Jeffry Messerly

The Legend of the Peters Township Giants Jeffry Messerly

This is a true story...maybe a little fatherly embellishment! My son Matt played for the Peters Township Giants baseball team. This was a typical 10-year old team. The only unique quality of the Giants was that they had never won a game during the regular season. Several games were forfeited due to players not showing up for the games. This team resembled "The Bad News Bears" of motion picture fame. The season-ending tournament was scheduled for Father''''s Day that year, June 17, 2001. The Giants were seeded last of nine teams and would play the second seeded Dodgers. It was expected to be a short day for the Giants. What happened next was truly baseball heaven!Once again we didn''''t have enough players to field a team. But, there in the shadows of his brother, was little eight-year old Andy. Andy was always being dragged to sporting events to watch older brother Matt. Today would be different, however. I pulled off my coaches jersey and placed it over Andy''''s head. Andy was excited to play. It was quite boring to sit and watch Matt play games all day. Andy was somewhat of a legend in the minors that year. He was a star shortstop and clutch hitter. Coach Donas sent Andy out to centerfield, nearly tripping over the extra long jersey. The Dodgers didn''''t care, after all, what could Andy possibly do to help the team?These nine Giants played like they were all stars! They made catches running, sliding, and behind their backs! They all hit the ball further than ever. Their play seemed to gain momentum through each inning. I can still see Andy grinning at the big Dodger pitcher. I was scared to death and he was taunting a ten-year old flame-thrower! Matt was pitching one perfect inning after another. Every time he came up the bases were loaded with Giants, and he drove most of them in. (I was in Daddy heaven, too!) The fans were going crazy after the first win. The second win brought people to the ballpark that had simply heard what was going on. Everyone wanted to s