Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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one of the many Violet aces, pitch for pitch. Toomey ' s own mental lapse, however, cost him the victory as he failed to touch third base with what would have been the win- ning run. The bad break in the N. Y. U. game was countered by another factor. A little bug was present at the contest and bit one of the spec- tators, Nick Thornton, with enough of that old baseball fever to make him decide to report for the next practice. Thornton ' s doctor mitted which was often enough for Coach Norton. The squad dropped their opener to Kings Point by a score of 7 to = with Bill Blanchard and Hector Faberlle workino on the mound. After that initial encounter, Norton was faced with the necessity of starting Toomey in every league game, leaving the non-league contests to his second stringers. The addition of Thornton to the pitching staff added the required relief and better results were hoped Bill Sieuerl and Ciro Maljrjzzu Bob PelLi had originally advised him against any active athletic participation, due to a back injury. Nick was the captain of the Nine the year previous when he pitched the Russellmen to most of their victories. He was also the Met- ropolitan home run king and set a league record of contributing three circuit clouts in one contest. A second factor against his par- ticipation was that he was shouldering a tre- mendous schedule to fulfill the requirements for a June graduation. The senior business- man agreed to pitch when his schedule per- for. The Jasper mentor soon found that there were other things to contend with. Old man weather was very uncooperative, lady luck helped the team less, and the supposedly strong Manhattan hitting did not produce many runs. Rainy April caused the cancellation of many games including a trip to West Point for a renewal of an old rivalry with Army. More than once the team had to play a game without practice after two or three days ' saturation. In the Hofstra contest, pitcher 267

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BASEBALL BASEBALL, loni; iNLmhattan s most suc- cessful sport, showed detinite promise during tiie 1947 campaign of returning to the great heights attained by Jasper nines of yesteryear. While the present outfit could not be put on a par with the 1938 diamond representatives, Manhattan ' s last great year, they ha e been c uite successful. Coach Ken Norton in his initial season at the Jasper helm was able to tield a team which, at this writing, occupies a spot in the hrst division of the Metropolitan Collegiate Baseball Con- ference. When Coach Norton put in a call for can- didates for the nine, in chilly March, neither he niir Manhattan ' s most ardent rooters ex- pected that to meet with great success. Many would ha e been satisfied if a team com- parable to Honey Russell ' s aggregation of the pre ious ye.ir could be helded. A record number of promising candidates turned out and Lhanged the picture, somewhat. One C.ll ' l.lll! Trilll Ollilli.lll 4 ut C idch Ken Korion hundred and twenty-h e hopeful Jaspers were present at the hrst practice session in wind- swept Van Cortlandt Park and all ri als were notified that their Riverdale opponents were no longer going to be pushovers. This was clearly demonstrated, when in the second start of the season. Jack Toomey pitched and batted the Jaspers inti a well- earned tie with the Met champs. New ' ork Unnersity. The underestimated Green de- served a better fate than the 4-4 deadlock as stc ut-hearted Toomey matched Roy Teazley, 266

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