Dave's Sports Gems

Growing up with baseball cards was fun

2008-06-24T10:59:00.001-07:00

I am not sure if I have this whole blogging thing down but let me try it again. I have been talking most recently about high school sports.

Given the fact that these sports will be on vacation for at least a few months I want to turn my attention to the world of professional sports.

When I was younger I was a big baseball and baseball card fan. I had everything you could imagine. I was the kid who traded for everyone else’s stuff after they were no longer interested in the sport.

I had Hank Aaron’s rookie card, I had Roberto Clemente’s rookie card and I even had Yogi Berra’s black and white Bowman rookie card. Collecting was a fun time for my parents and I.

My dad would take me to the baseball card shows and I would get autographs from Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Norm Cash and even Bob Feller. This was a lot of fun for me and I really enjoyed all that went along with collecting.

The problem was as I got older the market begun to flood with cards from all these companies and there was too much to keep up with. I had all the cards from 1976 to about 1991 but it got too much.

The fun was gone for me and I didn’t have enough money to collect all these all cards from various card companies. So I stopped collecting and put they away.

I would say I starting selling them in 1997 and I made some good money with the cards I had. I just wish now that I have a son we could do something similar together. He is only six so I think baseball cards are too easy to mess up and we would need something less fragile.

I just know that some of my best memories of childhood are of collecting cards and sharing time with my family. Buying packs of cards, sorting them out and making list of what we needed was a task I will never grow weary of.

I hope that fathers and sons can find something to bond them together and something to build relationships with. It doesn’t matter what. It can be coins, stamps, and a walk in the park. That relationship is crucial to having a successful life and really looking at things in a much better light.

If anyone wants to know my favorite player of all time was and still is Pittsburg Pirate Roberto Clemente. So if you want to talk baseball give me a call or post to this blog!

Dave Merchant

Sports Writer

Ypsilanti Courier and The View

159 Main St.

Belleville, MI 48111

1-734-697-8255

1-734-697-4610 (Fax)

dmerchant@heritage.com

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Playoff teams

2008-06-16T07:48:00.001-07:00

The biggest thing about high school sports is not the wins and losses but what the athletes can take with them to the next level. Granted most of these kids will never being playing sports outside of high school.

Sure there will be pick-up games and games played with friends. Athletes have to realize that every game they play in high school is a big deal. They will look back on these games and hopefully have fond memories. I can recall a coach telling me he had to talk a golfer into not quitting at the state finals because of the weather.

It was snowing and the kid was not shooting very well. Had that golfer walked off and quit he surely would have remembered that for the rest of his life.

I love sports and I love finding interesting aspects about those sports. Statistics are something that I find interesting. I also like the little odd bits of information that people may either overlook or just thing isn’t important.

I covered a team a few years back that won the state title in softball (Allen Park Cabrini). They went undefeated and were hardly scored on all year. The next year they also went undefeated and won another state title.

This season they were moved from Division 4 to Division 3. In the state semifinals they defeated the two-time defending Division 3 state champion Unionville-Sebawaing 2-1. In the finals they fell to Galesburg-Augusta (40-3) 5-0.

The Monarchs (37-3-1) only had one hit and struck out 18 times in the finals. Not the way I would have expected them to lose. Think about this the Cabrini team went three years with only three losses and one tie in those three years. Pretty amazing run this team had, eh?

I was impressed last year when the Ypsilanti High football team rattled off eight straight wins after losing to Chelsea. The playoff game at home against Carleton Airport was interesting. Every time the Jets had the ball they scored and it was a windy, rainy night not fit for any sport.

I am sure Coach Dave Poole and company will have his team ready again this season.

I hope Lincoln can manage to maybe notch one in the win column this season. I saw some tough games for them last year. One of the game even had a nice fight right before halftime against Bedford. Maybe this year the Splitters will do more scoring and less fighting.

Willow Run is a team that was on the edge of the playoffs last season. I hope this year the Flyers can get six wins and earn a spot into the post season.

The summer is here but before you know it training camp for football will be kicking off. Have a great summer and I look forward to an exciting fall.

