Labors of love
Announcer’s razzing is a hit
in Florence
Staff writer
Travis Parmley received a call at 2 p.m. Sunday asking him to announce a vintage baseball game in Florence as part of its annual Labor Day celebration.
A longtime announcer had a family emergency and wasn’t sure she would make it back in time for a 6 p.m. start.
Parmley agreed to be a pinch hitter of sorts.
He hadn’t announced a game before, but he quickly had people in the stands and lawn chairs chuckling with good-natured ribs.
Florence’s team, the Harvey Boys, lost to the Emporia Nine, in seven innings. Final score was 18-8.
Players didn’t wear baseball gloves, and there were no walks, only swinging strikes.
The Emporia Nine wore white shirts, black pants, black suspenders, and black newsboy hats.
The Harvey Boys’ garb was a touch more modern.
Players’ unique names scored points with onlookers.
Some of Parmley’s winning zingers:
- “Quiksilver, you got the Bengay on?” Parmley asked, razzing a Harvey Boys player.
- “Maybe his hickory stick is too short,” he said when a player missed the ball.
- “If I remember right, Scabies is after Toothless,” he said, referring to two Emporia players.
- “Are those like 1850s Hey Dudes,” he asked a player, referring to a popular shoe brand.
The game was one of several events in Florence over the three-day holiday weekend. Other events included a street dance, ice cream social, cowboy polo, 4-H and FFA Olympics, and cow chip bingo.
Marion vocal music teacher Shyla Harris sang the national anthem before the game.
Parmley, a Marion resident who works at Haz-Mat Response Inc. and owns a car wash on US-56, said with a laugh that it was his first time announcing a baseball game and it “might have been the last.”