Month: June 2024

“Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky” is a great line from Rain is a Good Thing by Luke Bryan, and I guess it also made the bats a little frisky as well last night. The ball was flying out of the park on all fields. 

On Field 1 we had Team Harris vs. Team Wolf

TEAM HARRIS started the game on fire by scoring three runs in the bottom of the opening frame and shut down TEAM WOLF in order in the first two innings, but couldn’t sustain it and lost the game……

The lack of hitting and one bad defensive inning spelled doom for TEAM HARRIS.

“We started so well. I don’t know what happened. I’ll have to check the video later tonight to see where things went wrong and try to fix it for our next game,” captain GRIFF HARRIS said after the game.

Part of the problem for the team has been hard hit balls are not finding the green and are being caught.

Not a lot to give kudos to, however catcher EVAN WEISSER did make another web gem on a pop up. RYAN MARCUS continued his hitting ways, but the rest of the team just never got it going.

“We’ll be fine. I like my team and we’ll figure it out. The boys are trying and that’s all you can expect, “HARRIS added.

TIDBITS……

*JCC softball league mascot, JACOB BRAFMAN, was wearing a HARVARD t-shirt at the games, when an unnamed player went up to him and said, “that’s as close to Harvard as you’ll ever get.”……wonder who that was?????

**The hockey season is over (I know not many care), but it was a Game 7 in the Finals and if you’re a “sports fan”, you should have been watching at least part of the game. 

I asked veteran STEVE EPPSTEIN that day if he was going to watch and he said, “No. The Reds have an important series with the Pirates and I’ll be watching them.”……..REALLY??????????????

I have no problem with being a Reds fan, but if you call yourself a sports fan and can’t watch at least some of a Game 7 in the Finals……?????

***MARC BRAFMAN was subbing on his team’s bye week for TEAM KAMRASS and it would have been funny if they had won and that was the only game he won all year…….I guess it wouldn’t have been so funny as I’ve been on teams like that too…..my own!

Finally, 

****I wish I would have taken a picture of this…….STU SOLOMON was visiting with BRAD WAGNER in WAGNER’S car before the game when STU found a stuffed animal (bear) in the car that belonged to BRAD’S daughter and started playing with it……he seemed to like it!……now you know what to give him for his next birthday……lol

On Field two it was Team Tenenholtz vs. Team Kamrass

Rick for the winners:

On Field 2, Team Tenenholtz was on the road tonight against a retrofitted Team Kamrass who was missing De La Cruz, Friedl and Fairchild.  Benji Kotzin, Harry Meisner and Marc Brafman filled in nicely for them, though, as the home team went up 4-2 in the first inning. The visitors scratched out runs in the third and fourth to tie the game before scoring 5 in the fourth while the Hall of Famer, Howard Schwartz, pitched a nice game to hold the home team down for most of the game. Team Kamrass did most of their damage with the long ball as Kotzin (2) and Meisner (1) combined for three home runs, but it was not enough to hold off Team Tenenholtz, who won 15-8, or something like that.

Defensive highlights came from:

• Jeremy Dock, who made several nice plays at 3B and LF
• Jack Cohen who patrolled RCF and got to everything
• Brian Goldberg, who continues his all-star season 
• Mike Rothstein, who caught the 7th inning without his glove…or maybe it just seemed that way when he got thumped twice in the inning

Team Tenenholtz will be back home to face Team Harris on Field 2 next week while Team Kamrass goes on the road to face first-half champs, Team Grefer.  

PS on this game. It was fun to watch The Special One, Mike Rothstein go Billy Martin on Benji Kotzin bat after his second homer. Not since the famous Pine Tar game in the mid-80’s has a player waited till after a big homer to ask the ump to check the bat. Now keep in mind, Todd “The Mayor” Wasserman has used the same bat for the past 2+ years and no one asked to check it. But after the second homer of the game the bat was checked to make sure it was softball approved. After some debate and the home run being disallowed Lee MacPhail stepped in once again and, just like he did in 1983, said in the spirit of the game the homer will be permitted. Lucky for us Capt. Kamrass didn’t go all George Brett on the ump. George Brett and the pine tar incident (youtube.com) As Handsome Sam Castellini said post game, “Benji could have hit that homer with a tooth pick.”

