3/26/2008

8 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 8 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Back to Corregidor: America Retakes the Rock by Gerard M. Devlin. This is from the first chapter, Origins of Fortress Corregidor.

The typical duty day for members of the Corregidor garrison was both long and rigorous. It began with a 5:30am reveille formation, followed by one hour of brisk calisthenics. After breakfast, the troops drew rifles from the arms rooms to participate in an hour-long series of boring marching drills, which all military leaders of that time felt would instill a sense of discipline in their soldiers. From the drill fields, the troops marched their respective gun emplacements. There they spent the remainder of the day going through repetitious mock firing drills using dummy shells as large and cumbersome as the real ones, and relaying the guns under the watchful eyes of strict sergeants. Officially, the duty day ended at 5:00pm with the bugle calls and pounding drums of formal retreat ceremonies as the troops stood at attention on the parade field, saluting their flag as it was slowly lowered. Unofficially, the day did not end then, for the artillery pieces had to be cleaned and there were dozens of sentinel posts that had to be manned throughout the long tropical nights.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.

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