By Andy Loigu

Derek Weaver of Hackettstown has verbally committed to playing golf with the Naval Academy in the Patriot League next year.

Before the pandemic wrecked high school golf in this area for two years, Weaver was a first team selection in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He remained active on the links by qualifying for and playing in highly competitive tournaments on the American Junior Golf Association tour.

In a recent event in Albany he shot 72-68-71 for a three-round 54-hole score of 211, which would be a nine-hole score for this columnist.

Scouting reports tout Weaver as a player with an outstanding short game who also drives for distance, 290 yards off the tee with a clubhead speed of 120 miles per hour.

The young man can play, anchors aweigh.

BASEBALL CHATTER AND SILENCE

I’ve been fortunate enough, in my work for various New Jersey and Pennsylvania publications and websites, to meet and interview several baseball players who became members of the Hall of Fame. In alphabetical order, they include Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Reggie Jackson, Phil Rizzuto, Brooks Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Schmidt, and Dave Winfield. As someone who only got to cover professional games once in a while, I considered it an honor to even be in the same room with such people, and made sure I was courteous and polite in the presence of baseball royalty. 

Bench and Sandberg were the only ones I’ve chatted with after they’d become Hall of Fame inductees. Bench spoke at a luncheon for a charitable healthcare organization in Allentown, Pa., and Sandberg was the manager of the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who I covered for the Express-Times from 2010 to 2013.

I met Rizzuto when he was a broadcaster (Holy Cow) and the others were in their playing days.

And then there was the night I covered a fundraising event for BEST Inc.,in Bethlehem, Pa., where Jim Rice showed his support by making a guest appearance.

BEST, which includes Warren County in its area of service, raises money for students in financial need who show academic promise. A big part of the funds raised that night came from selling autographed memorabilia. Several former players from the Yankees, Phillies, and Mets were there, but the big-name player was Rice, who most of the attendees sought out for autographs.

In a 16-year career with the Boston Red Sox, Rice posted a career batting average of .298, with 382 homers and 1,451 runs batted in. He is the only player ever to lead the league outright in homers, triples, and RBIs in the same season.

From 1977 to 1979, he produced three straight seasons of 35 or more home runs, 200 or more hits, a batting average above .300 and over 100 runs scored in each of those seasons. Even A-Rod in his prime never put together three such seasons.

I snapped a candid photo of Rice signing memorabilia and introduced myself, displaying my press tag, but he did not speak a single word to me, even though I was there to write a totally positive story about him being “a good guy.”

It took 20 years from his retirement to get accepted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. Rice became the third enshrinee to get into the Hall in his last year of eligibility on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot. He may have gotten in later through the Veterans’ Committee, but it should not have taken that long. He should have gone in on the first ballot, based on his magnificent performance on the field.

From what I’ve heard and read, Rice simply did not talk to reporters. He didn’t make an exception for me, even though it was at a fundraiser event for a worthy cause.

Several less deserving players got into the Hall while Rice had to wait. It did not have to be that way. In retrospect, it can be said, a little bit of friendliness does not hurt. Lack of it can hold you back from the appreciation you may otherwise deserve.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.