Month: April 2021

 

April 28 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

Before we get started with the blog, I’d like to publicly state that I couldn’t have been more wrong about last night. Driving to the game in the rain, standing in the rain, bitching about the rain while we were at the fields, I thought there was ZERO chance we were playing. And I let everyone know it (including Rick) what a waste of time it was for us to be out there. But as I found out last night, when he’s not going around town being Handsome, Sam Castellini can read a weather report. As he informed me “I’m a lifeguard for a living and I know my way around the weather app.” From about 5:45 on he told us that the rain would stop at 6:15 and he was spot on. So, I will admit to being way off on the rain and I couldn’t be happier we played. Commish, sorry for being a loud pain in the ass.

 

Now onto the games

 

On field 1 we had Team Groh vs. Team Kamrass: Groh won 15-9

Eppy came out firing and Kamrass got the jump on Team Groh to lead 5-1 after 2 innings. In the 3^rd, rookie Zach Michelson (3 hits and 2 runs) led off with a single and the hits just kept coming as Brodoff, Groh, Simons and Baum all drove in runs as Groh took a 6-5 lead which they never relinquished. Super sub, Mathew Brodoff, drove in two more runs with a triple in the 4th as Groh extended the lead to 9-5. Brodoff had 4 hits and drove in 7 runs in the game! Kamrass fought back as the score narrowed to 10-8 heading into the 7th inning but with one out consecutive hits by Anslinger, Beckett, Wasserman and Michelson broke open the game and both Fogels also crossed the plate as Team Groh built a 15-8 advantage. Kamrass was robbed by what captain Ken Groh called “one of the best catches I’ve ever seen made from the past (and future) defensive player of the year, Jeremy Fogel.” Missing was Jeff Weisbrot who tore a ligament in his knee and will miss a couple of months. Groh added, “Our permanent sub, Jack Cohen, tore a ligament in his foot and is also out for a while.” Coach was very happy to not get rained out!

 

On field 2 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Lefton. Lefton won 15-5

Team Lefton continued their strong start by defeating Team Solomon 15-5.  Everyone contributed on offense. Chris Kunkel had two big hits driving in 4 runs. Team Lefton also flashed the leather with great plays from Scott Friend in LF, Brian Goldberg in RC and a game ending, diving stop by Dee Harris at SS.   Game Ball was presented to Chris Kunkel for his hot bat and key hits.  Also, the entire Lefton team tipped their cap to Stu for an amazing catch he had in the game.

 

On field three we had Team Schwartz vs. Team Grefer. Grefer won 9-5

Team Grefer defeated Team Schwartz 9-5 behind great pitching from Howard Schwartz and solid defense behind him. Wes Wolf had a triple and a home run. Tyler Wolf had 3 hits as well. Gary Grefer had 2 hits and threw out two runners attempting to steal second base. Sub, Dan Green, played a great game at third base.

 

Finally on Field 4 it was Brafman vs. Team Weisser. Brafman won 17-7

 

Behind the continued hot hitting of Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg (who went 4-4), Rabbit Yitz and Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, Team Brafman poured it on early and late to defeat Weisser 17-7. Brafman jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with RBI hits coming from Jeff “Delino DeShields” Fink, a sac fly from “Macho Man” Andrew Gage, a huge bases clearing triple from Rabbi Yitz and an RBI single from Brafman. Always nice to get the bats going early to put the pressure on the other team Brafman said post game. Not to be overlooked in the hitting was some fine defensive plays by the Commish, Rick Tenenholtz, who fielded a spinning bunt and stepped on home to force out a run and by Eric “The fastest man in the league” Zeid who made a great over the shoulder catch at 2nd base and “Pretty Boy” Mitch Evans who made all the plays at 3rd. Sam “The Hit Man” Hecht, Zach “The Wild Horse” Zackem and Alan Lessure also contributed at the plate. The one play Brafman would like to point out is when Mark Tenenholtz airmailed the infield, the backstop, the tree behind the plate and the first row of cars with a throw from LC. Said Mark post game, “I honestly thought I was throwing that ball on a line and it just sort of slipped.” Not since The Mad Hungarian Jason Faust threw a pitch over the backstop has there been a throw like that. Team Brafman improves to 2-0.

