{"id":1914,"date":"2018-05-06T23:02:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T03:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2018-06-07T01:09:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T05:09:42","slug":"the-2018-sweatsox-origin-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/06\/the-2018-sweatsox-origin-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2018 SweatSox: Origin Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi. My name is Shaun Keay, I\u2019m a 20-year SweatSox vet, I drive a black truck, I\u2019m more likely than not some kind of engineer, but most importantly I\u2019m the webmaster for this, the award winning SweatSite.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a while since we last talked, and you\u2019re probably looking for a reason that explains my yearlong absence.\u00a0 For everyone who asked, no I wasn\u2019t serving some kind of suspension for publishing the expose: \u201cCorruption at the Highest Levels of National Capital Baseball League Management<\/em>\u201d, where both the NCBL Treasurer and Secretary should\u2019ve been fired and arrested on the spot.\u00a0 And no, I didn\u2019t have a kid last spring and lost complete track of time. The truth is, I lost the password to the site and only recently recovered it.\u00a0 Turns out it was: password<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To kick off the 2018 SweatSite Relaunch, I decided to tell the story of how the 2018 SweatSox roster came together, starting at the very<\/strong><\/em> beginning.\u00a0 You\u2019ll learn for the first time ever why the team was named SweatSox, the early trials and tribulations of a doomed franchise, the rise and fall of the modern-day Sox, and finally how, when, and why each player on the active roster joined the team.<\/p>\n

Here we go.<\/p>\n

WHO IS DON DORION?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On January 4th, 1977, a man named Donald Dorion woke up in the middle of the night perspiring profusely.\u00a0 He was initially extremely disoriented, yelling at the top of his lungs for his mother, but then he remembered she passed away 8 years earlier, back in the summer of \u201969 (those were not the best days of his life).\u00a0 Thankfully, his big brother & roommate Douglas was awake at the time for his midnight king-sized cigarette and heard the commotion, so he ran into the room to see what was troubling his much hairier brother.\u00a0Don had never in his life woken up in the middle of the night, but Doug was quick to notice that maybe it was because he fell asleep wearing his socks, something he\u2019d also never done before.\u00a0Don quickly removed these now sweaty socks and threw them on the floor, thanked his brother for checking-in on him, and went back to sleep.<\/p>\n

The next morning Don woke up at his usual time, took a proud look at his morning wood, and then proceeded to get out of bed.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he forgot about those sweaty socks lying on the floor because he slipped on them and fell backwards, slamming his head on the hardwood floor.\u00a0 Doug, already awake for his morning king-sized cigarette, heard the noise and ran into the room; but he was too late \u2013 Don Dorion was dead.\u00a0 RIP.<\/p>\n

WHY WE\u2019RE CALLED THE SWEATSOX?<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 years later, in 1981, Doug Dorion founded the SweatSox, an Ottawa Recreational Baseball League team named after the instrument of his brother\u2019s death (although we technically were called D.L. in 1981, but that\u2019s neither here nor there).\u00a0 Much like Doug honoured his brother then, we honour our founder Doug Dorion to this day with our MVP Trophy, named in his honour and sculpted in his image after he went missing (and presumed dead) in the early 00\u2019s.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

FYI<\/strong><\/em>– There is still a sizable cash reward available to anyone with information leading to the whereabouts and safe return of Doug Dorion (on the right) to the SweatSox Hyjinx.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE 1990\u2019S\u00a0SWEATSOX SPLIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SweatSox were exceptionally terrible in the 80\u2019s, but no more so than in 1989 when we finished with a 2-25 record, just 1 loss short of the NCBL\u2019s all-time single season record.\u00a0 That next offseason, the good SweatSox players split off to form their own team, the Las Palmas Ball Hawks, to play in the \u201cCompetitive League\u201d of the newly created National Capital Baseball League, while Doug and the shitty players kept the SweatSox name & history and joined the NCBL\u2019s \u201cRecreational League\u201d.<\/p>\n

FYI: The Las Palmas Ball Hawks played just 1 season before merging with the Chateau Lafayette Red Eyes in 1991 to create: Ralph\u2019s Huddle Hawks.\u00a0 That team would play just 1 season before rebranding to the Mexicali Rosa’s Black Sox in ’92, who then went on to win back to back Tier 1 division titles in \u201994 and \u201995, and then folded.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the OG SweatSox spent the 90\u2019s in either the \u2018Recreational League\u2019 or whatever the lowest Tier was at the time, but they never folded.<\/p>\n

