The Biograph Swordfish, as pictured right, were no more than a month from their first practice session when they shocked one and all by coming in second place in the ten-team field of the 1976 Fan District League Invitational. That year we formed in May and played as an independent club, not yet in the Fan League.

In the second tournament in which we played, after the conclusion of the league's regular season, we won the championship, defeating J.W. Rayle. The event ended abruptly, when Stew Whitham hit a line drive home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Yes, our luck was in gear that summer. Although the records from that first season were lost, by best estimate the Swordfish played 17 games that had an umpire, several with kegs on beer on the line. We won 15 of them. With two French guys on the squad (kneeling in front), who had no idea what they were doing, the 'Fish had arrived on the softball scene like the circus come to town.
Here's a group of happy Biograph Naturals (left) at John Marshall in 1982. From left to right they are: Mike "Scooter" Jones, Mike "Cookie" Kittle, Terry Rea, Mike "Dutch" Perlstein and Wayne Settle. Rea and Perlstein are pointing to a display of Mr. Natural's supposed axioms for the team to follow that Perlstein created.

(The photographer was probably Tana Dubbe.)