 

JOSH “MR. CUB” ROSEN and STEVE “ZZZZZZ” ZAWATSKY continued their hot start to the season at both the plate and in the field…..

 

Z made a heads up play on the first batter in the opening frame, MITCHELL EVANS, when he backed up a bad throw to first base and gunned him out trying to advance to second base……Afterwards, the veteran catcher said, “I always back up plays at first base, but this is the first time that I’ve thrown someone out trying to advance. I bet the scouting report is now out, that I back-up bad throws.”

 

Also, of note, first round pick, DAVID “MR. ALL-WORLD” WERTHEIM, smacked a double, but missed first base by a country mile……..first base coach ROGER “MR. BOBBLEHEAD? ROSENTHAL noticed it, but didn’t say anything until the next pitch was thrown…..”I mentioned it to Marc (first basemen/captain MARC BRAFMAN) after the next pitch and he didn’t make a big deal out of it.”

 

The Bobblehead King added, “My point is, the first baseman should be checking to see if the runner tags the base or not. Marc was NOT doing his job.” (Brafman replies-the umps have enough trouble calling balls and strikes I am not worried about a missed first base) 

 

League notes from Roger:

 

STEVE “MR. WINGMAN” EPPSTEIN had two guests in attendance as his son, DAVID, and his lovely wife, NIVEA, came in from DC to see if the elder EPPSTEIN still had it……the verdict is still out…….

 

**JIMMY LEFTON, the lawyer, and brother RICK LEFTON had it out in a discussion whether the presidential election should be decided by electoral votes or popular votes…..who do you think won that one?

 

Staying with sports……congrats go out to the XAVIER women’s golf, tennis and swimming teams for capturing the BIG EAST titles…..way to go LADY MUSKETEERS!!!!!…..and I don’t care who gives a damn!

 

Brafman league notes:

A HUGE congrats to Tyler Wolf and Urban Blooms for being a big part of the Bengals’ jersey release hype video. If you’ve seen it, Joe Burrow and the boys are sitting in front of a big wall of plants and T was the one that set that up. Congrats, buddy. (One Bengals or NFL note) Does anyone REALLY CARE that much about the draft to sit in front of the TV from 8 till midnight tonight? Do you care who the Packers take or the Seahawks? I get it if you’re a Bengals fan like me you want to see if they go with Chase or the guy from Oregon, but can’t I read about this tomorrow and it will be the same as wasting all this time watching it tonight? Is Trevor Lawrence going to suit up tomorrow for the Jags? I have never understood why the draft is such a big deal.

 

Keeping it in the Wolf family, I am jealous of Brandon Wolf, who actually got to see a live concert at Red Rocks last week. Let’s hope we can get out to Riverbend this summer.

 

One more music note…earlier this week was the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead Playing a show at the Fillmore East with the Beach Boys. No word on if Uncle Jessie was playing the congas with the Beach Boys.

 

Keep the Leftons in your thoughts as Rick’s sister-in-law, Sarah, who a number of us know is battling cancer. She is a real warrior.

 

In a couple of weeks, both Corey “I see your Schwartz is as big as mine” and “Pretty Boy” Mitch Evans will be moving away for new jobs. Good luck guys. We’ll miss ya. 

 

From this point forward we are now required to refer to Mike Rothstein as “The Special One.” 

 

Eric Zied would like to mention that the Jewish Committee on Scouting will be marketing veterans’ graves at Covedale Cemeteries at 10 am on May 16. If you want to help, see him on Wednesday at the field.

 

Kudos for Gary Grefer for staying in shape in the offseason by playing winter ball down in the Mexican league. He was one of the few guys that Jose De Leon struck out, which the Reds TV guys keep bringing up as proof that he can pitch. 

