(#58) I invited two legendary Delta State University baseball coaches, Boo Ferriss and Mike Kinnison to be the featured speakers at our "Step Up to the Plate" pre-season banquet when I coached almost a full season at Pearl High School in the spring of 2006. 🙂 It was held at what was then the Farm … Continue reading The Boo Ferriss Baseball Card Auction
Category: Short Stories
Great Baseball Stories
(#56) My whole purpose of writing Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach is to share great baseball stories and put them in a place for everybody to read and share, so they won't be forgotten. Too many of those great characters of the game are no longer with us and those great stories will eventually … Continue reading Great Baseball Stories
Characters of the Game
(#52) Kelly Dickinson from Lufkin (TX) High School came to Hinds in the fall of 1986 by way of the great Bill Marchant, who coached him in high school and also coached at Hinds during the 1983 season. He was a gritty, fearless, savvy, and ballsy competitor. He batted right and threw left. In his … Continue reading Characters of the Game
No Picnic at Perk
(#46) Mississippi Gulf Coast always had a serious home field advantage in Perkinston. In 1993, in a 3-3 tie, with nobody on base and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bulldog's lead-off hitter hit a line drive down the left field line. Before it could roll into the corner for at … Continue reading No Picnic at Perk
Greatest Moments in Baseball
(#45) This is one of the greatest moments in sports. Right after the Delta State Statesmen won the Division II National Baseball Championship on May 3, 2004 at Patterson Field in Montgomery, Alabama, DSU head coach Mike Kinnison climbs over the third base dugout and into the stands to present the trophy to his mentor … Continue reading Greatest Moments in Baseball
Snuffy’s Ruthian Bomb
(#41) It's a urban legend in West Jackson. If you saw it, you didn't believe it and if you didn't see it, you can’t believe it. But it happened at the annual Magnolia Academy Baseball Classic in March of 1981. In a night game between Brandon and Manhattan, the Rebel's Raymond "Snuffy" Everett hit an … Continue reading Snuffy’s Ruthian Bomb
Old School Pitchers
(#34) Here's something you don't see any more. Hinds was playing in NJCAA Division 2 District E Playoffs in 1994 against Chattahoochee Valley Community College at the University of West Alabama in Livingston, Alabama. Our three starting pitchers, David Townsend, Chad Bradford, and Eric Bock each pitched complete games in the three game series. Townsend … Continue reading Old School Pitchers
Stan the Man
(#33) I specifically remember two shots that Stan Prewitt hit when he was our great shortstop and leader at Magnolia Academy from 1977 through 1979. He hit more than two shots in his career, but these two are ingrained in my mind decades later. One was a line drive off Tim Schutz, a hard throwing … Continue reading Stan the Man
Thanks Jeff!
(#30) Here are some kind words from Jeff McClaskey, one of my great players at Magnolia and Hinds, who went on to an outstanding coaching career, mostly at Northwest Rankin where the baseball stadium he built is named in his honor. This was included, at his request, in a newspaper article about his retirement from … Continue reading Thanks Jeff!
Who’s on First?
(#17) When my son Jake was a kid, he came up with a funny spin on the famous Abbott and Costello routine, Who's on First? His cousin, Tyler Weir (pronounced "Where") was a senior catcher for Jackson Academy during the 2007 season. One of the Raider's top pitchers was a hard throwing right-hander named Brent … Continue reading Who’s on First?
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 