1 week Ago
Sunday will be a long day – and bittersweet. I will be at the Civitan Hut in Fairmont, where I will for the 38th consecutive year draft my 2025 fantasy baseball team to compete in the Ashpole Baseball League with mostly Fairmont folks and a few others sprinkled in. I think in all those years, I have finished in the money just twice, making me one of the leading contributors to the town’s economy since the Dumbells’ debut in 1988.
It is, however, a baseball season’s worth of fun for about $200, so it works out to about the cost of a cup of coffee a day. Well worth it. The bitter part is that for the first time, Jeff Lewis, True Blue Tar Heel, an accountant, former Fairmont mayor, and the league commissioner for most of that time, will not be seated at the table.
He won’t be assembling his Ballbusters team, or entertaining with his dry wit, while reminding Charlie Floyd that the clock for him to nominate a player for bidding started 5 minutes ago. Jeff had a pretty good track record as the manager of the Ballbusters. One of my many failed strategies was to follow him around so to speak, bidding on players he apparently coveted.
I thought the strategy solid in assembling the team, but that is where my managing steered the team toward the bottom of the standings. Jeff died on Jan. 26 following a short illness.
I learned that he had died without knowing he was even ill. I cannot imagine an Ashpole draft without this bear of a fellow sipping on a Bud Light, making wise cracks, and keeping the ADHD- inflicted crowd somewhat focused on the task at hand. I met Jeff in 1988, and we became quick buddies with some mutual friends and shared interests beyond fantasy baseball.
A couple of years older than me, Jeff was also a graduate of UNC and I have been told his affection for all Tar Heel things surpassed my own. Not sure I am willing to cede that, but you get the point. Jeff’s death almost meant the death of the Ashpole League.
There was talk about whether we should continue without the big guy, but all of us knew he would want to us to, and in fact, its continuance is a way to honor Jeff. The task fell largely on Sammy Batten, former sports editor of this newspaper, and Jay Capps, a charter Ashpole member and longtime Fairmont businessman and institution. They had the chore of herding the cats and explains our tardy start to the season.
It was not long ago that the Atlanta Braves were 0-7, the Ashpole League appeared to be a fond memory, and I was wishing I could press the fast-forward button until football season. But when your next birthday is No. 68, you do not want to skip ahead.
The Braves are now 10-14 and Sunday night I will have a fantasy team to manage, so life is trending in a positive direction. Jeff’s passing, not surprisingly, had me reflecting on my years in the Ashpole League and those charter members we have lost – Mr. Bill, Frank, Lenwood and my dear golfing buddy, Danny Lassiter.
It was DL who in1988 called me and suggested that The Robesonian do a story on the Ashpole League. At that time the league was just a baby. Instead of doing that story, Sammy and I enlisted, and for me ensued what is now three full decades and part of two others of new friends, fun and fantasy futility.
D.L. and I were especially close, not only in golf, but in the Ashpole standings, with Danny often finishing last and me slightly above.
D.L. almost always was first to finish drafting his team, and my yearly joke when I took a seat next to him for the auction was, “At least you did not put a lot of effort and time into finishing dead last.
” I will be thinking of and missing Jeff, D.L., Frank, Mr.
Bill and Lenwood when I take my seat on Sunday, but thankful that fantasy baseball has fostered real friendships and will continue to do so. Reach Donnie Douglas by email at [email protected].
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