 

If you or your family are looking for the best Jewish baked goods in town, make sure you check out the website for Sweet Butter Bakery. Order your Friday night dinner pastries now!

 

Finally what blog post would be complete without this week in the Rogerland. Twice he asked me if I had an extra Wyoming Cowboy hat. When I said I could check the team store, he said, “No, I’m only interested in game used ones.”

 

See ya on the field next week. Let’s hope for no rain.

Marc

April 28 addendum

by Stu Solomon

Well, we finally got to play!

Our team has a lot of promise but we still had some rust to shake off.
After giving up a 5 in the top of the first, we gave up 8 runs the
rest of the game. Great D from all 4 outfield positions. Stu “El
Capitan” Solomon had a great running grab in RCF to rob team Lefton of
extra bases. Michael Askin “For Trouble” and Adam “Super Sub”
Gerhardstein help down the left side of the outfield with speed and
finesse.

Offensively we had our moments but couldn’t seem to come up with the
big hit to stay within reach. Tyler “Super Star (in a Molly Shannon
voice)” Stansbury went 3-3 and Stu “El Capitan” Solomon went 2-3 with
2 RBIs. Andy Gollin and Alexander Wold both had a few nice hits.

April 14 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

On a picture-perfect night at Triple Creek, for the first time in two years, 8 teams took the field and man was it nice to welcome back all the guys that sat out last year and welcome in the rookies. Once again kudos to Rick, Mike C, and the staff at Triple Creek for getting the fields in tip top shape. Let’s go to the recap

 

Field One

Team Brafman defeated Team Grefer 11-9 in somewhat controversial fashion. 

 

Team Brafman got the scoring going in the first with a 2 out single by rookie Ben Rosenberg (H-Bomb) to take the lead. After Grefer came back to take a short 2-1 lead Brafman’s team stormed back to score 5 in the top of the 2nd. Big hits were from Rabbi Yitz (who went 3-3), Sam “The Hitman” Hecht and the Commish Rick T. Another big play was a perfect bunt laid down by Alan “Family truckster” Lessure which not only moved the runners up a base but scored one.” I’m just trying to make contact and move the runners along,” Alan said post game. “I’ve been in this league over 45 years, and I know that getting the ball in play is all that counts.” (Side note…when Alan faced off against Howie, that’s about 95 years combined JCC softball playing between the two. We should all be so lucky to play that long) Team Grefer came back to take a short lead, but once again it was the combo of Rosenberg, Yitz and Hecht that powered the Brafman offense. On the defensive side of the things, the two plays that stand out were Mitch Evans snagging a hot shot down the third base line and throwing out Adam Wolf at the plate and Fink snagging a comebacker up the middle. The controversy came at the end of the 6th with darkness coming quickly the ump called the game an inning early. “Not since Gabby Hartnett hit his famous homer in gloamin’ in 1938 has so much been made over sunlight at a ball game,” Brafman said post game. “Despite what Team Grefer was saying post game, we would have been happy to continue to play. But hey, the ump couldn’t see the strike zone for either team during the game so maybe he was worried he couldn’t see it at night either.”  One final note on this game. It’s always nice to see teammates get excited for their players and the reaction from team Grefer when Scott Wolf got his first hit was what makes this league so special. 

 

Field two:

Team Schwartz defeated Team Kamrass 18-12

 

Team Schwartz picked up where they left off in the playoffs last year by defeating Kamrass 18-12 last night. “We hit the ball well,” Taylor said post game. Mike “Dirty water” Rothstein went 5-5 and played a solid SS. Eric Goldstein had two big hits and rookie David Perlmutter had a 2-run single in his first ever AB. “I was proud of the middle of our order because they had their hitting shoes on. Corey (Schwartz and Norris), Cronstein and Soltesz all had multiple hits. And since I’m the best player in the league and the clear #1 pick, I was even comfortable moving myself to 3rd base this season. Look out Wagner I’m coming for you!!” Not to be overlooked, Adam Heldman hit an inside the park homer for Team Kamrass. 

