The 2009 Stickball Season is a little more than half way through.  There a a lot of story lines and new teams in the mix and it has made for a lot of conversation over the last few months.  Who will make the playoffs?  Who will be the Rookie of the Year?  Who will ultimately win the 2009 Championship in the Arizona Stickball Bush League?  These are all tough questions to ask, but after you read this article, you may be able to make a better educated guess.  So, let us recap some of the recent happenings in the league.

This year there have been a few new teams added to the league and a few teams that are no longer in the league.  Some of the new teams include the Lordsburg Lions, the Gila Valley Robins, the Spain D-Backs, and The Specials.  Some of the teams that have suspended operations or left the league include the Texas Lonestars, the Pittsburgh Keystones, the San Carlos Scouts, and the Golden Spikes.  However, there are still eight teams in the league which is what we had last year.  Some teams are represented by one player and others are represented by multiple players.  This is a new concept for the league, but a necessary one for some of the players in the league.  So, let us take a look at how the players and teams are doing this year.

First up, we look at the Commissioner, Mark Smith.  Mark is having a good season and his team posts a record of 12 wins and 4 losses and if the playoffs started today his team would finish in first place.  He is batting an incredible .837 average this season with 72 hits, 6 doubles, 5 triples and 31 home runs, and only 1 strike out in 86 at-bats.  He leads the league in hits, triples, home runs, RBIs,  and runs.  His pitching and fielding numbers are very strong as well. He leads the league in Ground outs with 19 and Pop Outs with 20.  Some of his pitching numbers in clude a win-loss record of 4-1 and an earned run average of 8.26, which when you are pitching to you own team, the higher your ERA the better.  Mark has his team poised for another run at the championship.  Congratulations on a great first half of the season to you and your Yard Dogs Mark.

Next we have Craig Smith, owner/player of the Specials.  Craig decided to come out of retirement this season and form a team comprising of his two sons Kimball and Lane and player manager Doug Sabeh.  Craig is having a pretty good season at the plate hitting a .674 average, 29 hits (4th in the league), 4 doubles, 10 home runs (4th in the league), 27 RBIs (4th in the league), 18 runs (Tied for 4th), and only 4 strike outs in 41 at-bats.  Hit pitching and fielding statistics are a little below his average, but he has done remarkable according to his manager.  Some of them include an earned run average of 6.49, giving up 51 hits, 7 home runs and a total of 31 runs all together.  These are some pretty good numbers since a lot of the statistics are from facing Kimball and Lane his two boys on the team.  So Kudos to you Mr. Craig Smith for continuing to embrace the family aspect of our game. 

The Sacramento Stix represented by Jason Smith are having and up and down season this year.  their record is 5-9 midway through the season, but I would not count the Stix out of the playoffs yet.  Presently if the season ended now with the new rules presiding, Jason's Stix would be the fourth and final team in the playoffs, since not all teams have played the minimun 8 games to qualify for the playoffs.  Jason's numbers pretty good both at the plate and in the field.  He is batting a .707 average with 53 hits (2nd in the league), 18 doubles (1st in the league), 2 triples, 19 home runs (2nd in the league), 39 RBis (2nd in the league), scores 38 runs (2nd in the league) with only 2 strike outs in 75 at-bats.  Although he has a 2-5 record pitching, Jason has a 7.28 ERA, allowed 58 hits, 13 home runs, and allowed 38 runs.  He has 7 ground outs and 3 pop outs which shows that he still flashes his leather at the hot corner of third base.  We look for good things from Jason as he will be playing some stickball in Pittsburgh later this month.  Maybe his trip "Back to the Minors" will be what he needs to get his game back to where he needs it to be to secure a place in the playoffs this fall.

The Gila Valley Robins are making their league debut with the steady Robin Smith this year.  The Robins are having a pretty decent year in their inagural season with a 4 win and 3 loss season to date.  Robin Smith is having a tough year with a lot of his statistics being below his career average.  In 37 at-bats, he has an average of .432, 16 hits, 1 double, 1 triple, 4 RBIs. 11 runs and 3 strike outs.  However, Robin Smith has always been known for his pitching and his numbers are pretty good in that category.  He has a 3 win and 0 loss record, an ERA of 13.09 (1st in the league), given up 28 hits, 24 runs, 14 home runs, and has not struck anyone out.  There have been many years where pitching and defense have been as important as scoring runs in this league, so do not be surprised to see the Robins in the playoffs this year.

