CHAMPIONS AGAIN!
LEAGUE POWER BAGS ANOTHER TITLE
A mysterious season ended with a fitting ambiguity today, as the twin powers of the Shoeless Joe League, the Kansas City Whirlwind and the Moline Greens, squared off in the final game of the 2000 short season championship. "I looked up and it was over, just like that," said Tim
Salmon
, Whirlwind outfielder. "That was a weird series," said Moline third baseman Scott Rolen, the son of school teachers. "A lot like the regular season that way." K.C. starter Alex Elarton explained that "the ball bounces funny sometimes. You never know."
The two teams have few secrets from one another, having met in the championship four straight times. GM's Rolf Samuels and Nils Samuels speak of one another with the utmost respect. "He's like a brother to me," said Samuels, "but when we're out there on the field, we're each playing to win." Samuels echoed those sentiments. "They're a good team. Are we better? We might be."
"We liked our chances with Pedro on the mound," said Moline pitching coach Roger Clementine. "After such a strange year," said Samuels, "it was gratifying to have the better team win." The outcome wasn't certain until the final out was recorded. "The team played hard all year, and when you do that, good things happen," said Samuels. Moline ethicist Suzann Luckman explained the series outcome as a "sign of the last days, a chance for reason to prevail against the hysteria of millennialism."