Cape Cod baseball memories

Starting 30 years ago, my family joined others -- those of my mom's four best college friends -- for a Memorial Day weekend getaway in Hyannisport, Mass., that quickly became an annual tradition. As a result, all through high school and college, I never knew what it was like to be home for Memorial Day weekend, had never seen a Memorial Day parade (still haven't, but that's because I'm usually either working or, in some recent years, on a different vacation), and always associated the final Monday in May with beating the traffic off Cape Cod and hoping that there would be no accidents on I-95. Daytime baseball on the radio during the holiday was always a great way to pass the time -- especially in traffic.

But because our trips were always at the end of May, I missed out on the joy of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Except for one year, 1991, when my parents added a summer week on the Cape to our usual journey up to Maine to visit family. We stayed in Chatham and went to games there and in Orleans. I enjoyed the small fields and close access, which allowed me to hunt for autographs and make my first attempts at close-to-the-action sports photography. I loved the small-town baseball, the proximity to the field and access to the players. Among the autographs I got were those of Hyannis Mets Jason Varitek and Rich Aurilia and Chatham Athletic Chris Michalak. I don't remember talking with Varitek, but by sheer chance, it turns out he was the only one to sign one of the stat sheets I received at the game between Hyannis and Chatham.

After the game, if I remember correctly, fans were allowed onto the field to meet the players, and that's where I told Aurilia we had the same birthday (Sept. 2) and mentioned to Michalak that my dad also went to Notre Dame. He asked me my dad's dorm, and I had no idea, so he shifted from writing out his uniform number to giving me the name of his dorm -- Flanner Hall -- and the inscription, "GO IRISH." Three years later, both would become very familiar to me when I learned that my freshman dorm, Grace Hall, was the twin to another 10-story housing unit for male students: Flanner Hall.

Amazingly, I kept the program and stat sheets with the autographs in pretty good condition all these years, allowing me to scan and post them. The one autograph that may be lost to history is the Cape Cod Times sports section that featured coverage of a no-hitter thrown by Hyannis' Richard King. I wasn't at the game, but I had him sign the paper when the Mets came to Chatham a night or two later.

At Chatham's field, I remember my sister and I setting up blankets on the bleachers behind home plate, then walking around before the game started and spending much -- if not all -- of the contest in that spot. A night or two later, when we saw the A's on the road against the Orleans Cardinals, I remember walking around the field during the game. The bleachers were smaller, but the entire first-base/right-field line runs along a tiered berm that is perfectly suited to laying out blankets or unfolding lawn chairs to take in the game. Beach by day and this setting for a ballgame at night? That is heaven.

Though Varitek, Aurilia, the Domer Michalak and Don Wengert, a pitcher for Hyannis that summer, all reached the Majors, the name I remembered most was that of Doug Newstrom. (However, often through the years, I confused Wengert with King, thinking that the guy who had been good enough to pitch a no-hitter on the Cape also reached the Majors with the A's and five other teams.) Newstrom was a two-way talent from Arizona State who, at the time I saw Chatham play, was 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA and batting .287 with a team-leading six homers and 30 RBIs. He was the starting pitcher the night we saw the A's at Orleans and might have served as his own DH. But after an eight-year minor league career that included two summers with New Haven of the Eastern League (thereby bringing him through Trenton) and finally reaching Triple-A with Tucson in the Diamondbacks' organization, his career ended in 2000.

Unfortunately, those remain the only Cape League games I've attended. Many is the summer I've thought of a return trip, but I've yet to make it happen.

LATER TODAY: Visiting the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame, something I didn't know existed until last week.

Rediscovered: Taylor Buchholz as a BlueClaw

Just came across this in a folder of BlueClaws papers I have. It's a 2002 schedule card (brochure size -- it measures roughly 3 inches across by 8 inches down) signed by Taylor Buchholz.

Buchholz was Lakewood's opening day starter in the BlueClaws' inaugural season, throwing the first pitch in franchise history in Kannapolis, N.C. This schedule must've been printed at the end of the '01 season, because Buchholz only spent that one year in Lakewood and I must've had it signed at the end of the season. The other clue: Lakewood's ballpark is called GPU Energy Park here, but after 2001 (to this day), it's been called FirstEnergy Park.

