By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Jim Eddy doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Eddy, 52, who plays shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals team, is a perennial Liberty Hardball Coral Springs Men’s Baseball League all-star and has been a member of the team for about a decade. Eddy is hitting .437 with two home runs, seven RBI’s and 14 runs scored.

“One time a week is all I can get and that is all I need,” said Eddy, who is an athletic trainer at Highlands Christian Academy in Pompano Beach. “I still go to tournaments and stuff, but I still love playing ball and I still can. That’s the key. I am still healthy and able to run and throw and all of that stuff.”

Eddy has played in the league for nine years.

“I don’t feel it (being sore) after playing on a Sunday morning unless it is really hot or a game with 20 runs and you are running a lot,” Eddy said. “I probably get more sore lifting weights.”

If the St. Louis Cardinals are going to win a sixth straight baseball championship, and eighth in the past 10 years, they will have their work cut out for them. The defending league champions struggled out of the gate, starting off with a 3-3 record, but have since caught fire winning four consecutive games to move to a league-best 7-3 record. They have outscored the opposition 85-37 on the season. The league has made a few subtle changes to the rules and one in particular has stymied the team in the early going.

“They went to a wood bat league,” said Cardinals manager Jeff Young. “We used to average 30 home runs a season and that is going to be way down this year. Another thing they did was allow up to five players under the age of 28 per team. They allowed three players under 28 last season.”

The Cards return most of their core players from their title years. The team started their championship run in 2009 and then in 2011. The Cards then began their streak of five in a row in 2013 and haven’t tasted defeat in the league championships since.

Crockett camp moved to July 7

Zack and Henri Crockett will host their 13thannual football and cheerleading camp a little later than usual. The free camp was originally slated for this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mitchell Moore Center, 901 NW 10 St. in Pompano Beach. The field is not ready yet, so the event has been moved to July 7.

Henri Crockett, 43, who played linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings, along with his brother Zachary, 45, a former fullback for the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, are expecting between 300 and 400 local children to attend.

Both men grew up in Pompano Beach, and graduated from Blanche Ely High School, before they both played at Florida State University in their path to the NFL.

The free clinic is designed to introduce children, ages 4-16, to football by teaching basic skills in a fun and energetic environment and is supported through a grant from the NFL Foundation. The camp includes T-Shirts and autograph signings from the professional athletes.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Jim Eddy and Pompano Beach’s Alex Rodriguez may be foes on the field, but like many others in the Liberty Hardball Men’s Baseball League, based in Coral Springs, they enjoy the camaraderie and the competition.

Both men recently squared off for the championship and Eddy’s Cardinals’ team won its second consecutive championship over Rodriguez’s Yankees.

Eddy, 49, an athletic trainer at Highlands Christian Academy who also sells real estate, has played in the league for five years.

“It is convenient for me because I live in Deerfield Beach,” said Eddy, the league’s most valuable player. “It keeps the competitive juices flowing. It makes you think back to when you could play like that every day. It helps relieve stress that you might go through during the week.”

The Cardinals, which went undefeated in winning the championship last year, won their fourth championship in the past six years and it marked the first time winning back-to-back titles.

The Cardinals finished last season 23-0 becoming the first men’s baseball team in any league in South Florida to ever finish a season undefeated as it swept the Cubs in the championship series. The Cardinals (21-6) also won titles in 2009, 2011 and 2013. It wasn’t easy this year as the Cardinals lost several players; however, they won 10 games in a row to close out the season and 11 of its last 12 contests.

“A lot more teams were gunning for us this year, so they tried to stack their teams to take us out,” said Eddy, who batted .574 with 5 homeruns, 30 RBI and 41 runs scored. “That was nice. You get to my age and you need something to motivate you. You don’t have all of that adrenaline fl owing through you anymore and it kind of helps when there is a little chip on the other team’s shoulders.”

Yankees pitcher Alex Rodriguez, 32, has spent four seasons in the Sunday morning league. He likes that they play a 20-game season and then playoffs. Rodriguez, who played semipro baseball in Venezuela, and also pitched in college for Yacambu Universidad, has put off Tommy John surgery to keep playing.

“When I played in college I used to throw 92 miles an hour,” said Rodriguez, who batted .414 with 4 HRS and 33 RBI. He also was 3-0 on the mound with a 6.40 ERA. “I would have to stop playing for a year. I don’t think it’s worth it. I can hit, but I can’t throw so much now. I hope to play until I am 40 or 45. I would like to be 60 and still play baseball, but I don’t know if I can get to that point.”

The league will kick off its new season on April 12 and Rodriguez, like most of the other players, enjoys the six-team league.

“I love it,” Rodriguez said. “I love the fact that we start at 9 a.m. and we are usually done by 11:30 or noon and have the rest of the day to spend with our families.”

Ely gets national invite

As Yogi Berra coined with the phrase, “It’s never over until it’s over,” Blanche Ely’s boys and Dillard High School’s girls’ basketball teams were invited to play in the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School National tournament next month.

Blanche Ely (28-0) won the Class 7A state championship earlier this month, a 72- 60 victory over Kissimmee Osceola. The Tigers became just the second Broward boys’ basketball team to finish as an undefeated state champ. It was Randall’s third title in four years at Blanche Ely and county record sixth overall in his career.

This will be the third trip for the Ely boys to the national tournament. The Tigers attended the nationals in 2012 and 2013. The boys and girls championship games will be played in Madison Square Garden on the April 5.