On Field 3 Team Wagner vs. Grefer

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner took down Team Grefer 17-4 on Wednesday in front of a standing-room-only crowd on Field 3.  The rain held off for the most part, but the bats didn’t get that message as the victors hit five home runs, including four that cleared the fence.  Anton Loon, Matt Leader, Landon Hawkins, and Daniel Hiudt each gave Yitz’s kids something to do by fetching the flying balls.  Michael Askin added on with an inside-the-park homerun and played a great LCF.  A majority of Team Wagner had multiple hits.  Matt Leader also had a great running catch in LF.

Special shoutout to Ryan Silverman and Kyle Grefer, who made outstanding catches in the outfield for Team Grefer.

Team Wagner takes on Team Fogel next week on Field 1, with Steve Urkel and Kimmy Gibbler providing you the play-by-play.

Team Grefer takes on Team Kamrass next week on Field 4, with Junior Felix and Junior Felix Jr providing you the play-by-play.

Finally on field 4 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Fogel

Stu for the winners:

Do I have a Story to Tell…..

There seems to be something in the dirt on Field 4 for Team Solomon.

Team Solomon defeated Team Fogel 10-8 in a defensive struggle. 

The first big hit came in the first inning off the bat of Ryan “Biggie” Small(s) as he kicked in the door waving the 4-4 with a 3-run homer to cap off a 7-run first. The second big hit came from Stuart “I Love it when you call Big Poppa” Solomon as he waved his hands in the air cuz he’s a true playa, crushing a triple to score Dave “Hypnotize” Wertheim as his words must have hypnotized the pitcher, walking twice. Ben “ Gimmie the Loot” Charlton took extra bases without remorse. After the game Ben had this to say “What’s mines is mines and what’s yours is mine”. For Team Fogel there was “Life After Death” inching their way back to make it a 1-run game into the 5th. Team Solomon, which earlier in the year was “Notorious” for giving up a big lead, persevered. Up 2 in the top of the 7th, they got Team Fogels 3-4-5 to go 1-2-3 (4-5-6-7-8-9-10, it’s the Ten Crack Commandments).

Team Solomon told Team Fogel to Take Flight 504 Kennedy to LAX and go back to Cali with their great defense. Ken “Juicy” Groh is now having lunches, brunches, interviews by the pool after a great pitching performance. 

Team Solomon looks to gain more “Respect” as they have won 3 in a row.

League notes:

I talk about how special our league is all the time but that was once again driven home with the sad news about Jimmy and Rick’s dad passing away. It goes to show how much we all care about each other (off the field) when at least 25 guys showed up for the funeral to show their support for the Lefton’s. We are still thinking about you guys.

Wasting my time at the Reds game on Tuesday I’m glad that they make plays just like us. Bad/lazy throws from the outfield, missed balls in the gap, terrible baserunning, etc. Was it Tuesday at GABP or Wednesday at Triple Creek? 

Roger talking hockey is like the people who like soccer trying to tell everyone how great it is. (I like game 7’s in any sport and USA national team soccer) 

Yesterday some poor kid pooped in the pool at Camp Wildbrook. In my mind it went just like this: Classic “Caddy Shack” doodie in pool- Hilarious! (youtube.com)

Short and sweet this week guys. 

See everyone on July 3.

Marc

Boy, when Ryan calls up Mother Nature and says give us some summer weather, I’m not sure he meant last night. On what might have been one of the hottest Wednesday nights in recent seasons the action on the field was just as hot as the temp outside. (At least the little thunder we heard pre-game didn’t amount to anything)

On Field 1 it was Team Harris vs. Team Kamrass

Roger for the winners

TEAM HARRIS          6

TEAM KAMRASS      5

In a nailbiter, TEAM HARRIS tallied two runs in the top of the 7th inning and held on by the skinniest of margins in the bottom of the inning.

MARK WEISSER pitched another gem of a game and was the hitting star too. He got a two-out two-run double in the telling inning and then escaped a two-on no-out situation in the bottom of the frame, thanks in large part to a nice play on a bunt attempt when he fielded the ball and threw the lead runner out at third base on a bang bang play.

