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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Riff-Raff Clobbers

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      The ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson is nowhere more palpable than it is at Madrid's Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark.
       “It was built, as I understand it, around 1919, 1922,” said Michael Wright, player-coach of the adult men's softball team, the Madrid Maulers. “Shoeless Joe Jackson played here after the Black Sox scandal. He was a ringer for the coal-mining company.”
       Madrid, pronounced by many of its residents with the accent on the first syllable, hosted the 26th annual Bragg'n Rights Softball Game at the historic field on Monday. The slow-pitch contest, which pitted the newly formed Maulers against longtime participants, the Cedar Crest-based Mountain Riff-Raff, was a bit of a sideshow. The Riff-Raff defeated Madrid 48-2 in eight innings of play during the clash under a sunny sky.
       The fans, who numbered well over a hundred, spread out along the rock walls on either side of the playing field or sat under the tin-shingled roof of the once grand stadium. Its wooden walls are weathered now and in some places are held together by chicken wire.
       Madrid, about 23 miles north of San Antonito on N.M. 14, “was a company-owned town of the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Co.” from 1920 to 1940, according to the “The Place Names of New Mexico” by Robert Julyan. With the black-laced tailings of the abandoned mines still dotting the town's periphery, Madrid has evolved into an artsy community with galleries punctuating either side of the highway, the speed limit for which abruptly drops from 55 to 20 miles per hour as one enters this pedestrian-dominated stretch of the Turquoise Trail from the south.
       The Mine Shaft Tavern, located at a bend in the road, is the central landmark. The ballpark is at the north end of town near where Ice House Road meets N.M. 14.
       “As far as playing the game is concerned, we had too many errors (nine to be exact),” said Wright, 46. “It's their (the Riff-Raff's) experience level. They've been playing together like 20 years, and we've had four practices.
       “I think we'll play them again next year,” Wright continued. “But we've got to get some help. We need some ringers or something. There are a bunch of artists here in Madrid. It's hard to get them all in one place at the same time for practice.”
       A traditional mounted color guard carried the American, New Mexican and POW-MIA flags to the center of the dirt diamond while local entertainer Gene Corbin sang “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America” in a pregame Memorial Day ceremony.
       Then, in contrast, Corbin's renditions were followed by a two-person electric-guitar band, clad in attire as if they were teleported through time straight out of 1960s Haight-Ashbury. The pair launched into a lengthy version of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a la Jimi Hendrix, as the crowd dutifully stood, hands over hearts.
       A local minister, introduced by Corbin as “Pastor Willie,” provided the pregame prayer. After praising the Almighty for his blessings, the minister before the Memorial Day game asked God to take care of the troops overseas.
       “Let 'em win today, Lord,” he said. “Give them plenty of bullets.”
       So, as dogs sauntered through the dugouts and occasionally behind home plate, and a happy crowd watched, a few with beers in their hands, a softball game took place.
       “Simba, he's the No. 1 Madrid dog,” Wright said.
       Maulers starting pitcher Chris Bodei — he of the bushy beard, floppy hat and blue-tinted sunglasses — got the first two Riff-Raff batters to fly out, respectively to left and right.
       “I thought it was going to be like 30 something to 3, something like that,” said Bodei, a 41-year-old paint contractor who lives in Madrid. “But I didn't know it was going to be this bad.”
       Riff-Raff's Brian Urban, the third batter of the day, followed with a blast to deep left field for an inside-the-park home run. And with Lester Gonzales, Matt Armenta and Mountain player-coach Kevin Garcia adding homers of their own, the Maulers found themselves in a 9-0 hole, one could say right off the bat.
       “We used to play a different team in this game,” Garcia said. “We've already talked to (Wright) about playing next year. I hope it continues another 26 years.”
       The Riff-Raff had amassed a 16-0 advantage by the time the Maulers got their two runs in the bottom of the second inning. With Cisco Robelo pitching, Madrid's Erik Sawyer sent James Petty home with a base hit to short center field, and Josh Gannon's single on a fly to right scored Joe Detrick.
       It was all downhill for the Maulers after that.
       “We didn't know what to expect,” said Bob Gore, Riff-Raff's 51-year-old catcher. “It was the first time we'd played them. But they played hard.”
       Garcia smacked a grand slam, with a fly ball that sailed way out into fenceless left field, for a 23-2 lead in the third. The Riff-Raff scored 11 runs in the eighth inning to round out the scoring, and the game was called by umpire Mike Goodson after Madrid got its final at-bats in the eighth even though the game was scheduled to go nine innings.
       “It wasn't as close a game as I would've liked,” Goodson said. “But both teams had good attitudes.”
       The Mountain squad was led by Garcia. The 37-year-old heating and air-conditioning man was 5-for-6 with two homers and a triple.
       Riff-Raff's Tim Ariza was 4-for-5 with two home runs and a double. Randy Sanchez was 4-for-4 with a triple and three doubles.
       Mike Newman, 2-for-2 with a double, paced Madrid. Petty was 1-for-2 with a double.
       Riff-Raff had 28 hits to Madrid's 11. There were no strikeouts on either side, and Maulers pitching gave up two walks.
       “It was fun, but it would've been nice to get a few more runs,” Wright said.
       Madrid's Steffo Karl, a 35-year-old native of the German state of Bavaria, played a couple of innings at center field.
       “I'd never played baseball before,” said Karl, who has been a U.S. resident for 14 years. “I only came to my first practice (on Sunday). The ball goes so high.”
   

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