Month: April 2022

 

April 27 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

On another nice night for softball (two weeks in a row…how about that) the action was hot and heavy. Let’s check in with field 1 first as Team Kamrass took on Team Fogel in what turned out to be a classic game:

 

Micah for the winners reports this: 

Staring down the prospects for getting mercy ruled, trailing 11-1 in the fourth inning, Team Kamrass came roaring back to beat Team Fogel 16-15.

Jared Kamrass and Jason Esterkamp each made their season debuts with some strong hitting, and also turned a double play on defense.

Danny Gilbert just missed the fence on a monster shot to left field.

Eppy pitched another strong game and tagged up to score from third.

Eric Goldstein also hit a few missiles.

“It’s great to be 2-0,” said Micah Kamrass. “After an atrocious first inning where we made about 8 errors, we did a great job regrouping and just having fun. Winning is a lot more enjoyable than getting run ruled.”

Team Kamrass heads into the much-needed bye sitting in first place in the standings. There are already lots of sore hammies and quads in need of some rest.

 

Over on field two it was Team Grefer vs. Team Weisser. 

First Mark for the losing team: 

 

Well, we lost 12-4. Scott Wolf had to pitch due to my groin injury. Very nice catches by Evan Weisser and Alexander Wold in the outfield. Mike Gray pitched great with six strikeouts–the most in a game I can remember. Kudos to him. 

 

And now Kyle for the winners:

 

We beat Team Weisser 12-4 last night behind a dominant performance on the mound by Mike Gray. He finished with 7 strikeouts and had their hitters off balance all game. Defensively AJ Goldhoff had a great game behind the plate working with Mike, and Josh Rosen made a couple nice running catches in the outfield. Offensively we had one big inning in the 5th where we batted around scoring 7 runs, and key offensive contributors were Josh Rosen, Taylor “F&^% the” Police, Kyle Grefer, and Zach Michelson. The usually talkative Mike “Mr. Cub” Gray had this to say post game: “I’m glad I pitched well.” 

 

On field 3 it was Team Lefton vs. Team Z

 

Jimmy reports the following for the winning team: 

A good ol’ good one last night. We beat Team Z, 20-17. Everyone contributed offensively with even Alan “Sauce” Lessure getting on base a couple of times and scoring a run. I had to ask Alan to catch for us last night and he did a stand-up job. We awarded him the game ball for his contributions. What’s more amazing is that he scored two runs for us that helped us win. “I’ve been telling guys for years that with my blazing speed I should be hitting leadoff,” Alan said last night post game. “Glad Jimmy understands my place on this year’s team.”

 

Finally on Field 4 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Rosenthal

 

Roger chimes in first for the losing squad:

My notes……

 

We had one bad inning that decided the game. I’ve got to make those catches. Those are putouts for me years ago, but now I move like a…well I don’t move. Howie pitched a great game and our defense played well, but two plays is all it took to open the flood gates.

 

These are two tough losses in a row, but I feel confident in this team that we’ll bounce back. At least I hope so or else I might be out of a job and have to go back to selling bobbleheads full time.

 

My hats off to Marc’s team. They played flawless defense and came up with the big hit and knew where to hit the ball (i.e. to me).

 

I had to report to the General Manager after the game and it wasn’t a pretty conversation. He said, win or else…

 

kudos do go out to…

 

*MICHAEL ASKIN……for hitting a homerun to the opposite field.

 

*HOWARD SCHWARTZ…..for pitching a great game, but he can’t catch the balls for us (mainly a certain second baseman).

 

*MARC SIMONS……for making a nice running catch in LCF.

 

*NORM FRANKEL…….making an unbelievable catch at 3B.

 

 

Here’s hoping JAMES “SPEEDY” SWAN is ok after having to leave the game early because of an injury.

