Sandlot

More than the players he helped shape for the major leagues, the amateur championships that were achieved and his profound passion for baseball, Sterling "Sheriff" Fowble was a momentous force for good. His presence epitomized all that's worthwhile about a game, its fiber and the boys and men who identify with it.The reason Fowble had such an impact on Baltimore is this is where he coached sandlot teams for 46 years, never taking advantage of a youngster and being a part of their lives during the critical period of early adolescence.

Sterling "Sheriff" Fowble was a baseball man to the end.Only a few weeks ago he was saluted by a national organization as amateur coach of the year for Maryland. He went to a Western Maryland Hall of Fame affair and attended Carroll County and Patterson Park old-timers functions.On Friday, Fowble, who managed 14-16 age group sandlot teams for 46 years in Baltimore, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 76.For decades, when you thought of amateur baseball in this area, you thought primarily of two men: Fowble and Walter Youse, general manager of Johnny's in an older age group.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- There was some snickering -- OK, outright laughter -- when the Phoenix Cardinals selected Eric Swann with the sixth pick in this year's NFL draft.Leave it to the Cardinals, people said. Only they would be dumb enough to blow a high first-round pick on a defensive tackle who never had played college football. A sandlotter, for crying out loud.The laughter grew louder when the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Swann injured his knee in minicamp and underwent the first of two arthroscopic repairs.