-center, almost to the football stadium, but he was so slow he only got to second base. That place was a dump, I don't remember it having any dugouts, just a bench to set on behind a partial fence.

 

The only other place I came close to hitting a HR was Devault Field in Bristol. I thought it was gone but it hit off the top of the fence in right. Ended up with a double and got picked off two pitches later leaning toward third on a steal sign.

 

 

Another incident my junior year that was kinda funny. We were playing Abingdon, who had Trey McCall at catcher...he was the best player I ever played against and was being scouted by a dozen or so MLB teams.

 

Anyway, I got on first with a walk. I look over to the third base coach and he give me the steal sign. So I got my lead, pitcher throws the pitch and I just stand there and watch, stepping back to first as McCall catches it.

 

Look at third again, still getting the steal sign. So, same thing, pitcher pitches, I step back to first as McCall catches it.

 

Coach over at third is getting pissed and emphatically gives me the steal sign again. First base coach steps over to me while I'm on the bag and asks "did you get the sign?" I nodded that I had it. So, the pitcher throws to home and I step back to first as McCall catches it again.

 

I look over at third and coach has hit hat off with hands on hips and a scowl on his face, really pissed off. First base coach steps to me again and asks "are you sure you got the sign?" I looked at him and said "yeh, but I'm not going to try to steal off him" pointing towards home plate.

That was my reaction when Campbell gave me the bunt-and-run sign once in a tight game against Tazewell. I was the biggest player on the team by a considerable margin, and not coincidentally the slowest. But I did have power. And the runner on base? Our catcher, who was the 2nd slowest player on the team.

 

So I tried it. And a big sweeping curve came. I did everything short of diving at the ball to tip it, which of course I didn't, and our catcher got gunned down by 4 full steps at 2nd.

 

Also not coincidentally, Graham had 11 straight losing seasons from 1993-2003.

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Back in the day the only "good" fields we played on were minor league ball parks...Bowen Field in Bluefield and the one in Bristol. But, being an infielder, the field at Bristol gets my vote...never got a bad bounce there and the grass was so soft and cushy, you just wanted to lay down and take a nap on it.

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We were fortunate in Fries. The baseball stadium was first class. Once I got to Grayson, not so much. The old field at Grayson was terrible.

 

We played a small school from North Carolina that had no fencing in the outfield. The school building itself could be a very abrupt destination for outfielders though. I hit two homeruns in high school. One there that landed on top of the school and one at Carroll.

 

The best player I faced in high school was Kelly Dampeer from Northside. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians and spent several seasons in the minor leagues before a major knee injury ended his career in 1999. Extremely talented and a hell of a nice guy too. Got to know him well when I lived in Roanoke.

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