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Game Results: June 24, 2021

 

June 23 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

What a great night for our first double header of the year. All we need now is for Triple Creek to build a big tarp over field 1 so we can see the ball when we stare into the sun. Let’s get to the action on the field:

 

Over on field one it was Team Kamrass vs. Team Brafman

Team Kamrass continued its march for the second half title by sweeping a doubleheader against Team Brafman. The first game ended by mercy rule, and the second was a one-run margin. The team was led by the dynamic duo on the hill of Eppy and Keith Kombrinck. They pounded the strike zone and were supported by a strong defense. Key defensive plays came from Zach Mayer and Jared Kamrass.

The biggest hits of the night were a home run for David Solomon and a triple from Rafi Goldfarb. Adam Heldman also reached base in every one of his plate appearances in both games.

The MVP for Team Kamrass was Keith Kombrinck who did a little bit of everything to help the team win. He pitched, played great first base, and smoked a ball over the left fielder’s head that led to Keith tagging up to score the game winning run.

Kombrinck and Eppy also pulled off perhaps the most improbable double steal in JCC softball history.

“I wouldn’t want to face our team right now,” said captain Micah Kamrass. “We have two great pitchers and a great defense. We shook off the rust from a lot of guys taking a year off, and now we are dangerous. It feels good to see us at the top of the standings for the second half.”

 

Team Brafman chimes in. Not much went well for us last night but it should be noted that Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz hit a homer over the fence with some help from Adam Heldman (the ball hit his glove and went over the fence) and Fink continues his gold glove play at pitcher. “Tip of the cap to Team Kamrass as they kicked our butt from start to finish last night,” Brafman said. the less said about these two games the better…

 

On field two it was Team Solomon vs. Team Grefer:

Kyle reports in:

We beat Team Solomon 5-1 in the first game and 16-8 in the second. In the first game Howard Schwartz pitched a great game, only allowing 3 hits. He also had a great day at the plate, going 5 for 5 across both games. Scott Wolf played great as well, hitting 5 for 6 on the day and creating havoc on the basepaths. He had 3 total steals and stole home twice. Duff Wolf went a combined 4 for 5 including a triple to left field. Bob Pelberg had a nice game behind the plate and went 3 for 5 with some key hits. Sub Marc Simons also played a great left field running down everything that went his way and went 5 for 6 at the plate.

 

The team has shown incredible fight this year. After starting the season 1-2, we’ve rattled off 5 straight wins to turn our season around.

 

On field three it was a split as Team Taylor vs Team Lefton

Team Taylor reports from the first game winners: 

We creamed Lefton in the first game by scoring 9 runs in the first and 6 in the 3rd. This seemed to really upset both Jimmy and Ricky Lefton who had a brothers’ spat on the field. We need to check on Jimmy’s hand because Rick was zinging the ball back to him pretty hard. Eric “Jeter” Goldstein hit a triple, and B-Rod continues to hit the ball well for us. 

In game two using the new extra innings rule Team Lefton won the game by scoring the runner from 2nd base. From what we understand Sean Doolittle was brought in to pitch the 6th inning last night for Team Taylor which led to the loss. 

 

Finally on field 4 Team Weisser took on Team Loon

Roger with the update

GAME 1……

 

TEAM WEISSER…….10

TEAM LOON…………..5

 

 

GAME 2…..

 

TEAM LOON………….16

TEAM WEISSER…….20

 

 

After the worst game of the season, TEAM WEISSER could only get better, and they did in a big way!

 

They swept TEAM LOON in a pair of five inning games, winning the opener, 10-5, and the nightcap, 20-16.

 

The stars were plentiful in the doubleheader as everyone contributed in a total team effort. Whether it was on defense or offense or both, they set the tone early and never looked back.

 

Captain MARK WEISSER was back on the mound after a week in Nevada (ask him what he was doing there) and pitched and fielded his position well.

 

“I don’t know what the f— happened when I was gone, but I wasn’t going to put up with that kind of performance again. I’ve been in this league a long time and I just won’t tolerate another performance like last week,” he stated in the winner’s locker room afterward. “I made sure that was not going to happen again or else heads would roll.”

 

The million-dollar players stepped up in a big way as DAVID WERTHEIM, HARRY MEISNER, JOSH ROSEN and SAM CASTELLINI all contributed with big hits and stellar play in the field. It included a monster blast over the centerfield fence by MEISNER and some key run scoring hits.

 

“I had my Wheaties today and it paid off. I didn’t think it was going out, but I guess I’m more powerful than I thought,” the Wyoming graduate MEISNER said afterwards.