 

And from the winning Capt. Brafman

 

Team Brafman continued their total team ball last night by defeating Team Roger, 11-8, in comeback fashion  with contributions from everyone. On offense Anton, Fink, “Handsome” Sam Castellini, Sam “the Hitman” Hecht and Alex Kraus all had big hits to drive in key runs. “It’s never easy to hit the Living Legend,” Brafman said post game. “We got just enough big hits in key parts of the game when we needed them to win. As Roger mentioned we also continued to play very sound defense. JZ turning a 5 to 3 Double play, David “BP” Synder making key plays at both first and second, Todd behind the plate, and most importantly Dr. Bob digging the ball out at first while tumbling around the base to keep the ball in front of him helped save us.”

 

When told post game that he got the game ball, Dr. Bob laughed and said, “no way should a 1st baseman ever win the game ball.” We disagree Bob. Keep up the good work!  Now we need Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley to get off the DL and we will really be a force this year.  Team Brafman moves to 2-0 on the young season.

 

League notes: 

A big shout out to Greg Leader (and Uncle Anton) on Greg’s son’s bar mitzvah this past weekend. From what I understand Greg gave a great speech then flew out to RC.

 

The Minister of Fun, Dave Cohen, reports in that while Roger Daltrey forgot a couple of words to “Who are You?” The WHO put on a great show last week in Miami. For those of us going next month, he said to expect a great concert. 

 

Congrats to Jimmy and Laurie Lefton on their 30-year wedding anniversary. Points do get taken off for introducing us to Alex though. (we kid, we kid) 

 

Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf makes the blog again for his continued success with Urban Blooms. I believe they just either bought or merged with another company and continue to expand in the city. Keep up the good work Big MAN!!

 

Speaking of Big Men Riley “The Big Man” Able played in front of his kid for the first time last night and reported that he had something like 10 hits. Even if he only had 2-3 he will always tell him that it was 10.

 

Happy 40th birthday to former player Jeremy “Oh Canada” Cantor 

 

A big shout out goes to our own Fink who got himself kicked out of his son, Chase’s, baseball game the other day, not for arguing with the ump, but for requesting that the ump not use profanity in front of the kids when the ump was throwing someone else out of the game. “My wife was not pleased when I got home,” Fink said “until she understood what I was doing. Then she said, ‘well at least the kids are learning which words not to use to get tossed.’”

 

Before our game yesterday, Rafi, Anton and I were discussing what Howie’s record must be and if he has more wins than Cy Youngs 511. Maybe one of the league historians can look that up for us. On another note, Tuesday was the anniversary of when Nolan Ryan broke the strikeout record of Walter “The Big Train” Johnson. When Howie does decide to retire, his strike out record will be as untouchable as Ryan’s (he added two more last night vs. my team).

 

Next time we all complain about the strike zone or the umps in general we all have to take a step back and reflect that at least Angel Hernandez isn’t in our league. Here is a guy whose actual job is to ump and he, year in and year out, continues to be awful. How he is still employed is beyond me.

 

Finally, you know it’s not a good season when the biggest news coming from GABP this week is that they will in fact permit fans to come to the game with bags on their heads. Also, when the only Sports Center top play that involves your team is a dad feeding his baby and catching a foul ball at the same time you might be in a little trouble.

 

Finally, part 2: I am 100% convinced that every time ESPN shows a highlight of other NFL teams doing something good it will be against the Bengals. I thought that maybe that would have changed with them going to the Super Bowl, but I would be wrong. Every time they show Baker Mayfield doing anything it’s against the Bengals. Did he not throw any other TD passes this year vs. any other team? 

 

And finally, part 3: if you want any random XU treasures Roger is your guy. Even more than ever he’s got great stuff. 1998 team basketball set…he’s your guy, Pete Gillen “It’s gonna be a wahhh Andy” Bobblehead…he’s your guy. Kingsgate Logistics fan giveaway towel…go find Roger…

 

See you all at the field next week

 

 April 28, 2022

Ron Rose Memory

Here is the first Ron Rose memory of the year from David “The Doctor of Style” Weil.