The Arizona Rays led by Brandon Kempton are having a good first half of the season with a win-loss record of 6-3.  If the season ended today, the Rays would finish second in the league and make the playoffs.  Brandon is having a solid year both at the plate as well as the field.  He leads the league with an average of .851.  He also has 40 hits (3rd in the league), 7 doubles, 1 triple, 13 home runs (3rd in the league), 32 RBIs (3rd in the league) and 29 runs (3rd in the league), with only four strike outs in 47 at-bats.  His pitching statistics are solid with an ERA of 9.00, a record of 2 wins and 2 loses, surrendering 31 hits, 11 home runs and 23 total runs, and only striking out one batter of the 46 he has faced.  He also 13 ground outs and 6 pop outs for a total of 19 total outs in the field.  If Brandon and his Rays continue to stay the course, they should be playing in the post-season.

Kimball Smith, a promising you player for the Specials is havin a pretty good year for his team.  Although he started out with some struggles, his manager is pleased with how far he has come since the beginning of the season.  In 48 at-bats, Kimball has 27 hits, 8 doubles, 4 homeruns, 12 RBIs, and 16 runs and an average of .563.  He is also having a pretty good statistics pitching and fielding.  He has a team best ERA of 7.41, only 1 loss, has given up 23 hits, 9 home runs, and a total of 14 runs altogether.  He also has 3 ground outs, which is one less than his seasons best last year.  Kimball is only going to get better each and every year that he plays in this league.  Maybe in a few years he will lead his team to the playoffs and a championship. 

Lane Smith is one of the players up for "Rookie of the Year" for 2009.  He is having a great year at the plate.  He has an average of .604, 29 hits, 13 doubles, 1 home run, 7 RBI's, 18 runs in 48 at-bats.  In the field he has 1 ground out.  Righ now he leads all rookies in his offensive categories, but he does not lead all the defensive categories in this area.  We still have half of a season left, we will know where he stands in these categories at the end of the year.  One note that should be mentioned is that Lane's manager is very pleased with his effort in the first half of this season.  Who knows what the future has for this young and upcoming star for the Specials and the League.

Nathan Kempton, son of Brandon Kempton, is having a pretty good inagural season with his Lordsburg Lions.  They have a win-loss record of 3-1 and if they can play enough games, they may find themselves in the playoffs this year.  Nathan may also find his name come up in the "Rookie of the Year Award," this season.  His numbers this season are in 19 at-bats, 9 hits, 1 double, 6 runs, 1 strike out, and a .474 batting average.  He is proving to be an up and coming star for his team as well as the league.  We look forward to seeing more of the Lordsburg Lions this year.

Duane DeSpain is this years "Feel Good Story of the Year."  Mr. DeSpain is well known in the league for his athletic ability, his pitching, his fielding, and the"I Heard a Tip Home Run" that he pitched to Doug Sabeh, which completed back to back to back to back home runs in the summer of 2000.  Also like "Jimmy Morris" in the movie "The Rookie," he had promised doctors not to continue to play after an injury that occured back in 2002.  However, with pressure from the Smiths and his son, Riley, Duane made his first step towards "Comeback Player of the Year," back at the beginning of this season.  He has great numbers in all categories of hitting, pitching and fielding.  In 43 at-bats, he has 27 hits, 12 doubles, 2 triples, 7 home runs, 18 RBIs, 18 runs, only 3 strike outs and a .628 average.  His pitching numbers include an ERA of 9.14, 2 wins and 4 losses, 44 hits, 13 home runs and a total of 32 runs.  In the field he has 7 ground outs and 6 pop outs.  These are phenomonel numbers for someone who has been out of the league for six years.  If the season finished today, Duane's D-backs would be ranked third and make the playoffs.  It would not be a surprise to see his team make the playoffs this year if he and his son are able to play and win a few more games this season.  It is truly great to have you back in the league Mr. Duane DeSpain, we hope to see you come back next season as well.

Riley Despain of the Spain D-backs and Duane DeSpain's son is having a pretty good rookie year this season.  He has 10 hits, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 2 RBIs, only one strike out, 7 runs and an average of .667 in 15 at-bats.  He also has 2 pop outs while playing in the field.  He is definitely in contention for "Rookie of the Year Award."  It is really nice to see new players do well in the league, especially in their first season.  As long as both Riley and his dad are willing to play in the league, I think that they will provide some good competition for other teams in the league.

There are two other players that have not been able to get out on the field yet this season, but there is a good chance we will see these two have numbers on the website before the year is over.  Clifton Labrum and Doug Sabeh have to attend to some personal family matters right now, but we are sure that they will be mixing it up with everyone else in the league soon.  It may be possible that these two players were too embarrased with how much publicity that they received during last years awards postings on the website that they wanted to lay low for a little while.  Whatever the reason we know that Clifton and Doug will be back on the field in the near future possibly one or both will help a team win a championship this year.  Our thoughts are with you both and everyone else in the league.  Thus far everyone that has played this year has "Made it Extremely Fine in 2009."  Good Luck to all the players and teams during the rest of the year.  May the second half of the season be as great as the first one.  We look forward to seeing how the race for the playoffs shapes up in the upcoming months.  Have a great rest of the season and we look forward to seeing you all in the playoffs.