Diamond, Neosho ready for a 'classic'
Both Neosho’s and Diamond’s baseball teams were invited to play in the 9th Annual Mickey Mantle Wooden Bat Classic in Commerce, the boyhood home of the Yankee legend.
Neosho was assigned to the Hall of Fame Division in the Triple Crown Pool with Kansas, Okla., and Sequoyah, Okla., from Tahlequah.
Neosho plays at noon today against Kansas at Quapaw High School and at 2:30 p.m. against Sequoyah on Thursday.
Diamond is also in the Triple Crown Pool and was assigned to the Whiz Kid Division with Siloam Springs, Ark., and Baxter Springs, Kan.
Diamond plays at 7 p.m. against Baxter Springs, which has the last two Class 3A championships in Kansas. Diamond plays against Siloam Springs at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
On the Comet Pool side of the tournament the team includes all Oklahoma schools in: Quapaw, Wyandotte, Chouteau, Afton, Salina and Commerce.
Four pool games will be played daily on Wednesday (thanks to rainouts on Tuesday) and Thursday starting at noon.
Semifinal games will be Friday, starting at noon with the third-place and championship games set for Saturday.
The bats used by the teams, manufactured by Hoosier Bat Co. of Valparaiso, Ind., will feature the Mantle Classic logo and an image of Mantle.
Twelve of the limited edition bats, which are numbered and dated, are on sale for $75.
Broken bats will be sold for $15 each.
A silent auction will be held throughout the day on Saturday.
A Chicago Cubs jersey autographed by Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins — last year's featured guest — will be on the block.
Also, an autographed limited edition (No. 15 of 54) lithograph of Goose Gossage, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in July will be auctioned. Gossage was the featured guest at the 2006 Mantle Classic.
Also, baseballs autographed by Gossage, Jenkins Whitey Ford, Tony Kubek, Goose Gossage, Bob Turley and Tony Kubek will be part of the silent auction along with an autographed black-and-white photo of the 1961 New York Yankees infield (donated by Kubek), baseball cards autographed by Duke Snider and Frank Robinson, baseball post cards and other baseball items will be available.
Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for students.
Tournament passes, good for all 20 games, are $12 for adults and $6 for students.
Jim Ellis from the Miami News-Record contributed to this story