My favorite Ron Rose softball story was back in Roselawn; probably a Sunday morning game behind the Center.  The opposing right fielder had forgotten his glove and Ron lent him one.  Later in the game, maybe the fourth or fifth inning, finally a fly ball is hit to right field.  The right fielder catches it.  Ron immediately turned to the umpire and said that the fielder’s glove was illegal as it was too long.  The batter was called safe.  Now, as a Marcus Kruke award winner, that is not my idea of sportsmanship…but it is funny…and it is Ron.

 

April 20 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

Mother Nature FINALLY smiled on us last night as the season started three weeks late. After a very nice tribute from Howie, Ken Groh and Jeff Weisbrot talking about our friends Ron Rose and Jason Faust, it was time for the games to start. 

 

On field 1 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Grefer.  (Brafman won 12-11)

Team Brafman took control of the game early and broke out to an early lead. The top of the order led the way with Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley, JZ, Fink and Anton producing the big hits. “Handsome” Sam Castellini and Marc Brafman also drove in runs. While Grefer chipped away, they could never get closer than a couple of runs. But things changed for Grefer in in the top of the 6th. Big hits from Zach Michelson, Gary Grefer and others tied the score at 10. When Team Brafman failed to score in the bottom of the inning, Grefer took their first lead of the game in the top of the 7^th, 11-10. With the top of his order up Capt. Brafman felt good about their chances going to the bottom of the 7th. “While I was disappointed we couldn’t hold our big lead, I was 100% confident we’d pull through.” And that is what they did. JZ led off with a double, and after an intentional walk to Anton, who had been 3-3 at the time, Fink hit a LOOOONG ball into the gap in RC that Kyle Grefer ran down and made a nice play on. Both runners advanced on the catch. And this is where the game got interesting. Believing that Capt. Brafman was a lesser hitter than Sam Castellini, Grefer walked Castellini, setting the stage that every boy dreams of. That’s right, I was up with the bases loaded tying run on 3rd go ahead run on 2nd. And just like everyone dreams about, I hit a medium fly ball to LC which was caught. JZ tagged up at 3rd to tie the game and when the ball got past the catcher Anton scored the winning run for Team Brafman who won 12-11. “Do we even celebrate a win like that,” Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen said post game? “I guess I have to go pat Capt Brafman on the back for at least hitting the ball in the air.” Besides the offense, team Brafman also won this game on defense with Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, David “Lenny Harris” Snyder, “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman and Alex Kraus all making nice plays. 

“A good overall team win,” Brafman said post game.  

 

Over on field two it was Team Rosenthal vs. Team Kamrass (Kamrass won 16-15 in 8 innings)

 

Roger checks in for the losing team first:

 

KUDOS GO OUT TO……the entire team for not quitting, but players of note are the following….

 

 

*JAMES “THE ROCKET” SWAN who led off and got on all, but once and played a stellar outfield…..

 

*RAFI “MAN MOUNTAIN” GOLDFARB who played a stellar SS and got some key base knocks….

 

*DAVID “MR. POSITIVE” SOLOMON for playing well behind the plate and keeping the team in an upbeat mood…..

 

*JIM “PRICE GUIDE” BECKETT for a huge hit in extra innings…….(Brafman notes Price Guide Beckett is a great nickname. Well done, Roger) 

 

 

 

 

QUOTES after the game……

 

 

CAPTAIN ROGER ROSENTHAL…..

 

“I wasn’t happy about the final score, but was happy about how we fought back the entire game and put ourselves in position to win.”

 

“I wish I could have a DH (designated hitter) the whole season for me. I stink at the plate.”

 

“I’m not one to argue with the umpire and blame him, but there was a horrible call that led to five runs. If I get fined, that’s ok. I’ll just have to.” 

 

 

GARY FISHER…..

 

“Am I in or out?”……this is in referral to whether he was in the field or not.

