Moon Man

Steve Lyons, a former Red Sox utility man has the rare distinction of having played at all 9 positions on the field at the major league level. His fielding was sub par, and his hitting left much to be desired. He will never be remembered for his prowess on the field, he will be remembered for his craziness and one incident that made him infamous.

Lyons' colorful personality earned him the nickname "Psycho." He was known for such eccentricities as playing tic-tac-toe and hangman with his spikes in the infield dirt during games.

His most remembered incident occurred at Tiger Stadium in Detroit on a Monday night in 1990. In a televised game played on July 16, he created a stir that was replayed countless times. After sliding headfirst into first base to beat out a bunt hit, Lyons dropped his baseball pants to empty the dirt out and brush off his shirttail. After a few seconds (and a reaction from the crowd of over 14,000), he realized what he had just done and quickly pulled them up, humorously embarrassed. Although wearing sliding shorts under his White Sox uniform, this incident earned him another nickname, "Moon Man" Lyons. At the end of the inning, women in the stands waved dollar bills at him as he came to the dugout.

Despite some ominous cloud cover and pending rain, the Gulls vs. Knights game got underway as scheduled on Friday night.

The Gulls were still searching for answers and for their first win of the year; the Knights were looking to build an identity in yet another test for the new ball club. The Gulls utilized a five infielder, four outfielder approach, made popular by Galaxy in the late eighties. This approach can work brilliantly, as it did on many times where an up-the-middle base hit was stolen by the extra man. Other times, not so much. Bloop hits to right or to center field will almost always land for a hit, and did so on occasion on Friday night as well. As the saying goes, you live by the sword, and die by the sword. The Gulls died by the sword on Friday night.

P. O’Leary was on his game again and earned his league leading 3rd win of the young season. D. Barille, still hurling for the Gulls lost his fourth straight, and has yet to earn a win on the year. The weather was nasty, with a light rain and fifty degree temps. The cloud cover made it difficult for both teams’ outfielders, and it was far from an errorless game. The Knights built a 6-1 lead after four and were on cruise control. The Gulls came storming back, to cut the lead to 10-7 with one to play. The Knights came up big in the top half of the seventh, scoring four insurance runs.

With nobody on and two out The Knight’s left fielder B. Defelice came to the plate. Defelice had been hitting the ball well of late and like Steve Lyons is known more for his character than his prowess on the field. He is thought of as the spark plug of the Knights team. Small in stature, this man has the heart of an elephant. Swinging away on a 3-0 count Defelice hit a scorcher to the shortstop. C. Gingle scooped up the ground ball and fired to first. Defelice, never one to want to make the last out of a game motored down the line hoping to leg out an infield hit. Defelice and the ball appeared to arrive at first at precisely the same time. Defelice dove for first base into a head-first slide to extend himself.

As he hit the dirt, his body slid, his pants however, got caught in the wet dirt in front of the bag. His naked lower body propelled forward and he slithered over the base, dick out, ass up, like a snake over a speed bump. A collective sigh came over players and fans at the field as his stark white ass lay on the dirt. Like a worm, Defelice, using only his body to propel him into the air, simultaneously pulled his pants up as he came to his feet. Like Steve Lyons, Defelice is the only player in NSL history to expose himself on the field of play. The Knights closed out the Gulls in the bottom of the inning to win 14-7.

NFL 4-0

Galaxy 3-0

Knights 3-1

Brickyard 2-1

Barbarians 1-1

GEA 1-2

The Sand Bar 0-4

The Gulls 0-4