Troy’s Craig McMurtry is the most prominent to reach the major leagues from these parts in recent history. He was a 15-game winner as a rookie with the Atlanta Braves in 1983, good enough for second place in the National League Rookie of the Year voting behind a guy named Strawberry.
McMurtry knows what it’s like to get a taste of big league action, then bounce back-and-forth between the majors and the minors. He battled his way back to the majors in 1995 with the Houston Astros after spending four full years at the minor league level.
But even the good Temple College baseball coach - or hardly anyone else, for that matter - can’t top the perseverance and longevity of another Bell County pitcher of an earlier generation.
Earl “Teach” Caldwell hailed from the Sparks community, which is nestled harmlessly between Little River-Academy and Holland. A right-handed pitcher, Caldwell broke into the majors at 23 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
He hurled a six-hit shutout in his debut against the Boston Braves but lost his next four decisions and was sent back to the minors.
For seven years.
He resurfaced in the majors in late 1935 with the St. Louis Browns and delivered another sterling debut, a three-hit shutout of the vaunted Detroit Tigers. After a good start in 1936, Caldwell plummeted to a 7-16 mark. He made several lackluster appearances with the Browns in 1937 and again was banished to the minors.
For eight years.
As a 39-year-old minor leaguer with the 1944 Milwaukee Brewers, Caldwell went 19-5 and earned a third trip to the majors with the ’45 White Sox. He had a 6-7 record that year as a starter and reliever.
Caldwell flourished in ’46 from the Sox bullpen, winning an amazing 13 games in relief to go with eight saves and a 2.08 earned-run average. He finished 37 of the 39 games he appeared in.
Caldwell had a couple of more competent, if not spectacular, seasons for the White Sox and Red Sox, with whom he threw his last major league pitch almost 20 years to the day after he fired his first one. But it wasn’t his last professional pitch. Not by a long shot.
Caldwell pitched five more years and led the Gulf Coast League and the Evangeline League in ERA in each of his last three seasons, finally retiring as a minor league legend at 48.
Not bad for a country chunker from Sparks.
(In the interest of full disclosure - and a little family muscle flexing - Teach was my great-uncle.)
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Only a couple of weeks ago, Temple-area volleyball teams hardly registered in the statewide rankings. Now, a handful of teams are featured prominently.
District 25-2A rivals Salado and Rogers come in at Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, in the Class 2A rankings, setting up an intriguing showdown on Friday at Salado’s new gym.
Coaches Bree Holz-Gonzales of Salado and Pam Lomas of Rogers appear to have their teams set for another multi-level playoff run, though getting through the ultra-competitive 25-2A never is a breeze. Both teams surged past the 20-win plateau before district started.
Salado’s formidable front row, led by Danielle Hazzard and Jenna Sebek, makes life difficult for opponents both on offense and defense, while Rogers is relentless with Dana Schaffner and Nancy Macha.
Rogers beat Salado in straight sets for third place at Gatesville tournament’s last month. Those Lady Eagles won a monster 32-team tournament at Robinson and another at Cameron Yoe. They’ve beaten the likes of Temple, China Spring and Liberty Hill and have lost only to Pflugerville Hendrickson.
Granger, Lomas’ former school, checks in at No. 18 in Class A, and Gatesville is steady at No. 13 in 3A.
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Through just three weeks of the high school football season, only four area teams - Copperas Cove, Rockdale, Academy and Rosebud-Lott - are undefeated. To find a surprise in among that group you’d probably have to slip across the Falls County line into Travis.
Upon further investigation, you’d find that Rosebud-Lott third-year coach Kyle Maxfield has remnants of the kind of the talent that Bill Baine enjoyed earlier in the decade, especially when the Cougars won the Class 2A Division II state championship in 2002.
The Cougars have explosiveness in a variety of areas, led by quarterback Ernesto Flores, who has the option to distribute to speedy playmakers Brandon Butler, Deandre Thompson, Ben Guthrie and Darrell Whitfield.
Maxfield brought in former Rogers coach John Stillwell to shore up the defense, and that’s what has happened as Rosebud-Lott shut out McGregor and held off Class A No. 7-ranked Normangee.
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The shuffling of football games because of Hurricane Ike reminds one of the scheduling chaos Rita inflicted in September 2005, when some varsity games were played on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Cameron Yoe hosted a midweek game against Manor in the midst of that madness. The game started almost an hour late because the tardy Manor team bus had been stuck in evacuation traffic.
During the second half of the rather slow-paced contest, the officials were struggling to determine how to mark off a multi-infraction penalty. They huddled a few times, stopped and started to step it off but couldn’t come to a consensus. Minutes dragged by. The crowd’s boredom and irritation grew and the hour was getting late.
In an effort to goose the process along and lighten the mood a bit, Bertie Shuemate, Yoe’s always-entertaining public-address announcer, mischievously announced, “Tomorrow’s a work day."
twaits@temple-telegram.com
