TIME TO PAY THE FIDDLER
Fourth and Final CNMSBL Meeting Marks Final Financial Contributions for Cannons

Avon, CT (AP)—Mid-April. A time of year marked by the official deadline for filing an individual tax return in the United States and a moment in time that holds a special place in baseball history: sixty-one years ago this week Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. In 2008 it also saw Cannon Nation’s citizenship increase by one with the arrival of baseball bundle of joy Grace Lily Mancini. At nearly a month old, spring is in full swing and soon enough the latest Connecticut Cannons campaign will be as well as the team looks to make its eighth season its greatest one since storming the ol’ boys club known as the CNMSBL back in 2001. As Bill Paxton’s immortal Chet Donnelly of Weird Science fame yapped to younger brother Wyatt: “It’s time to pay the fiddler!” And indeed it was as Cannons management dropped a final dime on the league, while at the same time submitting the much-anticipated ‘08 roster in its final form.

“It really feels like we’ve made a move this off-season,” Manager Matt Celio mentioned to the multitude of reporters outside Cannons World Headquarters on Thursday morning (last weekend’s voluntary practices, attended by eleven of the eighteen roster invitees, did nothing to alter that overriding opinion). “There’s a certain sense of satisfaction in knowing we did all we could this off-season to bring a championship to Newington in ’08 (Connecticut lost Brian Pinney and Ed Poland to career-threatening injuries and released former Most Valuable Cannon Mike Calabrese rather than offering him his desired multi-year extension…instead the team hit the free agent market with a vengeance, adding five fabulously talented ball players). We addressed needs and got guys under contract for the long haul. Though we will undoubtedly challenge for the A Division crown this season these moves have solidified our standing as a title threat for years to come. It’s definitely an exciting time to be a part of Cannon Nation.”

For a final time the 2008 Step Up to the Plate Charity Baseball Marathon was the hot topic on Wednesday evening’s docket (Alex Britnell, a former CNMSBL player whose son is battling CF, made an impassioned plea to all players to “Step Up” and collect contributions for this year’s event). On Memorial Day Weekend 2008, players from all twenty-four teams in the CNMSBL’s A and B Divisions will take part in the league’s second annual 24-hour Baseball Marathon at the fabulous facility at Riverfront Park in Glastonbury, CT (Friday, May 23 through Saturday, May 24 with Opening Ceremonies at 6:00 p.m. and the first pitch at 7:00 p.m.). Currently ten Cannons—Bill Balcerzak, Chris Barsa, Celio, Tom Clark, Leo Dionicio, John Mancini, Mike McGann, Mike Patenaude, Jack Vanasse and Mike Weber—have expressed interest in striking out Cystic Fibrosis, Juvenile Diabetes and Prostate Cancer and hopefully even more Cannons will follow suit as the game approaches (visit the event’s website at stepupct.org/new where participants are asked to register themselves…$500 is the suggested goal amount to be raised by each player though several players raised over $1000 last season with little effort). “The Connecticut Cannons are once again ‘Stepping Up to the Plate’ for charity and I hope our faithful fans—the greatest fans in the CNMSBL or anywhere else for that matter—will do the same in support of these deserving causes,” said Celio in a prepared statement. “We hope to see many family members and friends on May 23 and 24 at Riverfront Park for this fun-filled baseball marathon. Please give generously Cannon Nation…hit another homer for charity.”

In nine days the Newington Nine will once again take the diamond to start another CNMSBL season. Expectations are for improved play but the team is making a concerted effort to take things day by day. If all goes according to plan the Connecticut Cannons will put a vastly improved product on the field in 2008. And if this is the case it may be time for the rest of the CNMSBL A Division to start “paying the fiddler” as well. Rosin up that bow Cannon Nation, it’s time to play that fiddle hard. The rest of the “A” may be pretty good, old son, but sit down on that bench right there and let the Cannons show you how it’s done. If everything falls just so these Cannons just might be the best there’s ever been.