 

Field 3

Team Lefton defeated Team Weisser 20-17

“When the final score is 20-17 in week one of the JCC softball league, you know what type of game it was,” Jimmy said post game. “We are happy to get the win, and like we predicted at the start, our team will go as far as Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris will take us. As I told Brafman this morning there were a lot of good plays but more bad plays in this game for both teams. I think we will get better as the season goes on. But one play that did stick out to me was the amazing, backhanded stop at 1st by Mike Margolis in the bottom of the 7th. That helped us win.”

 

Recap from Roger from the losing team:

HIGHLIGHTS…

 

Josh Rosen……………5 for 5

Steve Zawatsky………4 for 4

 

Scoring runs wasn’t the problem for Team Weisser, thanks to some hot hitting off the bats of Josh “Mr. Cub” Rosen (5-5), Steve “Z” Zawatsky (4-4), “Handsome” Sam Castellini (3-5) and “Stormin” Norman Frankel (3-4), but the defense was in hibernation form. It was downright offensive!

 

“Balls that would have probably been outs were not,” captain Mark Weisser said afterwards. “We weren’t making the routine plays, but it was due partly to the sun and it being the first game of the young season.”

 

He added, “I fully expect us to get better as the season goes along, or else I might go a bit crazy on the mound.”

 

Howard Goldwasser was heard after the game, “I didn’t commit an error, so don’t blame that on me.” It should be noted that no balls were hit to him!

 

Weisser concluded, “I like this team and we’ll be alright. This was just not our night.”

 

Finally, we head to field four where Ken Groh reports:

 

Team Groh 19 Team Loon 9

 

Trailing 2-0, Ken Groh tied it up with a 1-out single, and later scored to make it 3-2 after 1. The 2nd inning saw a Jeff Weisbrot grand slam increase the lead to 7-2. Rookie Zach Michelson and Todd Wasserman scored in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 9-2 Groh. After Team Loon plated two runs in both the 4th and 5th innings, the game was 10-6, but Team Groh broke the game open scoring 5 to lead 15-6. After giving up 3, Bryce Anslinger ended the game with a triple as Groh won 19-9. Jeremy Fogel (4 hits and 3 runs) and Ryan Baum (4 hits and 2 runs) had great games, but Jeff Weisbrot was the player of the game with 3 hits, 4 runs and 6 RBIs to lead Team Groh. Groh drove in 4 but was more impressed with the great defense that saved many runs on this great opening day!

 

Special notes:

Ken Groh was happy to have his good friend Jason Faust drive down from Columbus to watch the game! “He keeps a terrible scorebook, but I was very encouraged to see him back at Triple Creek.” 

 

Rookie Zach Michelson collected his 1st career hit in the JCC an RBI single up the middle – congrats Zach!

 

Sad news…Jeff Weisbrot will miss the next month of the season.

 

Team Solomon recap:

I forgot Team Solomon was on the bye this week so when I asked Stu for his recap this is what he sent me:

 

After coming home from a hard day working in the coal mines, I was able to cut the grass. After Kate and I put the young’uns to bed, I re-watched OU’s magical run in this year’s NCAA tournament before Kate and I made sweet love till dawn. 

 

League notes:

Fink speaks for most of us today when he reported that he feels like he ran a marathon he was so sore this morning.

 

One huge mistake I made in the pre-season preview was forgetting that Team Lefton has 4 sets of different families and not three. Somehow, I forgot about Dee and Griff Harris…

 

If you ever wanted to see Bob Ross play softball, you get your wish watching Rafi play for Team Kamrass

 

Dr. Bob Pelberg is in the running for play of the year. On a ball that was clearly foul, and had zero chance of going fair, he did a full Pete Rose dive to make sure the ball was not going to come back into play. 

