06/04/15 Don Overly and John Laufersweiler
06/11/15 Arnie Biondo and Ed Flohre
06/18/15 Matthew Kuhn and Butch Spencer
06/25/15 Ray Merz and Brad Thorp
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
05/28/15
Club President Vas Appalaneni was out of town, so the club's vice president Brad Thorp opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Harvey Smith gave the prayer, and Dick Hoback led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included: Walter Senney, father of member Jeff Senney, and Connor and Duncan Beckel, sons of member Pat Beckel.
Connor, 7, is a third grader at Western Row Elementary, and Duncan, 9, is a fourth grader at Mason Intermediate. They are both looking forward to their summer vacation and lots of tennis, golf, baseball and swimming. Several club members passed along some Dragons memorabilia they won by answering some questions from our speaker, to the boys. The boys helped out at our last Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser, and helped collect Happy Bucks for the VA Gardens during this meeting.
Duncan (L) and Connor Beckel are seen here before the meeting with their dad Pat.
The Beckel boys, Duncan (L) and Connor (R), are shown here with a Homer Bailey Bobble Head and a Dragons baseball, generously donated by Tom Nichols, and then the two Centerville Rotary Club members who won the items by answering Nichols' questions about past team members..
Club Vice President Brad Thorp said ballot nominations for Rotarian of the Year are due in now. He reminded members that three weeks from this meeting, the ROY will be announced at our club meeting at Benham's Grove. He said a meeting would be held at his house at 6:30 p.m. Monday for next year's board to discuss a variety of items involving club activities..
Club member Pat Beckel stood in for Erich Eggers as Sgt-at-Arms again this week in Eggers absence.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Pat collected Happy Bucks to help support the VA Gardens project.
Ann Blackburn noted that the Germantown Rotary she used to belong to will be holding a golf outing June 27. Y.ou might check with her for more information on this.
Ron Hollenbeck noted that the VA Center will be holding a dedication of the new fountain there June 17. More information on this is to come, he said.
SPEAKER: Tom Nichols, radio and television broadcaster for the Dayton Dragons.
Club member Ron Hollenbeck introduced Tom, stating that Tom, who has addressed the club in the past, is in his eighth year with the Dragons and 28th year in Minor League Baseball. He has called more than 3,000 Minor League games on radio, and is a graduate of Ball State University, and a native of Muncie, Indiana.
Tom gave out Dragon ball caps and other memorabilia after asking a number of questions about past players, such as Homer Bailey and Barry Larkin; the team's five mascots, and past coaches,
etc.
He noted that this is the 16th season for the Dragons. Dayton Daily News sports writer Hal McCoy, who covered the Reds over the years, wrote a column saying he couldn't see how this new minor league team would make it in Dayton, a column he learned to regret over the years as the team has proved it can bring a sell-out crowd year after year, game after game. It has set an all-time streak of 1070 consecutive sold-out dates, a record for all sports, not just baseball, Tom said.
Seventy Dragons players have gone on to the major leagues, he said. Joey Votto and Jeff Bruce of the Reds are former Dragons, he said.
Community involvement has been what has made the Dragons so successful, he said. They try to provide Disney-like family entertainment during breaks in the game. The target market is families, parents and kids and grandparents and kids, he said. Toddler races, skits, sing-a-longs, and a giant 13HD video screen that's 21,000 square feet, add to the Disney-type feel, he said.
Dragons players are all under contract with the Reds, he said. The Reds have tryouts and send players to affiliates. They have 30 full-time scouts looking world-wide for talent.
The Reds draft 40 players that are under contract with the Cincinnati Reds. They start out with a rookie team in Goodyear, Arizona, and can move from rookie teams to Single and Double A and Triple A teams, with the best moving up a level at a time. "Only about 10 percent will make it to the major leagues," he said.
He gave an example of their practice schedule for the day of the game, starting at 1:30 p.m. with players practicing for their position, such as turning for a double play, doing relays in the outfield to cut off a hit, with pitchers doing pick-off moves and charging up. Batting practice begins for everyone together at 3 p.m, with bunts, hit and runs, hitting to the right side of the field, etc. At 6 p.m. the gates open and at 10 p.m. the game is usually over.
The season is full, with 16 cities in the Mid-West, some eight to nine hours away. They go by bus and leave at 11 p.m. and arrive in the morning. They play 140 games in 152 days, and Tom travels with them. There are only 12 days out of the 152 that they don't play a game, he said.
The 30 major league ball teams all have a chance at drafting players from the minor leagues, so the 40 Dragons draft picks by the Reds are up for grabs. It's a cat and mouse game of baseball, he said.
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