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April 26, 2023: Games Recap

Another amazing weather night last night. Ryan must have promised Mother Nature a raise if she keeps this up. 

Let’s get right to the action

On Field 1, we had Team Zawatsky vs. Team Wagner 

Team Zawatsky walked off Team Wagner 13-12 on Wednesday night. The game went back and forth all night with each team getting key hits. Key hits for Team Wagner came from John Spears, Howie Schwartz, Matt Grindle, Chris Kunkel, and Brad Wagner. Team Wagner came back to tie the score at 12 in the top of the 7th with a 3-run, 2-out rally but Mr. Special, Mike Rothstein had the game winning hit knocking in Will “Thrill” Coleman.
Team Wagner looks to regroup against Team Lefton next week as the game will air on Tape Delay after reruns of Saturday Night Main Event featuring Mean Gene Okerlund, Gorilla Monsoon, and The Dr. of Style Slick.

Over on Field Two it was Team Grefer vs. Team Brafman 

Kyle for the winners:

We won 8-4 against Team Brafman in a game where our defense and pitching made the difference. Jon Ruben pitched a great game mixing up locations to keep hitters off balance.

Defensively, David Wertheim was a vacuum at shortstop, and Jack Cohen showed off his versatility by running down a ball in deep left field as well as playing a great second base for a few innings. After a rough defensive game last week, it was great to see our team recover.

On offense Adam Cronstein, David Wertheim, and Joey Huidt were key contributors. Gary Grefer had a couple hits and Howard Goldwasser smashed a ball over the outfield. He got thrown out at second but he might’ve made it if he hadn’t done an airplane celebration coming out of the box…

and Capt. Brafman add this thoughts

Another close game for Team Brafman. Once we get the bats going we will be a tough team to beat. Kudos to Dee Harris for a couple of knocks, Mark “Bruiser” Wolfe and Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan with two hits. On defense Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley did a great job at SS and Griff Harris, after telling Capt. Brafman to move up, was able to throw out the aforementioned Howard Goldwasser at 2nd.  It should be noted that Eppy took a line drive off his shin, rubbed some dirt on it and continued to pitch. Nick Senzel (who did homer yesterday) would be out for a month if that happened to him.

Team Brafman looks to get back on track on Wed. vs. Team Wolf

On Field 3 it was a battle back and forth between Team Wolf and Team Fogel

Wes for the victors

Team Wolf continued its success with a 9-7 win over Team Fogel. On the way off the field, Roger Rosenthal was overheard saying “I really wish Wes would have picked me. This team is so talented they may never lose.”

This week was a solid all-around performance. At the plate we were led by Michael Askin, who went 3-3 and scored two runs. Duffy & Scott Wolf starred in a 5-run 4th inning, both hit RBI singles and beat out throws to the plate from Fogel outfielders. After Scott beat out a throw from Jeremy Fogel, he yelled, “Even Bo Jackson couldn’t throw me out! And Jeremy Fogel ain’t him, maaan.” 

Mike Gray continued with a strong pitching performance highlighted by a rally-saving 3-pitch strikeout in the 5th inning. The continued solid defense behind him besides a few common field-3 sun balls in the outfield.

Next week, Team Wolf takes on Team Brafman. Opposing captain Marc Brafman mysteriously booked Tyler Wolf for a living wall installation that “Has to happen next Wednesday evening. Your schedule is open then, right?” (Brafman confirms that for his daughter’s bat mitzvah he would also like to pull Duff from this team to take pictures and Michael Askin to be the MC. “I’ve got no problem pulling rank on Team Wolf to help my team out,” Brafman said post game.

And Roger chimes in for Team Fogel

After an impressive victory in week one, this week didn’t go as planned, but it wasn’t due to a great effort by the entire team…..

TEAM FOGEL was knocked off by a very solid TEAM WOLF, 9-7, as the game went right down to the wire…..