 

And now from winning Capt. Micah Kamrass:

 

In a game that likely set a JCC Softball record for the oldest combined age of the two pitchers, Team Kamrass edged Team Rosenthal by 1 in a game that took an eighth inning to decide.

Eppy was in mid-season form. In addition to strong pitching, he hit well and even went first to third on the base paths.

The Tenenholtz men ate their Wheaties. Mark ripped one over the fence, and Rick had a big blast over the heads of the outfield.

Adam Heldman and Riley Able played a great outfield and had some key hitting at the top of the order.

Danny Gilbert returned to shortstop and made some great plays in the field and added some big hits. 

Scott Raskin made his league debut with a few nice hits and a strong glove at third base, and Mark Levine returned after a long hiatus from the league and did some damage at the plate. 

Eric Goldstein anchored the defense at first base. 

Jason Esterkamp and Jared Kamrass were both missed and will make the team stronger next week.

“It’s nice to start the season in first place in the standings,” said Captain Micah Kamrass.

A tip of the cap goes to Team Rosenthal for making us really earn the win. Howie somehow continues to age better than Tom Brady does. 

 

Field 3-Team Z vs. Team Weisser-Team Z won 10-0. Blog update pending

 

Field 4

Team Fogel took on Team Solomon. Fogel won 17-13

 

Team Fogel took the field in Week Three (one) eager to get in the win column in the managerial debut for the second Fogel captain in the family. The bats came alive early and stayed active often with strong showings from top to bottom through the lineup. Jamey had a strong showing on the mound and was backed by a robust defense from all positions. Through and through, it was an impressive showing from the Men in Navy Blue. A strong performance from Bob “The Professor” Feldman propelled the offense forward with a clinical showing of how to hit, driving in what seemed to be every run on a muggy April night. When Pat Feldman was asked if he was surprised by Bob’s performance, he had this to say.. “Not one bit. Bob taught me everything I know out in the backyard with a fungo bat and a tennis ball.”

 

Please send your thoughts to Andrew Gage who had to leave the field in the fifth inning yesterday after a bloody nose. Team Doc expects to have him back at full strength next week. It was a back-and-forth game between Fogel and Solomon with Fogel coming out on top by a score of 17-13. The Men in Navy Blue are hopeful to keep the bus moving next week.

 

Stat of the game:

·  Jamey is halfway to his season-long pitching prop of 2 strikeouts, getting one in the season open

 

Stu Solomon had this to say post game:

A hard-fought game against a wonderfully coached team. There were a lot of positives and a few negatives for team Solomon. 

 

We had several great defensive plays throughout the game. A nice diving catch by team captain and ” heart and soul” of the team, Stuart Solomon. A great diving stab to his right in RCF from Jeff Weisbrot. For those unaware, he was drafted in the 5th round because he is old and washed up. And finally, a great diving play to knock down a ball and make the out at first from Tyler Stansbury. Corey Norris had a great pitching performance, but there were too many errors to keep the game close. 

 

On the offensive side of the ball, we have to start with Tyler. He hit a monster two-run homer to Left Center Field. Dan Green, our spiritual guru and the only mortgage broker I would ever use, had several hard hits. Corey Norris helped himself with two hits as well.

 

Rookie of the Year Watch: Ryan “the One Man Gang” Marcus had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s and handled 3rd base well. While he is a good player on the field, he is even better person off the field. 

 

League notes:

As Ryan pointed out last week one of our guys is hurting this week. Zack “The Wild Horse” Zakem lost his dad last week to cancer. Zach has been on my team the last two years, and I got to know his dad a little when he would come and watch us play. A really nice guy who will be missed at Triple Creek. We are all thinking of you and your family, Zach

 

David “The Doctor of Style” Weil had a very interesting point on social media this week. The powers that be in Cincinnati who are in charge of restaurant week sure picked a great week for it. Out of all the weeks of the year they picked a week that has not only Passover, but also Ramadan in it. So, I’m sure the restaurants in Cincy are packed with people this week. Well done, city.