The following hitter hit a line shot to 3B RYAN MARCUS who couldn’t/didn’t catch it, stepped on third base and completed the game ending play.

Quotes from the two participants…..

“I might be an old man out there, but I take great pride in fielding my position and coming up with clutch hits,” WEISSER said afterwards. “It got a little sticky at the end, but we hung in there and got a nice win out of it.”

MARCUS, with his small band of fans in attendance said, “All I know is I did what had to be done and only the higher up knows if I couldn’t catch it or didn’t catch it. All I know is we got the victory after battling the whole game.”

Captain GRIFF HARRIS, who went 0-3 with three line drive outs said, “I can’t buy a hit. I must start eating lunch at a different place each week until the balls start dropping in.” 

The rookie captain added, “That was a big win for our guys. I tip my cap to Micah and his team for really battling the whole way. It was tough to lose a game like that.”

Kudos also go out to……STU WEINSTEIN who got a key double to help in the scoring and PAT FELDMAN who delivered a key hit at the end of the game and eventually scored the winning run.

It should be noted that FELDMAN tasted victory for the first time this season. He hadn’t played in any of the previous four wins. “I finally won a game and the jinx is over. I started to think I should have bought a voodoo doll to ward off the evil spirits,” FELDMAN said afterwards.

Also, ROGER ROSENTHAL chipped in with a big RBI, however he was gunned down at 1B on a “hit” to the outfield.

“I was never very fast in my younger years, but that was pretty bad. We won the game and that’s all that counts, ” he said while trying to get ADAM HELDMAN to buy a GIANNIS bobblehead……

Also of note, EVAN WEISSER made a great catch on a foul ball that would have made JOHNNY BENCH proud……are there players who don’t know who he was?

DEE HARRIS also played an all around good game playing 2B and RF and getting on base a couple of times……

TIDBITS….

*WES WOLF has a new job with the CINCINNATI BENGALS, similar to MARC BRAFMAN’S at the University of Cincinnati, in which he can’t bet on sports, not even in the JCC league…..

He was running his mouth before the games saying that his team would win the tournament and when I confronted him and said that I’d take the field even up, he said he couldn’t bet…….You need to ask him for further details…..

**It was nice to see JACOB BRAFMAN, the league mascot, back from whatever vacation he was on……rumor has it that he and his family were at a water polo championship in the Netherlands, but don’t quote me on that…

Speaking of Jacob, I asked father MARC if Jacob was able to play for his team if that would be an upgrade to some of his team and he said, “NO COMMENT?”……hmmmmmmm….

Also, it should be noted that JACOB’S grandparents, MARC’S parents, told a reliable source that Jacob is ready for the league…..can we have a new rule allowing pre-teens to play if ready???????

***It should be noted that BOSTONIANS COREY NORRIS and MIKE ROTHSTEIN were asked to be honorary parade routers for the city of Boston when they celebrate their most recent title…….

and finally, 

****For those who aren’t following the best sport on the planet…..HOCKEY, the STANLEY CUP is now 3-2 in favor of the FLORIDA PANTHERS over the EDMONTON OILERS and yes, WAYNE GRETZKY has retired…….

Until next time…..be safe and take care and of course…..GO X!!!!!!

On Field two we had Team Wagner vs. Team Brafman

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner run-ruled Team Brafman 17-6 on a steamy Wednesday night.  The game was tight, with Brafman taking an early 2-0 lead.  Wagner came back to take a 5-2 lead only to have Brafman tie it up 5-5.  After Wagner went up 8-5, they added a 9 spot in the bottom of the 4th to put the game away. 

The hitting stars were plentiful for the victors, as everyone contributed with home runs from Corey Norris, Michael Askin, and Brad Wagner, who returned from injury and three weeks of rehab stints in Billings, Daytona, Chattanooga, and Sharonville.  The birthday boy, Mike Margolis, also provided a big hit to celebrate his 58th.  Rumor has it he wanted to go to Chi-Chi’s to celebrate, but their phone line wasn’t working.  Defensively, Matt Leader and Michael Askin held down the left side of the outfield with multiple putouts.  Super-sub Joel “The Leopard” Buckley was flawless at SS and ended the game with a circus-type catch that took him into LCF.  