BUILDING THE 2018 ROSTER \u2013 PLAYER BY PLAYER<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1998, my dad (Robert Downey Keay) and I (Shaun Robert Downey Jr Keay) were recruited by both my Uncle (Bruce Gilbert) and my Godfather (Doug Dorion) to play for the SweatSox.\u00a0 I had never played baseball before in my life, I was a fastball kid, but in retrospect it made perfect sense that this team of losers was trying to recruit me.\u00a0I ended up alright though.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I played with my old man for 4 seasons, and his last year (2002) just happened to be the rookie year for a young, up and coming crime scene investigator: Christopher Marc Lett, who had just moved to Ottawa to seek long term treatment for a serious back injury suffered at University.\u00a0 Lett says the back feels much better nowadays, but every once in a while, when the temperature is just right, he can still feel that heavy footprint lodged in his spine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The addition of Marc Lett wasn\u2019t enough to turn the franchise around, so the SweatSox went full rebuild in 2003, cutting 6 full-time players to make room for the largest rookie class in team history.\u00a0 Heading that group of free agents were a pair of future SweatSox Hall of Famers: Cory Bond and Craig Cornell.\u00a0 Coincidently, both players were originally recruited by the Nepean Brewers, since they always got first dibbs on new players posting on the website back then.\u00a0Both ultimately declined: even then Cornell was serious about playing in all 4 tiers so he knew he had to start at the bottom; and Bond was still bitter that the Brewers manager, who just happened to be the newly crowned NCBL Commissioner, rejected the bid of his West-End Warriors team as a new franchise in the league (the fact the Commissioner doesn\u2019t actualy vote on those things is neither here nor there).\u00a0 Cory and Craig single handedly led the SweatSox to their 1st winning season in 17 years.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next of the active players to join the team was Kent Johnston, a former Pinecrest Little League (but thanks to Beelen not a West-End Warrior) teammate of future NCBL Secretary Bond.\u00a0 Johnston had one of the worst starts imaginable, going hitless in his first 8 games (0\/17), but picked it up on the backend going 17 for his last 30, helping lead the SweatSox to their first bit of team glory: a Tier 4 pennant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Josh Ramage was the next 2018er to join the team, recruited in 2006 after pitching against the SweatSox during a midseason Pinecrest-SweatSox friendly.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he was particularly dominating or anything, it was more we had a game in Winchester coming up and our entire pitching staff seemed to be experiencing flu-like symptoms.\u00a0 Ramage threw 2 innings, giving up 10 runs, 7 walks, and 5 hits in his SweatSox debut, but avoided the loss and earned his first of many dirty no decisions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Groves made several email requests to join the SweatSox following the 2006 collapse of his old Mustangs team, but it wasn\u2019t until 2008 when we finally offered him a pitching-only deal.\u00a0 We did let him swing the bat a year or two later, probably when we only had 9 guys show up, and he’s stuck around ever since.\u00a0Mark Bond, who was never quite clear about whether he wanted to be picked up for practice at the bus stop<\/em> or cop shop<\/em>, was also a part of the SweatSox Rookie Class of 2008.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When the SweatSox were prepping for the 2010 playoffs, we realized we were probably an arm short.\u00a0 Our very own Travis \u201cT-Murda aka T-Bag\u201d Murdock mentioned he knew a guy who used to be decent but was probably well past his prime now.\u00a0 Allegedly this guy could pitch, play shortstop, and drop a near-perfect bunt in any situation.\u00a0 We tried him out, and he threw a complete game win in his first SweatSox start.\u00a0 We signed him.\u00a0 And he\u2019s done nothing ever since.\u00a0 Ross Hughes: SweatSox Rookie Class of 2010, NCBL Tier 2 Rookie of the Year in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To any Cornwall River Rats player or family member reading this, EARMUFFS<\/strong>!!<\/p>\n

2013 was a special year on the road to building the 2018 SweatSox Roster.\u00a0 Not because we won the Tier 2 Championship on a bottom-of-the-seventh walkoff grand slam, but because it was the year we signed Chris Lidstone, described by many as a slightly younger, better looking, not-as-nerdy Marc Lett.\u00a0 The former Mr. Mindy\u2019s SweatSox claim-to-fame was being subbed out of the aforementioned championship game in favour of Mark Stinson, who went on to draw a walk, that led to the single, that led to the other walk, that led to the grand slam.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t have done it without you Liddy!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If the 2013 playoff run was indeed the absolute peak of the SweatSox franchise, anything afterwards would naturally be the plummet back to mediocrity.\u00a0 Case in point was the 2014 season, when we finished last despite adding a pitching Wizard (35-5 career record) to our championship roster.\u00a0 We also finished last in 2016, but that was in Tier 1 after we inexplicably won the Tier 2 pennant the year before.<\/p>\n

