Border Baseball

Thinking of some friends that gave all they could on this day of remembrance

Saturday afternoon, I will be a geek again, watching my favorite robotics team compete at the Amarillo Civic Center; team 4063 from Del Rio, Texas, known as TrikzR4kidz. Check it out if you want. Admission is free. I had the privilege and honor of working with this team the first few years of their existence and witnessed excellence being created!

Remembering our hometown hero on National Medal of Honor Day

Good News Amarillo baseball fans. The Sod Poodles took the opening series of the Texas League playoffs from the San Antonio Missions and now advance to the Championship series against the Arkansas Travelers. The first game of the best of three game series will be played in Arkansas, and the remaining two games will be played here at Hodgetown, thus guaranteeing the Championship game will be played in Amarillo. After the first game in Arkansas, the final one or two games will be played at Hodgetown; the first will be played Tuesday evening and the second, if needed, will be played Wednesday evening.

Look who is an honorary Sod Poodle tonight - number 8, Troy Aikman

With the upcoming demolition of Potter County (Memorial) Stadium, I will be losing an old friend. I have watched many games there; most standing atop the dumpster on the third base side of the stadium. In the early 1960s I would watch the game from that position, while being ready to chase after long fouls or home run balls. After the 5th inning the gates would be opened and I would often go inside the stadium and watch the last half of the game.

My brothers and I would watch an entire season for a dime. We would either walk to the game or our mother would drive us to the game and drop us off. At the end of the game, I would call home from a pay phone at the stadium and let it ring one time - the signal for mom to come pick us up; then, when I hung up my dime was returned to use again at the next game.

I believe someone could write a book about this stadium and there would be many interesting stories. Many famous baseball players had games there while playing for the Amarillo teams, or their opponents. There were many memorable games played at this stadium. I have some memories that were specific to me, such as an unwelcome meeting with the notorious Potter County Deputy Sherriff Gilley, or a better experience shared with others attending the game watching Joe Pepitone line a baseball through the right field fence. Anytime the Clown Prince of baseball, Max Patkin, performed his antics was always memorable. In one case, a game (or night before the game) was the inspiration for a scene in Ron Shelton’s 1988 minor league baseball classic movie “Bull Durham” (the broken sprinkler scene where Crash Davis promised a rainout), but nothing in its history could top the opening game in Potter County Stadium. Many media stories are circulating now that erroneously state the stadium opened in 1949, when in fact, probably the greatest baseball stadium opening game ever, occurred after several rain delays on May 5, 1957. Here is the way Amarillo Sports reporter Putt Powell briefly described it the following day in his column (see attached PUTTing Around image).

The Amarillo Sod Poodles open their 2023 home baseball season this evening, hosting the Corpus Christi Hooks in a 6-game series at Hodgetown. The Soddies opened the regular season at Frisco in a 3-game series last week, winning 2 of the 3 games.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7:05 pm local time and if you plan to attend be aware that Hodgetown is going to be cashless this year.

The Amarillo Sod Poodles closed out their 2022 season with a win, defeating the San Antonio Missions 5-2 Sunday evening. Jamison Hill started for the Sod Poodles, pitching 5-innings of scoreless baseball and was credited with the win. Tim Tawa hit a home run for the Soddies.

The next game for the Sod Poodles will be April 6, 2023 in Frisco and the next home game at Hodgetown will be April 11, 2023 when hosting the Corpus Christi Hooks. The 2023 season looks to be another with plenty of offense. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected a couple of good hitters in this year’s draft, including Ivan Melendez, the El Paso native and Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year, from the University of Texas. Hopefully we will get to enjoy him, as well as other great talent, wearing Sod Poodle uniforms as they work their way up the system to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

A lot of thanks go to the Sod Poodles that entertained us this season. A Texas League high of 379,029 fans attended games at Hodgetown in 2022. Congratulations go to Leandro Cedeno. Even though he was promoted to Reno a couple of weeks ago, he still has the highest home run total for the Texas League this year (30) and set a high bar for future Sod Poodle sluggers to overtake, should they plan to set a new stadium and franchise record.

The Amarillo Sod Poodles win streak ended at six games with the San Antonio Missions taking Saturday evening’s contest 6-3. Ross Carver started for the Sod Poodles, going 4-innings, giving up 5-runs and took the loss. The final game of the season will be played Sunday afternoon in San Antonio. Jamison Hill is scheduled to start the season final for the Sod Poodles.