Leading the way at the plate was ZACH MICHELSON with three hits in three at bats. It should be also noted that the tall lanky one wanted to make sure the blog reported this or he was going to boycott the next game….LOL….(see below)

Also, on the offensive side, rookie BRANDON “GAMECOCK” WRONKER had two knocks, as did SCOTT “THE BULLDOG” FRIEND, JASON “THE COWBOY” ESTERKAMP and 

rookie MATT MILLER…….

On the defensive side, DANNY GREEN, playing his first game of the season, played a solid 2B in which he made an unbelievable catch on a looping line drive in shallow right field…..BUT the PLAY OF THE GAME was one by UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI basketball staffer, MILLER, on a diving catch in right field……it was such a great catch, that even ROGER ROSENTHAL, an avid XAVIER UNVIERSITY fan, was impressed. “That was one hell of a catch. I thought there was NO way a UC guy could catch that ball and he proved me wrong.”

QUOTES FROM THE GAME……

“I was really disappointed in our captain after last week when he said he would buy each player a bobblehead of their choice if we won. We won! Where’s the bobblehead?”, an irate ROSENTHAL said before the game…..

JOEL “SPARKY” FOGEL, father of the captain, who missed last week’s game due to business said, “I was told we had better win or I was going to take some of the blame, Hey, I had an important business meet in Nashville plus I wanted to see the Grand Ole Opry.”

Roger, you better put the fact that I went 3 for 3 in the blog or I’m going to boycott next week and I’m going to hunt you down.” MICHELSON said after his splendid performance.

Finally, SCOTT “SHORTY” ADAMS was introduced before the game to rookie, DAN “THE ROCKET” LACERVA, who is married. “If you’re married, you don’t want to go out with me. That would be a mistake.”…..WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

And last but not least the game of the night was played out on Field 4 where Team Lefton took on Team Stu

The Hebrew Hammer Ryan Baum checks in for Team Lefton

“The sea was angry that day, my friends – like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli…”

In what could be considered the game of the year in week 2, Team Lefton defeated Team Solomon 18-17 in comeback fashion.

Team Lefton started things off on fire with each of their first five batters scoring in the top of the 1st.  They tacked on another run and all 11 players came to the plate to take a very early 6-0 lead.  Well, Team Solomon wasn’t phased and scored 9 of their own in the bottom of the 1st.  This led to concerns by Team Lefton players that we may be late for work on Thursday if the game didn’t get moving.

Team Lefton continued to nibble into Team Solomon’s lead but couldn’t keep them off the scoreboard.  A plethora of hits and a Tyler Stansbury home run brought the score to 17-12, Team Solomon leading, heading into the top of the 7th.

Ryan Baum led off the 7th with his 3rd single of the game.  Marc Simons then laid down a perfect bunt down the 3rd base line and was safe at first.  After a Matt Leader single Team Lefton had bases loaded and nobody out.  This is where some mild controversy took place.  David Snyder hit a towering fly ball that landed approximately 7 feet in front of home plate.  The ball bounced and hit a Team Solomon defender and stayed fair.  They got the easy out at home and had an opportunity to get Simons out at 3rd.  However, the umpire stopped play and said he made a mistake and should have called an ‘infield fly rule’.  He called the batter out and the runners all safe.  From there the rally was on.  David Weil hit a huge double down the left field line and Sam Castellini hit a bases clearing triple that gave Team Lefton the lead, 18-17.  Team Solomon got their first two hitters on base in the bottom half, but Team Lefton was able to keep them scoreless and hold on for the win.

Leading the charge offensively was Sam Castellini who went 5-5 and scored 4 runs.  Ryan Baum went 3-3 with a sac fly RBI.  Anton Loon was 3-5.  Matt Leader and Jimmy Lefton both went 3-4 as well.

Peter Brownell has to be an early front runner for R.O.Y. with his speed, arm, and stellar glove work at SS.  He also went 2-5 with two hard hit line outs.

The defensive play of the game came as Phil Ganson on Team Solomon laced a line drive to the LC gap.  Anton Loon picked the ball up on the warning track, threw a laser to the cutoff man, Brownell, who fired it to 3rd, where Matt Leader tagged Phil Ganson out.

It was a great way to start the season for Team Lefton.  It wasn’t always pretty but we didn’t give up and fought to the bitter end.