Extended Cannons News and Notes Coverage: Craig Perrier, of Connecticut Cannon and Clark University Cougar baseball fame (the “Pride of the Pioneer Valley” starred in Worcester, MA on the ’92-’93 National Championship teams with Celio), announced his retirement from A Division play after only one season: “I think the time is right for me to retire. With my current situation—the first baseman/pitcher moved from Springfield to the Boston area this off-season and was recently named the recipient of the John Adams Fellowship, a three-week summer internship with some of the country’s premier historians—I would be hard pressed to win the position at first and I won’t have an opportunity to make a clear connection with the team. I believe my decision to be a mature, reflective and positive one. The 2008 line-up looks tight and added pitching should carry the team to a very good season. Who knows, my Cannons teammates might look past the right field fence and see a familiar silhouette. Or glance into the parking lot and glimpse a Toyota convertible driving away. Or maybe [one of the Cannons Kids] will deliver a note from ‘someone in the stands’ only to turn and find the bleachers empty. They will know. I give the team all my best.”; it was confirmed by Manager Gary Calusine that former Cannon Calabrese will play ball for the Bristol Metallurgists in ’08…Calusine repeatedly derided Cannons management as “soft” saying with his famous brand of forced bravado, “If [Calabrese] tries to pull any of the bulls**t he got away with while playing for the Cannons he’ll be gone so fast his head will spin. In Bristol we don’t take the same crap they do in Newington.”…Celio and Weber simply snickered at each and every comment, further infuriating fifty-something Cal…thirty-something Cal expressed a desire to “plunk Perrier” in a recent conversation with McGann…alas this classic confrontation will not happen; P Scott Hurlbert has decided that Cannons Baseball is not for him at this time: “I’ve been giving this some serious thought this week. It’s been a long time since my playing days and I really need to get back in shape before I end up hurting myself and embarrassing the team. I just don’t think I’m in the kind of condition that is going to help the team win—a frustrating position for me and unfair for the rest of the guys. I appreciate the invitation to play.”; Celio, in possession of the 2008 Cannons team notebook for charity event purposes, was referred to as a “stat weenie” by Winsted Manager and Opening Day opponent Paul Graves…the normally reserved Celio, stinging from what he perceived as uncalled for attacks against the Cannons by both Bristol and Winsted, informed Graves that Connecticut plans to “dominate” when it visits Winsted on Sunday, April 27…Graves granted Cannons management permission to bring the New Cannon Yards sound system to Fussenich Park to which Celio replied the Cannons “plan to rock out with our c***s out” while taking two from the Rifles…Graves reconsidered a statement he made at the league meeting in March: “I originally said that base coaches wearing helmets was even more gay than using composite bats. Upon further review not only are composite bats more gay, but using aluminum bats in practice is about as gay as it comes.”; umpires, headed by Tom Garro, were once again on hand to assure teams that the officiating fiasco that marred many of the weekends in 2007 will not occur again in 2008…he also expressed interest in “running [Chris] Barsa if he says even one thing that I consider to be out of line.”; according to team physicians C Mark Lynch’s foot “isn’t any better” and an orthopedic surgeon ordered a battery of tests, including a bone scan, moving Lynch from probable to doubtful for the upcoming season: “I’m going to do my best to see what I can provide the team with this year,” said Lynch as he emerged from a self-imposed silence at the eleventh hour. “I can only do what my body will let me, of course. If I’m out this year, I will continue to do everything possible to be ready for next year as I would still gun for a starting position.”…management placed a frantic phone call to “Father of Cannons Baseball” Andy Borst upon learning of the severity of Lynch’s injury…Borst is currently living in New Britain but could not commit due to a coaching conflict…“This may be fate’s way of telling me my time to return to Cannon Nation has come.”...Steve Markie had still not informed team officials of his status for Opening Day at press time; Celio, McGann and Weber (along with former Cannon John Sanchez and super-fan Matt Dowd) partied post-meeting at West Wings while watching the Sox-Yanks tilt in the Bronx; in off-season renovations New Cannon Yards added a pair of batting cages along the first base line…two possible field changes have been implemented due to double booking at Clem Lemire Recreation Complex (the June 1 games against Glastonbury have tentatively been moved to Mill Pond Park—Marlins Manager Mike Clinton is looking at options in Glastonbury—while the July 13 games against Winsted will be played at Sacco Stadium at Alumni Field).