Team Wagner takes on Team Wolf on Sunday with Tanny Boyle and Kelly Leak on the call.

Team Brafman takes on Team Tenenholtz on Sunday with Bip Roberts and Jacob Brumfield on the call.

For Team Brafman, Jamey Drennan hit two homers and Harry “hood” Meisner also went deep. Team Brafman looks to turn it around on Sunday. 

On Field 3 it was Team Tenenholtz vs. Team Grefer

Mike “The Special One” Rothstein for the winners

The final score was 17-7 but it was closer than that. Team Rick found their bats and everyone contributed. There were solid defensive plays all around from Bryce Anslinger, Rabbi Yitz, “The other” Brian Goldberg and Jeremy “Sitting on the” Dock of the Bay all made big plays. Fink filled in and pitched well for Howie and Joel “Sparky” Fogel also contributed as a sub.  Will “the Thrill” Coleman hit a homer for Grefer which may or may not have been a grand slam.

Finally on Field 4, Team Stu vs. Team Wes

Stu for the winners:

It has come to the attention of this author that Team Solomon has beaten Team Wolf 17-7 in 6 innings in the last game of the 1st half of the 2024 social season.

Even before the game, both teams were in scramble mode to field a team. Team Solomon received late news that Ken “And Barbie” Groh was not going to make the game due to an unforeseen private jet mishap. Team Wolf had to scramble to find 10 guys with 2 players missing and Steve Z on suspension. But back to the game.

This author must compliment himself. Forced into the starting pitching role. He struck out both Tyler and Wes Wolf in critical junctures of the game. This author also had a double play and a nice sliding grab in foul ground. Two other great defensive plays throughout the game. One by AJ “Heart of” Goldhoff making a diving stab of a  ground ball down the 3B line and a strong throw to 1st. Then in the top of 6, Team Solomon had the very common 9-6-3 double play to keep the 9-run lead. Some people are asking if there is a starting pitching controversy with Team Solomon.

This game may have had one of my favorite moves of all-time. Team Wolf loves putting their shortstop at 2nd with lefties at the plate. Gary “Reel Big” Fisher laughed in the face of Team Wolf and switched from batting left handed to bat right handed. He laced an RBI single to the left of the new shortstop.

Huge hits were abound. David “Hasselhoff” Wertheim fought  through the mental block of batting 3rd to go 4-4 with 2 of those hits with the bases loaded. Zach “Rock’em Zakem Robots” went 3-3 scoring twice. Brandon Lindsey “Lohan” had a huge triple in the 8-run 5th. Needing one run in the bottom of the 6th, Ryan “All The Small Things” Small launched a triple to left field followed by David “Past Temple President and Author” Snyder single to seal the game.

After the game Stuart had this to say, “This was a well called game featuring a lot of close plays. We didn’t run ourselves out of innings and played good defense.”

League notes

Birthdays galore this past week:

Mike Margolis, Scott “Hngry Like a” Wolf, Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley former player Mike “The Wrath of” Kahan and I had a birthday as well.

Happy anniversary to Rick, Jimmy, and Weezie’s parents, the elder Leftons. They produced about 200 years of JCC softball playing years combined 

Good luck to Matt “The” Miller on his new job with Pro Camps. I will miss texting him when UC players are getting parking tickets

Somehow Bryce has gotten to play the skyline shuffle game twice this year. Last Wednesday it was his son up on the big board winning his row coneys. 

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim continues his summer momentum by being on local news shows every week to promote the latest festival that Cold Iron Rentals is working. Keep up the good work, David.

Is there a bigger non-story in sports than Caitlin Clark being left off the Olympic team? There are 12 better women players than her right now. How is that so hard for people to understand? 

Did you all see the video of how they built a pool inside the Lucas Oil stadium for the swimming trials? Very cool to see and somehow it seems to be working. 

