How do you feel about this deep-freeze? Myself, I’m shivering like a mobster in an Internal Revenue office.
It’s so cold that I’m warming up the house by leaving the refrigerator door open.
Yeah, it’s so cold the pipes froze solid in the foyer of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Beechwood Avenue in Galeville.
In fact, it’s so cold that the snow angel on Second Street is begging to come in and get warm. Over on Hiawatha Path, it’s so cold that Christina Fadden Fitch had to chisel her dog, Nicky, off a fire hydrant.
Yeah, it’s so cold that Gena and Phil de Anguera over at the Family Music Center had to cut a piano up for firewood. They only got two chords.
And it’s so cold that Balsam Street resident Jason Smorol, the new general manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, scheduled the team’s 54th annual Hot Stove Dinner for this Friday, Jan. 31, at the Holiday Inn Convention Center on Electronics Parkway. Proceeds will go to the Challenger Baseball League of Syracuse.
Hot Stove here Friday
The annual Hot Stove gets local baseball fans warmed up for April 3, when he Chiefs open their 2014 International League season at 2 p.m., at NBT Bank Stadium against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the top farm club of the New York Yankees.
Friday’s charity event includes dinner, a silent auction of baseball memorabilia, a 50/50 raffle and a chance to meet former Washington Nationals manager and 2012 National League Manager of the Year Davey Johnson. In his career as a Major-League manager, Johnson’s clubs won 1,372 games. His 1986 New York Mets won the World Series.
Other scheduled guests include new Chiefs manager Billy Gardner Jr., Post-Standard sports columnist Bud Poliquin and Nationals Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Player Development Doug Harris. WSYR-TV personality Tim Fox will emcee the dinner program.
The Hot Stove’s doors will open at 5 p.m. Friday, with dinner following at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $40 for adults and $20 dollars for kids 12 and younger. For a table of 10, the cost is $400. For tickets, visit the NBT Bank Stadium ticket office or call Greg Dietz or Erin Stancick at 474-7833.
By the way, Jason Smorol will discuss new ticket pricing and other Chiefs developments at 7 p.m. Feb. 24, at Liverpool Public Library; lpl.org.
Last year’s honorees
This year’s Hot Stove honorees have yet to be announced, but last year two local guys were recognized. In 2013, Cicero’s Tom Leo and Liverpool’s Ron Gersbacher were honored. Leo, was the winner of the Jake Meyers Great Guy Award. Leo had served as both a writer covering the team for the Syracuse Newspapers and served as the team’s official scorer. Two months after he won the award, Leo died of cancer on the opening day of the Chiefs 2013 season.
Ron Gersbacher won the 2013 President’s Award. Also known as Ron Wray, the Syracuse Music Authority, Gersbacher has served as team historian since 1985 and has been a member of the Chiefs board of directors since 1997. He was team president from December 2006 through November 2011.
Missing maple
Have you noticed that the big maple tree’s missing from out in front of the White Water Pub, at 110 S. Willow St.? Yeah, a buzzsaw took it down just before Christmas.
Oh, well, now the pub has three more parking spaces, and owner Mary Kay Manns won’t have to worry about raking all those leaves off her front patio ever autumn.
Herbal medicine
It looks as if New York state may finally join the 21st century by approving medical marijuana. It’s about time reason prevailed over outdated drug-war rhetoric.
‘Café Saturdays’
On Jan. 25, Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Famer Maria DeSantis celebrated one year of “Café Saturdays” at Café at 407, 407 Tulip St., here in Liverpool.
From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturdays, the series spotlights Maria’s own DeSantis Band, which plays a wide variety of pop tunes. The combo includes vocalist Keith Condon, a native of Liverpool, along with Clay keyboardist Jimmy Cox, guitarists Mark Copani and Joe Ferlo, saxophonist Brian Scherer, bassist Peter Chwazik and drummer Jimmy Johns.
The Café at 407 is at Ophelia’s Place on Tulip Street. Admission is free, but don’t forget to drop a little something in the musicians’ tip jar; 451-5544.