League notes:

“The Special One” Mike Rothstein has a glove guy that helped him restring his glove. Mike was nice enough to give me the flier for the guy which I of course left in my bag. But if you need a glove guy ask Mike he said this guy did good work. 

Happy 31st anniversary to Jimmy and Laurie Lefton. Also on the graduation of their daughter Mal from OU

Same goes to JCC softball first couple Joel and Barb Fogel on the graduation of babysitter and camp counselor to many of our kids, Brooke Fogel from OSU.

A reminder that wing night will be at the Silver Spring House on June 21. Gig wants to make sure we are all well fed that night so please come out and enjoy wings on him.

It’s Jewish night at the Reds game coming up. Tuesday, May 23. It will be a fun night and you get a Reds shirt in Hebrew to confuse people when you go to another game. 

As Billy Kahn mentioned today, it’s a sad day here in League notes because former player Jerry Springer (yes THAT Jerry Springer) played in the league back in the day. As a kid I remember watching him play with a Yankee hat on. I don’t recall him being that great but he was fast. He spoke at the University of Alabama when I was a student. I met him there and reminded him of that. He said he always enjoyed playing. RIP Jerry

Greg Harris last night mentioned that when he went to Washington DC over spring break he brought back a couple of bobbleheads from Capitals and Wizards game. This led to a discussion of how many players from either team anyone could name. I believe it was 3.

I always say that the best part of our league is the different guys playing and how we all get along. That also goes for the cars we drive. Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan pulled up in a Tesla, which I was admiring from across the parking lot. At that moment Alan “The Salsa King” Lessure pulled up in the family truckster that he still drives. This is not an indictment on either guy. I just found it interesting 

While Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot is off coaching his kid’s baseball team, he sent along a video of his son Evan crushing his first homer over the fence in his game last night. Not sure what was cooler, Jeff’s reaction (Evan just hit a HOMER!!) or when his teammates realized what happened and came running out of the dugout to mob him at the plate. Such a fun moment.

On that subject I have realized this year that I get way more worked up over Jacob’s team, of which I am an assistant coach, than our games.  But man it’s fun to watch him play. I’m sure you guys can all relate who have kids.

Mr. Mike “Flash” Creemer was at the field last night and assures me that there is plenty of top notch talent coming through the Blue Jay’s baseball pipeline.

Does anyone other than Lance McCalister care that Tyler Stephenson hasn’t homered yet this year? He keeps bringing this up yet doesn’t seem to mention that he’s been on base 15 straight games.  Also, I am guessing that tomorrow or Saturday we will see the lowest attended game in MLB history when the Reds play the A’s. 

And last but not least in this week in Roger

For some reason he was walking around with a 1970’s style bowling bag. He won’t show us what was in it but for those that have seen the classic movie Animal House I am betting it’s the same thing that Otter had in his bag. 

See everyone next week 

Marc

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April 19, 2023: Games Recap

Man, what a first night Commish Ryan dialed up for us on Wednesday as the 2023 JCC softball season got off to a great start. “Maybe all of my prayers to Mother Nature were answered after last season,” Ryan said. “She owes us one after all the rain.” After dusting off the rust from a long offseason let’s get down to the action.

On field one we had Team Solomon vs. Team Wolf 

First Wes for the winners: (Congrats on your first team win, Wes) 

The inaugural game for Team Wolf was a 14-8 win against Team Solomon! Starting with an inside-the-park home run from captain, Wes Wolf, in the 1st, a few more timely hits brought 4 runs in through 2. Mike Gray came out firing with only two runs allowed through 4, backed by a great stand-in catching performance from Duffy Wolf and Keith Kombrinck.

Tyler Wolf led the way at the plate going 4-4 with 4 RBI and Brian Goldberg followed with a bases-clearing double leading to 3 RBI in a 6-run fifth inning. Overall, a great showing from Team Wolf who will be even more potent when Matt Brodof makes his debut next week. 

And Coach Stu for the losing team:

It was great being back on the diamond. While Team Solomon took the L last night, we had a great time together and I am optimistic for the season.

