Alan Greenwood

An admission: As a rule, the author of this little essay hunts for memories of good news.

But occasionally, there is some not-so-good news that can’t be ignored.

Like the following item. …

AUG. 13, 1956: “Sweeney Post of Manchester backed into the State Legion Junior Baseball championship yesterday afternoon when Nashua’s James E. Coffey Post, Junior AK state finalist, failed to put in an appearance for the ‘police protected’ rubber game of the best-of-three series at Athletic Field.

“Police protection, plus impartial umpires, were ordered for yesterday’s scheduled final game of the championship series by William S. Williams of Manchester, state Junior Baseball commissioner, in order to avoid a duplication of Friday night’s fist-fight studded game at Holman Stadium that ended abruptly when a Sweeney Post athlete struck plate umpire Wilfred Michaud.”

Coffey Post Commander Robert Winer tried to persuade Williams to have the game played at a neutral field, to no avail.

AUG. 14, 1976: “Hudson Alignment, led by pitcher Larry Kelleher, recently notched another win, number 24 on the season, downing second-place Hitchner, 5-0.

“For Kelleher, it was his 68th straight league victory over a three-year span. He has never been beaten.

“At the plate, Kevin Savage had a 2-for-2 night to pace an eight-hit Alignment attack.”

AUG. 15, 1981: “Amherst’s Phil Aubrey, who has already competed in two triathlons this year, made it three in eight months by competing in last Sunday’s Sri Chinmoy Triathlon at Misquamicut Beach in Watch Hill, R.I.

“Aubrey, thanks to a strong finish, placed fourth overall with a time of 5 hours, 22 minutes.”

AUG. 16, 1991: “The second round of the American Legion Northeast Regional posed few problems for Nashua’s James E. Coffey Post 3 baseball team.

In fact, the hardest thing Coffey did Thursday night was spread the tarpaulin on a wet Mahaney diamond on the University of Maine campus after it thrashed Vermont state champion Hartford Post 26 of White River Junction, 13-0.

“Nashua, now 2-0 in the tournament and 32-2 overall, has won 19 straight games.

“… Starting pitcher Dan Greene allowed two hits over nine innings while the Nashua bats pounded out 14 hits off three Hartford pitchers. To top it all off, Coffey played errorless baseball.”

AUG. 17, 2001: “All the elements were there for the Nashua Pride in its 10-4 drubbing of the Long Island Ducks on Thursday night.

“Butch Hobson’s crew whacked out 13 hits and got some fine pitching from Chris Thompson and Donato Calandrielo in grabbing its third straight win in front of 2,893 fans at Holman Stadium. New Pride leadoff hitter Franklin Parra had three hits and reached base four times, scoring three runs.”

AUG. 18, 2011: “Griffin Brown of Hollis posted the eighth best score overall and helped New Hampshire to a second-place finish on Tuesday at the New England Junior Golf Championship at Brattleboro (Vt.) Country Club.

“Brown, about to begin his senior year at Hollis/Brookline High School, shot a four-over 75 to tie Nick Fairweather of Windham with the best New Hampshire score. Each state was represented by seven players with the top five scores from each counting toward the team championship.”

AUG. 19, 2015: “Jeff Giuliano is coming home. The former Manchester Monarchs and Los Angeles Kings forward, who has played the last seven years in Europe, has put a halt to his playing career and has been named a Monarchs assistant coach.

“Giuliano, 36, played with the Monarchs from 2002 to 2008, and began his professional career playing in Reading of the ECHL. The Monarchs, with the Kings now moving their American Hockey League/Calder Cup champion affiliate to Ontario, Cal., will now be L.A.’s ECHL affiliate.”