Authors note:  You’re never really a “Ballbuster”, until you’ve been “named”- or “pegged”- or “tagged” with a nickname.  You earn these distinctions many ways, all of them hard earned.  Many players have over the years accumulated several of these titles.  One of my mine, for example, is “Amana”.  This was because that when I ran the bases, it seemed as if I was carrying a refrigerator-or other large appliance - on my back.  With that spirit in mind, I present to you:

The Legend of “Homebrew”

By “Chemosabe”

           When Matt first came to the “Ballbusters”, we weren’t even named the Ballusters yet.  We weren’t even a team.  It was just a bunch of guys from the Bayville-Locust Valley area that showed up every Sunday to toss a softball around.  Matt heard about a “pick up” game on a Sunday morning and he was there.  On the Ballbusters, we call this “getting a whiff of a game”.

          Matt showed up the next Sunday with a large Coleman cooler on his shoulder, and a glove that looked as if it were  from the fifties.  Now the warm-up portion of these Sunday practices sometimes lasted longer than the actual practicing itself.  It was guys hanging out, tossing a softball around, having a few beers and practice swings.  When enough people showed up, we would choose up sides- like we did when we were kids- and go out and play a game.  No umpires, just imaginary balls and strikes.  So, Matt shows up, grabs a bat and says “Hey Rob, how ‘bout I park some of those in the woods over there?” 

          Now it seemed that Matt was a perfect fit for this bunch of Sunday revelers.  First off, he immediately cut the line for batting without even warming up.  This is a staple of Ballbuster life: show up late, bat first.  Also, he sounded just like one of the boys by his proclamations of greatness, also a Ballbuster common trait.  You have to understand, that the “woods” in rightfield that Matt was pointing to, the place where he was going to “park” the softballs, was maybe 350 feet from home plate.  Now 350 is a good shot for a baseball, much more for the 12 inchers that we were using.  But we gave him his turn in the cage.  We found out that Matt was not one to get short- changed on his swing.  He took his ten cuts with a force that we hadn’t seen on the ballclub as yet.  We thought that he was going to hurt himself.  He was grunting for gods sake, that’s not something we were used to doing.  He indeed did launch some balls deep into the right field vastness.  But he didn’t quite make it into the woods- not this time.  Though he sure gave it a try.

          When it came time to choose up sides Jay, one of our honorary captains for the week, said “I’ll take the guy that brought his own beer”.  It seems that inside Matt’s cooler was a sampling of an ale that he and his brother had brewed up fresh.  The team was already sampling the brew as it was sampling the power hitting display.  The tag of "Homebrew" stuck, as did Matthew- he was to become the Ballbusters first cleanup hitter.  Infielders on the right side would take a few steps back and defend themselves seriously when Matt was batting.  It’s something that Matt would exploit on several occasions when he would swing his normal- take no prisoners- swing, miss badly and the ball would dribble off of his bat.  Since Matt  was batting lefty, and fast as well, he would beat any infielder’s throw.  Remember, they were playing far back for fear of a softball make-over in the chops.  We called this the “McCarthy bunt”, and I’ve seen him make it to second base on several occasions.  A twenty- foot double.

          Since Matt was an original Ballbuster we had time to stick him with many other nicknames.  He got the “Freak of Nature” tag simply because he threw right- handed and he batted left handed.  This was just too sophisticated for most Ballbusters as we would say, “what’s up with that?”  Sometimes, we would make him “bat like a normal person”, and he would proceed to launch some shots deep into the left-field outfield right handed.  Further than most of us right handed swingers.  It just wasn’t fair.  So a nickname would have to suffice. 

          The name of “The Natural” came on another one of those glorious Sunday’s when we were softball gods.  Matt showed up that day with a fresh haircut, and being the bunch that we were this was not to go unnoticed.  “Robert Redford” was just one of the many slurs that greeted his appearance.  So, when it was Matt’s turn to bat, I don’t know what it was…the sun was shining brightly… there was a soft breeze blowing towards the outfield… Matt takes what seemed like an easy swing- something he never does- and the ball shot off of his bat well deep into those “woods” that he had almost strained his back trying to reach.  The crowd goes crazy, everyone rises to their feet, and Matt takes a slow- almost slow motion- trip around the bases.  He finishes with a cartwheel to touch homeplate.  This is another of his original moves that we Ballbusters call the “MaryLou” in honor of Olympian Retton.  The commentary was “Matt McCarthy as Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in “The Natural”.  The “Natural” part just stuck with him.

          When we were first picking a logo and choosing uniform numbers, there must have been eight of us guys sitting there in Ballbuster Central on Monroe Avenue, Matt picked number #5.  I knew right away that, Yankee fan that he was, he was thinking about DiMaggio.  And it fit.  Matt was our DiMaggio.  Even if he did bat left- handed.  We forgave him for that.  He was Joltin’ Joe,  and Robert Redford.  They’ll never be another number five on the Ballbusters.  You can write any number of people’s name in a lineup.  You can never replace what “Homebrew” brought to the table.  Should the softball gods ever bestow upon the Ballbusters a champioship- we are, after all, the greatest team never to have won it all- I know that Matt is looking down upon us.  And he’s home.