 

Andrew “Macho Man” Gage brought out his Macho Man Randy Savage sunglasses last night announcing that he didn’t care how dorky he looked. They were great glasses.  It should be noted that later in the game he had to borrow Team Capt. Marc Brafman’s sunglasses because he needed them to be darker. DIG IT!!

 

Now that it’s springtime, if you are looking for Jewish baked goods you can’t go wrong with these: https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Butter-Bakery-110547014434942/

 

Because you all care so much about my opinion on UC basketball, I am VERY happy about our new coach. I think he is going to get us back on top in no time, and since we got cheated out of a real crosstown shootout this past year, I look forward to beating XU at Cintas this year in front of their fans. 

 

I know there are a lot of music fans in the league. How two such titans of rock ‘n’ roll can come up with this crapola of a song is baffling to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN9YLLQl7gE

 

If getting Covid or herpes interests any of you, Roger is selling a collection of used plastic stadium cups. (On a side note, I once went to a bachelor party for one of my friends from college. He gave us drinks in his older brother’s vintage 1986 Houston Astros stadium cups with pictures of Mike Scott, Glenn Davis and Nolan Ryan on them. That was almost 20 years ago, and we still make fun of him) So if you want to be that guy please contact Roger ASAP.

 

See you on the field next week.

 

League Notes

By Marc Brafman

After a long winter (and a year off for some of you), it’s finally game week. Welcome back to all of you returning players and welcome to the rookies. After a long off-season, here are some league notes to get us ready for the season plus a quick recap of the draft and a preview of this upcoming season. 

Congrats to Mike “Flash” Creemer on 20 years of being “Mr.” Mike to thousands of kids while working and leading the Blue Jays program at the JCC.

 

Eric “Sabo” Zied will have to put his energy that he was going to take to Reds fantasy camp and channel it into his play with Team Brafman this year due to Reds fantasy camp being postponed again. No truth to the rumor that he was going to be co-captain of his team with Big Gig.

Kudos to former pitcher Barry Kaplan on being named 2020 circle of excellence winner for realtor of the year. 

Lots of guys became fathers for the first time or had another baby since last season: Zach Meyer, Micah Kamrass, Dan Grefer and I’m sure more but those are the three that I know.

Unfortunately, on the other side of things, the league lost parents and friends such as Oscar Jarnicki. Sorry for the loss of parents to Dee Harris and former player, Randy Sandow.

For those of us that are going out to dinner again please make sure you help out Jason Esterkamp by visiting O’Bryan’s Bar & Grill. Stop by after a game this year. Or visit one of Jeff Finkelstein’s restaurants, Basil’s on Market in Troy and Beavercreek. 

Who knew that Scott Friend’s son was an author? Yes, that’s right. He might be under the age of 12, but he has written a kid’s book. Scott can fill us in more once the season starts on how to get it. 

Finally, it won’t be a league notes without checking in on everyone’s favorite e-seller, Roger Rosenthal, who outdid himself this winter by selling 2008 Women’s NCAA tournament chair cushions. I have no idea why anyone had these, or why anyone would want them, but leave it to Roger to find them and sell them. Not sure what is worth more, that or his Homer Bailey combo bobble head.

To briefly recap the draft, or “Brad Wagner Christmas” as Commish Rick put it to start with, here are some notes from the draft held last Thursday night:

1) Captains debated about the merits of eating edibles before the draft and the effect it would have on their teams

2) On more than one occasion Stu Solomon was so involved with thinking (or overthinking) that Commish Rick had to make sure he heard that it was his pick

3) the most influential person in this year’s draft might have been Adam Cronstein’s dad, which was a running joke throughout the night.

4) Someone dubbed the Team Kamrass “Team Bachelor Party” until the later rounds when it became “Team Golden Girls”

5) For the third year in a row, Team Brafman drafted the first rookie and he (I) hope to continue the trend of getting the best ones of the bunch.

