The DC Mustangs, with a roster bolstered by CDMSBL'ers (Chris Dunn, Jim Bonaparte, Tony Parella, Ron Lochner, Joe Careccia, and Mike Girard) fell pray to a very tough schedule, made even tougher by Mother Nature. We were to start the tournament Friday morning with a 8:15 am game against a very solid Maine Diamond Dog team (with Rick Caruso). We played with a constant light rain until 2 outs in the top of the 3rd inning. At that time it was 3-0 in favor of Maine, due in large part to a couple of errors due to playing conditions. That result would stand until the tournament directors could schedule a time and field to finish the game on.
In the meantime, we had a game in Champion Stadium (Braves spring training stadium), at 2;45 pm. In that game,the Albany guys came through with the bats, against the Westchester Pirates. I don't have the book, but Tony Parella, Ron, Lochner, Chris Dunn, and Mike Girard were responsible for most of the offense in a 17-7 victory. We were informed when we arrived at the stadium for the game, that the morning game would be finished, in the stadium at 10:30 pm!!! The afternoon game got done at about 6:00 pm, so we went back to our respective hotels, got a bite to eat, took a quick shower and returned to the stadium. We put a great effort in to try to come from behind against a talented Maine team. That effort did not bear fruit, as the Diamond Dogs made some great defensive plays with Mustang runners in scoring position and held on to win 7-2. This game ended at 20 minutes past midnight. By the time we got back to our hotels, it was after 1:00 am.
Game 3 was a tough task, as it was scheduled against the defending champion Chicago Royals, at 8:15 am!!! The Mustangs were not intimidated and made a game of it through 7 innings, and were tied with the defending champions at 3-3, entering the 8th inning. That is when the lack of rest seemed to matter most, and the Royals smacked the ball all over the park against 4 different Mustang pitchers, to win the game 11-3. Tough finish for a great group of guys that put in a great effort.
It still was a great time, playing baseball in beautiful sunny Florida (except for two storms) in Jaunary. I would recommend the experience for all of those who are contemplating trying this!
nice run, 'stangs, but here's one thing i've never understood about older adult ball tournaments: playing baseball before noon.
that's hard on anybody, especially for geezers and near-geezers, most of whom (except for john corrigan, who's up at 5:30 a.m. days) are struggling with sleep inertia, trying to wake up creaky bones and tendons that are ripe for breaking or spraining.
and 8 a.m. games? especially after playing the night before? come on. pitchers have to wonder if they can roll the ball to the plate. and nobody plays his best ball in cold air, running on dew. most players are a fraction of themselves at that hour, in that weather, almost guaranteeing that games will be underplayed.
the only people who profit from these early morning games are tournament directors, and the corporations, like disney, who push them to make money. so directors over-schedule, fail to find enough fields, and rake in fees from trusting ballplayers.
there needs to be a revolt against these early games and this kind of treatment.
how to respond? there are probably lots of ways but one might be for team managers to contact each other before the tournament (names, phone numbers and email addresses should be available from the previous years' schedule) and agree to tell tournament directors they'll show up but nobody will play games before 10 a.m. (i'd prefer noon, but that number may be unrealistic.)
if enough managers say that, tournament directors and the corporations they work for should get the idea. and ballplayers will better protect bones and muscles, they'll have a better chance of playing up to their talents, and they'll get the games they paid for.
-mike
-- Edited by mhart on Sunday 17th of January 2016 11:17:44 PM
The Albany Capitals played TWO 8:15 a.m. games and you won't find any complaining from us. Both teams in that situation have to deal with the early morning hours and the conditions that come with playing that early.
With 3 divisions, 30+ teams and only five fields all right next to each other - plus a guaranteed 3 games per team - you do what you have to do.
I'm sure the Mustangs aren't going to use 8:15 a.m. as an excuse.
hey rob - well, if i were there, i'd complain. 30-year-olds may not feel rusty muscles at 8:15 a.m., but 45+ year olds very likely do. there's a reason major and minor leaguers don't play ball at 8:15 a.m., and getting few fans there is only part of it. most bodies are not awake and ready to play good ball at that hour, especially if they played the night before. so nobody plays his best baseball on dewy grass and everybody is in danger of pulling or breaking something.
the real issue lies with tournament directors and the corporations they work for: they say they're giving guys a chance to play in the sun on good fields in january; in reality they're shoehorning teams in to maximize profits. some teams get robbed of their supposed three-hour games and others have to play while roosters are crowing. to start game at 10 a.m. or later, solutions would seem to be (a) invite fewer teams and (b) find more fields. absent that, they're endangering players and robbing them of what they were told they'd get.
The only tournament that will allow for older teams to start play at noon is the "Mike Hart I've fallen and I can't get up"tournament. No one wants to push themselves at 8am to play ball but once you're on field your adrenalin or in my case Geritol, kicks in. By the way, in tourneys, the best games are early games if you have your wife there, because they have you for the rest of the day.(Lucky them)
that's funny, ralph. just what i needed. my craggy complaint to the side, the fact is you're right, and rob, curt and mike are too, that there's much to like playing ball with good friends in january in florida sunshine. maybe a bit less at 8 a.m., at least for this geezer's tastes, but enough.
The Capitals were a 45+ team and the average age of the team was 53. No complaints about starting times - only the abundance of rain!
That aside, I'm sure the Mustangs would gladly have taken the 8:15 a.m. time slot on Monday which was the semi-finals had they made it. Hats off to the Mustangs as there were some very talented teams in this tourney.
