So the doctor said, "That's not MY stethoscope!"

Jubilation abounds at the City of Palms, where sun-dappled base-paths are freshly chalked with lime and ready for the dusty exploits of our home-town team.

But on this day, the park was whisper quiet, with nary a horsehide pill being lobbed nor a pine stick slicing through citrus-scented air. The gents were inside, lined up in their stocking feet, stripped to their underclothings for the spring ritual of Doctor's Day. Tongue depressors were stockpiled by the basketful and athletic girdles gathered in all shapes and sizes.

One Red Sock was conspicuously and curiously absent from the gay proceedings, however. Curt Schilling, that Teutonic rabble rouser whose prowess from sixty-feet-six-inches belies his penchant for all things gut-busting and Bavarian. A bum shoulder seemed the reason, though no more was forthcoming by Herr Schilling or his trusted club-house attendant, Lem "Sneaky Charles" Barlow.

Be assured that word one whispered will find its way into the Full Circuit Clout.

At last, the end of the lushing season

Snow and ice still blanket our home town base-ball grounds, but the Southern sun is warming the hearts of all Red Sox rooters today, as hurlers and their redoubtable backstops commenced workouts with the old pill.

Soon, the rest of our ball-field Goliaths will join the squad for work-outs to prepare their defense of the championship title against the New Yorks and any other would-be contender. Each batter who toes the dust next to the plate and wallops the sphere over the palm-tree lined fences brings us one moment closer to the 162 spirited matches yet to be contested.

Yours truly and the respectable Hurdy Chadwick plan to follow as many matches as we can, if not as members of the hooting crowd than via the wireless, chronicling the heroics through the clattering keys of our Royals and Smith-Coronas. Onward to Victory!

Pitcher, make your move...

Welcome to Full Circuit Clout, wherein we celebrate this fine pasttime of base-ball, a sensible game for sensible men, where morals reign and comradeship is paramount. The game is afoot!