Note from the Commissioner’s Office
By Rick Tenenholtz
We have come to a completion of the regular season and tournament in an unprecedented year for JCC Softball. I want to thank everyone involved for their cooperation. You will see below that I have a lot more to say about this year, but I want to give a special thank you to Marc Brafman. Since Roger Rosenthal’s retirement from journalism and decision to focus on the used bobblehead market, Marc has taken on the role of coordinating the blog and he has done a fantastic job. We all know that his posts take a lot of time to write, but he gets them done every week without fail. I hear about the blog from a lot of people, so I know that he is entertaining many of you. His efforts have contributed greatly to the engagement of everyone in the league and we all owe him a big thanks. Thanks for everything, Marc and PLEASE keep it up!
September 27 Recap
By Marc Brafman
On a picture-perfect Sunday morning, the final day of the 2020 softball season took place at Triple Creek Park. While this is one year to remember, let’s all take a second to once again say thanks to Rick, Mike, and the rest of the JCC staff (plus the umps and the staff at Triple Creek). We knew this was going to be a challenging year and we all met it head on with limited interruptions and problems. Thanks to all of the guys that played this year. Can’t wait till next season…
Now onto the games:
It was a final 4 that no one saw coming…
on Field 2 it was Schwartz vs. Brafman and on Field 4 it was Weisser vs. Loon:
Take it away Taylor:
Game 1:
Team Schwartz took on Team Brafman in the semifinals and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the 1st before surrendering 9 runs due to some shaky defense. Schwartz continued their offensive output over the next few innings regaining the lead and extending it to 17-9. The offense was led by the Schwartz brothers, sub Ryan Baum, Eric Goldstein, and more. In the bottom of the 4th, Brafman rallied, led by a mammoth home run by Sam Hecht, cutting the score to 17-16. Brafman made the pitching change from Scott Wolf to Tyler Wolf, but the Schwartz offense couldn’t be slowed. Randy Broyles helped his cause with a big two-run double, adding a bit of cushion. Taking a 24-18 lead to the bottom of the 7th, Randy shut it down and the game ended with a catch by sub Steve Zawatsky against the fence in foul territory. Team Schwartz completed the 3-game season sweep of Team Brafman and went from last place in the regular season to advancing to the championship. Those with Schwartz to win it all future tickets at 25-1 were ecstatic and debating whether to hedge or ride the hottest team in the league.
Brafman would like to add the following: We had a great season and I really enjoyed coaching my guys. From the Wolf family, to cagey vets like Andy Heldman and Mike Creemer and the Natural Jeff Weisbrot to younger players like Zach Zakem and my two rookies Sam “The Hitman” Hecht and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley. We had a great time playing each week. We gave it our all every game which, as a captain, is all I can ask for. Thanks, guys for a great season. Can’t wait for next year.
Weisser vs. Loon recap:
All we know is that Weisser laid the wood to the imposing Loon team winning 18-4. When asked for a comment post game, Rick Tenenholtz said, “We hit the ball hard but right at them and they hit the ball all over the place.” We just couldn’t keep up.
Game 2: The Finals Team Schwartz vs. Team Weisser:
Team Weisser finished their game while Team Schwartz was still in the 4th inning. After an hour plus of sitting around, Team Weisser had tight legs. However, they jumped out to a 3-1 lead behind a lazy bloop double by “LVP” Griffin Harris, and an inside the park homer by David “Eminem” Wertheim. Mark Weisser had team Schwartz on their toes early, but Todd Wasserman started a big inning when he ran out an infield single. Big hits then came by the Schwartz brothers, Adam Cronstein, Harry Meisner, and more. Schwartz took a 7-3 lead. It didn’t last long as Team Weisser fought back plating 5 runs to retake the lead and go up 8-7. They later pushed the lead to 11-7 behind key hits from Brad Wagner, Scott Friend, and Dee Harris. Weisser had control until the top of 6 when David Solomon blasted a deep triple that landed right before the fence. The rest of the lineup followed David up with hits (except for the captain when he grounded out to the pitcher with bases loaded) but the team had his back and they scored 6 runs to take a 16-11 lead. Harry Meisner had a clutch catch in the outfield as he caught it while back tracking and falling to the ground and the top of Team Weisser’s lineup was held to two runs. Adam Cronstein hit a 2-out triple in the top of 7 and later scored, extending the Schwartz lead to 17-13. Evan Weisser hit a 2-out triple as well in the bottom of 7 and Weisser was one batter from flipping it back to the top of the order to put a real scare into Team Schwartz, but Randy Broyles got a big final out to end the game and complete an unforeseen, astonishing championship run. After the game, Team Schwartz popped champagne and dedicated the game to injured most improved player of the year nominee Ben Rodriguez. In a post-game interview, captain Taylor Schwartz said, “In my first two years as captain, my team came in last place in the regular season both times, so winning this COVID Championship is extra sweet. Tanking does work after all.” Now if you will excuse me, I have to hop on my hourly zoom call with Leon to catch him up on my life. He misses me…
League notes:
Get well soon Jerry “Doc” Kirzner who had back surgery this week. He reports that he is up and walking around and while a little sore is already getting ready to play next year.
