SO, WHAT DID THE HANOVER BASEBALL TEAM DO THAT WAS SO TERRIBLE?

 

Briefly Told … (I hope) …



Congratulations to Hanover County … not … for 

treating the Freedom of Information Act like it’s 

some sort of barrier to truth, justice and the 

American way … for, by redacting anything and 

everything that would explain why the high school 

baseball team was suspended, all you did was 

create even more suspicion … quite likely making 

what happened sound much worse than it really 

was … Equally stupefying was the opening line:

“This investigation is the result of an allegation of 

…” What? The explanation was redacted … Does 

that mean all it takes in Hanover County, USA, is a 

charge of some uncorroborated misdeed to bring 

the hammer down whether justified or otherwise? 

Not good, not good at all.




At last … finally … justice for BILLY WAGNER

 … voted into baseball’s hall of fame on his 10th

 (final) year of eligibility … That the left-handed 

reliever from Tazwell and Ferrum College 

(currently baseball coach at Charlottesville’s Miller 

School) had to wait this long is a condemnation of 

the process … especially the deep thinkers 

entrusted with being logical and unbiased yet, for 

reasons that defied common sense, kept holding 

Wagner back … So, instead of celebrating his 

well-earned inclusion into the brotherhood at 

Cooperstown, N.Y., national attention focused on

 ICHIRO SUZUKI falling a vote short of being 

unanimous on his first year of eligibility. Who was 

the “numbskull” who left the economy-sized 

outfielder off his ballot, asked ESPN’s DAMIEN 

WOODY. How dare he? … And, naturally, former 

Yankee starter C.C. SABATHIA, the other 

member of this year’s exclusive class, got the 

headlines in New York.





No sooner did Ohio State claim the national 

championship than defensive end … sorry, edge rusher 

… MITCHELL MELTON announced he was 

transferring to Virginia for his sixth (and final) year of 

eligibility … after playing 213 snaps since arriving in 

Columbus, Ohio, a four-star recruit in 2020 … Well, he 

is 6-4, 261. Injuries kept him from playing in 2001 and 

2002 after being redshirted his first year. Melton got on 

the field for eight snaps in 2024 … and has been 

credited with three career sacks in all. He becomes the 

fifth d-lineman to join the Cavaliers from the transfer 

portal … in a class rated among the country’s best.






The Good Lord must have needed some laughs … 

taking baseball icon BOB UECKER, 88, and hockey’s

 TOMMY McVIE, 89, little more than a week apart 

recently … Both were genuinely funny, invariably at 

their own expense … We met McVie in the fall of 1974 

… at the Washington Capitals’ training camp in 

London, Ontario. He and Richmond Robins coach

 LARRY WILSON were old friends … and there I was 

one morning, in my room next door to Wilson’s, trying 

to get some writing done … and unable to concentrate 

because of the loud laugher coming through the walls. 

Wilson and McVie were exchanging stories about the 

game’s good old days. Finally I gave up and joined 

them … and glad I did … Both are gone now … and I 

wouldn’t think of attempting to repeat their hilarious 

recollections of, for example, LARRY POPEIN

 coaching AHL Providence and being so angry that he 

conducted two-hour practice … without a puck ...


Until next time ...













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