SPORTS & MORE: EVEN AT 80, BOOG POWELL’S MEMORY IS SHARP

February 18, 2022

a man in a red shirt and a man in a blue shirt pose for a — Key West baseball legend Boog Powell catches up with career sports writer Ralph Morrow Feb. 19 at Rex Weech Field. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly

It seems hard to believe, but Boog Powell, the best baseball player to come out of Key West, had a hard time being accepted when he, his brother, stepbrother and parents moved here from Lakeland.

He told the story of his arrival to a group of about 250 people at Saturday night’s Dinner on the Diamond at Rex Weech Field to celebrate Key West baseball.

“They wouldn’t put me (at age 15) on a team until I had a tryout,” Powell said. “They had me bat against George Mira, who was the best Key West pitcher at that time. I hit a long home run. Then I hit another. I got on a team, and later, so did my brothers,” including Carl Taylor, who also would later play in the Major Leagues.

Earlier Saturday evening, John Wesley “Boog” Powell, 80 years young, and I, at 85, reminisced from 60 years earlier when I was covering baseball for the Rochester, New York Times-Union and he was playing his last minor league season for the Rochester Red Wings before moving up to the Baltimore Orioles.

“I remember when you wrote about Jimmy Finigan, and I kept waiting for you to call me for a story,” he recalled. “I almost won the Triple Crown that year (1961) but you never called.”

Remarkable. He could remember that slight, but I don’t. Well, Boog, I apologize. I’m sure your memory is correct.

For younger people: Boog led the Conchs to the state championship and went on to win the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1970 during his 17-year Major League career in which he hit 339 home runs.

KEY WEST HIGH SCHOOL has a pair of preseason baseball games against Taravella at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19, at Rex Weech Field.

Coach Ralph Henriquez Jr. is very optimistic about his pitching staff, while the rest of the team is very young. “The state will be hearing about our pitchers,” he told the diners Saturday night.

Jacob Burnham, a sophomore lefthander, will be starting Friday night, while Saturday evening, it’ll be either Felix Long, a sophomore righthander, or Lucky Barroso, a 6-foot 5-inch junior righthander.

Marlin Takovich, a junior righthander, is set to be the closer, while the only senior pitcher, Billy Kight, a righthander, will be available to start mid-week games but is held up by tendonitis at present. Jack Haggard, a junior lefthander, has control of three pitches, Henriquez told me.

Taravella is led by a senior lefthander who is headed to the University of Miami, said the Key West coach.

University will open the Conchs’ regular season with games at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26.

In a scheduling oddity this season, the Conchs will play 25 home games and only two away — on March 28 at Columbus and March 31 at Coral Shores. The home schedule includes a six-team spring break tournament March 23-25. Key West will be competing against Westminster Christian, John Carroll, North Fort Myers and two others in that tournament.

YES, I’VE BEEN WATCHING the Beijing Winter Olympics, but apparently many of you haven’t. Viewership apparently is down 50%. I enjoy the skating and the long jumping. I could do without the boarding.

SO THE LOS ANGELES RAMS beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, in the Super Bowl. The Rams took their last and final lead with 1 minute, 25 seconds to go, which emulated the other playoff contests. I thought it was a good game, even if the Bengals lost. It was close. I thought the Rams would win by 20 points, but if you took the four points and bet on the Bengals, you stood to win some money.

Los Angeles defensive tackle Aaron Donald was expected to be a dominant defensive force in the game, but he didn’t do much until the final play when he tackled Bengal quarterback Joe Burrow, forcing him to just fling the ball for an incomplete pass on fourth down. The Rams took over with less than a minute to go and quarterback Matthew Stafford ran out the clock.