Three weeks before Brent Maggard was born, his mom was playing in a slow-pitch game in which she even slid into second base. “She was safe, by the way,” Maggard said. “That’s where it all began.” So it’s probably no surprise that baseball has long held a grip on Maggard, who went on to star… Read more »
Six former high school baseball standouts, including two who signed pro contracts, and a trio of former outstanding high school-college softball players will soon be recognized as the third annual Diamond 9 award recipients of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. President and Executive Director Jerald Andrews announced the Diamond 9 on Tuesday. The Hall… Read more »
When it comes to baseball stories, they are a lot like fishing stories – heavy on entertainment, with some truth maybe sprinkled in somewhere. Maybe. Exhibit A is Brad Simmons, a former Glendale High School pitching standout who recently took a seat in the dugout of his old stomping grounds and reminisced about his long-ago… Read more »
The voice on the other end of the line paused, and soon got choked up. For Diane “Dink” Miller, trying to describe the man who showed her the game, taught her the game and who was her biggest fan was understandably emotional. “In September 2013, I lost my dad,” Miller explained. “And while my family… Read more »
He burned up under the sun and burned up his summers playing baseball because, well, that’s what kids did the 1970s in Springfield. And the evenings? For Tim Blasi, was there anywhere else to be? “I grew up at Fassnight Park with the AAA softball. That was the only show in town,” Blasi proudly says.… Read more »
Summers used to mean meeting up with buddies not long after breakfast and playing some form of baseball, returning home for lunch and then heading back out the door again. Jim Lumpe cherishes those days, as you might imagine. He and several of his childhood friends went on to further the tradition of Glendale High… Read more »
Looking back, sure, Marionville native Janice Crumpley-Bluebaum wonders what might have been had high schools of the late 1960s offered softball for girls. However, in what’s a terrific reminder about the value of fighting through roadblocks, Crumpley-Bluebaum still found a way to enjoy the sport she loved. The southwest Missouri farm girl became a fixture… Read more »
All Caitlin Chapin wanted to do in fast-pitch softball was help raise the profile of the Ozark High School program. She and her teammates made it happen, as in the fall of 2007 the Lady Tigers reached the program’s first final four. “When we first started, we were playing in shorts and playing in little… Read more »