Here's the account of that first game in BlueClaws history:

'CLAWS BLUE AFTER GAME 1 

But no-hitter, shutout averted 

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- It was one for the history books, this first Lakewood BlueClaws baseball game but the Shore area's new minor league team had hoped to write a more satisfying opening chapter. 

The BlueClaws lost to the Kannapolis Intimidators, 9-1, after being no-hit for the first six innings. It was a homecoming at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium for BlueClaws manager Greg Legg, who led the Piedmont Boll Weevils to the Northern Division title managing here last summer. 

After the season, the Boll Weevils changed their name after NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt -- known on the racetrack as The Intimidator -- joined the ownership group. 

"It's real strange," Legg said before the game about managing from the visitors' third-base dugout. "But for some reason I feel comfortable." 

The fans gave Legg a warm ovation, and some seated near the BlueClaws dugout teased their former manager, who was asked by Kannapolis manager Razor Shines to explain the ground rules during the pregame lineup ex-change. 

"Yeah, he asked if I'd do it," Legg said. "Normally the home manager will explain the ground rules, but he said that since I was here last year, he asked if I'd do it." 

On a comfortably cool overcast night to open the 2001 South Atlantic League season, the only official mention of Earnhardt came in the prayer and an address from Sally League President John H. Moss during the pregame ceremonies. 

But his influence was evident throughout the stands, where scores of fans wore hats, shirts and jackets bearing Earnhardt's No.3. 

Right fielder Carlos Acevedo, one of four BlueClaws starters who spent time playing for Piedmont in the Class A league last year, led off the game and took a strike on the inside corner. Legg then called for the ball, which was taken. out of play and given to the BlueClaws. On the next pitch, Acevedo grounded out to shortstop Guillermo Reyes. 

The next 13 Lakewood batters would follow Acevedo's lead -- Kannapolis lefthander Dennis Ulacia retired the first 14 batters, carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning. A walk to left fielder Gregg Foster gave the BlueClaws their first baserunner in history.

Ulacia left the game after six innings, allowing no hits and three walks while striking out eight. Foster then broke up the no-hitter, lining a pitch from Arnaldo Munoz into left field with one out in the seventh inning. 

Righthander Taylor Buchholz earned the starting assignment for Lakewood, throwing a ball low for his first pitch. The 19-year-old from Springfield, Pa., allowed five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out four and walking none. 

Matt Riethmaier endured a rough seventh, allowing four Intimidator runs, including a towering two-run home run to right field off the bat of first baseman Casey Rogowski. 

Lakewood finally put a run on the board with two outs in the eighth, when center fielder Jason Barnette trotted home from third on a line-drive single to left by first baseman Dario Delgado. 

Yogi's the first

1969 Mets reunion

I've met Yogi Berra a couple of times but never had a chance to get his autograph. I remedied that today at a show in Secaucus, immersing myself in a sea of Yankee fans to do so.

But rather than go with a black-and-white 8x10 photo in the true Yankee Stadium or the ubiquitous Hall of Fame postcard, I had the idea to recognize his Mets tenure, hence this photo. My hope is to fill it in with the other five -- Nolan Ryan, Jerry Grote, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Duffy Dyer. I've got Ryan and Seaver separately on other items, but I'd love to get them all together here.

And so the quest begins...

From ND to MLB: Frank Carpin

As the "From Notre Dame to the Major Leagues" series resumes today, it bears a new look. First, it has a graphic, however rudimentary, that, when clicked, will take you to all of the posts in the series. There's a simple graphic -- an include, as we call it in the biz -- embedded in each post and a static one with player images at the top of the right rail.

And secondly, this latest installment is more than just my thoughts and observations gleaned from searching the internet for information on a long-ago player. After the New Year, I went to Notre Dame's online alumni directory to see which former players had contact information listed. Last Saturday, I wrote out e-mails to those with web addresses, and on Monday, I sent out a letter to another. There are still more I have yet to contact, but after this initial effort, I'm more than pleased with the response. Of the six e-mails sent, I had three responses by Monday afternoon.

