Fires And Baseball

Depending on where you live you don’t need a radio or television to tell you there’s a major fire burning in the area as you could smell and/or see it. Sirens were blaring for much of Tuesday afternoon and evening as hundreds of firefighters from five counties responded to Southern Ocean County to battle one of the largest-ever fires in the Pinelands Region. Keep in mind that many of the firefighters are volunteers who have left their families and jobs to answer the call.


Toms River North and Toms River East meet for the third time this season tonight in the finals of the Ocean County Baseball Tournament at FirstEnergy Park. The Mariners won both regular season games on their way to the Class A South title but face a Raider team that’s won the Ocean County Tournament in each of their last three appearances. For all the times they’ve played this is the first ever North-East showdown for the county tournament, which started in 1972. The game will be broadcast live on 1160 WOBM-AM and there is a threat of thunderstorms.

The North Mariners will be playing Central Regional Saturday night in a game that will be played at the Berkeley Little League’s Leiter Field. That’s because the little league is holding a Leiter Family Appreciation Day and the special guests will be former major leaguer pitchers Al & Mark Leiter. The two brothers not only played in the Berkeley Little League but for the Golden Eagles of Central and they will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitches. There will be an autograph session from 4:45-5:45 at the little league complex on Moorage Avenue in Bayville with the proceeds to benefit the Central and Toms River North baseball programs.

When I heard Tuesday that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had died I thought of a bumper sticker I used to see quite often….”The Moral Majority is Neither.”