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PACE 2B
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
OUTDOORS WITH SKIPPER
AMERICA’S GAME
A nice reward for battling the heat
I t was opening day of Archery season
this year.
If you were hunting that day, you
know how hot and miserable it was. No
breeze, just plain hot.
Tyler Sims fiance, Stephanie Ferguson,
was using a cross bow that Tyler had pur
chased for her. Heading to the woods in
Banks County around 4:30 Saturday after
noon, Tyler took Stephanie to a stand where
a nice buck had been seen several times
earlier in the year.
With it being so hot, Tyler decides to leave
the woods early, but sent her a text message
to stay until dark. At that time Tyler would
come back to get her. After numerous text
messages back and forth regarding how hot
it was, right before dark he asked her if she
wanted to come on down and eat supper.
The message came back “yes.”
Tyler starts out, but gets another message
saying “don’t come.” He knew then that she
had seen something in the woods. Another
message follows, “I see it but can’t get a
shot.”
With minutes passing, which seemed
like an eternity, finally Tyler’s phone rings
this time. No text message. “Round up the
search party, I have shot a big nine-pointer.”
Arriving quickly at her stand, Stephanie
tells Tyler that she thought she had made a
good shot and it didn’t sound like the deer
NINE-POINTER
Stephanie Ferguson harvested this
nine-pointer on opening day of ar
chery season.
had gone very far. Sev
eral minutes later while
tracking a slight blood
trail, they discovered
the buck lying dead in a
large ditch. High fives,
and wahoos, followed.
Back to the house
they went with the deer
in tow. Time now for
pictures and bragging
rights. This nine-pointer
had a fifteen-inch
spread and seven plus inch G2s and G3s.
Congratulations Stephanie, you stayed in
the heat and got a nice one. Tyler sure has a
challenge now.
If you have taken a nice deer with your
bow, do give me a call.
NOTE: Stephanie’s fiance, Steven Tyler,
reported he got this one pictured below
Tuesday and included a note which reads:
“It was smaller than hers though. She is still
the champ.”
His was an 8-pointer, 13” spread, 7-inch
G2s.
Skipper Smith is an outdoors columnist
for The Banks County News. His column
appears weekly. Let him know about
your outdoors or hunting adventures at
706-677-1520.
EIGHT-POINTER
Steven Tyler answered with this
eight-pointer but was still outdone
by his “better half.”
skipper
smith
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The Evolution of Baseball — Part I
D uring Aaron’s journey to
ward the home run record,
the topic of the time was
comparing The Hammer to Babe
Ruth. I remember the debate as if it
were just yesterday. Some pointed out
that Ruth hit his 714 dingers in many
less at-bats than Aaron, while others
pointed out that Aaron had to tolerate
longer and more rigorous travel than
the Babe. The debate continues.
Like most things in our lives,
change is a constant. When I was
born, the population of America was
about 155 million.
\
4
Lifl
john w.
rieken
1908 Boston Doves
C Frank Bowerman
6’2”
190
IB Dan McGann
6’0”
190
2B Claude Ritchey
5’6”
167
3B Bill Sweeney
5’ 11”
175
5*9”
5’10”
5’8”
SS Bill Dahlen
180
OF George Browne
160
OF Ginger Beaument
190
OF Johnny Bates
168
Average Height: 5’9-l/2”
(excludes pitchers)
Average Weight: 177.5 lbs.
5’7”
(excludes pitchers)
Now roughly 300 million souls occupy these
United States. Scary. Scary indeed.
Change is also true of baseball. While the
game remains essentially the same (except for
the ridiculous designated hitter rule and inter
league play), three strikes, four balls, 60" 6”,
90", and three outs are still the base measure
ment of America’s favorite past time.
What has also changed is the size of the
players.
I got to thinking the other day about players'
physical stature after watching the Diamond-
backs’ Randy Johnson throw another master
piece.
Randy stands 6' 10” tall and weighs in at
225 - quite slim for one of the league’s tallest
players. His delivery looks similar to a Dutch
windmill.
All one sees are his long arms sweeping
around in perfect motion, just like the blades
of a windmill.
My curiosity led me to do an impromptu
study of the physical development of players
throughout history.
I have for you a very unscientific look at
three groups of ballplayers. My methodol
ogy here is quite simple: I have compared the
starting line ups of the current Atlanta Braves
(2008) to the 1958 Milwaukee Braves, and
finally to the 1908 Boston Doves (predecessor
to the Boston Braves).
For consistency, I considered those who
started the season, but may not necessarily be
playing now - Matt Diaz for example.
1958 Milwaukee Braves
C Del Crandall
6’1”
195
IB Frank Torre
6’3”
205
2B Red Schoendienst
6’0”
170
3B Eddie Mathews
6’1”
200
SS Johnny Logan
5’11’
’ 175
OF Wes Covington
6’1”
205
OF Bill Bruton
6’0”
169
OF Hank Aaron
6’0”
180
Average Height: 6’ 1/2
” (excludes pitch-
rs)
Average Weight: 187.5 lbs.
(excludes
itchers)
2008 Atlanta Braves
C Brian McCann
6’3’
’ 210
IB Mark Teixeira
6’2’
’ 215
2B Kelly Johnson
6T
’ 205
3B Chipper Jones
6’4’
’ 230
SS Yunel Escobar
6’2’
’ 200
OF Matt Diaz
6T
’ 206
OF Mark Kotsay
6’0’
’ 180
OF Jeff Francoeur
6’4’
’ 220
Average Height:
ers)
Average Weight:
pitchers)
6'2” (excludes pitch-
208.25 lbs. (excludes
There is no surprise here; players have
gotten taller and weigh more than the average
player of 100 years ago.
But other elements of the game have also
changed measurably which we’ll explore next
month. My goal here, in this four-part series,
“The Evolution of Baseball,” is to examine
how the changes have affected the play on the
held.
Next: Are Ballparks Shrinking?
Banks County resident John Rieken is an
avid baseball fan. E-mail comments about this
column to jrieken@windstream.net.
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