 

Congrats goes out to Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz on the birth of his daughter earlier this week. Congrats, Pete.

 

While he might be distracted from following the 4th or 5th best college football team in the country OSU full credit goes to David “Slim Shady” Wertheim for his continued great advice on things to do in Cincy on Doc’s TML blog each Wed. This weekend he suggests we go out to Moonbird to check out the band Doghouse or is it go to the Doghouse to check out the Band Moonbird? Either way, keep up the good work David. 

 

While this has nothing whatsoever to do with David “D-Sol” Solomon, I’m mentioning it anyway. His sister Abby, who most of us know is the Director of Camp Livingston, took time out of her day on Sunday to walk around camp with me and my daughter Maya who, to put it mildly, wanted nothing to do with going to sleep away camp. That is until after she took the tour. Now she can’t wait for the summer and for camp. If your kid is on the fence about going away, talk to Abby and she will set them straight. 

 

Please keep Rick Lefton and his wife Betsy in your thoughts and prayers. Betsy’s sister has been battling cancer for a year or more and is now entering hospice 

 

My Reds update this week is they stink and this entire mess can be traced back to the end of the 2013 season. If you’d like to listen to me rail on them, find me next week. That said I’m super excited to see Hunter Green in person tomorrow night.

 

Finally, like Ryan mentioned I will be sharing stories about Ron Rose and Jason Faust all year. This week, Joel Fogel shared one of the funniest Faust stories this morning, and I was on the field as Jason was my pitcher when this happened. We were on field 4 a few years ago and Jason showed up exactly at 6:15 when our team was taking the field.  He pulls up, gets out of his car with an extra large UDF milkshake and runs straight to the pitchers mound.  He puts the shake on the ground, picks up the game ball and realizes he doesn’t have his glove.  He picks up his shake, starts drinking it and yells to a few fans that were in the bleachers behind the backstop to get his glove.  He tries to chuck his keys to them but they don’t clear the backstop.  He then ran, picked up the keys and went to his car.  He also safely secured his milkshake on the bench.  In a nutshell, that’s Jason.  He will be missed!

 (in my memory of this story, he got out of the car with it still running but Joel’s version is right) 

 

See everyone next week!

 

April 20 Recap, Part 2

By Marc Brafman

 

And finally, a recap of the Zawatsky-Weisser game by Captain Z…

 

First, I want to say what beautiful words Howard Schwartz, Ken Groh and Jeff Weisbrot spoke during our pregame memorial for our leaguemates/friends/brothers, Ron Rose and Jason Faust.  Ron and Jason will surely be missed.  It is times like this when I realize our league is more of a Brotherhood than a softball league.  

 

Wednesday night was a game of many firsts for me.  It was our first game of the season.  It was the first time my son Eli played in the league as he subbed for our team.  It was my first game being a captain.  

 

I could not have dreamed of a better start to the season.  

 

In the first inning our first five batters got the scoring going.  Wertheim started off with a triple.  Next, Groh hit an RBI single.  Meisner hit into a fielder’s choice and he ended up on first base.  Commissioner Silverman hit a line drive double.  Zawatsky (that’s me) hit an opposite field double, scoring 2 more runs.  I heard Wes Wolf call my hit a dinker.  If I can hit a dinker double each time up, I’m okay with that!  At the end of the first we had a 3 to 0 lead.

 

The second inning we scored 5 more runs.  Gollin got a hit, Newman got a hit, Groh got a hit, Meisner got a hit and Silverman got a hit. All five of these players scored that inning.  End of two Zawatsky 8 Weisser 0.  

 

We scored 2 more runs in the top of the fifth inning.  With great Pitching by Groh and almost error free defense, we ended up shutting out Weisser in five innings by a score of 10 to 0.

 

Bring on Team Lefton!