Some Highlights:

Harry “Hercules” Meisner only needed one pitch to hit an absolute BOMB to LCF. Then, he hit a ball to the wall and used that Black Sheep speed for an inside-the-park homer.

Stuart “Everyone’s Favorite Captain” Solomon went 3-4 and played a wonderful 3B. He had a diving catch to rob a sharp single, a nice barehanded play to throw out the runner, and another nice play on a slowly hit grounder to third.

Adam “Robert California” Teitlebaum had a great first game. One the first batter he saw, he made a sliding play in RF. Additionally, he was all over the basepaths. Additionally, he has a glorious mustache.

Oren “The Best Basketball Player in the League” Shmoel had several very nice defensive plays capped off by an unassisted DP at 2nd. 

Lastly, Alan “The Salsa King of the Midwest” Lessure went 1-3 with an RBI to rub it in the face of all the captains. He is Him of the last round.

On field two we had Team Z taking on Team Fogel

Roger ghost writing for the winning Team Fogel:

TEAM FOGEL 19

TEAM ZAWATZKY 5

The season opener for TEAM FOGEL was a smashing success! They defeated TEAM ZAWATZKY, 19-5, in a shortened five inning game…..

The only mistake on the night was the fact that team captain and former MASON HIGH SCHOOL baseball star, JEREMY FOGEL, thought his team was the visiting team…..

After some dazzling defensive plays in the top of the opening frame, the victors exploded for a four spot and never looked back.

“It was a total team effort, and it was exactly what I had hoped for in the season opener,” Fogel said afterwards. “Everyone contributed at the plate and/or in the field. We played a great game.”

It started with pitching veteran, COREY NORRIS, who breezed through four innings before giving up a five spot in the top of the fifth inning.  He didn’t walk a batter.

The hitting stars were numerous, with highly paid stars like former WYOMING HIGH SCHOOL great, JASON ESTERKAMP….SCOTT “Why Can’t we Be” FRIEND….rookie BRANDON “the gamecock” WRONKER…..and FOGEL doing their fair share…..but it was the others, ZACH MICHELSON…..SCOTT ADAMS…..NORRIS….and rookie MATT MILLER (NO RELATION TO WES OR SEAN).

Minus from this list is ROGER ROSENTHAL, the elder statesman, who fell down twice, once running to first base after a sacrifice bunt and the other time fielding a ball at second base. He made the play each time and didn’t collect a hit, but did produce a sacrifice bunt to help plate a run and played a stellar defense.

Speaking of defense, the winners had ZERO errors……

Other comments after the game……

ROSENTHAL…….”Hey I thought if we won the first game, the captain was going to buy us each a bobblehead of our choice.”

NORRIS……………”Can anyone shut Roger up. I’ll buy them a beer if they do.”

MILLER…………….”I work for the University of Cincinnati, but I have to give credit where credit is due. XAVIER has the better men’s basketball program in town.”

and finally, FRIEND…….”All I know is THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA has the best football program in the country.”

A special thanks goes out to RYAN “the Hebrew Hammer” BAUM who subbed and played a solid game…….

On Field 3 it was Team Wagner vs. Team Brafman

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner took down Team Brafman 16-12 on Opening Night. Team Wagner took the lead in the top of the 1st with four tally marks, including a big hit by Cam Kirzner. Brafman chipped away throughout the game and eventually took the lead 7-5 on some solid hits by their entire line up.  Captain Wagner tied the game with a 2-run single and held off a huge rally by Brafman with an amazing play by Kirzner at SS, by doubling off Steve Eppstein at 2nd base off a line shot by Griff Harris.  The victors plated eight in the top of the 7th and were able to hold off a 7th inning Brafman rally.

Captain Wagner was interviewed by John London after the game and was asked how it felt to get his first win on opening night after taking a few years off from captaining. Wagner stated, “Coming out of the draft I knew we would be very competitive with a solid mix of young guys and seasoned veterans.  I pulled three all-nighters prepping for this draft.”

