Players weren’t showing dishonor

It’s prime time for the Rockets.
Portland’s amateur baseball team is coming off of the World Baseball Congress tournament title Sunday and hoping to win another as it heads to the National Amateur Baseball Federation regional this week in Illinois. It’s the week they prepare for all summer.
And, in Indiana, basketball seems to always be on the brain. So as we wait for Jay County High School to hire a new coach for the first time in two decades — an announcement is expected at Monday’s school board meeting — a local fan is also wondering about all-star absences.
Let’s get to the answers to some questions.
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Based on stats and longevity, who is the greatest Portland Rocket of all time?
—Chris Snow, Portland

Stats are hard to come by for 50 years of baseball, and I haven’t been around long enough to make a personal judgement. But I?can give some names from my era covering local sports, and several current Rockets stand out.
Mitch Waters and Dan Bollenbacher have anchored the pitching staff for years, and Dalton Tinsley has served as the team’s offensive spark plug and center fielder.
The two other names that come quickly to mind are Matt Ousley and Heath Williams.
Ousley held the Waters/Bollenbacher role in the early 2000s, serving as the pitcher the team could always count on. And speedster Williams played shortstop and second base for the Rockets long after his college days were over, finally retiring after the 2011 season.
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Neither of the past two seasons’ Indiana Mr. Basketball selections chose to play in the annual Indiana-Kentucky high school all-star games. I can’t recall that ever happening before. I consider it disrespectful. What is your opinion?
—Jerry Sullivan,
Portland

I disagree.
It’s all about circumstance.
It would be one thing if these players — Homestead’s Caleb Swanigan and Trey Lyles of Arsenal Tech — had skipped the game because they thought they were too good, were lazy or simply didn’t want to be bothered. But that was not true in either case.
Swanigan especially should not be faulted.
The post player who led the Spartans to the Class 4A state championship missed the game because he was in Colorado taking part in a training camp for the under-19 U.S. National Team. It would be silly to begrudge a player the opportunity to represent his country in the World Championships.
Lyles’ situation was different. He missed all of the week’s practices with what his father referred to as dehydration and fatigue.
There are situations in which missing the game could be considered disrespecutful, but these two cases don’t qualify.