Social Circle Baseball Roster

[Rolando Kumar]

Adding Brittany to the staff is truly a "full-circle moment", said Coach Sopocy. "Brittany and I have had so much success at the high school level and now, with the addition of DeKyra [Dennis] on staff, I feel that success will continue. Brittany and I have discussed the chance to coach together for awhile now and surreal to make it a reality."

Welch and Sopocy go way back, as the duo have worked coaching camps, lessons, and AVCA "Building Ways to Grow the Game" events over the course of six years. Additionally, Sopocy coached Welch to 2017 sportstownchicago.com All-Star recognition and finished as the runner ups in the 2017 Illinois State championship with Resurrection College Prep.

Welch carried out a fantastic collegiate career at Division I Oakland University from 2019-2021, earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year accolades en route to securing a nomination for the 2019 Women's Newcomer of the Year. She was also the "Player of the Game" on nineteen separate occasions. The outside hitter from Chicago Ill. totaled 582 kills (2.20 per set), 22 service aces, 65 blocks, and 376 digs in her three seasons with the Grizzlies.

In addition to her busy schedule as a student-athlete, Welch was a sideline reporter through ESPN+, working with the basketball, baseball, and softball teams at Oakland. She assisted in the production of live streams, graphics, press releases, and social media growth. Welch, a Communication major and Journalism minor, also spent time with The Oakland Post as a sportswriter and was a host on "The Pulse", which produced daily sports news for Oakland Athletics.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the North Park University volleyball programs," said Coach Welch. "Mike and I have already accomplished so much together and have made extraordinary history in our club and high school. Now we are back together at a different level and situation. It's exciting to think about what we will accomplish with North Park Volleyball!"

The Dodgers announced the major league club would work out at Dodgertown from February 18th until March 9th. After that date, the major league club would re-locate to Miami where they would play 19 exhibition games, 16 of those games at night. 1

Walter O'Malley discusses his intention to invite former Hall of Fame New York Giant player and manager Bill Terry to Dodgertown for Spring Training. "I grew up as a Giants fan," said O'Malley "and I always regarded Bill Terry as my favorite ball player. Bill's living at Jacksonville and I'm going to invite him down to Vero Beach. Once he gets there, he will begin helping out." 3

Dodger Manager Charlie Dressen told sportswriter Jimmy Burns of his plans to commute from Vero Beach to Miami for Dodger exhibition games. The Dodgers are scheduled to play 14 night games of 18 exhibitions in Miami so the flight commute of Dressen will allow him to see minor league games during the day and then manage the Dodgers in the night game in Miami. "We have our own private plane," said Dressen, "I think I can make good use of it by flying back and forth between the two camps." 5

Marine officers made an inspection visit for three days to Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. The baseball Spring Training base was formerly a training site for aviation personnel in World War II and the military was reviewing potential site because of the Korean conflict that begin in July, 1950. 6

The Dodgers announced they had begun a working agreement with the Caracas club in the Venezuelan Winter League. This is the first definite agreement between a major league club and a winter league club. The Dodgers have agreed to provide nine players each winter league season to the Caracas club. The Caracas club would permit the Dodgers to select the winter league manager for the team. 7

Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese was good at marbles as a youngster, earning his nickname, but showed a good touch on the golf course. Reese won the Dodger players golf tournament with a gross low score of 78. 8

Walter O'Malley poses alongside a "cricket cradle" that will help ball players sharpen their reflexes. The instructional device appears to be a misshapen coffee table so that when players throw the ball across the table to each other, the trajectory of the throw will be random and force the fielder to react to the strange angle. Branch Rickey read about the idea in the summer of 1950 when he was with the Dodgers and ordered six models for Dodgertown. In the fall of 1950, Rickey sold his Dodger stock and became the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Each "cradle" has a label "Made in England." 9

In the first of only two exhibition games to be played at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, the Dodgers defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-1 beofre 3,248 fans. The Athletics had a new manager for the first season in 51 years as Jimmy Dykes took over as manager for owner Connie Mack. The Vero Beach High School band provides music and before the game, acting Mayor Lewis Berger of Vero Beach welcomes the crowd and introduces Dodger President Walter O'Malley. The new Dodger President then introduces baseball legend Connie Mack, owner of the Athletics. 10 The proceeds from the exhibition game were donated to the city of Vero Beach. 11