 

 

Pre-Season Notes

April 6, 2022

By Marc Brafman

After a long and sad off-season, it’s time to get back out to Triple Creek. The first order of business every year is the annual player draft. Let’s take a look at each team and preview the season.

 

We’ll start with Team Weisser. Before the draft, Capt. Mark Weisser was his normal cheerful self and seemed pretty excited to have a high draft slot. “I have been reading my draft guides, listening to ESPN8 (The Ocho) podcast and everyone has been giving me their advice on who I should take.” When he selected the Wolf family no one seemed all that surprised in the room. “I see Scott every day at work. Why not on the softball field?” Weisser said. With the Wolfs, Brad “The Human Rain delay” Wagner and Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz in the middle of the order, Team Weisser will definitely bring the thunder each week. They also might lead the league in inter-team arguing and bickering, which will also be fun to watch. “I think having ‘Easy’ Eddie Gallop and ‘The Dr. of Style,’ David Weil on my team will help ease the friction that some of the guys might feel this year,” Weisser said. ”I’m excited to see how many bombs (both f and real) we hit this year.”  Fun fact that may only interest me: in the history of JCC softball no team has ever had as many guys with the same last letter of their name on the same team. Nine of the 12 guys on Team Weisser start with “W.”

 

Continuing their theme from last year, the Lefton’s once again employed the “WE are family” approach to drafting taking the Harris (Griff and Dee) group along with the Kirzners (Reigning rookie of the year, Cam and the ageless wonder, Jerry “Doc” Kirzner). “Nothing wrong with half our team being related to each other,” Rick said post draft. “Remember in the mid-90’s when the Reds started an infield of the Boones and Larkins? They won, didn’t they?” Didn’t they? “This is an interesting team I’ve got,” Jimmy said post draft. I have three of the fastest guys in the league in Griff, Cam and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem and some big-time hitters like Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum and Matt Brodof. But we also have station to station guys like myself, “The Special One” Mike Rothstein and Alan “Sauce” Lessure. A special bonus for all of us this year will be listening to Rothstein direct Alan on where to play in the field this year.

Fun prediction that may only interest me: Jeremy Fogel will throw out at least one, if not two of Team Lefton’s runners from the outfield trying to get to 1^st base when they play this year.

 

Moving along to Team Kamrass…the out of the blue winners of the second half of the season last year are back for more this year. “We proved we could win with Eppy last year so why not try again?” So for the second year in a row, Eppy and the Brothers Kamrass will be partners. “I’ve been in the pool, in the weight room and in the wing eating contests all winter to prepare,” Eppy said. I’m looking forward to beating the odds once again. Eppy has a lot of help around him with Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz coming back this year along with Danny Gilbert, Jason Esterkamp and Adam Heldman. “We hope our big hitters and the rookie Scott Raskin can blossom into a star for us,” Micah said. Plus, it’s always fun to play with Riley “The Big Man” Able once again.

Fun random game that would only interest me: We need to time Eppy this year running from first to home, then take that time and see if he could polish off a plate of wings faster post game.

The first rookie captain makes his appearance next. After spending a number of seasons as one of the chattier catchers in the league, Steve “Z” Zawatsky has stepped up to captain. “I got tired of always listening to guys talk about their teams and I figured it was time for me to step up and captain my own team. I wanted to get youth and speed at the top of my order which I did by drafting David “Slim Shady” Wertheim and Harry ‘Hood’ Meisner. I just have to keep Wertheim off his phone and focused. He’s so all in on OSU that I need to make sure he can stop covering the 4-5 best team in college football each year long enough for him to hit and field.  I’ve caught Ken Groh before and I know what a solid player he (and not being a captain will help him this year), plus I got the new Commish, Ryan and his crew (Phil and Oren). When you toss in Rabbi Yitz, new/old Rookie Bradley “Monkey” Swillinger and the rest of my team I’m ready to go!” Most of the talk around the draft room was that Z did very well for his first time drafting and has a well-prepared team.