Howie Schwartz pitched a solid game and Norm Frankel played well at 1B, including a nice catch in foul territory. Big hits came a plenty including off the bats of Ian Conwell, AJ Goldhoff, and Chris Kunkel.

At one time tonight, Jerry Kirzner, Norm Frankel, and Howie Schwartz were all on base together. That’s an approximate combined age of 220.

Next week Team Wagner takes on Team Zawatsky, which will be aired on bankrupt Bally Sports instead of showing the Reds.

And Captain Brafman for the losers:

It was a good first showing for Team Brafman. We just couldn’t quite get over the hump. Kudos to the Living Legend Howie Schwartz who continues to do his thing. Big hits for Team Brafman came from super Sub JZ with a homer, Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen who went 3-4, Dee Harris and Alex Kraus.

On defense a big shout out to rookie Jamey Drennan, who was fantastic at third most of the game, and Joel Hallelujah Buckley at SS. Finally, Eppy pitched a great first 4 innings and kept Team Wagner in check. “I expect a lot of wins from my team,” Brafman said post game. We will rebound and attack next week.

And last but not least on field 4 we had Team Kamrass vs. Team Grefer

Micah for the winners:

On a beautiful night for softball, Team Kamrass out-dueled Team Grefer 18-13. Fink pitched a great game, and every player on the team delivered key hits. Dave Solomon connected with Scott Raskin to throw out a runner stealing at second. Bryce Anslinger had a few timely catches in right field. New guy Jordan Skinner had a great league debut at third base.

“There was definitely some rust on both sides, but our team fought hard and was in control the entire way,” said Captain Micah Kamrass.

Tip of the cap to new guys Krantz and Ruben on Team Grefer, who will both be great additions for the league.

And Kyle for the losing team:

We lost a tough game to team Kamrass 18-13. After going down early we did a good job of fighting back to keep it close, but it wasn’t enough. Our defense was struggling early shaking off the offseason rust but got better as the game continued and we only allowed one run in the final 4 innings. Jon Ruben’s debut at pitcher started with a strikeout to the first batter he faced (that ended up being a passed ball and the guy reaching first, but it still counts). Joey Huidt and Adam Cronstein had great games at the plate, with Mark Levine and Howard Goldwasser also coming up with some big hits. Rookie Landon Krantz had a nice game at third base making some great plays, and David Wertheim made all the plays at shortstop.

League notes

Please mark June 21 down on your calendar as that is wing night at the Silver Spring house sponsored by Big Gig Franklin (our corp sponsor) come out after the game

Also mark down Jewish Night at the Reds game on May 23. It’s a fun night for all even if the Reds will lose to the Cards. 

Speaking of the Reds, a tip of the softball cap to our own Albert Weisbrot who sang the national anthem on Monday night. Of course, once the word got out, the Reds had their lowest attended game in the history of GABP.

Speaking of the Reds part 2. While I give them credit for signing Hunter Green and hopefully a couple more of the young guys that does nothing to change my mind that this will be the worst Reds team of all time. They will blow past 100 losses. (I do like Spencer Steer, though)

Last week I mentioned that Gary Grefer plays in an over-55 league in Florida AKA the Mexican league in the offseason. Big congrats to Gary’s team for winning it this year. He said while the average age guys are in their 50’s there are guys over 70 playing. As someone who was sore from playing LF on Wed. that is pretty amazing. Nice job, Gary.

I know what most of you younger guys were doing the past 9-12 months and it wasn’t taking batting practice. There were more babies and young kids at the game on Wednesday than I can ever remember. Congrats to Alex Kraus, AJ and Jamey (the rookie) for having their kids out. And Rabbi Yitz for bringing his own team.

I can’t wait to talk to Ricky Lefton after he comes back from his trip during the March of the Living. While not a fun trip by any stretch it’s so important that Rick and Ann (Eric Goldstein’s wife) are leading the Cincy youth on this important trip.

And finally in our new segment we are calling “This week in the world of Roger Rosenthal.”

