Haymarket Baseball
Man on a Mission
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By MARK STANYMYRE
Mstanmyre@potomacnews.com
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The man trying to save baseball in Haymarket is exhausted, and the game is still more than an hour away.
His face is flushed and a thick slather of sweat has built up on his cheeks. In the past few hours he's replenished the concession stand with hot dogs and hamburgers, filled out his team's lineup card and thrown batting practice for almost an hour. He still has to drag the infield, greet the umpires and set up the announcer's table. Then there's the whole coaching part, too.
"Sometimes I almost look forward to playing on the road," smirks Mark Keagle, Haymarket's 30-year-old manager and owner. "That way all I have to do is hop on a bus."
Keagle's Senators, the Valley Baseball League's most surprising team this summer, host Harrisonburg in about 70 minutes at Battlefield High School on a sweltering Tuesday evening. Few people seem to know; the bleachers are desolate and lonely, and the hot dogs and hamburgers Keagle bought earlier are getting cold in the concession stand.
Keagle's too busy to worry about attendance figures right now.
"This is my full-time job," he says. "It's been a very demanding, time-consuming endeavor."
Keagle is the man burdened with keeping baseball in Haymarket, and the person charged with .....
Man on a Mission
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