Fun future fact about Team Z-we are only a couple of years away from getting a 10^th team in the JCC league made up of Rabbi Yitz and his kids. Forget the Wolf clan. Very soon it will be the Yitz pack ruling our league.

If there is one consistent thing to say about Stu Solomon’s teams year after year it’s that he drafts guys that can hit. This year is no different. Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury, Adam Cronstein, Stu and rookie Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus make up the top of his order. (No pressure Ryan, but Mike “Flash” Creemer thinks that he will lead the league in homers).  “In our league if you can’t hit you can’t win and this year, I am going ALL in on big boppers. Not only that, I have a pissed off Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot ready to show that he is all in and back to form this season. Did you guys see Joey Votto last year? Well, that is the level of locked in-ness Jeff is going to bring this year. He is going to forget that his kids have games and come out each Wednesday ready to hit.”  With rookie full time pitcher Corey Norris on the hill and a couple of rookies “Mr. Wonderful” Max Orloff and the mysterious Mike Wagner holding down the fort along with Mark “Bruiser” Wolfe, Team Solomon should be a team to be reckoned with this year.

Fun Dad fact that Stu shared with me on Sunday. I bumped into him at Marx Bagels at around 9:10 on Sunday morning. All I did was drop my kids off at Sunday school. Stu informed me that with his kids 2^ndbirthday coming up later that day he he already gone to Target, Cosco, Party Source, cut the grass, walked his dog, hired Eric the Clown as entertainment and was now at Marx Bagels picking up food. I don’t miss little kids at all.

 

Our next captain was following the trends set by first Tony LaRussa coming back to the White Sox, Sean “Nothing to see in Arizona” Miller coming back to XU and finally Thad Motta returning to Butler. We of course are talking about Roger Rosenthal. Roger was a captain so long ago that the Reds weren’t even begging fans to come to games with bobbleheads…they were actually trying to win. Roger wasted no time in making a big statement by grabbing Howie and Rafi. Along with Michael “Chatterbox” Askin and James “Lynn” Swan, this team is going to have a lot of speed in the outfield. D-Sol behind the plate brings a great bat and a good target for Howie.  Roger drafted for experience and he sure got it with “Stormin’” Norm Frankel, Jim Beckett, Keith Kombrinck and Gary Fisher. “My team will be ready to take on any and all comers this year,” Roger said. “I’m in the process of ordering team bobbleheads as we speak.”

Random fun contest for team Roger: Will Roger talk more in one inning than Michael Askin talks all season? My money is on Roger

Team Grefer coming off the league title last year picked up right where they left off on draft day. Taking a couple of rookies, Taylor “F$%^ the” Police and AJ Goldhoff were bold moves that I think will pay off for them. Josh Rosen brings team speed and solid defense in the outfield. Mike “Mr. Cub” Gray will keep them in any game, and the recently buff Ben Margolis is poised for another breakout season. “We change with the times,” Kyle Grefer said post draft. Last year it was all about the Wolfs and established players and this year we went with the young guys. Of course, I don’t know half my team but I’ll meet them on Wednesday. I just know they can play. Rounding out the team, Chris Kunkel and Mike Margolis are looking forward to proving their worth this year.

Fun fact about Team Grefer. If we were starting a basketball team Team Grefer would be a great place to start. With Danny and Kyle, Kunkel and Zack Michelson all being well over 6 feet tall this team would give the 69^thranked XU team a good run for their money

 

The last of the three rookies, Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel took time away from his Ben Roethlisberger shrine to get up to speed on the draft.  Like Team Grefer, he took a little gamble by drafting a rookie high when he took Pat “Sunshine” Feldman’s family early. “We are counting on Tait Cunningham (Pat’s cousin) to really be a big-time player for us. If he plays half as well as his girlfriend looks, we have the rookie of the year.”  We have a strong team with Scott “why can’t we be” Friend, The “Macho Man” Andrew Gage, and Bryce “The Gunslinger” Aslinger part of the team. After my trade with Team Brafman we now have two quality pitchers in Jamey Kurtzer and Eric “Spuds” Zied along with great quality guys like Scott “Shorty” Adams and Mark Franklin. “Having my dad help me out was a big plus this year. I value his opinion and he’s never steered me wrong (The rest of us disagree with that statement since he did turn you into a Steelers fan).