Congrats to Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf on his engagement after our game on Sunday.
Now I will admit that I might take some liberties with the league notes each week but what you are about to read is word for word from this past week Adath Israel newsletter. Former Player and stepdad to David “8 Mile” Wertheim, Josh Lisman is our temple President. I will set it up this way. Josh was talking about how he had never met anyone who owned a Sukkah until he met David’s mom when they started dating. She asked him to come over and help set up their family Sukkah back in 2007. This was the first time that David and his sister Sarah had dinner with Josh at their house. Here is where I will let Josh tell the story:
“After tucking them into bed for the first time I “left” promising to be back in the early morning. Before they (David and Sarah) were allowed out of their rooms I snuck downstairs gave the dog a treat and went out the front door. After about 90 seconds I knocked on the door and Marla let the kids open the door. They were over the moon that I got up so early to see them. Neither noticed the similarity in my outfit from the day before.” So, congrats to David “8 Mile” Wertheim for finding out what his mom and (now) stepdad were up to all those years ago while he slept in the Adath Israel newsletter. Maybe that explains his hair. Also, single guys – go to Temple and look for any single moms or ladies who own a Sukkah: it might be a way to get lucky…
Finally this week we are going to end with a quick interview with our esteemed Commish, Rick Tenenholtz, who I thought deserved the final note of the year (You’re safe this week, Roger). Rick’s answers are in red and I know I say it most weeks but thanks again to Rick and Brad for all the behind the scenes work you guys put in this year to make this season happen. For a couple of hours each week we could all forget about COVID, the election, work, what to do with our kids, etc. and have fun together.
1. What have been the biggest challenges this year?
Dealing with all of the impacts of COVID-19 has clearly taken this role to a new level. We started with an incredibly fast registration in January. The league was full in about 2 weeks. We did all of the planning as we would for a regular season and then COVID hit. For a couple of months, we were in limbo and nobody knew whether we would be able to play. Once we were given a green light to proceed, we had to rethink how the league would work…who was in and who was out, how many teams, who would be captains, what would the rules be, etc. A lot of people who have been a part of this league for many years had to make a tough decision as to whether or not to play this year. Once those decisions were made, we were able to move forward.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the cooperation of everyone playing this year. There were some less than desirable rules we thought were necessary to be able to make the league work, the most notable of which is the mask rule. I don’t know anyone who enjoys wearing a mask, but the league was not going to work without them. Too many people expressed a concern about playing, especially with the close contact at home plate. Fortunately, we found a way to make it work with minimal disruption.
Without question, the few COVID positive cases we had were the most difficult and frustrating part of the season. Fortunately, everyone emerged healthy and we were able to finish the season.
I can’t end this answer without pointing out a few people who have been instrumental in making this season happen. First, in addition to our prior-season captains, Anton Loon, Joel Fogel and Mark Weisser stepped up when this league needed them to captain teams this year. Their contributions have been huge. Second, Brad Wagner and I have each other on speed dial. All I have to do is say, “Hey, Siri, call the Commissioner Emeritus.” In addition to Brad, Mike Creemer and Ricky Lefton have helped me to figure things out in this bizarre year. Finally, I have had a lot of one-on-one discussions with the members of the commission (Brad, Ricky, Adam Cronstein, Anton, Marc Brafman, Gig Franklin and Mark Weisser). We have all been working hard to get to the finish line.
2. What’s been your favorite part of being Commish?
The pay and benefits! Seriously, there are so many things I have enjoyed. I love getting to know all the new players each year. I love hearing from the many people who love playing in this league and do so much to support it. Maybe most importantly, I love trying to do everything I can to make the league more fun for everyone.
3. What rule changes if any would you like to see down the road?
There aren’t many because we try to address rule changes each year. The biggest area of concern for me is probably the sub rules. They are somewhat arcane because we try to address so many issues. We need to allow subs, but we want to prevent teams from gaining an advantage by using subs. The obvious solution is that everyone needs to block off every Wednesday and Sunday from April 1 through September 30. How hard is that?
4. What do you think the future of the league holds? How can we all do our part to continue to bring in new guys?
I think the future of this league is very bright. There is a reason people play in this league for 50+ years. We have a good group of guys who continue to bring in others. If you don’t believe me, ask our umpires. They love being involved in our league because of the quality of the people.
Regarding new guys to the league, I would encourage the young guys to invite their friends. Also, when you hear about someone new to the city, ask them to sign up for softball.
5. What are the biggest challenges we face as a league?
I think the biggest challenge we face each year is creating as much parity as possible. One of the best things about this year was the parity. Every team could beat every other team. The commission has tried many things over the years to create parity, some of which work better than others. I believe that two crucial elements for parity are quality captains and a level of pitching talent that is relatively consistent from team to team. If you really want to make a mark in this league, learn to pitch.
6. How would you like your term as Commish to be remembered?
I have the good fortune to have a lot of very good predecessors, so my goal in coming into this role was to not screw it up. There are so many players in this league who are former commissioners. They all do their best to be caretakers of the league, and they provide a lot of good advice. When my term is up, I’d like the players to think the league is fun and well run.
Stay safe everyone. Keep those masks on and don’t worry, there will be some more league notes this off season.
Marc