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All-Star Baseball Classic 2010: Featured Game |
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McCall Mudhens |
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Jenks Wildcats |
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Fogelberg – One addition to this years All-Star Baseball Classic is the Featured Game on Saturday afternoon. Each year one key game will be pulled form the schedule and played at 3:45 on Saturday afternoon.
This years game will feature two of the oldest franchises, with similar draft choice position and a history of rivalry. When the McCall Mudhens and Jenks Wildcats collide in pool 2 action there will most certainly be much more than a win/loss on the line.
“Back in the day, Ducky Medwick and Don Blasingame used to go after each other from the moment they exchanged lineup cards,” analyst Terry Steinbach said. “When Whitey Herzog took the helm in McCall, I think he instilled even more hatred of the Cats into his players… I remember on time… Cats’ lifetime player Mike Schmidt was crowding the plate all season long against Larry Jackson. Herzog got a mannequin from the local dress shop, put a wildcats uniform on it and pasted a picture of Schmidt’s face on it… Jackson spent an entire practice knocking it over!”
The intensity of the managers is about the only similarity these two franchises share. With vastly different drafting philosophies that translates in completely different types of teams, a Hens’ vs Cats’ matchup is typically an on-base percentage vs power-hitting matchup. This is evident in the lifetime players that are used by each team. Lou Brock of the Mudhens is a speedster at the top of the lineup and the Wildcats Mike Schmidt is a slugger with a patient eye.
Being the final game of the day, this matchup might be the decider of many of the matchups in Sunday’s double elimination tourney… One more reason that all eyes will be on the Mudhens and Wildcats on Saturday afternoon.
