Good morning!
Shake the Skribiski family tree and out fall bats, balls and a Hallmark movie. Brothers Dave, Ed and John, and sister Cheryl were raised in Sunderland and played sports at Frontier. Ed was drafted by the Reds but chose to enroll at UMass and play shortstop for coach Dick Bergquist.

On Sunday the three brothers and cousin Ed Galenski were on the edge of their seats watching those other Sox from Chicago – but more later about the Pope’s favorite team.

Cheryl Skribiski would marry John Elko whose family moved to Amherst from Tampa so his brother could go to the Clarke School in Northampton. Most of their 40 years together have been spent near Tampa where they raised their two children, Tim and his older sister Catie who’s a physician in residence at Wake Forest.

“Both our kids are athletes,” said John, who is a pharmacist. “We’d always encouraged it and every weekend we’d be somewhere playing soccer or baseball.”

Tim went to Hillsborough High School in Tampa where Doc Gooden and Gary Sheffield honed their skills. An honor student and class vice president, he quickly grew to be 6-4 and weigh 245 pounds.

Baseball scouts are like fishermen returning to where they landed their big catches and Perfect Game ranked Elko as the 69th-best player in the country. “Tim excelled and we entertained a lot of scouts and had offers from Auburn, Ole Miss and Miami,” said his father.

He chose Ole Miss, played 189 games in five seasons, hit 46 home runs and captained the 2022 team that won the College World Series.

“Tim was a three year captain and had played with a torn ACL,” said his dad. “Ole Miss had won its first World Series and there was a call for a statue.”

Today a 10-foot bronze statue of Tim Elko greets fans entering Swayze Field in Oxford. There’s also a book — The Legend of Tim Elko — written by former Ole Miss football player Jody Hill.

The White Sox drafted Elko in the 10th round of his fifth and final year and signed him for $35,000. In three years he moved up the ladder from playing first base for the Kannapolis (N.C.) Cannon Ballers to Triple-A Charlotte this season. He roomed with catcher Kyle Teel, the former Red Sox prospect who was traded for pitcher Garrett Crochet.

The 26-year-old Elko was batting .348 with 10 home runs in 31 games when the White Sox called him up on May 9.

On Mother’s Day, White Sox manager Will Venable batted Elko seventh against Miami starter Sandy Alcantara. The Elko family and several former Ole Miss teammates were among the 16,805 fans at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Using a pink bat and wearing pink batting gloves inscribed with his mother’s name, Elko hit into a double play his first time up and struck out his second at bat, but the third time was the charm. 

Stepping in against the 2022 Cy Young winner with two runners on base in a 1-1 tie, Elko launched Alcantara’s second pitch into a stiff wind and the ball landed several rows past the left field fence and the Chisox won, 4-2.

Go crazy folks, as Jack Buck would say.

Dave Skribiski watched from his home in Sunderland. “Soon as I got the call from my sister I signed up for MLB TV,” he said.

Asked if his nephew ever visits Franklin County, Skribiski said, “Yeah he’s been here. He is the most wonderful, down-to-earth kid you’d want to meet.”

John Elko hopes there’s a reason the Skribiskis will see his son more often: “I think Timmy would look good in a Red Sox uniform.”

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Ryan Leonard’s had a rude reception to the NHL. Not only was he pummeled by Nashville’s Sean Kuraly, the Caps’ top pick from the ’23 draft has one goal in 16 games including the playoffs. The lone goal was an empty netter on April 4 against Chicago. Leonard is king of the empty netters; he had six at BC this season.

By contrast Cale Makar had a goal and five assists in 10 playoff games for the Avalanche after he left UMass in 2019.

Leonard was benched for two games against the Hurricanes. He played Monday but Caps coach Spencer Carbery used him sparingly. He was on the ice for 15 shifts and played less than 10 minutes in a 5-2 loss.

You have to wonder what Leonard would’ve gained by playing for coach Greg Carvel at UMass. He would have been a crowd favorite, the hometown hero who chose to stay in Amherst and help the Minutemen battle their foes from inside the Boston beltway.    

He might have had his jersey number raised next to Cale Makar’s, we’ll never know.

Instead he went to BC, never won a Beanpot or a national championship and maybe his next stop is Hershey. 

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At the Miss Maine, USA pageant Jordon Hudson was asked what she’d do differently in life: “I would go back to the days I was on my family’s fishing boat in Hancock, Maine. There’s a mass exodus of fishermen in rural Maine and I don’t want to see more fishermen displaced. I would go into the communities, the government, the legislature and advocate for these people so they don’t think of it as a past moment.”

“This is no dummy folks,” said media podcaster Howard Kurtz. “This is a terrific answer.”

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SQUIBBERS: It was Devers all along, to paraphrase Don Corleone. Raffie’s refusal to play first base is reminiscent of Manny Ramirez pinch hitting at Yankee Stadium and taking three down the middle after he was promised the day off. … News item: Utah Hockey Club renames itself the Mammoth. Apparently ‘Lord Jeffs’ was already taken.  … Team USA is 3-1 at the Worlds thanks to Wednesday’s 6-5 overtime win against Norway. Tage Thompson had a hat trick, including the overtime winner, but the Americans lost to Switzerland, 3-0, and have plenty of tough games yet to be played. … Lou Merloni during the first of three losses to Detroit: “The Red Sox are trying to find their four hole hitter. Four hole hitters for the Red Sox are hitting .183 combined, that is the worst in the AL…” Bill Belichick’s UNC buyout goes from $10 million to $1 million on June 1. … Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd is related to Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison the fourth U.S. president. … The Oklahoma and Texas A&M softball teams were declared co-champions of the SEC after steady rains washed out the playing field. …. The Red Sox fell two games and four teams behind the third wild card after being swept in the Motor City. … The N.Y. Post’s Phil Mushnick writes that Giants fans were relieved the team didn’t take Shedeur Sanders: “They just couldn’t see themselves rooting for such a self-smitten, doesn’t-fall-far-from-the-tree English challenged know-it-all and brat.” … Fret not fans, the Red Sox will host Colorado (7-36) before the All Star break.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@gmail.com