Two big pieces from the 2-win 2016 SweatSox were Dillon Lowry (poached from the Cardinals roster) and Jason Klein (a free agent poached at an offseason Cardinals practice).\u00a0 Lowry got the W in one of our wins and a Save in the other, while Klein brought a ton of pizza that year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our inability to play good baseball carried over through most of the 2017 season, where we were back playing in Tier 2 after accepting the automatic drop for finishing last the year before.\u00a0 As mentioned earlier, I, Shaun Keay, even forgot how to update our website during this now \u201clost\u201d year.\u00a0 We did end up winning 3 of our final 6 games, totaling 5 wins for the entire season.\u00a0We finished last though, by quite a bit.<\/p>\n

Three DFL finishes over the previous four seasons took its toll on a few of our longtime mainstays.\u00a0 Both Armando Navarro and Eric White walked away from the SweatSox this past offseason to pursue opportunities on more winning-focused, family-friendly teams.\u00a0 Navarro accepted a one-year deal with the now Tier 2 Red Sox, a far more stable organization than the one he just played 12 seasons with.\u00a0 White flirted with the Expos & Sharks for a few weeks, but ultimately a trade was made within the \u201cSweatPanths with a Silent H<\/em>\u201d Alliance that sent him to the Panthers in exchange for the future rights to Jason “Fink” Oviedo.\u00a0 Eric became the 3rd former SweatSox player to join the Panthers, following in the footsteps of Adrian Delorey and Phil Johnson, and the 4th overall to play for both teams (John Groves).<\/p>\n

Most of the SweatSox would like to wish both players the best of luck in their future endeavours.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If losing those two wasn\u2019t enough of a gut punch, over the winter we tried to get Shane White to change his mind on his 2017 mid-season retirement from baseball, but he seemed pretty set.\u00a0 With three full time players from last season now gone, combined with our steady incline in age and even steadier decline in baseball skills, we knew we\u2019d played our last season in Tier 2, something the Braves know all-too-well since they\u2019ve already had like 5 last seasons in Tier 2. For the first time since 2005, we were now a Tier 3 team.<\/p>\n

With a few spots to fill to complete the Tier 3 roster, the SweatSox decided not to post an ad, and instead looked to our Twitter Direct Messages.\u00a0 We received an unsolicited inquiry about joining our team from Justin Pidhirny, a Brockville native who was born the same year I joined the SweatSox.\u00a0 He claimed to be a catcher, who usually hits in the middle of the order, he likes beer, and could pay full fees immediately upon request.<\/p>\n

Dillon Lowry was optimistic, suggesting that adding a 2nd catcher would ensure Marc Lett wouldn\u2019t have to catch all 24 games this year.\u00a0 Ross Hughes was a little more pessimistic, suggesting this was some sort of Nigerian Prince scam.\u00a0 Mark Bond wasn\u2019t having any of it, claiming:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We liked this baby Bunny\u2019s spunk, so we ended up offering him a spot sight unseen, and minutes later he was all paid up.\u00a0 Only time will tell whether he\u2019s the next Marc Lett, or the next Vance Vance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rest of the SweatSox 2018 Rookie Class includes Harry Jee and Cypress Hernandez, 2017 teammates from Montreal\u2019s BWISL Conference C Athletics.\u00a0 We needed a little bit more money for Cory\u2019s SweatXpense account, so we basically signed them sight unseen too.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So there it is, your 2018 SweatSox, 20+ years in the making.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The NCBL regular season is set to begin in a couple of days, you know because today is May 6th (not June 6th).\u00a0 Our goal is to win 7 games this year, which would match our total from the last 2 seasons, combined.\u00a0 We realize that\u2019s probably a reach, but why not set the bar high.<\/p>\n

Tier 4: We\u2019ll see you in 2019.<\/p>\n

COMING SOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

In honour of Don Dorion\u2019s untimely sweaty sock death in \u201877, we\u2019re going to be counting down the 77 Greatest SweatSox of All Time.\u00a0 I, Shaun Keay, may even write a game recap or two too.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi. My name is Shaun Keay, I\u2019m a 20-year SweatSox vet, I drive a black truck, I\u2019m more likely than not some kind of engineer, but most importantly I\u2019m the webmaster for this, the award winning SweatSite.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a while since we last talked, and you\u2019re probably looking for a reason that explains my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncbl","category-recap"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_2114.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p41pWP-uS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1914"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}