We'll begin with the first response, because he wrote back within 24 hours and has been very helpful and forthcoming. I'm not a fan of Q&A formatted interviews (it doesn't feel like writing to me), so I think the best way to present this is with some research and background, with his comments included for greater detail.

And with that, the From Notre Dame to the Major Leagues" series continues with ...






Frank Carpin, a left-handed pitcher born in Brooklyn who went to high school in Richmond, Va., played just one season at Notre Dame, in 1958. The Irish went 20-11, reaching the NCAA Tournament, but falling in the district round with a 2-2 record in Kalamazoo, Mich. I picked up this 1966 Topps card -- Carpin's only card -- at the same show where I got the 1965 Jim Hannan that began this project. (I'm not positive, but it looks like Carpin's photo may have been taken at Shea Stadium. It looks like Shea's left-field corner, and because of the card stock and quality of 1960s photos, I can't be sure if the uniform is white or gray -- and in '65, both of the Bucs' jerseys said "PIRATES." Carpin was with the Pirates for all of their trips to New York that season.)

Baseball had no part in my decision to attend ND. I chose ND because of its reputation and Catholic background. My first choice was West Point, but that was not an option when I realized my pro baseball potential. I turned down scholarships to many Southern schools, including Wake Forest [the 1955 NCAA champ]. Ironically, the man who got me the scholarship was Syd Thrift, a Pirate scout, who later engineered my being drafted from the Yankee farm system. I did receive a walk-on scholarship at ND, but signed [with the Yankees] after one year.

But Carpin left his mark in his one season. His 102 strikeouts remained the single-season record until Aaron Heilman broke it with 118 in 1999. Heilman now holds the top three single-season strikeouts totals in Irish history, fanning 118 again in 2000 and finishing up with 111 in 2001. Jeff Manship equalled the 111 in 2006 and Danny Tamayo struck out 106 in '01. Those, along with Carpin's 102 and David Phelps' 102 in 2007, are the only 100-strikeout seasons in Notre Dame history, and all but Carpin's came in the past 12 years. To put it into greater perspective, in 1958, the Irish played 36 games. The rest of those hurlers compiled their strikeout totals in no fewer than 61 games.

To his credit, Carpin still holds the all-time marks for strikeouts per nine innings (12.63) and in a game. On April 16, 1958, he struck out 19 Indiana Hoosiers, then hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th of a 12-10 Irish victory.

After that stellar season, Carpin accepted the Yankees' offer and headed to Greensboro in the Class B Carolina League in 1959.

Despite signing with the Yankees in 1959, the Tigers made a better offer. [John] McHale was the GM then and an ND graduate. But my father liked the Yankees and since the Dodgers were not interested, the natural choice was the opposition ... just like ND became the choice when West Point was not possible.

After going 12-9 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.47 WHIP (minor league stats for the time period are incomplete, so we have to take what we can get) at age 20 with Greensboro, Carpin moved up to Class A Binghamton in the Eastern League in 1960, going 11-8/3.69/1.52. In '61, he made the jump to Triple-A and got to go home, playing for Richmond in the International League. He went 7-9/3.52/1.25 with 104 strikeouts in 125 innings and returned the Virginians in '62. But after starting out 1-6/4.71/1.65, he was demoted to Double-A Amarillo in the Texas League.

The most humbling [moment] was being sent down in 1962 by the Triple-A Yankee team from my hometown -- Richmond -- to the Texas League. I went from a prospect who nearly made the Yankees in 1961 and 1962 to a suspect who could not win a game until sent out of the organization in 1963 to Lynchburg.

In '63, Carpin returned to the Southeast, starting out with the Augusta (Ga.) Yankees in the Double-A South Atlantic League before being sent to Lynchburg in the same circuit, but part of the White Sox organization. It was with Lynchburg where he experienced a turning point.

I told this story to the young kids I coached to help them understand what is necessary to be successful in sports or any field. In 1963, I was languishing in the bullpen in Double-A Augusta, Georgia, after a horrible 1962 season and demotion from Triple-A to Double-A. I literally could not get anybody out and the August manager had to send someone out at cut time. They couldn't send me back to Greensboro, where I had started five years earlier, because of option rules, so they offered me to Lynchburg in the same league. I walked across the diamond that night to join the opposing Lynchburg team, and the manager, Les Moss, asked if I could pitch that night because I was all they had. I eagerly accepted the start and pitched better than I had in two years. The minute I crossed the diamond from one clubhouse to another, everything changed. Two of my next three starts were shutouts on the way to a 15-game winning season and another win in the playoffs against my former Yankee teammates. I asked my kids -- What changed? I had the same arm and same "stuff." The only performance-enhancing substance I took was Wheaties. That's how much the mental aspect plays in sports and the confidence you get when someone tells you, "You're all we got."