 

Kudos also go out to NORM FRANKEL….STEVE ZAWATSKY…..LARRY NEWMAN….HOWARD GOLDWASSER and ROGER ROSENTHAL who also contributed in the field and at the plate.

 

“I didn’t know what it felt like to get on multiple times in one game,” said the Indianapolis native GOLDWASSER said afterwards.

 

“I didn’t know how it felt to just get on base. I haven’t been doing much of that this year,” ROSENTHAL explained to reporters afterwards.

 

WERTHEIM played an unbelievable shortstop and made some great plays, however on the throws to first baseman ROSENTHAL, the sun was blinding and he couldn’t come up with the throws.

 

“I couldn’t see the damn ball and I felt bad for the team, but what was I to do?” he said.

 

In response, WEISSER said, “You’ve got the money. Don’t be so cheap and go buy yourself a pair of sunglasses.”

 

Finally, in the final frame in the second game, after another thrown ball to first base in which ROSENTHAL couldn’t see the ball, WEISSER moved him to second base and put NEWMAN at first base.

 

On the next hitter, a ball was hit to FRANKEL at third base, who fielded it, threw to ROSENTHAL at 2nd base for the force out and then he threw to first base to complete the 

double play.

 

“I’ll do anything to get back to my natural position, but really the sun did get in my eyes at first base.”

 

League Notes:

This is a super cool story: Griff Harris noticed on Instagram a couple of weeks back that Tejay Antone was doing a contest where you could design a pair of his cleats and if you won he would wear them in a game. Griff drew some up and sent it in. And he WON! So he got a pair of cleats from Antone that were signed and he is going to wear them in a game. Well done, Griff.

 

Also, congrats go out to Eric “Jeter” Goldstein whose daughter won the life guard of the week at the JCC. “Now that Handsome Sam is gone, I have this award in the bag every week,” she said.

 

Dr. Bob last night was telling us all about what a great wife he has (Wendy). In the past she has, in no particular order, shoveled the driveway while he was loafing in the shower one morning, cut the grass, and done work around the house all the while Dr. B is out you know saving lives and telling Eppy to stop eating so many wings. But by far the best Dr. Bob story involved a trip to Vegas where Dee Harris had to room with him. I guess Dr. B has a snoring problem and Dee had spent all night tossing shoes, pillows, his poker chips, the “Dancer” in their room and anything else he could think of to get him to stop. Finally, he texted Wendy to ask how she could sleep with him all these years. Wendy picked up the phone and called Bob who was still sleeping and woke him up to yell at him to quit snoring because he was keeping sweet Dee and the “Dancer” in their room awake. (Parts of this story were embellished…allegedly) 

 

Finally, not sure if you guys saw this story but a couple of weeks ago during the Euro Championships. Ronaldo was starting his press conference when he saw two bottles of Coke were on the table. (Coke is one of the title sponsors of the championships) and Ronaldo being a healthy guy asked for water and moved the Coke bottles out of TV range. This set off a storm for Coke who saw their stock prices fall simply because a guy moved the bottles over and asked for water. This got me thinking about our league and the different sponsorships our guys are into:

 

Jimmy Lefton would be a proud sponsor of Dollar Shave Club’s Swamp Stop Ball Spray (Have you seen that guy post game? He looks like he showered with his clothes on)

 

Roger Rosenthal who complained all night about not being able to see the ball in the sun would of course be a partner for Cool Dude Sunglasses (the same ones that Dave and Chainsaw wrote about in his favorite 80’s movie, Summer School. FYI Roger…sunglasses were invented in the 12th century by the Chinese so you might want to invest in some. 

 

Mark “Bruiser” Wolf along with many others would be a proud sponsor of Bulldog skin care for bald heads.

 

Keith Kombrinck uses body armor by Kevlar since he pitches in catchers gear and runs in shin guards. 

 

Alan Lessure who after making a throwing error last night and blamed his lack of grip due to yard work on his hands is of course the sponsor of Spider Tack grip that all of the MLB pitchers are getting dinged about currently. If only I had my tube of Spider Tack last night I would have made that throw to beat that speedster, Eppy.

 

Duffy “Clap for the Wolf(man),” who was seen sporting a little pony tail last night is a proud sponsor of Soul-vation hair clips for both men and women

 

Not to be outdone his brother Scott “Dire” Wolf, who added to his all-time JCC steal record last night, works with Tide cleaners since nothing gets dirt out of pants better than Tide.

