In the few weeks ahead, two more teams with representatives from our league will head down to the Gulf Coast of Florida, to participate in the Roy Hobbs World Series.
The Masters Division (45 and over), starts Nov. 3rd. The Maine Indians are entered, with CDMSBL players Rick Carruso, Mike Ferraro, Pete Geannelis, Steve Hutchinson, and Jonny and Teddy Martin. Our friends from up north include Ed Simmons, Lenny Fox, "Cowboy Murphy",Clair Crandall and more...
This division features over 60 teams!! All teams play four preliminary games in three days...and then are "seeded" into 5 divisions, from strongest to weakest. Our draw includes teams from Indiana, Texas, Washington DC, and Minnesota. Game 1 will be played at Jet Blue Stadium, "fenway of the south". This is the two-year old Red Sox spring training facility in Ft. Myers.
Mike Hart, win or lose, I promise some updates!!
Nov. 16th, Jimmy K. is bringing down a team to compete in the Classics Division. I know Jimmy will provide much more information on that later. I do know the team includes "ringers", I mean "waiver" players, Tommy Maney, Tim Brown and Ralph Caputo..not a bad start right there!!!
Weather should be in the low 80's, and no cool desert nights Pete W. :) ..and Teddy says he "knows some places" for nightlife...
Should be fun
Jonny
-- Edited by jmartin on Monday 28th of October 2013 12:11:06 PM
and, i'm wondering: do we have a third team florida-bound? or is artie's team the same one that jimmy k's taking? not sure. in any case, artie tells me he's going with a club to the tampa area for a set of games from nov. 11th-16th or so.
whether albany is represented by two or three squads, the key, and great, thing, is that you all are still playing, and so stretching the season from late april till november. here's hoping that stretch includes some good wins.
so, yes, write us about the games. that way, you're stretching our season, too.
luck to you all. my regards to teddy.
-mike
-- Edited by mhart on Monday 28th of October 2013 01:02:45 PM
Hey guys, Joe Careccia and myself are playing with the DC Mustangs again and play are 5th game Against Artie! Also 2 guys from the 35 Rays , Jeff Jeanette and Dan Mirable are playing the 35 with Clearwater Fl group. Good luck to all. Jim Bonaparte
"Artie's team" playing in the Fall Classic 45s, Nov 11-16, includes 8 members of our local Blue Jays, reps from Shaskys, Dodgers, and Cougars. We also have extra players from Yonkers, Georgia, and Puerto Rico.
good to hear, jim and curt. i hope y'all post game stories. and don't leave out the funny moments. we'll need those.
see, you guys will have to face just the cutting fastballs and the tricky curves; but we're left behind to take on the incoming chill and the thinning light. we'll need the laughs.
Yes, Jonny, our 60+ team heads to Fla. on the 16th, first game on Sunday the 17th in the Roy Hobbs World Series..
Last year, 33 teams were entered in the 60+ Classics Division, which is broken into 4 divisions: 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A. While the schedule is still in the works, this year I'm told to expect more.
We're hoping to make the 4A playoffs this year, but there are some damn good 60-year-olds playing ball across the country and abroad, so the Round Robin portion of this tournament ain't gonna be easy!
This is a huge tournament. This year, there are 61 teams in the 45 Division and 52 teams in the 35s. The schedules still are coming for the 60s, 65s, 70s, 75s and the women's bracket - and yes, it's hardball.
Our team is the National Wind, but the scroll across the bottom of the new jerseys will say NY, Chicago since our roster has more New Yorkers than anyone else. The only reason Chicago is still on there is because that's where the team originated. We have no one from Illinois this year. Here's the roster:
Jim Reynolds - 1B - Cota de Caza, Calif. Terry Barton - OF - Littleton, Colo. Brad Larson - OF - DePere, Wis. Tim Brown - SS/2B - Bennington, Vt. Wayne Carney - 1B/RP - Rochester, NY Paul Watson - 1B - Selkirk, NY Jerry Hawkins - 2B/SS - Kingston, NY Jim LaTorre - P/IF - Kingston, NY John LaTorre - P/3B - Kingston, NY Skip Lyons - C - Port Ewen, NY Jerry Solomon - P/C/3B - Colonie, NY Bill Smith - C/3B/RP - Waterford, NY Ralph Caputo - SS/3B - Clifton Park, NY Tom Maney - OF/1B - Colonie, NY Bob Yakatan - OF - Malta, NY Wayne Newcomb - OF/RP - Niskayuna, NY Jim Konstantakis - P/IF - Rensselaer, NY
Each team can have 3 age-waiver players 57 and over, but they can't pitch. Ours are Maney, Caputo and Brown.
Hobbs does a fantastic job organizing this event. All teams play on two MLB complexes: Twins and Red Sox. Each player is screened and entered into the Hobbs data base. Each player has to go to the Twins stadium and register on the Friday or Saturday before the tournament starts. It's then they check the age on your driver license against the roster, which each team manager submitted electronically. It also costs $1 to register.
After you sign in, each player gets a ticket to get their souvenirs.
What's also pretty cool is that if a player on a team from one geographical region wants to play for another team the following year, then that player has to sign and submit a geographical waiver form. This way, teams can't recruit for missing pieces to better their chances of winning a ring the following year. The waiver may or may not be granted.
Looking at our roster, we believe we have solid players top to bottom. But you never know the talent level of teams coming from the rest of the country. I do know that in the two previous years of this event, there are no easy wins.
Jim, I'll be down to the house on the 20th. Im only a half hour north so shoot me an email with your schedule so I can come down and heckle you boys!!! Good luck, Crafty
