“The Energy of the Mind is the Essence of Life”…Aristotle

Hello again, I’ve been away for a while, the whys of which I will clarify in a post this week, but first I must tell you a story. Surprised?

From time to time I have written here about the Venice High School Baseball program in Venice Florida. I am proud and privileged to say I am the voice of the Venice Indians, their designated historian and on occasion I get to knock some fungoes around and throw some BP.

The best part is I get to associate with a great group of young men who are committed, dedicated, hardworking, determined and focused. Their energy, retards that process we call aging.

Back in January of 2013 I wrote a story about one of our most loyal long time supporters, a man named Jack Dundas. A retired Army Colonel with seven, count em seven, Purple Hearts. He was wounded three times at the Battle of the Bulge, twice in Korea and twice in Vietnam. He passed away in November of 2011 and the 2012 team dedicated the season to him. That season ended in a State Championship.

https://fenwaypark100.org/2013/01/17/the-eagle-the-colonel-and-venice-high-school-baseball

This plaque, which was placed in January of 2013 marks the Colonel’s seat at the ball park.

On the day this plaque was installed, a bald eagle visited the ball park, circled a bit, perched for about 10 minutes and went on his way. A week later, on the first day of tryouts for the ’13’ team, the eagle returned, and watching from the left field light bank, waited for Coach Faulkner to finish his talk with the boys and then moved on.

The Colonel keeps his eye on troops at Venice High.

The first day of tryouts in 2014 brought yet another visit from the full bird, and 2015 did the same. It grew rather commonplace for the Colonel to make his appearance, ON THE FIRST DAY OF TRYOUTS, sit a while and then, satisfied that all was well, take flight. It kept us all shaking our heads and smiling.

The story took an interesting twist last Monday, January 11th and that twist began last March. As the Venice High team was making their march to what would become their third State Championship in four years; we lost another long time, loyal supporter.

Roy was 98 years young when he left us. He tallied the strikeouts for Venice High pitchers by hanging green K’s on the fence from his chair, on the home plate side of the Indian dugout. He too was a veteran of WW II and on the night before he passed, a wide smile came to his face when he was informed that the Indians had eeked out a 2-1 win.

Well last Monday I arrived at THE FIRST DAY of TRYOUTS and as I walked on the field Coach Faulkner came over to me…

The Venice High Baseball team has some very special eyes watching over them.

“Roy and Jack are both here.” He said and I didn’t quite understand. He threw his eyes skyward towards left field and there they were. They sat for about five minutes and then they were gone. Yet somehow I think we will see them again.

I’ll keep you posted.

And so it is on this FIRST DAY OF TRYOUTS.

About fenwaypark100

Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. An educator for more than two decades, a baseball fan for nearly 60 years, I have authored four books about baseball and her glorious history; with a fifth on the way in late spring of 2015; the first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me through my email. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 will bring 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. This blog has been dormant for awhile but 2015 will bring it back to life so jump on board, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Thanks for stopping by, poke around and enjoy. Autographed copies of all my books are available here, simply click on Raymond Sinibaldi and email me.

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2 Responses to “The Energy of the Mind is the Essence of Life”…Aristotle

mhasegawa says:

January 17, 2016 at 12:56 pm

Wonderful story. Thank you.

Garry Armstrong says:

January 18, 2016 at 11:08 am

I absolutely love the story. It absolutely resonates here on many levels. Is there a typo on Roy’s chronology? Should that be 1917? Anyway, thanks so much for sharing this terrific piece.