Roger informed me last night that he likes to go out and sing Karaoke in his down time. To me the worst singers in the history of music is a tie between Yoko Ono and Bjork. I somehow believe Roger singing Tiptoe Through the Tulips (one of his go to songs) might be worse. (but if you like music I encourage all of you to watch the doc on Jason Isbell currently showing on HBO. Very interesting)

See everyone Wednesday 

Marc

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2023 JCC Softball Season Preview

After a long dark offseason, it’s finally time for softball. Of course, the weather gods are smiling on us this Wednesday (A day we can’t play), so be prepared to bring your wet suit next Saturday since I’m sure it will rain.

It’s that time of year when hope springs eternal for all nine teams and we are ready to get back onto the field and play some ball. With the draft over, here are some news and notes from the off-season. 

Congrats go out to David “D-Sol” Solomon for his new job at the Holocaust Center.

Congrats to Scott “Dire” Wolf on the wedding of his son, Freddie.

Keeping it in the Wolf Family, a big shout out to Duffy Wolf on his amazing pictures that were on display at HUC this winter. Keep up the great work, Duff.

When we all see Fink this year, remember to give him a pat on the back as his dad (a former pitcher in the league) died this offseason. 

Did you know that Reds farm hand Evan Kravetz pitched for team Israel in the WBC, and our own, Kevin Youkilis, was the teams hitting coach? 

At each UC basketball game, we pick a lucky student who gets to shoot for loot and at one game our own, Cam Kirzner, was picked. Needless to say, Cam is a much better shortstop than a three-point shooter. (But he is still the best Skyline Chili man at games).

And finally, if you are ever fortunate enough to get a phone message from our own Roger Rosenthal, be prepared to sit and sit and sit and sit to listen to it. This offseason he has left me messages up to two minutes long! Who has time to talk to Roger for that long, let alone sit and listen to a two-minute message? How about, “Mr. Brafman, it’s Roger, call me back.”

And now, onto the draft and the pre-season preview. 

The draft, as usual, was a fun evening of laughter, arguing and of course good-hearted ribbing as the 9 captains got together for their annual soiree. 

You can tell which captains prepared for the draft by what they brought with them. Marc Brafman and Stu Solomon had notebooks, Wes Wolf had a laptop computer (and Scott Wolf), Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner had 15 mock drafts, a big board like Mel Kiper and three cell phones to keep tabs on all the players and the Lefton’s had a player ranking for all 100+ guys. The Grefer brothers brought beer.

It was good to see former captain, Mark Weisser, still at the draft this time as sergeant-at-arms. He oversaw moving the draft along while also quelling any in-fighting about what color shirt each team got this season.

You know it’s softball season when Mike “The Special One” Rothstein is complaining about the umps before the season even starts. 

A big shout out to Mike Creemer for coming through. Unlike recent seasons, scorebooks and concessions cards were handed out before the season. Well done, Mike.

And now onto the team previews:

Team Brafman:

Team Brafman picked the tag team of Griff and Dee Harris. “The call was simple,” Brafman said post draft. “I’ve never played with them and one of my favorite things about this league is playing with new guys every year (except me picking Eric Gruen… that happens every year).” Team Brafman’s top of the order seems to be built for speed with Griff, Joel Buckley and Gruen. Newcomer and Cincy native, Jamey Drennan, rounds out that speed as Brafman expects big things from his rookie infielder. With cagey vets like Jeff Weisbrot, Steve Eppstein and Todd Wasserman filling out the rest of the lineup, Team Brafman looks to make life tough on the rest of the league. 

Micah Kamrass went against his normal “Team Bachelor Party” mode with guys like Zach “Mr. Mellow” Mayer, Jeff Finkelstein, Adam Heldman and the Margolis package (Michael and Ben) on his team. “I wanted a wide net of guys for this season, and I think I got that. What should be a good middle of our order with David Solomon, Bryce Anslinger, and the newcomer, Jordan Skinner, I am confident that we can win this year. I know I’ve got one of the best pitcher/catcher tandems in the league and I’m excited to get out on the field and prove it.”