6) Team Schwartz, which has been in the league a very long time had no idea that Mike Rothstein and Corey Norris are BFF’s when he drafted them and seemed very pleased with himself that he made such a bold pick up

7) Jerry “Doc” Kirzner was delighted to be part of the Kirzner family picks this year when his grand nephew and rookie, Camden “The Bearcat” Kirzner ,went as a mid-round pick. Said Jerry, “I haven’t been picked this early since Gerry Ford was in office.”

8) When Team Grefer was on the clock and taking their time, this seemed to upset Team Schwartz, who claimed that he had to get home “For supper and to watch the Masters” thus becoming the oldest Capt. in the draft even though he might be the youngest.

9) Not to be outdone, Ken Groh tried picking Jeff Weisbrot twice, Jason Faust, Jake Taylor, and Brandon Larson before finally settling on Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum.

Last but not least a league preview:

Team Lefton looks to be strong as usual with the Harris family anchoring the middle of the outfield/infield. Rookie, Sebastian “The Cat” Kunkel could be the diamond in the rough for this team. A very impressive move late in the draft might put this team over the top. With a nice mix of younger guys and vets, the Leftons could make a nice push this season. “We are ready to make another run at the title,” Jimmy said.  Anytime you have Griff, Wags, Kunkel and Scott Friend in the middle of your order we should put a lot of runs on the board.” Interesting fact: Team Lefton should be called “We are Family” since it has three sets of different family members on the same team (Kunkel, Lefton and Margolis)

Team Brafman might be the most versatile in the league this year. “As the draft unfolded the guys who can play multiple spots on the field just fell to me,” Brafman said. I’m really excited to mix and match lineups and spots on the field. Two returning rookies who played in the league in years past make up a big part of Team Brafman’s roster. Andrew Gage and Ben Rosenberg will man SS and RC while Mark Tenenholtz will be the man in the middle in the outfield. With Fink taking his first full turn on the mound this year, Team Brafman is expected to keep teams at bay with defense and hustle. Interesting fact: If you are looking for any Jewish baked goods, stop by Team Brafman and hit up Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, as his wife (and my sister-in-law) is making the best Jewish baked goods in the city.

Team Weisser: Weisser went big early in the draft with some of the fastest and younger guys in the draft with David “Slim Shady” Wertheim and Harry “Hood” Meisner. “I wanted speed and quickness this year,” Weisser said “and along with those two, Josh Rosen and “Handsome” Sam Castellini, I have that in spades.” While this team might not win on the field, they will definitely win the St. Louis Cards bench jockeying award. “With Roger, Z and Wertheim we will win the talking award, for sure.” Interesting fact: Roger Rosenthal and Howard Goldwasser were once traded for each other in a draft and season many years ago. It’s nice to see them reunited on Team Weisser this year. 

Team Solomon: With the youngest overall team in the draft this year, Team Solomon is ready to pounce on the competition.  “Speed and power are the two things I look for in a player,” Stu said post draft and I think I found it with Stansbury, Danny Gilbert and Michael Askin. I’ve got two rookies this year in Alexander Wold and Mark “Bruiser” Wolfe (not to be confused with the other Mark Wolf), and along with my return to the diamond this year, we should be ready to wreak havoc on the league. One note on this team-the entire JCC league will be waiting with bated breath to find out what type of hat the always fashionable Evan Gildenblatt will be wearing this season.  Interesting Note: During the draft, Stu was commenting on how many guys in the league grew up on his street. While I can’t remember any of them, I do believe he said that Ickey Woods would come around and try to sell them all meat. 