High school sports

2008-05-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have covered a lot of schools in my day. Before I wrote high school sports I was the education reporter for The Daily Union in Junction City Kansas.
Not that I was originally from Kansas but a twist of fate put me in the Land of Oz shortly after graduating from Wayne State University.
I want to say that I recently had a very good experience at Willow Run Junior High when I went there last week to talk about the technology in the school with the teachers and one of the administrators.
The district has some very nice equipment for students and for the teachers. The programs they were working on and the projects they were turning out were so much better than anything I did at that age. I would like to add what a nice school that the middle school is.
I heard it was only four years and everything still looks brand new. The students who attend that school should be very proud of it. In my eye they are lucky to have such a nice facility.
The assistant principal and athletic director of the school, Bryan Schroeder, should be very pleased with all the school has to offer. Out of all the schools that I cover in the area I was most impressed with this one.
I think that Willow Run has come a long way since I was in school. The sports teams for the high school are getting better and improving. I think it is only a matter of time before this school starts to draw and attract more students from Washtenaw County.
If you want to take a look at advancing technology and programs that give students a chance to get ahead in the workforce check out the Flyers and I think you might be impressed.
The Belleville baseball team has been having trouble hitting the ball as of late. On Monday they only managed four hits against a pretty tough Anderson baseball team. I tend to be partial to the Titans since I graduated from there a few years back.
Here is a weird one for me. The Carson Marauders golf team recently visited Belleville and played them at the Harbour Club. Maybe played is a harsh word since it was raining the Marauders decided to walk off the course and forfeit the match. It is a good thing golf isn’t a physical sport!
I can’t wait until the state playoffs come and the track and Belleville get some athletes through to the state meet. I have to say Varick Tucker should be right there for the title in the 400-meter dash. I also look for some strong relays for the girls and some good things from the field event athletes as well.
Don’t forget that BHS is hosting the Division 1 track regional tomorrow and anyone who wants to see some excellent competition should come down and check it out.
One thing I would like to add and I am not sure if this is the right place to do it. On Friday of last week the Ypsilanti girls’ softball team beat Willow Run 12-0 and ended the game early on a mercy rule. I heard from the Flyers’ Coach Duane Edwards that the girls from Ypsilanti were chanting cheers the entire game about going out to dinner (on the coach) if they mercied Willow Run.
I confirmed this with Ypsilanti Coach Ryan Minarik when I spoke with him Sunday night. I guess the going out to dinner part is not what bothered me but rather the taunting between innings. Is there a better way to do this? Yes but I suppose the two schools have a history and that was one way to motivate the Phoenix.
Anyway, half the spring season is down and before you know it the seniors will have graduated and the state playoffs will be underway. This is the most exciting time of the year for anyone who covers high school sports. It is like the Stanley Cup, NBA playoffs and baseball wrapped up in a pita.All I can say is let’s get ready to munch as the season comes to a close

Staff Writer

2008-04-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, everyone I am not officially on a Blog. Still not quite sure what a Blog is but I am willing to try.
I want to start out by telling everyone that it is very exciting for me to be out in the Western Provinces (Heritage lingo) and I want to say that I enjoy covering Belleville and Ypsilanti sports.
Since I have started at these papers I have met and talked with some great coaches from both cities. I have even tried my hardest to incorporate the smaller school like Ypsilanti Calvary Christian. Sometimes it can be difficult to get all the coaches to contact me back.
I have to say that I am use to covering a lot more teams when I was at the News-Herald. So I want people to know that I can cover and put in all the local sport content they can give me. Ideally I would like to have a feature and game stories every week.
If anyone has any feature ideas please let me know. I really want to try and include all the information I get. The spring season is so short and quick that I would love to have story ideas left over for when the games are over and I can still write about players, events, coaches and all the other information.
I have also started doing stories on athletes who are not in college and participating in sports at a collegiate level. This is exciting for me because I am learning about some of these athletes that I never covered but are doing well in college.
Listen, I would also love to do stories on students who go on to college and succeed in other areas than sports. Maybe you know someone who is in drama and they are doing plays in college. Great, let me know drop me a line 734-697-8255 or email me dmerchant@heritage.com. I don't care how I get the information my goal is to get the kids in the paper and give the parents, grandparents and students something to clip out and save for a scrap book.
Journalism is a part of history and I like to write articles that people can read years from now. I want people to open them up 20 years from now and say I remember that or I wonder what ever happen to that nice reporter, Dave Merchant. Just kidding I don't need any recognition.
Not everyone can be a superstar but I tell you what I can write about everyone in high school like they are a superstar. Give me a chance and let me work for you.
See ya later and happy blogging.