Remember that even though it’s a Wednesday night, Jewish night at the FCC Game is coming up. If your family wants to go, it’s a good time. And the way they are playing it should be a great night. Last night even if you don’t care about FCC the way they won was like a walk-off homer from Elly. Speaking of the Reds I’m going to let Paul Doc explain in way better detail how I feel about the Reds and more importantly their front office. Taken from his blog today:

The more I read what the Reds say about themselves and the season they’re having, the more I think they’re OK with their OK-ness. It’s the sort of willful delusion-ing that wears on a fan who experiences more losing than winning and has experienced it for three decades.

I’m sure players and management don’t mean to sound self-satisfied. Every self-laud comes with the obligatory, empty and obvious “we gotta do better.’’

Only, they aren’t doing better. No matter what they say.

“I thought we played really well on this trip, but we didn’t come away with as many wins as we wanted to,” pitcher Nick Martinez said, after allowing the game-winning homer in the 8th inning at Pittsburgh Wednesday. That L dumped the Club into last place, where it has been for a total of 19 days since May 17.

Oh, bullspit.

Martinez’ tiresome assessment sounds sane compared with the pronouncements of Nick Krall, published today in the Enquirer:

“I’m excited about what we’ve done and what we’ve set out to do. Build a sustainable winning organization. I feel like we’ve made good progress.’’

On April 24, the Reds were 14-10. They’re 21-29 since.

“Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez have done really well in their roles.’’

Montas is 3-5/4.62. The Reds are 4-9 in games he has started.

As a starting pitcher, Nick Martinez is 0-3/7.86. Teams have hit .348 against him in that role. Yes, he has done well as a reliever, especially in the role as Designated 2nd Guy Outta The Bullpen on Bullpen Days. Every championship aspirant simply must have one of those guys.

“I’m really excited about where we are.’’

Last place.

“We’ve got to continue to move forward.’’

So do ants at a picnic. What does that mean, exactly?

Such crapola.

I don’t think Krall is deliberately insulting your intelligence. He’s saying what he must. The result is the same, though. Krall-speak is a practiced mix of mandatory public confidence and requisite cover-your-assness. Gobbledy meets gook in the office at Great American Small Park.

Maybe Nick’s right. Perhaps three months from now, I’ll need a fork and spoon for my words. That’d be cool, or at least different. But I’m not a mind reader and the Ouija board is in the shop. If I could predict the future, I’d be in a sports book in Las Vegas, not in an office in my house.

We react to what is real, and what is real is the sustained and practiced history of bad. Since 2014, the Reds are 172 games under .500. They’ve had two winning seasons, 83-79 in ‘21 and 82-80 last year. (Sorry, I don’t count the 31-29 bastard season of 2020. The Little 60 was fraudulent, any way you sliced it.)

Finally as you know by now Willie Mays died the other night. While I am too young to have watched him here are a couple of my favorite stats:

He is the only player in baseball history to have hit a homer in every inning from the 1st all the way through the 16th. His homer in that 16-inning game came against Warren Spahn who was battling Juan Marichal in that game. Keep in mind both pitchers were still in the game at the time. Crazy

Mays is one of three players along with Hank Aaron and Ted Williams to hit 20 home runs for the same team in his 20’s and 40’s.

His average WAR was 9.5 for 13 years! He is also the only player to win four home run titles and 4 stolen base titles. and finally he had seasons where he led the league at some point in the following: hits, runs, homers, triples, stolen bases, average, obp, slugging, total bases and walks. 

I’d say he was the best of all time. Now for next week we can discuss who is now the greatest living player. For my money, it’s Glenn Braggs…

See ya Sunday

On a humid night for softball, the tension was high (at least on field 3). Let’s get to the action.

On Field 1 Team Fogel was the victor. Jeremy leads us off.

Resuming the game in the bottom of the first, Team Fogel got out of a second and third one out jam only yielding one run which was just the beginning of a masterful pitching performance by Jamey and defensive outing behind him. In a pitcher’s duel between Jamey and Howie, Team Fogel was able to scrape together a few runs which ended up being just enough to escape with a win. Timely hitting by both Fogels and Matt Miller was the difference in this one. The defense continued to be impressive as The Men in Black end the first half on a four-game winning streak.

