The Birth of the Dogfish, A's and Z's

The Birth of the Dogfish, A's and Z's



By Noel Feustel




Come on guys--do the research--"Danny's Boy's" sounds like a team that would play the Cherry Grove "Grovettes". They were in reality the self proclaimed "A" team. Being a sporting egalitarian. I said, along with Terry Cunningham, his brothers Bill and Kevin, Turtle Cerveny and assorted other athletically challenged Uncle Pete alums--"nuts" to such elitism--we would become the "Z" team, letting the fan base decide who were the top dogs of Saltaire softball. We eventually grabbed Alan Aherne as a "Z: teamer and set out in those fog shrouded days to create a new name. Turtle suggested the "Mudsharks", Alan wanted the "Dorkomorph's". We sat down for a beer fueled team confab and cooked up THE DOGFISH!, the rest is history. Many outstanding "stars" saw action back in happier times--Dogfish Joe Scanlan, Cosmo Hull, Chris and Jimmy Sconzo, Chip Jones, Ernie Galt and Mac Hill, to name a few--the pre-game warm-ups on the Hill porch were legendary. The funniest although potentially most tragic catch of all time (beside Dogfish Joe's "stand-up sit down beer in hand" right field snag) was when Cosmo almost got riddled with Secret Service bullets while chasing a fly that was headed toward that "historic" woman who ran for high office back in 1984. George Orwell never would have predicted such a happenstance event--"softball right fielder shot by government agents". THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE DOGFISH---ALL DESERVE DESIGNATION AS THE WORST WHO BECAME THE BEST----a team that were always "contrary to ordinary". 1976 Bicentennial Champs--1986 Liberty Centennial Champs--ALL ELSE PALES IN COMPARISON--and what other team had a "live Gorilla" a.k.a. hirsute Abie D. Baby as a guest catcher? Add to this the shattering of the sexist glass softball ceiling by placing Jean Campbell in shortfield--eons ahead of the Starkey token female rule.--

Captain-emeritus-Noel--1969-1989.,

high up in the hills of Pennsylvania where I've taken up golf and lawn bowling, both activity skills helped by those competitive days on the Saltaire ballfield.