Baseball

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Sergeant Edward H. Gibson (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on December 19, 1899, at San Mateo, Philippine Islands. His citation reads:

Attempted under a heavy fire of the enemy to swim a river for the purpose of obtaining and returning with a canoe.

Technician Fifth Grade Eric G. Gibson (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on January 28, 1944, near Isola Bella, Italy. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 28 January 1944, near Isola Bella, Italy, Tech. 5th Grade Gibson, company cook, led a squad of replacements through their initial baptism of fire, destroyed four enemy positions, killed 5 and captured 2 German soldiers, and secured the left flank of his company during an attack on a strongpoint. Placing himself 50 yards in front of his new men, Gibson advanced down the wide stream ditch known as the Fossa Femminamorta, keeping pace with the advance of his company. An enemy soldier allowed Tech. 5th Grade Gibson to come within 20 yards of his concealed position and then opened fire on him with a machine pistol. Despite the stream of automatic fire which barely missed him, Gibson charged the position, firing his submachine gun every few steps. Reaching the position, Gibson fired pointblank at his opponent, killing him. An artillery concentration fell in and around the ditch; the concussion from one shell knocked him flat. As he got to his feet Gibson was fired on by two soldiers armed with a machine pistol and a rifle from a position only 75 yards distant. Gibson immediately raced toward the foe. Halfway to the position a machinegun opened fire on him. Bullets came within inches of his body, yet Gibson never paused in his forward movement. He killed one and captured the other soldier. Shortly after, when he was fired upon by a heavy machinegun 200 yards down the ditch, Gibson crawled back to his squad and ordered it to lay down a base of fire while he flanked the emplacement. Despite all warning, Gibson crawled 125 yards through an artillery concentration and the cross fire of 2 machineguns which showered dirt over his body, threw 2 hand grenades into the emplacement and charged it with his submachine gun, killing 2 of the enemy and capturing a third. Before leading his men around a bend in the stream ditch, Gibson went forward alone to reconnoiter. Hearing an exchange of machine pistol and submachine gun fire, Gibson's squad went forward to find that its leader had run 35 yards toward an outpost, killed the machine pistol man, and had himself been killed while firing at the Germans.

Seaman Charles Gidding (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on July 26, 1876, on board the USS Plymouth. His citation reads:

Serving on board the U.S.S. Plymouth, Gidding showed heroic conduct in trying to save the life of one of the crew of that ship, who had fallen overboard from aloft at the Navy Yard, New York, 26 July 1876.


Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for baseball. To quote a… well, a quote… from the great movie Field of Dreams, ‘The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.’

Sure, I love college (and NFL) football and college basketball… heck, I’ve even started liking the NBA. But baseball is the greatest of them all. The best part of baseball? That’s hard to say, but off the top of my head I’d say it’s that there’s no clock. I know this can also make it hard to watch sometimes because some games can last a long time… but it also means the team with the lead can’t hide behind a clock. Therefore, until that last out is made a team always has a chance to make a comeback. Our first State Championship was a come-from-behind victory late in the game. Had it been football or basketball, Fort Mill would have probably run out the clock and won. Plus there’s just something about baseball… it was meant for fathers and sons (and daughters) to watch together. It’s as simple as throwing the ball, catching the ball and hitting the ball… yet it’s as complex as the Infield Fly Rule and the Wheel Play. Unlike in other sports, everything has already been done in baseball. There is no hot new offense or defense every other year. In baseball you have some teams that rely on power and some that rely on “small ball”… but both philosophies have been around for about 100 years. I laugh every time I hear a golfer complain about a little noise while they’re swinging their club. Try hitting a baseball at night with thousands of cameras flashing and fans yelling… oh yeah, that baseball is moving at 90+ mph… or maybe not… maybe it’s coming in at 70 mph before “falling off a table”. I played baseball, basketball and football growing up… and while I liked all of them, baseball was the best. I can remember coming home after baseball games in high school and talking over every play with Dad.

I will say I have seen some things over the past 10 years or so that have made me a little worried. The first is that it seems fewer and fewer young people know how to keep score at a baseball game. Even with a scorebook (which pretty much makes keeping score a ‘fill in the blank’ type exercise. I’ve told you before that I kept the book for the team my freshman year at JI. Here’s the thing… all the pages in the book had been used by the end of the regular season. I guess Coach Hatley didn’t want to spend money on a new scorebook just for the playoffs… so I was given a clipboard, a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and told to keep score. No problem… know why? Because I was raised right. And it wasn’t uncommon for Dad to keep score on a napkin while watching my games (true story). The other disturbing thing I’ve seen is how some kids wear their baseball caps. Seeing someone wear a baseball cap with a flat bill makes me want to kick a puppy and slap an old lady. Should I ever see anyone related to me wear a hat like that, I will take it off their head and bend the bill the way God intended it to be. Honestly, I blame former Clemson baseball player Khalil Greene for this. I don’t know if he was the first to wear his hat like this, but he’s the first I remember doing it. I hated it then and I still do now. It’s not natural and it should be grounds for an ejection from a game.

Anyway, today I’m feeling thankful for baseball.