On Field 2, it was the first half Toilet Bowl as Team Kamrass took on Team Brafman

Micah for the winners: 

Team Kamrass finally got in the win column with a 15-4 victory over Team Brafman. Team Brafman resumed the game with hot bats and went up 4-1. From there, Jon Ruben’s pitching and strong defense from Team Kamrass (playing with just nine guys) shut them down the rest of the game.

Tyler Stansbury was the offensive MVP. He had 8 RBI, including 7 in the same inning.  4 of those came on a grand slam hit out of the park. Drew Hart also clobbered a home run. James Swan returned from Ireland with a hot bat (and a perfect bunt).

“Time to begin our win streak,” said Captain Micah Kamrass. “Our team will be dangerous in the second half.” Post game Team Brafman Capt. said “I knew I should have walked Stansbury twice.

On field 3 the most interesting game of the night took place. Grefer vs. Wolf. 

Kyle for the winners:

We beat team Wolf 10-6 in an intense showdown. After starting the game in the bottom of the first down 3-0 we slowly brought the game closer until the 5^th inning where we batted around and scored 7 runs. Our defense was again great with only a couple minor miscues, and Tim pitched another solid game on the mound. Offensively Gary Grefer had a huge triple to right field, and Will Coleman one upped him with an inside the park homerun to center field. Once again it was a complete team effort as everyone had a play that helped contribute to the win.

After the game we got some good fortune with team Harris and Tenenholtz losing, locking us in as the first half champs. I’m really proud of our team with how we were able to do a complete turnaround after getting run ruled by team Harris in the first game where Jimmy also hurt his knee.

And finally on Field 4 it was Team Stu vs. Team Harris

Team Solomon Trashes Team Harris 23-13, as Chris “KunkelBomb” Kunkel leads the offense with an impressive 3-3 day including the game winner (to put us up 10 in the bottom of the inning). 

Hits were aplenty for Team Solomon as they started the day down 1-0. A six run first was capped off by Kunkels first of two triples. Ken Groh helped himself to a double and a triple.

Ben “Norm” Charlton and Adam “Metal Spikes” Cronstein set the table both going 3-3 with a walk. Both scored 3 runs from Stuart “World’s Best Captain” Solomon and AJ “Heart of” Goldhoff RBI singles. 

The top of the lineup wasn’t the only part of the lineup to get on the base paths. Brandon Lindsey “Graham” went 3-3 with two rockets and 2 RBIs. Zach “Rock’em Zakem Robots” was on base twice and scored twice. 

The drama began in the top of the 5th. Team Solomon was up 12 and Team Harris needed to score 3 to keep playing. After getting the first 2 outs, the defensive wheels started to fall off for Team Solomon letting up 9 runs to go down 3. Team Solomon responded in a BIG way scoring 7 in the bottom of the 5th. Big Hits from David “Bitter Herb” Wertheim on a bases loaded double scoring 3 and Chris Kunkel hitting a walk off triple to put us up 10.

Reports indicate several players took a shot of whiskey before the game to get loose. Some are saying this is the swing juice this team needs to make a deep run in the 2nd half. 

League Notes:

Once again a reminder we are off next week for the Jewish Holiday. Go to the Reds/Guards game instead for your Roger Rosenthal official Elly De La Cruz bobblehead.

Sad news as Jeff Weisbrot’s grandmother died this week. We are all thinking of you, Jeff.

Happy birthday goes out to Big Al Lefton (former player).

Congrats to everyone’s favorite league sister, Brooke Fogel, who is taking her talents to Denver at the end of the summer. 

Once again, a big thank you to Big Gig for wing night two weeks ago. 

I’m sorry to have missed Jewish night at the Reds game this year. One, they beat the Cubbies, and two, Elly looked like he hit one into our section. Unfortunately FCC night is on a Wednesday so we won’t be able to go. 

I’m not sure what to make of the Reds’ hitting this week, but I sure like how they are taking more pitches and, at least for now, aren’t striking out as much. Plus, as long as I don’t have Espinal and Mike Ford hitting everyday I’m happy with that. 

Finally, in Roger world, does he ever call or text you random pictures of people who say they know you? He did this to me earlier in the week and I had no clue who this clown was that he took a picture of. Roger is the ultimate match maker of the league for random people.  

See everyone in two weeks!