Defending league champ, Stu Solomon, already complaining about the makeup of his team before the draft, started hopes to pick up where he left off last night. With some serious lumber in the order (Tyler Stansbury, Harry Meisner, Stu and Ryan Silverman), this team follows the pattern Stu started last season. “I plan on beating teams by hitting and hitting and hitting. Plus I’m playing with my bro who I hope is more Brett to my Aaron Boone than Mike to my Barry Larkin.  And since I picked the Commish he gets to hear me whine about my team all season which really is a double win for me.”

Team Lefton drafted well. The Loon package, with Anton and his nephews, Peter Brownell and Matt Leader, give Lefton youth and huge upsides. “We love to draft families,” Jimmy said post draft. “When Anton and his crew were on the board, I had to take a shot with them. ‘The Hebrew Hammer’ Ryan Baum, Handsome Sam Castellini and Dr. Bob Pelberg give us some leadership and pop at the bottom of the order. Plus, we get the ‘Dr. of Style’ David Weil, who will add some levity to the team.” 

Team Grefer drafted some of the best value picks of the draft. A very fast top of the order with David “Slim Shady” Wertheim and Adam “Never met a shirt with sleeves that I liked” Cronstein at the top of the order will set the table for the big bats of the Grefer’s and some big rookies like Landon Krantz and Jon Ruben. “It’s not often we get a rookie pitcher in this league and Danny and I are excited for the chance to showcase Jon Ruben as he comes in with a lot of experience in the Frontier league. Of course, having the cagey vet, Rick Tenenholtz, behind the plate will help us this season.”

Team Zawatsky lived up to his name of Team Z by drafting every player whose last name starts with or has a Z in it. “Just because we were always last in line at school doesn’t mean we are going to be last in line this year in softball. With guys like Pat ‘Sunshine’ Feldman, Ryan ‘the half man gang’ Marcus (he’s lost weight) and great pitching by Ken Groh I know we are going to be there at the end of the season. Gregg Harris will keep us all loose and it’s not often I get to play with three other guys whose last name is Z (son Eli, Eric Zied and Zach Zakem), we will be ready to take on the rest of the alphabet this year.”

The Wolf family was back this year with captain Wes taking over. If nothing else this will be an interesting bench with guys such as Pete “The Straw that Stirs the drink” Soltesz, Mr. Talkative, Mike Askin, and Mike Gray all on the same team. “We plan on being combative both on the bench and on the field,” Wes said. “Hopefully, the 20 Creeger kids on the bench will make our guys behave themselves. Not to mention, we have the best moustache in the league in rookie, Dan LaCerva. That has to count for something, right?”

Brad Wagner comes back as a captain after a few years off. “I liked running the draft instead of being on this side of things,” Wagner said during the draft. But you won’t know it by his team. From Josh Rosen and Cam Kirzner, he has speed and very good defense. Taking the living legend, Howie Schwartz, as his pitcher will only add to this powerful team. Rookies John Spears and Ian Conwell round out this team that will be a tough out all up and down the order. “I’m pleased with my team Brad said afterwards. While I might get 3-4 strikes called on me in MLB, I’m glad that there is no pitch clock in JCC softball. I need all the strikes I can get,” Wagner said.

Finally, Team Fogel took rookie, Brandon Wronker and then took some power with Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend, and Jason Esterkamp. Then they went with the “we are family” approach with the picks of rookie, Matt Miller, and Shorty Adams, who aren’t related but in the Jewish world are uncle and nephew. “Why not draft my roommate and his uncle? We can talk UC basketball while we play each week. What’s wrong with that? If nothing else, it will drive Roger crazy.”

See everyone next week. Let’s hope for nice weather.

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Championship Game Results: September 7, 2022

September 7 Recap

By Marc Brafman

After a LONG and wet regular season, we somehow got all the post season done on time and without too many hiccups. When all was said and done the best team in the regular season proved to be the best in the post season. Congrats to Captain Stu Solomon and his team for a great season. 

For those that didn’t know, in a back-and-forth game vs. Team Weisser the game, season and championship ended on a walk off single by Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot who drove in Dan “Everything is so” Green who led off the bottom of the 7th with a double to win 9-8.

