Here's how a 'ragtag' Placentia team captured N.L.'s first Canadian junior softball title
They didn't even have proper uniforms, but this team overcompensated with raw talent and pure grit
For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Dick Davis walks behind home plate at the William Hogan Memorial Ball Field in the Placentia, N.L. community of Dunville.
He was a standout catcher in his younger years, and this used to be his office. He relished being at the centre of all the action as he discreetly used his fingers and body movements to communicate with his pitchers, who routinely unleashed blistering throws of over 100 km/h from just 46 feet away.
"I played hundreds and hundreds of games here," he says as he passes his foot back and forth over the plate, clearing away the sand.
Davis is now in his late 60s, and though his knees are surprisingly pain-free for a guy who spent years squatting behind the plate, his throwing arm is rusty because it's been a few decades since he played the game he once loved.
But his memory of a special day in August 1975, and a thrilling game-winning play that made softball history for Newfoundland and Labrador, is as fresh as ever.
"I remember it weekly," says the softball hall of famer.
Davis was a key member of the Placentia Intertown All-Stars. They were a legendary squad of outport softballers from tiny Placentia Bay communities like Fox Harbour, who defied all the odds by capturing the 1975 Canadian junior men's championship. It was the first-ever national softball championship for the province.
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of that historic sporting achievement, and some members of that team recently gathered at their old ball field to reminisce about a victory that put Newfoundland and Labrador on the national softball map, and paved the way for future generations of national champions like Steve Mullaley, Jason Hill, Sean Cleary, Brad Ezekiel and Shane Boland.
"We weren't even on the radar when we got there. We were just a participant," Davis said of his team's early presence at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex in Saskatoon.
Indeed, they were a bunch of unknowns, and were expected to make easy pickings for softball hotbeds like Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Manager Len Hickey uses the word "ragtag" to describe the team of young men, many of whom had never travelled far from their hometowns, let alone step foot onto a jet airplane.
They also had to quickly adapt to playing, for the first time, at night under blinding field lights.
"We didn't have uniforms that fit," he recalls.
The team borrowed jerseys from the Fox Harbour league team, with the words "Fox HR" on the chest.
People on the prairies had no idea that "HR" was an abbreviation for "harbour," so the gritty and lively Newfoundlanders, who stayed focused by playing and singing "Newfie" music in the dugout, quickly became known as the "Fox H.R." team.
"We didn't get a lot of respect at the start," Hickey said.
But as the tournament progressed, the wins started piling up and people were talking about the pitching prowess of Eugene Emberley and Frank Kelly, a tandem that mowed down batters like dominos, and the cat-like reflexes and raw talent of infielders like Dan Hann, Jim Pittman, Rick Foley and Clarence Canning.
"We became the darlings of the fans," said Hickey.
On Aug. 10, 1975, the Placentia team faced Alberta in the final.
Through the first six innings, there was no score, and Emberley, as usual, was throwing laser beams.
In the top of the seventh, with two out, Frank Kelly broke the scoreless deadlock by launching a solo home run.
It would be all the Newfoundlanders needed to seal victory, but not before Alberta attempted a comeback in the bottom of the inning, beginning with a one-out triple that brought the large crowd to life.
With the tying run just 60 feet away from home plate, an Alberta player blooped a pop-up over second base, where Mike Pittman was patrolling in deep centre field. He charged at top speed and made an acrobatic shoe-string catch for the second out.
"I wouldn't say there's a fellow in the majors who could have made that catch," says Jim Pittman, Mike's brother and teammate.
The Alberta player on third tagged up and started for home, but Mike Pittman came up throwing and fired a dart to home plate.
Davis already had his spikes dug in on the right side of the plate, and a one-hopper from Pittman landed perfectly in Davis's glove.
"He had nowhere to go. We had him by half-a-step. He was dead. He didn't have a chance," Davis recalls.
After what seemed like an eternity, the umpire screamed "OUT!," and pandemonium ensued because most Saskatoon fans at the crowded field were cheering for the Fox HR team.
Emberley, who was backing Davis on the throw, lifted his catcher into the air.
"I can't remember a lot after that, but it was a fabulous play," said Davis.
"We all could have been paid half-a-million and not felt any better. It meant that much. It was just unreal," said Hann, who, along with Canning and Placentia coach Bill Hogan, were named to the tournament all-star team.
"We were diggers and worked hard, and it paid off," added Jim Pittman.
Emberley, meanwhile, was the tournament's most-valuable player.
It was a golden finish, but the Placentia team had to overcome some serious obstacles to get to Saskatchewan.
After qualifying as the provincial champions, they scrambled to raise more than $10,000 to cover travel expenses. And the day before their departure date, Air Canada employees went on strike.
But coach Hogan, the well-connected Dunville resident and future municipal and provincial politician, worked some magic with the then-federal minister of transport, Jean Marchand.
"He was able to get a commitment from [the minister] that if a plane went out of Newfoundland, we'd be on it," Hickey explained.
Jim Pittman says Bill Hogan's influence on the field was also instrumental, because he instilled a never-quit attitude and was a stern and demanding coach.
"He wanted to win and everybody listened to him," said Pittman.
The team returned home to a hero's welcome, and a raucous celebration at the old P4 Club in Placentia.
The experience changed the lives of some of the players, with some going on to star on the national scene for years.
A half-century later, they're all in their late 60s and early 70s, but five members — Bill Hogan, Eugene Emberley, Mike Pittman, Clarence Canning and Alf Hatfield — have passed away.
But their legacies live on because all these guys made softball history, in the most dramatic way possible.
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