(#32)
This is one of the many great stories from the 1999 season when Hinds suffered through a long regular season, got better along the way, barely qualified for the Region 23, Division II tournament by winning just enough of the right games, set some new goals, and went on a miraculous, historic playoff run most teams only dream of.
The Eagles finished fourth in the NJCAA Division II World Series in Millington, Tennessee.
Some players have commented through the years that it was the best time they ever had playing baseball. Just about every player on the roster put up some incredible numbers in those three weeks.
We hit, hit for power, played small ball when we had to, stole a lot of bases, played some great defense, had solid performances from our starting pitchers, and our closer Clay Overby, with his unhittable slider, dominated every team every time he took the mound.
We had just won the Region 23 championship, beating Northwest Mississippi, ranked number 1 in the NJCAA Division II polls at the time. We beat them twice; 10-2 in the opener and 12-10 in the championship game. We also beat another arch-rival, Copiah-Lincoln 7-3 in Saturday’s winner’s bracket game.
That was probably a bigger win than beating the number 1 team in the country, because Co-Lin had owned us over the past two plus seasons, beating us 11 times in a row. That’s right, 11 times in a row. Character building domination.
Northwest eliminated the Wolfpack later that night and sent them home hurting. Itawamba had won the MACJC State Championship a week earlier, but lost their first two games and went home, too.
The reward for winning the Region 23 Tournament was having to travel 10+ hours up I-55 North to play the defending champion St. Louis Community College-Forest Park in a best of three series for the Central District championship. The winner of that series would advance to the Division 2 World Series. We had already played in the series in 1994 and 1995 (and also 1989 in Grand Junction, Colorado).
In those days, I wasn’t just the head baseball coach at Hinds, I was the only baseball coach at Hinds. Our trainer, the great Bo Black did a stellar job coaching first base, but I wasn’t ready to promote him and had to minimize my loud mouth and ejections; hard work.
Somewhere around the third inning in the opening game of the series, for some reason… my eyes crossed. I don’t why they crossed, they just crossed by themselves and wouldn’t come uncrossed. Remember when your mom told you not to cross your eyes because they might get stuck? That thought crossed my mind for the next 20 hours.
Try coaching third base in a close playoff game with your eyes crossed. Try sitting on the bench and calling pitches or making a trip to the mound with your eyes crossed. Try arguing with an umpire with your eyes crossed.
When I talked to the hitters, they would say, “Coach, your eyes are crossed.” When I made a trip to the mound, which wasn’t easy, our starting pitcher David Gurganus said, “Coach, your eyes are crossed.” I could only say, “Yes, I know that. Throw strikes!”
When I argued with the umpire, he would say, “Coach, your eyes are crossed” and I would say, “Yes, I know that. What’s your excuse?” 🙂
We won the opening game 10-9 and game 2 and possible game 3 would be played the next day.
My father-in-law, Jimmie Hutchison (Mr. Hutch), had made the drive to St. Louis. After the game he took me to a MEA clinic where they examined me and said they had no idea what was causing my eyes to cross; could be a stroke, could be an aneurism, could be a tumor. They didn’t want to speculate (which they just did), so they sent me to the emergency room at a local hospital for a MRI.
When the results came back, the radiologist said the MRI “didn’t show anything that could make my eyes cross,” but he said there were some “abnormalties in my brain” and recommended I see my neurologist when I got back home.
Then he laughed and said, “If you make it back home.” Funny guy.
I woke up the next morning and my eyes were not crossed. I never had that problem again and I never saw a neurologist. The abnormalties remain decades later; probably a ticking time bomb.
I don’t why that happened, but I always use my “go-to” reason for all my ailments. My mom smoked cigarettes when she was pregnant with me. 🙂 Or it could be my pitchers…. or my athletic director.
We won the Central District Championship in three games and advanced to Millington for the third time in 6 years and this time we finished fourth and we actually had a real chance to win the whole thing.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 