 

Rafi Goldfarb, it comes to no surprise to anyone, is a proud partner of Afro Picks from neo curly products. “It’s the only brand I use,” Rafi said last night.

 

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim is known to use the same “energy” powder that turned Barry Bonds’ head three sizes too big. It was last seen on the bench last week on field 4 if anyone is looking for it.

 

Pete “The straw that stirs the drink” Soltesz has a deal with Half Price Books so he can read up on baseball 101, which states you walk the other team’s best hitter with an open base and a one run lead. 

 

And finally, 90% of us in the league today need some sort of sports cream since we are sore from playing 10 innings last night. 

 

See ya on the field next week!

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Game Results: June 18, 2021

June 16 Recap
by Marc Brafman
Put me in coach I’m ready to play today…Look at me I could be Centerfield (or Left or Right Center). If you were like me, the great tune by John Fogerty was bouncing around my head all night last night. We almost forgot what it was like to play after a month off. It was nice to be out playing again and seeing everyone. As Jacob said to me last night, “The last time you played, Dad, I was still in school….”
On Field One it was Team Solomon vs. Team Brafman (Brafman won 6-5)
Team Brafman jumped on Team Solomon early with 3 runs in the bottom of the first. Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, Fink, “The Macho Man” Andrew Gage all had hits and Pat “Sunshine” Feldman drove in a run in his return to action after a year off. “It was nice to be back out playing again,” Feldman said. “This is the first time in 5+ years that I’ve had a hat on playing.” While most of us let our hair grow during COVID, Pat actually cut his hair, which resulted in him not losing his hat running a-la Johnathan India (Roger is very sad that Pat cut his hair for reasons that he’ll have to explain).  Led by the stellar pitching of Mike Gray, Team Solomon kept Brafman off the board while they chipped away at the lead. Some heads up baserunning by Stu and a timely two-out double by Danny Gilbert brought the tying run home for Solomon. With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 7th, The “Spleen” of the order for team Brafman got the job done. Three straight singles by Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, Rick the Commish and Eric “the fastest player in the league” Zied brought up Zach “the Wildhorse” Zakem who’s hard-hit grounder was able to drive Hecht home with the winning run. The defense on both teams was outstanding all night. David BP Snyder made a nice throw for Solomon and Mike Gray fielded his position very well. For team Brafman Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg and Fink made the game saving play getting a force out at 3rd to end a Solomon threat. Alan “The Family Truckster” Lessure also made a nice catch moving all of 1 inch in short-short center. “The hardest part for me was waiting for the ball to come down,” Lessure said post game. “That ball was coming down slower than I run.”
A big tip of the JCC cap to prior league MVP Griff Harris who umped last night. Sure, he might have been seeing double or triple with his pre-game activities and the sun being in his face on field one, but in true JCC style he didn’t let it bother him. Good job, Griff, and thanks for the help. 
Team Brafman improves to 5-1 on the season. 
On field 2, we had Team Grefer vs. Team Loon. Grefer won 16-12.
Kyle checks in for the winning team: 
Team Grefer defeated Team Loon 16-12 in an offensive showdown. Tyler Wolf led the team offensively with 4 hits. Dan Grefer, Scott Wolf, and Eddie Gallop were each on base 3 times and Eddie had a picture-perfect bunt hit to first base. Bob Pelberg, Wes Wolf, and Duff Wolf also each had some clutch hits. Wes Wolf played a great defensive shortstop, highlighted by a barehanded double play at second base. Our team did a great job of keeping the foot on the gas, after we scored 4 runs in the first inning. Team Loon kept chipping away and brought the game within two, but we were able to add on some runs late in the game which proved to be the difference.
On field 3, we had Team Groh vs. Team Schwartz.
Taylor chimes in for the winners:
After 5 weeks off, Team Schwartz returned to action against the team they last faced, Team Groh.
 
