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For most people, the phrase “getting the boot” would be a bad thing. That’s not the case with Portland Sea Dogs players this season, however.
If a Sea Dogs batter hits the giant, inflatable boot in Hadlock Field’s right field stands, he and a randomly chosen fan will each earn a $100 gift certificate to L.L. Bean.
For the last several years, a giant mitt occupied the space, enticing players to “hit the mitt” and split an ever-changing jackpot with Youth Alternatives, a Portland-area charity. The feat was accomplished twice last year, once in 2001, and once in 1998. The largest jackpot – which increased $100 for every home game it was not hit – was $6,900, split in 2001 between former player Luke Wilcox and the charity.
There is no charity tie-in with the L.L. Bean boot and through Tuesday night, no one had managed to hit the boot yet this season.
If you think hitting the boot is a daunting challenge, consider the one made by Sullivan Tire, which has sponsored a billboard-style sign on the left field fence since 2002. The square placard features a picture of a tire and has a hole in the middle of it with the words “hit it here” alongside. If a player hits a ball through the hole in the tire, a player and randomly-drawn fan will split a $10,000 prize. No one has been able to accomplish the feat as yet.
Simon says move up
Former Portland High School and University of Maine baseball standout Simon Williams took another step up in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound outfielder was promoted from low Single A Quad Cities to high Single A Palm Beach of the Florida State League last weekend after hitting .279 with five home runs, 23 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 59 games with the Swing of the Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa). Through Tuesday, Williams was 1-for-11 in four games with the Cardinals, but that one hit was a home run.
Williams, who turns 23 today, was drafted by St. Louis in the 11th round after his senior season ended last summer.
Racking up some BRAC cash
The Portland Sea Dogs donated $8,000 to the task forces working to keep the Brunswick Naval Air Station and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard off the Base Realignment and Closure list. The Eastern League team’s “Save the Bases night” last Thursday culminated a three-week, eight-game effort in which the Sea Dogs donated 50 percent of all ticket sales for that span (June 1-22) to the Seacoast Shipyard Association’s Save Our Shipyard and NAS Brunswick task forces.
The fundraising effort was in response to news that the United States Pentagon’s BRAC committee recommended the closure of Portsmouth’s shipyard and realignment of Brunswick’s station.
No Mark in win column
Despite racking up 57 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings this season for the West Virginia Power, Orr’s Island teen Mark Rogers is still looking for a win.
The 6-2 righthanded pitcher and Mount Ararat High School graduate has a respectable 4.67 ERA and has yielded just 34 hits as a starter for the Milwaukee Brewers’ low Single A affiliate, but through Tuesday, he was 0-5.
The fifth overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft last summer and Milwaukee’s No. 5 prospect (ranked by Baseball America) has started eight of the 13 games he’s pitched in this season. Rogers, 19, does not yet have a complete game to his credit either, but he does have his first professional save after a long-relief stint last month.
Trio swing scholarships
The Sea Dogs awarded three memorial scholarships to recent Portland-area high school graduates before Wednesday night’s game against Altoona.
This is the fourth season the Dogs have given these awards out in conjunction with the Kevin MacDonald Scholarship Fund, established in memory of the 1995 cum laude graduate and outstanding multi-sport athlete of Cheverus High School of Portland who was shot and killed in Texas in 2000.
The Sea Dogs presented $500 scholarships to Deering of Portland’s Chris Burleson and Cheverus’ Bryan Lavoie as well as a $1,000 scholarship to Portland High’s Chris McCallum. The scholarships recognize students who excel on the baseball field and in the classroom.
Extensive retirement
Baseball fans are familiar with the concept of retiring a number. Depending on whether it’s high school, college, semipro or professional, the criteria varies in what determines accomplishments worthy of retiring a player’s jersey number.
The Boston Red Sox have retired six numbers: 1 (Bobby Doerr), 4 (Joe Cronin), 8 (Carl Yastrzemski), 9 (Ted Williams), 27 (Carlton Fisk), and 42 (Jackie Robinson, whose number has been retired by all Major League Baseball teams as mandated by the league office).
Red Sox policy for retiring a number involves three criteria: Election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, playing at least 10 years with the Red Sox, and finishing his career with the Red Sox (which was recently tweaked to retire Fisk’s number as Fisk’s final season was spent playing for the Chicago White Sox in 1993).
What’s not commonly known about Red Sox retired numbers is that the numbers are not only retired from use by Red Sox players, they are also retired by all the Red Sox minor league teams. So you won’t see any Portland, Pawtucket (R.I.), Wilmington (N.C.), Greenville (S.C.), Lowell (Mass.), or Fort Myers (Fla.) players wearing those six numbers.
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or at aneff@bangordailynews.net
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