Team Groh: It came as no surprise to any of the draftnicks in the room on Thursday that Groh picked Jeff Weisbrot, but what did surprise us all is that it lasted until the 3rd round. Team Groh might have the best defense in the league with the Fogels playing alongside Jeff and David “The Doctor of Style” Weil behind the plate. “I’ve tried to go the hitting way the last few years,” Groh said, “but this year I thought maybe I should try and draft for defense.” Getting big rookie, Zach “fluffhead” Michelson and cagey vet, Jim Beckett later in the draft might put Groh over the top. Interesting fact: Groh has the largest collection of baseball hats in the league and was trying to figure out which one he liked best to match his team color. Along with David Weil, look for Team Groh to be the “RuPaul” of the league this year

Team Grefer: this without a question is the most interesting team in the league this year. The Grefers returning from a year away took the Wolf pack along with the Living League Legend, Howie Schwartz, also coming back this season. “We put all our chips on the table early with our first couple of picks,” Danny and Kyle said post draft. “We know that Howie is like Nolan Ryan; he just keeps getting better with age.” Not since Ben met Jerry have two families merged to form a team quite like the Grefer-Wolf team. “It’s always been a dream of our dad, Gary, to play with the Wolfs,” the boys said. “We were happy to make his wish come true.” Interesting fact: Will Weston “Hungry like a” Wolf and Dr. Bob Pelberg be able to coexist on the same team? It was only two seasons ago that they looked like Yadi vs. BP on field three, so along with everything else it will be fun to watch them play together.

Team Kamrass: the Brothers Kamrass have an interesting team this year with two of the best SS in the league Zach Meyer and Rafi “Baby Beluga” Goldfarb on the same team. (It should be noted that Rafi’s hair was taken in the 11th round) Along with D-Sol and Flash Creemer the Kamrass’ have a glut of catchers and older cagey pitchers in Eppy and Keith Kombrink. “We figured that if having one old older pitcher was good, two were even better,” Micah said post draft. With more returning players (Meyer, Rafi, Ryan “Hi Ho” Silverman, Riley “The Big Man” Able and both Kamrass brothers) than any other team plus promising rookie, Scott Sadler, this team, once it knocks the rust off, could be an interesting team to watch. They also may take the title from Team Brafman last year of having the slowest bottom of the order in JCC history (thanks guys).  Interesting fact: Riley “The Big Man” Able might have had the busiest offseason of anyone. He passed the bar, got a job and got married. 

Team Loon: Anton, over the last few years, has taken the Reds of the mid-2000’s approach to softball. “We are going to mash the ball and try and beat teams by outscoring them.” Once again Loon is trying to prove that theory is a winner. With returning players such as Jason Esterkamp, Stu Weinstein, Matt Brodoff, Scott Berg, Gregg Harris and very promising rookie, Camden Kirzner, who I believe is the youngest player in the league, Team Loon might score 18+ runs a game. “I loved the Reds approach in the mid-2000’s with Griffey, Dunn, Kearns, Larkin, etc. They won a lot of NL Central titles so I’m trying my best to replicate it at the J.”  Interesting note: without sidekick and brother-in-law, Greg Leader, at the draft, Loon is much more relaxed and very fast when it comes to his picks. “Losing Greg with his computer, spreadsheets and Mel Kiper draft guide has really streamlined my approach,” Loon said. 

Team Schwartz-Defending post season champ and league overall #1 player, Taylor Schwartz, returns with an interesting mix of players. “Now that I’m the champ, I feel I can manage anyone to a league title,” Schwartz said. “I’m really excited to have such laid-back guys on my team as Mike Rothstein, Adam Cronstein and Pete “the Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz on my team. I’ll miss my brother when he moves to Washington but as a player well,” Schwartz said walking away.  Jamey Kurtzer mans the mound for this talented squad, which also features B-Rod, Corey Norris and rookie Dan Perlmutter. “Like last year, I know we will be the underdogs this year,” Schwartz said, “but that is just the way I like it.” Interesting note: the entire league will continue to monitor the mental health of Taylor this season. A year after losing his BFF and roomie Leon “The Bull” Seserman, now he will be without his brother. “It’s a very trying time for me but I know with the support of my team I can make it through this season.”

Good luck to all the teams this season. See you at the field on Wednesday!