Instead of Stu’s recap e-mail he passed along the e-mail that Jeff sent his teammates after the game:

Some of you know this already, but I started playing in this league when I was 16.   I’m now 44.   44-16 equals 28 years.   I was gone for 8 of those years, so let’s call it 20 years of playing this league, and I had never been on a team that had won a half or an end of the year tournament.

Even though I was absent for part of the first half, I could tell early on this team was different.   We had guys up and down the lineup that could get a rally started.   I could chill out in the outfield and occasionally go track one down, and I knew I had a capable infield in front of me, and I just had to help on the back side.   That was also unique.

This was a fun bunch of teammates to play with and kudos to Stu for putting this team together.   As many of you know, Jason Faust and I were lifelong friends, and we competed with and against each other for many years in this league.  He and I had a long running joke of how I had never won a half or a tournament, and I certainly had him in the back of my mind throughout this tourney run. 

And, especially while I was up there in the bottom of the 7th with the winning run on second.   I never imagined I would have the opportunity to personally end the 20-year curse, lol!

Thanks to Tyler for straightening me out, when I had a brain fart, and gave a thought to bunting.  In so many words, he told me to get the fuck out of here and hit the ball!  I’m a grown adult now, but it is still fun to win a championship in this league.

As talented as we were, it wasn’t always easy, and this team always found a way to battle out of tough situations.   We never gave up, cool stuff.   

Thanks for letting me be part of it.

Jeff Weisbrot, 6th Round Pick

Congrats again to Team Stu and all the guys on his team. And to Team Weisser who played two great games to get to the championship game and made it a fun exciting game last night. 

Reading Jeff’s words above it really goes to show how much this league means to all. From Cam Kirzner who might be the youngest guy in the league to Jerry, Howie and Eppy it’s a special thing we do once a week each summer and how much we all enjoy it and cherish each Wednesday. 

One thing that struck me about Jeff’s note above is that you are never too old to get excited about winning a title. I was reminded of this last night when I watched my daughter, the non-sports fan of the Brafman household, win her first Jr. High tennis match. I was planning on going to the game last night, but her match went to 2 sets, and she won in a tie breaker for her first win. She then asked me to stick around to watch the doubles match, which Wyoming won for their first team win of the year. You’d have thought they had won the US Open! I hope none of us ever forget the joy of winning no matter how old we get. 

Speaking of old: here is an amazing stat from two weeks ago. 

On Aug. 29, 2001 Serena Williams won a match at the US Open and the great Albert Pujios homered for the Cards. That night Vlad Guerro, Craig Biggio and Dante Bichette “Happens” also homered

On Aug. 29, 2022 Serena Williams won a match in the US Open, AP homered vs. the Reds and Vlad Guerro JR., Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette all homered. Sports are weird like that, right?

Happy anniversary to Eric Gruen (13 years I believe).

Happy birthday to JCC softball alumnus, Jeff Cohen.

Reminder the ASG is Sunday Sept 25 at Triple Creek. Come out and cheer on the guys.

The Oy Vey 5K is Nov. 13. Please come out and support the JCC and the sports program.

The Fall league is getting ready to go. Please sign it up if you want to play.

In case you missed it earlier this week Rabbi Yitz would like to pass this along:

I was wondering if you could include a message in your next communication to the League:

As Softball is a prime Jewish community program, it would be nice to let the large number of “Young Jewish Professionals” ages 21-40 that play know about a very popular event coming up — the “End of Summer Soiree” on Thurs Sept 15.

It’s a fun, social, Jewish party downtown. Click to RSVP.

I’m happy to report that Roger didn’t get tossed overboard on his cruise. 

A big thank you to all the Captains this year. It was a crazy year with the rain, the Sunday morning games, but you made it through, and everyone had a great time. (Well, maybe not Roger) 

Finally, a big shout out this year to Ryan, Rick T, Ricky L, Jerry and Mr. Mike for all of their help in getting the league through the rain, the postponements, the crazy schedule changes and everything else that happened this year. Well done guys. We don’t thank you guys enough for keeping us in line and the league running smoothly. 

Marc