Jackie Robinson is offered a job as the manager of the Dodgers' AAA minor league when his playing days are completed. "Jackie told me that he would be delighted and honored to tackle this managerial post," said Dodger President Walter O'Malley. "He told me that he always held a soft spot in his heart for Montreal and so do I. I'm sure than when and if this promotion materializes, Montreal would gladly welcome Robinson's return. It's something that he can keep in mind because every star feels greatly relieved when he knows he might get a chance at a manager's job when his playing ability decreases." According to O'Malley, Robinson said, "It's like a wonderful dream." 12

Walter O'Malley hosts his first Dodger St. Patrick's Day party at the Sea Gull Hotel in Miami, Florida. O'Malley invites officials of the New York Giants, including Vice President Chub Feeney and Pete Stoneham, son of owner Horace Stoneham, to his gala on the beach. The press corps from New York, Brooklyn and Miami, as well as umpire Jocko Conlan were among the invited guests. Monsignor William Barry of St. Patrick's Church in Miami Beach cut a decorated cake stating, "Welcome Irishmen." Mrs. May Smith, the widow of John L. Smith and a stockholder of the Dodgers, also attended. 13

Dodger scout Andy High taught bunting practice for pitchers and turned the drill into a game. High had the groundskeeper draw circles on the infield grass for optimum bunting territory beyond home plate. The pitcher with the most bunts inside circles was to be awarded a prize. 14

A travel writer for the New York Times writes an article of the many enjoyments of the town of Vero Beach, Florida. C.E. Wright wrote "Best known to many Northerners as "Dodgertown", the training quarters of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Vero Beach has had its share of attention of baseball writers since 1948 when Branch Rickey, who then headed the Dodger organization, selected this city as training grounds not only for the Dodger team but for its many minor league affiliates. The training camp has facilities for 700 to 800 ball players in a former naval air station and is said to be the largest baseball school in the world." 15

His team held a narrow lead when the coach asked Chris to pitch. Chris swiftly closed the door, allowing only one base runner in the final innings of the game. While some teammates taunted others and pumped their fists, Chris just shook many hands with a huge smile.

Charlie Hartford and son, Chris.

A Father's

Field of Dreams

Charlie Hartford discovered that "baseball is a platform for intimate talk," where a father can find time with, and for, his children.

by John Cunningham '78

When Charlie Hartford '80 was a boy in suburban Boston, he never dreamed of attending a small liberal arts college in Indiana. He never dreamed of becoming a publisher of college textbooks for publishing conglomerate Houghton-Mifflin. But even as a young man, he dreamed of taking his son to his first baseball game.

Charlie envisioned the perfect first game: a clear, crisp day; a game filled with unscripted baseball drama; and the best seats in Fenway Park. So, not long after his son, Christopher, celebrated his seventh birthday, the former Wabash English major-turned-textbook publisher called the Red Sox ticket office on a long shot. He knew the best seats are hoarded by season ticket holders, who rarely return them for sale. But just as he called, two box seats became available. Charlie and Christopher snagged second-row seats behind the on-deck circle.

Chris, now 13, still remembers those seats and their proximity to baseball's magic.

"I never realized how fast a major-league baseball moves, the sound it made, and the pop in the catcher's mitt," he says. He recalls the details of the dramatic Red Sox rally that won the game. He remembers the crowd cheering, and his dad teaching him how to keep score and follow the strategy of the game.

"Chris was planted in his seat the entire game," Charlie says with a laugh. "He was clearly hooked." It was a game at Fenway with his father in 1966 that ignited Charlie's own passion for the game. His voice rises as he remembers: "It was Sox against the Washington Senators. Ray Culp was pitching for the Sox, and 6'7" Frank Howard was the biggest player most of us had ever seen, but Culp struck him out every time."

Although he fell in love with the game, Charlie was no athlete. He never played much baseball in high school or college. As he married and began raising his own son, he hoped only that Chris would come to share his joy in the game. What followed went beyond his expectations.

After that game at Fenway in 1994, Chris joined a Little League team. Chris honed his skills with a pitch return device in the front yard.

