Name: Lou Pfoutz
Team: Chavevilly Comets
Position: Shortstop
Age: 28

Pfoutz. It even looks like a typo - a whole handful of them. But it’s not that hard to say, really. Just erase the “P” and pronounce the vowels like a word the batting team never wants to hear: out!

The pine marten gets a lot of those. Speedy, slender, yet coordinated, Lou excels at stopping balls before they land in the outfield, making him a key defensive piece of any team he lands on. While he’s prolific with the glove, he’s utterly tragic at the plate. Despite being taught mechanics by scores of the world’s best coaches, the power in his bat has yet to awaken. Countless missed swings make his stoic proficiency at shortstop look like brooding frustration. It’s the same face he made after hearing about the trade that sent him to the Comets in the first place. He had a host of things to say about them as a visitor.

Understaffed. Undersupported. Under zero.

The Comets used to play in a different city until their ballpark broke down. On the rise in the cold southern Hartsby region, the small town of Chavevilly stepped in to provide a home for the nomad club. While every other team in the Hartsby Division played in a dome to protect occupants from the cold, Chavevilly built their park outdoors, citing a clean view of the region’s scenic mountains as a bigger draw than silly luxuries like basic guest comfort.

The team’s nickname was in reference to the group of ancient astronomers who founded the small town in their pursuit to understand the heavens. For many years, the place was far too remote to offer anything resembling a professional team. A climate like that forces creativity out of its management, which is exactly how they came to one day acquire Lou.

The cold keeps balls low to the ground, where the defensive specialist can weave plays simply impossible in warmer cities. His wife, an ermine, grew up close to here, and the couple’s young daughter has taken well to life where spring precipitation turns to snowfall.

She’s five, and only in her presence has Lou ever been caught smiling in public. Ironically, even she couldn’t help but say the Pfoutz family name wrong. Despite being coached on it a million times, learning about hidden consonants over and over again, she never seems to learn. Always on the defense, just like her father.

Apples don’t grow in Chavevilly, but Lou’s wife would assure you they don’t fall far from the tree. Lou might be a frozen black hole of offense, but that doesn’t stop the star of the Comets from soaring.

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I found working on a lineless piece to be very enjoyable. I"ll probably revise the old cards to fit this style in the future.

Logo, uniform, and card assets by me. Card font free for personal and commercial use.