Foul Balls at 150

Foul Balls at 150
     14 Seasons

       1 Championship
       6 Winning Seasons
       1 Sub-0.000 Season
       5 Team Colors
   138 Players
       3 Mascots 



Wednesday marks the 150^th Peninsula League game for the Foul Balls, the most in league history. As such I would like to present a brief (but still too long) history of the GREATEST WEDNESDAY NIGHT KICKBALL TEAM EVER!!!! 

Championship Blue: The Foul Balls started in the Fall of 2008, back when current Foulie Madison Nettleton was not even in high school. The Foul Balls caught on quickly going 9-2 in season one and winning the still unnamed Championship trophy in Spring 2009 led by Jen Nardi, Roger Jackson and Jason Kidd. For this reason navy blue has henceforth been known by everyone  me as Championship Blue.

 

Irish Green: After three seasons wearing Championship Blue, the Foulies switched to green in honor of Manager Jen Nardi’s love of Ireland. The results were… not good. Six consecutive losing seasons followed including an impressive -0.068 winning percentage in Fall 2011, second worst ever. But the team persevered and celebrated the small victories. In the photo below you can see the team, including a non-bearded Nathaniel Johnson, holding up five fingers. Why? We only gave up five runs, a monumental achievement. But after a thorough de-jortsing, the Foulies improved to almost, sort of, kind of respectability thanks to the additions of Foul Ball legends Joe Preseault and Dennis Gholson and Foul Ball villain Wade Brock.

Foul Ball Reds: With the departure of Jen Nardi, the Foul Balls began to take on the personality of their new captain, Andreas Beyersdorf. And by that I mean they grew angrier. A shift to red was only appropriate including stints in cardinal, coral pink and maroon, in addition to recruiting a slew of angry kickballers including Jesse Rogers, Bundy LeBlanc, PC Sawaengphokhai and Amelia Harveycutter.

138 Players over 14 seasons equates to just about 10 new players per season. So on average half the team turns over every season. However, this is heavily aeffected by the worst seasons - for instance only 3 players returned after the Spring 2011 season resulting in that -0.068 season - clearly a sign of co-manager Johnson's horrid managerial skills. Despite this, 8 players have played more than five seasons for the Foul Ones: Andreas Beyersdorf (14 seasons), Jen Nardi (10), Wade Brock (8), Dennis Gholson (7), Gwen Gorski (5), Joe Preseault (5), Laura Shayder (5) and Michael Polanco (5). On the other end of the spectrum Keith Morehart's tenure lasted a mere 13 foul days.

3 Mascots: Zach Galafinakis (2010-11), Danger (2012) & Fozzie/Andy Doye (2012-current)

Way Too Many Logos: Including logos by Brian Pena (top center), Laura Brown (top right) and Joe Preseault (bottom left).

Thank you for reading and see you all tomorrow to celebrate 150!