This is the first in a series of seven articles profiling the 2005 inductees into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Forgive Charles "Mickey" Deahl if he doesn't cringe every time a pitching arm comes up lame in professional baseball today.

He just shakes his head instead.

"It's ridiculous, what's going on out there now," the 1951 Butler graduate said. "If professional teams get two years out of these guys anymore, they're satisfied.

"Pitchers aren't taught how to take care of their arms and they don't seem to be worried about it. … Everybody wants to see how many strikeouts he can get and how hard he can throw it."

Deahl never was a thrower. He was a pitcher - a pitcher who never entered a game as a reliever or ever needed a reliever to enter a game for him.

He played sandlot baseball from 1940 to 1960 and finished every game he started. And he's one of the seven 2005 inductees into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Deahl will be inducted at the organization's annual banquet, slated for 6:30 p.m. April 30 at the Butler Days Inn.

"I never thought much about this," Deahl said of his induction. "My sister has sent in my resume, my daughter's done it - I just never thought of myself as a Hall of Famer.

But his credentials back it up. Butler High School and Edinboro College didn't have baseball teams when Deahl attended school, so he excelled in other sports.

He was a point guard in basketball for Butler and Edinboro. He competed in the pole vault and javelin in high school and college as well.

He started at halfback for the junior high football team, but declined to play varsity football.

"Those guys were too big," he said. "I was a little guy and was getting too beaten up."

Besides, baseball was his true game.

Deahl began playing with the Rams A.C. when he was 8 years old. He became a pitcher for the Mercer Street Midgets and played for division-winning American Legion teams for four years.

His Legion managers were Walter Hillis and Eddie Vargo. Vargo, a longtime major league umpire, was the first inductee into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame.

"Eddie certainly knew his baseball, even back then," Deahl said. "He knew how to take care of his pitchers.

"I learned how to take care of my arm from him. All the innings I pitched, I never had a sore arm."

Deahl pitched in Junior County, County and County Church leagues for years. He was 17-0 on the mound during one championship season. During a three-year title run, he never lost a game on the mound.

"Regardless of how warm it was, Eddie had his pitchers wear a long-sleeved jersey on the mound and a warm-up jacket on the bench," Deahl recalled. "Then we had to take a hot shower that night and keep the pitching arm covered that night.

"Besides that, we pitched. Pitching was finesse in those days. Try to figure the batter out before he figured you out. That art is pretty much lost now."

Speaking of art, Deahl's been pretty good at that, too. He was valedictorian of his graduating class at Butler and painted a mural at the high school (now junior high) in 1951 that remains there today.

Deahl completed four years of college at Edinboro in two years.

"I studied commercial art and you had to double up your classes because the art courses were so detailed and took up so much time," he said. "I'd be in class from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., no study periods, then play basketball from 4 to 8 p.m.

"Those were long days, but I loved it."

Deahl has been doing oil paintings since he was 8 and has sold numerous paintings over the years. He taught oil painting at Butler High School for 20 years.

Tickets for the banquet cost $20 and are available at Moses Jewelers, Snack n' Pack or by calling ticket chairman Ed Lucas at 724-287-8164.