Carpin finished '63 with a 15-9 record, 3.12 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, fanning 142 in 196 innings. He spent '64 back with Richmond, going 5-3/2.79/1.39, fanning 87 in 97 frames. After the season, the Pirates selected him in the minor league draft, assigning him to Triple-A Columbus, where he started 4-0/2.67/1.44 before getting the call. On May 25, 1965, he made his debut with the Pirates.

The happiest moment was the news of the call-up while in Triple-A early in 1965 and the win that night. My debut was very memorable: Two innings of relief and a win against the Cubs that started a long winning streak for the Pirates, who had started very poorly. I became a good luck charm among the players.

The win in Carpin's debut was actually the fifth in a 12-game winning streak for the Pirates that season. Before the streak started, they had been 9-24 on the season; Carpin's win improved Pittsburgh's record to 10-24. By the end of the streak, they were 21-24 and had cut their deficit in the National League from 13 1/2 games to 7 1/2 and improved their standing from last place (10th in the league) to sixth. They spent most of the season in the middle of the pack before going 10-2 over the final two weeks to finish third.

Carpin finished his rookie year with a 3-1 record, 3.18 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 39 games, all out of the bullpen. He finished 14 contests, saving four of them, and struck out 27 and walked 24 in 39 2/3 innings. After the season, the Astros selected him in the Rule 5 Draft.

He opened the '66 season with Houston, appearing in four games and earning the fourth win of his career before being sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City. On May 5 at the Astrodome, he came into a tie game with two outs in the top of the 13th inning, caught the Cubs' Adolfo Phillips trying to steal home to get out of the inning and earned the win without throwing a pitch when Joe Morgan scored the game-winner for Houston in the bottom half.

During his 44-game stint with the 89ers, Carpin went 3-5/2.92/1.35 before a recall to the big leagues. He finished the season with a total of six innings in 10 Major League games, going 1-0/7.50/2.50. His final game came on Sept. 3, 1966, two innings in a 12-2 loss at Atlanta, allowing no hits and three walks.

In 1966 I had three children and an expectant wife. There were bone chips starting to develop in my pitching elbow and the Houston doctor told me I had an arthrithic elbow. He suggested they send me home in late August and see how things looked in the spring. I was making $12,000 and this was before free agency and arthroscopic surgery. I also had a Notre Dame degree and my oldest son would start grade school in the fall. My wife said she was not going to accompany me the following year and take my son out of the Richmond school. In addition, I had been working in a training program in the offseason to become a stock broker. All I needed was to pass the exam. I did so that October. What if there had been arthroscopic surgery then? Free agency? More than $12,000 salaries? I rested for two years then started pitching again. Blood flow had dissolved the developing chips and I only pitched once a week in the summer college league in Shennandoah Valley. The results were outstanding. Scouts asked if I would report to their Triple-A clubs right away if they could secure my services. I said no. My brokerage career was taking off, my family was happy in their place and pitching once a week wouldn’t cut it in pro ball. Plus, the money was not there as free agency was still a few years off. But looking back, it is easy to second guess.

Carpin's career line reads 49 games in those two seasons, a 4-1 record and 3.74 ERA. He holds a distinction for having the most wins since 1930 without allowing a home run, though Craig Kimbrell won four games for the Braves last season, his rookie year, without allowing a long ball. For the moment, Kimbrell and Carpin share that distinction.



Though his career was cut short, Carpin counts five Hall of Famers among his teammates: Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski and Willie Stargell with the Pirates and Joe Morgan and Robin Roberts with the Astros.

