Life in the Minors
Dragons’ resident
prankster is
one cool nudeAT this point of the season, very few teams in the Frontier League are fortunate enough to be in the race for one of the league's four precious playoff berths. At 44-29 and 15 games over the .500 mark, we are currently holding the top spot in the West Division, with a three-game lead and 11 contests remaining in the regular season.
With a comfortable but not commanding lead, the players and coaches of the Dubois County Dragons have been feeling the urgency of each game over the past couple of weeks. Each game, each inning, each run, each pitch has been significant, as we have inched toward our second consecutive division crown.
After each road game we wait in silent anticipation on our team bus as our radio broadcaster Keith Gerhart relays the scores from the Frontier League's hotline. During the late innings of our home games, public address announcer Scott Sollman makes sure that he gives us in the dugout a little added incentive by announcing the in-game scores of our rivals.
The Rockford Riverhawks have been our main rival this season. Hot on our tails since we took the divisional lead in June, the Riverhawks always seem to find a way to make us pay for a loss.
With all of the tension and the buzz surrounding the outcome of each game, the atmosphere in the Dragons clubhouse has been quite tense, making distractions all the more important to take the edge off during the pennant race.
The distraction of choice for us has been the antics of Dennis Pelfrey, our resident exhibitionist/hair care expert/facial hair artist/motivational leader/story teller/Pamela Anderson fan. Oh, and by the way, he plays third base.
To call "Pelf" a free spirit would perhaps be as gross an understatement as saying that June Jones doesn't mind throwing the ball every once in a while. Why Dennis even bothers to come to the ballpark wearing clothes everyday is a mystery. The moment he steps into the clubhouse, his clothes hit the floor. It isn't an unusual sight to see Pelf just sitting in front of his locker, polishing his spikes or reading Baseball America, or even holding a conversation with one of the grounds crew members in front of League Stadium ... au natural.
On the road about a month ago, we all got off of the bus at the Riverhawks' stadium to find that all our uniform laundry was still wet. My guess is that the Rockford clubbie was directed to hang our wet laundry in our lockers. Well, Pelf made his "little statement" by showing up for batting practice wearing his spikes, his batting gloves, his jock strap ... and his batting helmet. Oh, and eye black. He never goes a game without it.
Heck, at last year's season-ending get together, there was Pelf, parading around a gathering of about 100 men and women ... buck naked. Well, actually, he did have a cowboy hat on.
Perhaps the most entertaining Dennis Pelfrey episode this season came about a month ago, when he got fed up hearing our clean-up hitter Josh Tranum complain about the slump he was in -- even though he was hitting .340 at the time. To shut the rookie up, Pelf arrived at the park early one day and went to work. By the time I showed up for the day's game, every piece of equipment in Tranum's locker was taped to the walls and pillars of our clubhouse. There was a pair of bats taped to the wall behind the door, a glove taped to the ceiling, a shoe taped to the far wall of the building, and about 10 more bats taped to the main pillar. Of course, Josh failed to see the humor in it all, but we all got a pretty big kick out of it.
When not adding to his little shrine to Pamela Anderson on the wall near the corner of the clubhouse where his locker is, Pelf can be found cutting hair, trimming goatees and beards, applying Ultimate Warrior-style eye black to our second baseman Josh Landon, or just walking around naked.
But Pelf is always at his best on the field. When the starting lineups are announced each night and the first pitch is ready to be thrown, Pelf is always ready to lead our boys into battle.
As our starter at third base and our second batter in the lineup, Pelf is in perpetual motion throughout the game. Whether he is dusting himself off after adding to his league-leading stolen base total, coming up with the ball and a face full of dirt after making a diving stop at third, or barreling over a catcher at the plate, Pelf is always making things happen. Just last week he won us a ballgame by slamming a two-run single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning of our 3-1 win over the Evansville Otters.
An All-Star pick this year, he has been our offensive catalyst and our emotional leader over the past two years. When asked by one of our front office interns whether I liked the off-field or on-field Dennis Pelfrey best, I needed no time to formulate a reply.
On-field Dennis, of course. At least he wears clothes on the field ... well, most of the time.