"I played so much there that I wore out our lawn," Chris says and grins. "In fact, I was obsessed."

Chris played his first year in the farm league with an undefeated team. But he was small, inexperienced, and often placed safely out of the action in right field. Then, in the final inning of the final game of the season while the opposing team had tying runs on base, he made a sensational running catch to end the game.

Chris earned a promotion to minor league and his father became his coach. Charlie also enlisted other coaches to teach the rules, skills, and sportsmanship of the game. His teams had average records, but they had special chemistry. Every child got playing time, individual support, and ice cream after the games. Many literally jumped with enthusiasm at the start of practices and games. Charlie is proud of the many thank-you notes from parents and is touched by one mother's words: "This was the best experience my son has ever had." It was a father's labor of love, but it enriched Charlie in other ways.

"Coaching made me a better manager at work," he explains. "In managing Chris and his teams, I had to discover each player's strengths, define their roles, and treat each person as special. Each needed different kinds of support. But with all of them, you had to tolerate mistakes and explain why they happened so that the player could get better." Charlie uses the same principles as touchstones for managing other professionals, balancing attention to individual needs with what is best for the team.

While Charlie was developing as a coach, Chris quietly became a special player. By age 12, he was selected for the all-star game. In five innings at shortstop, he made two stunning defensive plays that brought loud ovations, and hit a two-run triple off the left-field fence. His team held a narrow lead when the coach asked Chris to pitch. Chris swiftly closed the door, allowing only one base runner in the final innings of the game. While some teammates taunted others and pumped their fists, Chris just shook many hands with a huge smile. As proud of his sportsmanship as he was of Chris's athletic feats, Charlie had never been happier at a baseball game.

Last spring saw Chris graduate to the Senior League and make the roster of the middle school team. He continues pitching like an ace, and he upped the ante at the plate, hitting over .500 for the season.

Charlie now watches from the sidelines. And although he's enjoyed watching his son's astonishing baseball development, he adds: "I really just want him to enjoy the game." He feels the same way about his son's academic and musical interests. He tries to nurture without applying any pressure.

"My dad is supportive, but he doesn't overcoach," Chris says. "He focuses on the good things, and he never yells at the ump or acts crazy." Chris says his father taught him that good teammates and coaches "pick each other up" and "don't let the mistakes get you down."

But when he recalls his favorite baseball memories, Chris tends to underplay his own on-field accomplishments. Instead he speaks of watching last year's Red Sox-Yankee playoff games late into the night with his sister, Ellen, and his mom, who is a Yankees fan. He loved attending a Red Sox playoff victory with his dad. He talks about the trip to the Hall of Fame with three generations of family, and he laughs at the irony of his father's loyalty to the Red Sox and his grandfather's equal backing of the arch-rival Yankees.

As for Charlie, baseball is just part of being a father. He loves playing catch with his son or daughter or watching a lazy summer game with them. "Baseball is a platform for intimate talk," he says. "It is slow and has lots of pauses, so you can talk about anything while watching it. And the players have long careers so that they bridge the generations."

The Hartfords' baseball conversations ebb and flow around personal matters, social issues, trivia and history: like a slow, deep river connecting the generations.

If this sounds a bit too mystical, consider baseball's role in Charlie's life. He was sold on Wabash College by a Boston native and Red Sox fan working for admissions. The clincher was a night of watching the '75 World Series at the Lambda Chi house, where he later came to live for four years. Shortly after college, Charlie was at a party and asked a baseball trivia question: "Who ended Herb Score's career with a line drive?" Janice Johnson replied, "Gil McDougald," and she became Janice Hartford a year later. Then Charlie spent several years learning the publishing trade from a fellow baseball fan who was also his managing editor. And now Charlie's daughter is also playing Little League, and Charlie is coaching again.

In W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe, Kid Scissons brings together in an Iowa cornfield players from many generations to hear his message: "As you begin to speak the word of baseball, as you speak it to men and women, you are going to find that these men and women are going to be changed by that life flow, by the loving word of baseball."

Charlie Hartford is speaking baseball when he says, "Fatherhood is a chance to share things that are most important to you, a chance to give to your children." He pauses, as if reflecting on his own field of dreams. "It is a time to see them grow and do better and to enjoy it."

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