Interesting point on Robin Roberts ... I first met him in Yankee spring camp 1961 and renewed the relationship in 1966 at Cocoa Beach (Astros). He invited me fishing in Ft. Lauderdale and we surf fished together at Cocoa Beach. My first encounter with him was Richmond, Va., circa 1949. The Phillies were barnstorming north prior to the season and they came to Richmond to play the Cardinals. I was the only one at the ballpark early one Saturday morning when I saw him staring at the outfield in a box seat. I asked for his autograph and he never broke his stare. In 1961, I told him that story and the next day two autograph pictures were in my locker. Then he invited me fishing offshore and in 1966 he confided with me about Marvin Miller and his part in having a players union with Marvin as head. He introduced me to Marvin, who was also a Brooklyn native and Dodger fan. The Astros, I believe, were the only team that voted against the union and Marvin Miller. Management poisoned everyone's minds, except me ... The rest is history. Maz was a great teammate in Pittsburgh and Willie and Roberto were obviously great players. My Astro experience was a big letdown after Pittsburgh.

Now 72, Carpin still lives in Richmond, where he is a stock and commodities broker for Oppenheimer & Co. He said he follows Notre Dame football "religiously," attending several games a year, and keeps tabs on the basketball, baseball and top Irish women's sports. "My wife played against Pat Summit's first team, so that and soccer are on my viewing list," he told me. In a follow-up e-mail he sent me yesterday, he offered some thoughts on his decision to leave Notre Dame. With the news that star receiver Michael Floyd would return for his senior season in the fall, I found Carpin's comments to be quite poignant.

Looking back on my decisions as a young man, I do regret leaving Notre Dame after one year as a baseball player. My education and receiving a degree is not the issue. I graduated in February 1962 with a B.A. in history. Although my career at ND was short, I am more proud that I was Domer than I was a Major League player. And I regret that I cut my college athletic experience short. I think about this when the NFL beckons with the big money. Today's players don't have much choice with injury a major concern, especially football players. But baseball is different. There was some money involved, but the main reason I jumped was wanting to find out if I could compete. Patience has never been a virtue, but I wish it had in respect to ND.

As I take this "From ND to MLB" series forward, I think Mr. Carpin's willingness to share his memories have set the bar pretty high. In addition to trading e-mails with me during the week, he also asked for my mailing address. Yesterday, two signed photos of him at Forbes Field (one posted above, the other here) arrived in my mailbox -- such a kind gesture. I wasn't expecting anything and won't be asking others for anything in return -- only their time and their memories. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Following through on a long-delayed plan

I've got a few posts planned for this week and I want to roll them out gradually to try to re-establish some sense of regularity here. I figure if I can write ahead and set things to post at regular intervals, such a backup plan might allow me to write more timely posts in between. And to start off this new approach, I've got what I'm calling Enabler Week. Thanks to two other bloggers out there (whose blogs you'll find in the right column under Road Games), I fulfilled a childhood wish this weekend and over recent weeks have begun a new collecting endeavor.

First with the childhood wish; the endeavor will be a subsequent post. The height of my baseball-card collecting years was 1987-90, so deemed because those were the Topps sets for which I had the most cards, the result of furious wax-pack buying sprees. (I say "had," because earlier this year, overcome by a wave of nostalgia, I actually added to my stash when I purchased on eBay a lot of five unopened Topps boxes -- one for each year from 1986-90.) Looking back, it's hard to believe that my active collecting years was such a short period, because at the time it seemed like my entire life. But once through my freshman year of high school, the interest in collecting waned. My passion for the game remained, but my friends and I had less interest in spending money on cards and more on hanging out together -- and with girls. It was around this time (the early '90s) when the bubble burst on the card industry, not to mention the proliferation of sets that made it more complicated to figure out what to collect. It used to be a lot easier when Topps had one set of 792 cards, not various series, refractors, blasters, relics, variations and autographs. Overwhelmed, we moved on to other things.

But I never threw out any cards, and my mom knew better than to dispose of them. I collected a few autographs, as well, going to local signings and trying my hand at mailing cards out to players with SASEs included. That yielded mixed results, among them -- as best I can tell, since I've never bothered with authentication -- full participation from Orel Hershiser, partial from Mike Schmidt and a clubby's stamping Kevin Seitzer's autograph on the two cards sent to Kansas City.

