REMEMBERING ’67

Before moving the scratched-up batting helmet. Before gently lifting the worn-out blue and white varsity-style jacket and before reaching into the plastic casing to pull out the faded photo, Bill Heishman sets a ground rule.

“Now remember,” he says, leaning forward toward the desk to get to the unframed snapshot, “this was 42 years and 100 pounds ago.”

Then he reaches in and gently pulls out the photo and hands it over.

He points to where he’s at in the photo, wearing the same batting helmet he just moved. Much like the helmet, they all look so young.

Then again, this is a photo from 1967 you’re looking at. But what makes this photo special is why it was taken.

That year, the Harriston Braves — a now-defunct team in the alive-and-kicking Rockingham County Baseball League — won both the regular-season pennant and the championship series.

The reason all these 42 years — and 100 pounds — later he’s showing off the picture?

On Saturday, during the RCBL’s All-Star Game at Stuarts Draft, that team and its surviving members are going to be honored.

“It’s a tradition,” says Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks manager Tinker Kiser, “to honor a team from the past.”

And with Heishman set to take over as president of the Diamondbacks and with Rennie Dobbins — one of the star pitchers on that team — firmly entrenched as the “Voice of the Diamondbacks,” Kiser’s choice was simple.

And Heishman and Dobbins are honored. And glad to talk about those good old days again.

“Good golly,” Dobbins says when he spots Heishman’s team jacket, “where did you find that?”

Heishman smiles.

Truth is, much like the photo, a lot of the memories of that season have faded with time. Neither Dobbins nor Heishman are too sure who they beat in the championship series that year. (“But in ’68,” Heishman says, “I know Briery Branch beat us.”) The pair aren’t even sure when the photo was taken, though they know it’s Donnie Coffey — “One of the best hitters in the area,” Heishman recalls — giving a thumbs-up in the front row and, three players away, that’s Dobbins smiling.

But they do know they won their first 16 games that year.

You see, back then Dobbins was a heck of pitcher and his batter mate was Heishman. Heishman knew Dobbins was good, recalling stories of the older players wanting to “take that smile off that kid’s face.”

“But he would strike them out,” Heishman says. “And they’d walk back to the dugout with their heads down.”

Apparently, Dobbins knew he was good too. Always carrying a red handkerchief in his pocket and, with two strikes, taking it out, pretending to blow his nose then waving it at them before putting it back in his pocket.

“You know,” he says, “kind of like ‘I’m going to get you, baby.’ ”

“Kind of like a matador,” Heishman says, laughing.

They can point to Harry Harlow, who went on to pitch in the Pirates’ organization. And Carl Alexander, who died in March and kept that photo for 42 years.

Heishman stops talking, Dobbins leans in and picks up the photo to get a closer look.

Both of them smile.