Fun future altercation that might happen. With a member of the First Wives club of JCC softball Barb Fogel coming to watch each week, we now have worry about her getting into arguments with the umps. “My mom is not used to me being in control, so I’d better make sure she controls herself each game.” We don’t want her to get tossed out of Triple Creek arguing plays in the field. She’s been known to curse like a sailor when a call goes against me or my dad, so now we have to try and control that fury.

 

Finally, we come to Team Brafman. “I feel we have a good mix of speed and power. I’ve got two former Rookie’s of the year in Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley and JZ. Fink with a year under his belt as a pitcher is poised to take that next step up. You know what you are going to get each year with Anton and we have a couple of returning players who missed a year or two in Alex Kraus and “The Mouth of the Midwest” Eric Gruen primed for breakout seasons,” said Brafman post draft. “Joel and I are happy to be back in the league,” Gruen said. “Who wants to play golf when you can swing a softball bat each week?”  “With cagey vets like David “BP” Synder, Dr. Bob and “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman we should lead the league in compliments around first base this season as well. I can’t wait for the season to start,” Brafman said. Let’s play ball!

Fun Passover food fact. If you guys are hosting Passover this year or going over to someone’s house and are in the market for  baked goods that actually taste amazing, please track down Sam “The Hitman” Hecht and Sweet Butter Bakery. I promise you will not have better baked goods anywhere.

 

League Notes:

Congrats to Scott Sadler on getting married. Either it happened this week or it’s going to very soon

Some wedding anniversaries over the last couple of weeks…Scott Friend, 13 years and me and my wife, 21.

When he and David Wertheim aren’t talking about the 4^thor 5^th best football team in the country year in and year out, Griff Harris has found a team at OSU that actually wins National Titles. I’m talking of course about the women’s hockey team. Griff posed for numerous pictures with the ladies (some of whom actually have their own teeth still) and seemed very excited to be whatever a guy groupie would be called. Way to go Buckeyes.

A great article last week in everyone’s favorite weekly newspaper, the Israelite, about Mike “Flash” Creemer and his coaching of girls Blue Jays basketball. We talk about it a lot, but man Mr. Mike really does have a huge influence on all of our kids who have been through the J. (In a similar vain last week my son, Jacob, and Zach Huidt’s son, Noah, played against each other in a select baseball league game. Both of us coached them at the J) So keep up the good work, Mike.

If you can stomach watching the Reds in person for one game come to JCC/Jewish night on June 7^th. It’s always a fun night even if the Reds won’t be that much fun.

Congrats to Roger on XU winning the NIT. The game started during the draft and to his credit Roger kept his eyes on the prize and drafted a good team all the while claiming to not want to know how XU was doing. He was surprised, though, to get a cease and desist letter from the Xavier marketing department when he tried to sell We love 69! T-shirts. He didn’t (and still doesn’t) understand why that’s a bad thing.

Ryan sent this out last week but here it is again. If you would like to record a memory of Jason Faust for his kids please click on this link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=jnfLkqeLNE-gEUum5zZplqT8j1Q87klFkPrAWSKljr1URFdJVUY5TExGNkZNT0xVTFJXT0FVVjZDUy4u

And last but not least Roger listed a 2016 Reds team baseball card set for $10 on his web site. This, mind you, is the same Reds team that finished 68-94. I think he should pay us $10 to take them off his hands.

 

Can’t wait to see everyone later today (if Mother Nature permits it)