Published: July 05, 2008 12:26 am         

Geriatrics prevail in Old Timers Game

Game celebrates the 50th anniversary of Crain Field.

In a game where perhaps the most active person on the field was “Doctor” Mike Almon, a Geriatric Giant came through in the clutch to lift his “old” team to victory.

Barry Prentice hit a game-winning single up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the last inning to lift the Giants past the Middle-Aged Marlins 3-2 in the Old Timers Game, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Crain Field amidst Fourth of July festivities at Fairview Park.

The Giants had the benefit of hitting a regulation softball in their last at-bat as opposed to a 16-inch mushball that was used most of the game.

“I saw that yellow ball come out there and I just thought I might win this game for us,” Prentice said. “It was a real pleasure to see all these guys out here. It’s unbelievable how well a lot of them still play.”

Prentice’s game-winning hit drove in pinch-runner Cooper Kinnaman, a current Logansport Youth Baseball player and one of many “ringers” utilized by both teams.

The Giants’ last-inning rally was ignited by a controversial call at first base where umpire Trent Tocco reversed his call from an apparent out to safe after a change of eye glasses. Perhaps the Marlins’ argument of the call was quieted because of an earlier ejection of Giants coach Jake Timmons by umpire Larry Firmani because of Timmons smoking a cigar in the third base coaching box. Timmons had a Lou Piniella-like reaction to his ejection, kicking dirt on the umpire and making quite a scene before exiting.

“I told Dave (Timmons), I said your dad should be used to being thrown out of a ballgame,” Prentice said. “He had quite a temper.”

“Doctor” Almon was busy throughout the game, whether it was delivering oxygen to base runners, bringing out a stretcher for a player who had fallen down, helping to repair a “wrenched back” where an actual large wrench was removed, or helping remove a plastic arm when a pitcher “threw his arm out.”

Before the game Logansport Mayor Michael Fincher presented a dedication plaque that will be placed at Crain Field that recognized the contributions of Don Crain, whom Crain Field is named after. The Crain family was also honored by the mayor.

Mike Nicoll, who hit the first home run in the history of Crain Field in its inaugural season in 1958, was then honored with the baseball that was supposedly recently found in the creek that runs outside the left-field fence of Crain Field. Nicoll was also honored with a sign that now rests in the spot where he hit his home run above the fence in left field.

It was also announced that a museum is in the works for youth baseball in Logansport that will be located in the new concession stand at Crain Field.

Firmani, 84, was one of the original founders of Little League baseball in Logansport when it was started in 1952.

“We started with four teams, 60 players,” Firmani said. “Now there’s more than 300 players. I could never foresee anything like that in my lifetime. But fortunately we did. It’s been good years. I’ve made good acquaintances like Steve (Clary), I don’t know how many others. That’s the purpose of it. It’s a small community. We’ve got some good baseball teams; we’ve got some good baseball players; we’ve got some good sports.”

Crain had a vision of transforming a city dump into what became Crain Field. Firmani was the umpire-in-chief when it opened for play 50 years ago.

“I remember when Mr. Crain brought me over here, and he said, ‘Firmani, this is going to be it.’ I said, ‘Oh my God, Mr. Crain! You’ve got to be dreaming here. When you talk about a dream — it was really a dream,” Firmani said. “The labor was all donated. It was just a tireless task for those people. ... We just took the rocks out with a rake. Not only me, there were many others. The list is endless.”

Clary, the Logansport Youth Baseball player agent and a player for the Geriatric Giants, noted that Crain Field has long been known as one of the best youth baseball fields in the state.

“They took care of this place. It was just immaculate. When you stepped out here you knew you were on one of the best fields in the state,” he said. “It still is. We go all around. We go to tournaments at other places and they want to come here. Now we have a second place (Metz Field) and we really put a lot of work into that. But they really want to come to Logansport.”

Beau Wicker can be contacted at (574) 732-5113 or via e-mail at beau.wicker@pharostribune.com