The "Commish"

In 1979 my family, from Chicago, had just purchased Maple Leaf Park in Earlville. We were looking for new ideas to enhance the business. Eddie, "Ed", Mad Dog Hollywood gave me a magazine celebrating the 25th anniversery of the Over-The-Line Tournament in San Diego, California. They play on the beach, three players per team, with a twelve inch ball and no gloves. They also have several different divisions ranging from coed to team members ages having to add to 100 to compete in the century division. I liked the game but adjustments had to be made. Earlville, IL is a long way from the beaches of San Diego. We took the game and sprinkled in a little bit of Chicago softball and a dab of hardball baseball to produce lineball. I would like to share with you my thoughts and observations as the lineball commissioner for each of the past 25 years over the next couple of weeks.

We changed the back of the field a little bit so that we could use two utility poles as deep foul line markers. Instead of a rectangular shape ours was more slanted down the lines. The infield was exactly the same as today. My father, Chuck Todd and I worked for what seemed like hours squaring off that first field. They were meticulous workers and wouldn't stop until everything was perfect. We used a big old tug-of-war rope for the line. Four teams showed up to play on Saturday. The Neutron Warriors captained by my cousin, Tim, and including Bob Wagner; the Todds team, starting Larry's Cal Ripken run; the Gentle Strokes, a Chicago team featuring Eddie Hollywood, Jimbo and sweet swinging Ed. The Urso team consisting of my brother, Wayne, my wife Maureen and my father. Several other people would stop by to see what was going on, and we would invite them to play. We had a keg of beer for Saturday, and my mom made us a nice Italian dinner Saturday night. On Saturday the Neutron Warriors were unstoppable. A large campfire was enjoyed by all. Several players couldn't play on Sunday, so we patched the remaining players together forming new teams. The Neutron Warriors and The Strokes remained with their original lineups. I hooked up with Larry and a couple of other players to form the Allstars. The Warriors had a meltdown and the Allstars barely got by the Strokes. We decided to use the Allstars name for our first champions. Because everyone who played that weekend was a star, we were the Allstars.

Probably the biggest and best change we made was switching the ball from Over-The Lines 12 incher to the 16 inch "Clincher" as used in the Chicago softball leagues. Softball was invented in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day 1887. A group of Yale and Harvard alums were sitting around a boat house waiting for ticker-tape reports of their schools annual football game. They tied a boxing glove into a ball and started hitting it with a broomstick. One of them wrote up a set of rules and softball was born. The game caught on in cities across the U.S. using a small 12 inch ball. In Chicago players used a 16 inch ball, a better fit for the cities many small neighborhood parks, since it didn't travel as far as the 12 inch ball when hit. By the 1930's sftball rivaled baseball and horse racing in popularity in the Windy City. Some of the games outdrew the Cubs and the White Sox. The advent of TV, more sports alternatives and a demographic shift to the more spacious suburbs cut into 16 inch softballs popularity. Up to four years ago the game was played in only a handful of city leagues. Then, in 1999 Chicago's high schools made boys 16 inch softball a fall varsity sport. They now have over 24 teams. But, they have a way to go because Maple Leaf Park has been playing with that alluring melon for 25 years. "Line Ball" is an art form." "The game of ball is glorious." Walt Whitman

The Todds 1981,1982 & 1983 These were the Todd years. Larry, John, Tom and Chuck dominated the tournament during this period winning three years in a row. We added the designated hitter rule in 1981. There was only one field at the time and this was a way to let more players participate. When the Todd's offence was on a roll it was impossible to stop them. I played deep in those days and remember the frustration of trying to shut them down. They had me running from side to side continuously attempting to prevent their shots from turning into home runs. Chuck Todd was in his late fifties then and he had great hands and a potent bat you could tell he was a ball player. He is still the oldest player to have ever played the game. During this time some of the current big names made their debuts. The Dr. played with The Neutron Warriors and Greg Henning joined my brother, Alan and the big bopper Brace to form a very powerful Saturday team. Unfortunately, teams must also play on Sunday. The defenses adjusted and turned Brace's long drives into fly outs instead of home runs. It has always been interesting to watch the way different teams play defense and how they change as the weekend progresses. During this period we changed the outfield into its present rectangular shape and started to keep the statistics for offensive accomplishments. The Saturday night meals were quickly becoming a Line-Ball highlight.

The question was, how do you stop the mighty Todd machine? We were sure about one thing, that being the official annual date for the tournament, it would always be the second weekend after Labor Day. Greg Henning said, "To me it marks the end of summer."

I was always recruiting, loving the game and turning new people on to its fun and excitements. We had a good blend that year of veterans and rookies. I invited my best friend from The University of Illionis in Champaign Urbana, Richard Itami and my best friend from my time at Western Illionis University Wilbur Longenecker to play with me as The Old Timers. My brother Alan had a team consisting of his step son, Dan and Dan's good friend Scott. They were in high school at the time and they could really play. Was Bob Wagner there with a team ? You bet your sweet turtle he was. A good friend from Chicago came up, Chuck Lopez , with a team. The last team to register was" The 69'ers".

From 1981- 1984 we spent a lot of time analyzing the game. For instance, How do you set your defense? When can you gamble and actually place two defenders on the front line? The biggest innovation that emerged that year was on offense. Where should the pitcher pitch? In the game teams pitch to themselves each batter gets one or two pitches and that is it. Ground balls and foul balls are strikes. Two strikes and your out! If the batter swings and misses he is automatically gone.

Some of us decided to experiment, the pitcher should stand just off of the plate right by the hitter. This seemed like a good approach for two reasons. The first being communication. The hitter is close to the pitcher and can see the defense. According to what is seen the batter could say, "Give me a pitch inside, outside, arch, no arch, high or low;" the defense, hopefully wouldn't hear the request. The second reason has to do with traditional softball pitches. Let's face it, the farther the throw the less the accuracy. If you are right next to the hitter you can better hit the spot that he is requesting, putting the ball where he wants and how he wants it. There is really no perfect solution.

We had a team that emerged in 1985 that was more exact with their pitching very athletic and quick to adjust their defense. The 69'ers found The Lineball Tournament. This was an impressive team. Doug played the up position. He was a hitter, but his "D" in 1985 was out of this world, we had never seen a player's defense be so instrumental in the outcome of a game. Liners that were ripped head high or higher he would stick up a hand and cause the ball to be tipped, then he or his team mate, Greg would catch the rebound. It was like a volleyball set. Then there was Greg Henning traversing the middle of the field on defense and hitting lasers all over the place. How was it that he while playing defense always managed to arrive at the spot were the ball was hit just before the ball got there? Did he have inside info? They were joined by my favorite Line-Ball player of that era Jay. He was smooth with sure hands and unlimited offensive tools. Saturday he was a right-handed hitter on Sunday he hit left-handed. It was very impressive. The 69'ers became the champions of the tournament. I love the final game. To me it is the best that we have to offer. Everybody is concentrating, there is no tomorrow. When the game ended I looked over to the lawn chairs were my parents and wife were sitting and saw my son, Chris. He was only one year old and had a whiffle ball bat in his left hand looking like, "Let me hit". I probably should have!