SPY’s Community Newsletter
(5/23/23)
SPY’s Help Underwrite Kids’ Summer Reading Program
Pictured (left) is Shana Cappon, Treasurer of the Sunfield Area Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) presenting a check for $500 to Lisa Bell, Director of the Sunfield District Library. The donation from the SPY’s was to help provide funding for the Library’s annual summer reading program.
News From Centennial Acres
Centennial Acres Golf & Banquet Center is now offering Daily Food Specials from 4 PM to 9 PM each week Monday thru Friday. In addition to their regular menu items, they now are offering at least four “specials” that will change each week. They also welcome to-go orders---517-566-8055. Here is this week’s specials menu:
Notice #1
This Sunday, May 28th. there will be a special Memorial Day Service at the Sunfield United Brethren Church starting at 3 PM. It is to honor the men and women who gave their lives protecting our nation’s freedom.
Notice #2
Coming up on Sunday, June 4th is the Lakewood Lions Club’s Annual Chicken BBQ. It will be held at the Lake Odessa Beach Pavilion from 3 PM til 5:30 PM. This is for take-out only with drive-up service on Virginia Street. Prices are---Adults $13 and Children $8.
Notice #3
The Sunfield Library is holding a book sale this week. Be sure to stop in and check it out!
Notice #4
By the way, don’t forget that this Friday, May 26th. is the Walleye Fish Fry from 5 PM til 8:30 PM at Centennial Acres. Good eatin’ folks!
Parting Comments
• Deep Thought of the Week: Life is short---live it. Love is rare---grab it. Anger is bad---dump it. Fear is awful---face it. Memories are sweet---cherish it.
· Notable Quote: " For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”---Winston Churchill
· That’s Puny Department: Two windmills are standing in a field and one asks the other, "What kind of music do you like?" The other says, "I'm a big metal fan."
· Did You Know Section: Charles Gardner Radbourn , nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Buffalo Bisons (1880), Providence Grays (1881–1885), Boston Beaneaters (1886–1889), Boston Reds (1890), and Cincinnati Reds (1891).
Early in the 1884 season, Radbourn shared pitching duties with Charlie Sweeney. Radbourn, who had a reputation for being vain, became jealous as Sweeney began to have more success, and the tension eventually broke out into violence in the clubhouse. Radbourn was faulted as the initiator of the fight and was suspended without pay after a poor outing on July 16, having been accused of deliberately losing the game by lobbing soft pitches over the plate. But on July 22, Sweeney had been drinking before the start of the game and continued drinking in the dugout between innings. Despite being obviously intoxicated, Sweeney managed to make it to the seventh inning with a 6–2 lead; when the manager attempted to relieve him with the relief pitcher, Sweeney verbally abused him before being ejected and storming out of the park, leaving Providence with only eight players. With two men to cover the outfield, they lost the game.
Afterward, Sweeney was kicked off the Grays, and this left the team in a state of disarray with the consensus view that the team should be disbanded. At that point, Radbourn offered to start every game for the rest of the season (having pitched in 76 of 98 games the season before) in exchange for a small raise and exemption from the reserve clause for the next season. From that point, July 23 to September 24 when the pennant was clinched, Providence played 43 games and Radbourn started 40 of them and won 36. Soon, pitching every other day as he was, his arm became so sore he couldn't raise it to comb his hair. On game day he was at the ballpark hours before the start, getting warmed up. He began his warm up by throwing just a few feet, increasing the distance gradually until he was pitching from second base and finally from short center field.
Radbourn finished the season with a league-leading 678.2 innings pitched and 73 complete games, and he won the Triple Crown with a record of 60-12, a 1.38 earned run average, and 441 strikeouts. His 60 wins in a season is a record which is expected never to be broken because no starter has made even as many as 37 starts in a season since 1991. Also, his 678.2 innings pitched stands at second all-time, behind only Will White (680 in 1879) for a single season.
After the regular season ended, the NL champion Grays played the American Association champion New York Metropolitans in the 1884 World Series. Radbourn started each game of the series and won all three, while allowing just three unearned runs.
Notices
1. If there is any organization or business out there that has something they would like to advertise or promote, please feel free to submit it to this Newsletter and we will help publicize it. There is no charge. We are glad to provide this means as a public service to help keep the community informed.
2. If you are looking for further information about the SPY’s events---Corporate or Platinum Sponsorship information---
scholarship forms---youth sports reimbursement forms---past SPY newsletters---etc.---just go to the SPY website at
3. NOTE: If you know of anyone who would like to receive these SPY’s Community Newsletters, just send me an email at john.sandrafisher@gmail.com with their email address and we will add them to the distribution list.