And it may be that my collecting habit sparked my interest in photography. On every trip to the local card/stamp/coin shop, I'd flip through the album of 8x10 photos, eventually buying a few. Among them were Brooks Robinson, Gregg Jefferies and Mark McGwire. Looking back now, I can't remember if I bought them thinking I'd try to send them off for autographs and hope they'd be returned or if they were purchased in anticipation of an upcoming signing or a ballpark attempt at an autograph. I feel like the Robinson photo was bought for a specific signing -- either a local show or a by-mail signing -- but for some reason, I never followed through with it. Yet I kept the photos in their clear plastic pages, stored safely in a binder with other photos and my small collection of autographed cards.

Which now brings me to the enabler part. It began with a post last month by Paul on his eponymous Paul's Random Stuff blog. He mentioned MAB Celebrity Services' monthly show at a hotel in Secaucus, and when I saw that Brooks Robinson and Gregg Jefferies would be part of their lineup this past Saturday, I put it on my calendar. It wasn't until Saturday morning -- once I remembered that the show was that day -- that I decided to head over and complete my autograph mission. Secaucus is conveniently 15 minutes from my house, so in leaving at 11:30 -- the time Robinson started his 90-minute signing window -- I still arrived with plenty of time to buy my tickets and browse some of the vendors while waiting for my number to be called.

Robinson was very pleasant and cordial and a delight to meet. He took the time to look each visitor in the eye and say hello, extending his hand for a shake. He stood up every time someone slid around the end of the table for a photograph when he easily could have remained seated. He may be 73 years old, but he didn't use that as an excuse. Haters may say anyone can be cordial for 90 minutes when he's being paid (and at $49 each for the cheapest level, Robinson was one of the best-paid there), but not all of them are. Robinson shook my hand as I put the photo on the table and told him a brief version of this story (about buying the photo 20 years ago but not getting it signed until this day) and he asked if I wanted anything particular written on it, though I can't recall if MAB was charging extra for personalization with him. I told him I'd be happy with his HOF 1983 postscript. I love how Hall of Famers use that.

When he finished signing -- left-handed, I might add, something I didn't know about the right-handed thrower and hitter -- he shook my hand again and wished me a happy holiday, making him the first person to do so this season, two weeks ahead of Thanksgiving. Robinson's autograph pushes my confirmed Hall of Fame signatures to seven -- Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ferguson Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Johnny Mize, Bob Feller and Bob Gibson -- and the possible list to 12. The unconfirmed are Kirby Puckett (two cards mailed to him when he played), Mike Schmidt (four cards mailed to him, all returned but only one signed, along with a signed form letter), Johnny Bench (a card bought from that favorite card shop), Gary Carter and Cal Ripken Jr. (signed postcards sent by the team when I wrote to them as a kid asking for pocket schedules). I'll devote future posts to these others.

Because of the small show and as a failsafe to prevent me from spending too much money, I went home after getting Robinson's autograph because Jefferies wasn't signing until 2 p.m. I did make a few purchases, but those will be addressed later this week when I reveal the second enabler. I returned to Secaucus right at 2 o'clock and went back to a dealer from whom I'd bought two cards earlier in the day. I realized there were a couple others he might have so I wanted to peruse. Just as he was handing me my change, my number came up for Jefferies. This line moved a lot faster than Robinson's, perhaps because few people asked for photos and partly because Jefferies focused more on signing and telling the MAB rep taking tickets at his table some tale about his trade from the Phillies to the Angels in August 1998. I'm not saying he was a jerk, but he was no Brooks Robinson.

Jefferies was one of my absolute favorite Mets as a kid, maybe because he was a small guy who I could relate with. I remember a minor league update on WFAN during a pregame show sometime in 1987 when I first heard his name, and from that point on, I kept his name in mind, then followed him closely when he hit the majors in '88. But now, thanks to a career in which I've met ballplayers and, in college and from being in New York, other celebrities, I've become desensitized to becoming starstruck. So going in, I wasn't getting my hopes up for a gregarious, beaming welcome from Jefferies.

So while the signatures weren't cheap, I'm glad I got them, and I've already got my eye on some upcoming shows, all thanks to Paul and his autograph efforts (not to mention his rundowns of upcoming signings). Thanks for the unintentional assist, Paul!