By Dave Ford
It was Little League with 10 shots of adrenaline.
Chants of “Hey batter, batter” were replaced with “You have change for a dollar?!” followed by a towering shot that traveled nearly 340 feet—in the air.
The 40th Annual Smoky Mountain Classic showcased the world’s most talented male slow pitch softball teams over July 11-13, and the fans that were able to find a spot within a mile of Sandy Springs Park, the event’s most popular site each year, were witness to some testosterone-fueled entertainment of a different kind.
Team Resmondo/Specialty Tank/Worth took home the 2008 title with a 4-0 record, while Dan Smith/Menosse/Benfield/Combat finished in second place at 3-1. Long Haul Trucking finished third at 6-1, while the remaining 27 teams were forced to wait for a shot at next year’s championship.
The multiple names for each team can be confusing to a novice fan, but Chris Clark, CPRP, Superintendent of Athletics for Blount County Parks and Recreation said it’s a simple matter of how many sponsors each team possesses.
“Sponsors may represent 16 different states,” he said. “As far as players, we may have some from all 48 of the continental United States. Some of these guys, they all don’t live together, they don’t live in the same town. They meet up on Thursday, take BP (batting practice) together and then they play on the weekends. It’s one of those situations where they don’t live close enough together to play all the time.”
The tournament was created by Frank Bradley in 1969 when he was the parks and recreation director for Blount County. And since he wanted to hold an all men’s tournament in Maryville, TN, which is located on the doorstep of Smoky Mountain National Park, he decided to call it the Smoky Mountain Classic.
Since then, the best teams from around the country and some from other parts of the world have come to Tennessee to compete in front of up to 30,000 fans. The “Classic” draws the best men’s Super and Major slow pitch teams in the U.S. and is now the premier slow pitch invitational.
The high level of play is no coincidence considering the experience of some of the sport’s best players.
“This is the big leagues, this is as high as they can go,” said Clark. “We had one guy that was a middle reliever for the Kansas City Royals. Rusty Bumgardner with Dan Smith, he played in the Florida Marlins organization. This is professional softball.”
The love of the game is certainly a factor for these men, as the big money from Major League Baseball is nonexistent in this sport.
“They don’t make a great living, but they get compensated for their weekend and being away from their families. Some of them bring their families with them,” said Clark.
And as is the case in baseball, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to the sports’ best performers. Team Resmondo’s Andy Purcell was named Tournament MVP for going 13-of-14 with 11 runs, four home runs, nine RBI and a .929 batting average.
Chris Calcutt of Taylor Made finished 16th in overall offensive statistics, but was No. 1 in RBI with a gaudy 20 runs batted in to go along with a 15-of-20 effort at the plate where he jacked eight home runs.
For more information about the Smoky Mountain Classic log onto www.smokymountainsoftballclassic.com. To keep up with the best players and teams in professional men’s softball, visit www.usssa.com.