There were no signs of rust as Team Schwartz scored 5 in the top of the 1st, started by a solo homer by sub, Dee Harris. Adding 3 more in the 2nd, they jumped out to an 8-1 lead. Team Groh settled in as sub, Jimmy Lefton kept batters in check over the next few innings. The bottom of the lineup for Groh came up clutch and led a 5-run rally to cut the lead to 8-6. In the bottom of 4 now trailing 9-6, the Fogel family made history. Joel hit an inside the parker, followed by son, Jeremy, hitting his first career over the fence home run. He skipped around the bases in joy, and while rounding 3rd, shouted to his girlfriend in the stands “I love you babe! Couldn’t have done this without you.” He then turned to his equally proud sister Brook and stuck his tongue out, saying “I told you Mom and Dad like me better.” To make this father/son feat even more impressive -Mallory Lefton who was in the stands as well cheering on her Dad said this post game, “I had a feeling Jeremy was going to go back to back. You just got the feeling that there was magic in the air similar to my favorite baseball moment ever from Sept. 14, 1990, when Griffey Sr. and Jr. went back-to-back.”  Jamey Kurtzer buckled down and pitched 3 scoreless innings to end the game. Team Schwartz scored 4 in the top of 6 to extend the lead to 12-8. Solid hitting, defense, and pitching throughout assisted them to a 12-9 final, leading the game wire to wire. One lesson to be learned: don’t intentionally walk Pete Soltesz.
Finally on Field 4, history was made for Team Kamrass as they played Team Weisser.
Micah reports the following:
Team Kamrass began its march to the second half title with an 11-0 win over Team Weisser. The game ball went to the wily veteran, Eppy, for pitching a shut out with no walks. After the game he said, “I had to adjust to the new ban on spider tack, but I was still able to command the ball well.”  (More on this below)
Jared Kamrass celebrated his 30th birthday with some key hits including one over the left fielder’s head. Everyone on the team had key hits, and the defense played error free ball. First Baseman, Keith Kombrinck, battled a difficult sun to lead the infield, and all four outfielders (M. Kamrass, Silverman, Heldman, and Able) made nice plays.
“It feels good to be in first place in the standings,” said team captain, Micah Kamrass. “The first half didn’t go our way, but we will be dangerous in the second half.”
Roger checks in from the losing side:
The stars were aligned and all was well as STEVE “EPPY” EPPSTEIN pitched perhaps the best game of his storied career……an 11-0 shutout of
 TEAM WEISSER….
He got ahead in the count, didn’t walk a batter and allowed a handful of hits. Add in the fact that his defense played flawlessly behind him in not committing an error the entire game…..a rare feat in this league.
“I don’t remember ever pitching a shutout in this league,” the veteran of many years (too many to count) said after the game.
“I credit the defense as they played great and DAVID SOLOMON who called a great game.” “I shook him off a few times. He wanted a change-up at times and I was fired up and thought my fastball was working too well,” EPPSTEIN added.
It should be noted his fastball reached DOUBLE digits on the radar gun.
“EPPY” also credited his workout regimen of five push-ups, six sit-ups and seven laps around his house as the reason for pitching such a gem. It should also be noted that David “Slim Shady” Wertheim ripped off his Mr. T gold necklaces after this game and tossed them into the woods by field 4. “These things bring me no luck,” he could be heard muttering post game.
So there you have it…….mark the date down…..JUNE 16, 2021…..STEVE EPPSTEIN SHOCKED THE WORLD by throwing a shutout!
League Notes: 
It’s very impressive that Eppy tossed a 4-hit shutout but had history not intervened, it might have been a different story. Around 50 years ago, young Eppy was a traveling door to door salesman for the Encyclopedia Britannica and was trying to get people in Greenville, Mississippi to not only buy these but read them. To make matters more complicated he was being helped by a young Black man who Eppy was teaching how to sell these. After stopping at one house where they had a shot gun pulled on them and told to leave the house quickly, Eppy and friend were running away when the police showed up. Expecting to be helped and protected from the Jethro with the gun, instead Eppy was tossed into the slammer because he didn’t have his license to sell encyclopedias in the state of Mississippi. After a quick call to his lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, Eppy was released with the warning not to sell any books about learning in the fine state of Mississippi, thus relegating that state to last place year after year in the rankings of smartest states. So had Eppy not been released from jail for selling the encyclopedias, his shut out last night wouldn’t have happened (I believe Arlo Guthrie once sang about this as well).
It’s good to know that the IOC is thinking with their proper heads as the Summer Olympics start next month. 160,000, yes 160,000 condoms will be handed out to the athletes once they get to Japan. Interestingly, that is the same amount the Lefton brothers used during their college days at OSU.
It’s been so long since we all played. It’s nice to see all of you guys who have seniors that graduated from high school in the last month. Congrats to all of the kids and parents.
Speaking of parents, pretty Greg Leader’s son hit a homer in an important game for Mason. Like father like son, right?
I’m glad I was out of town for Jewish night at the Reds game. 17-3…ouch!  What’s more impressive than the Phillies offense is that Sam “The Hitman” Hecht stayed for the entire game because, and I quote, “I thought the Reds had a comeback in them.” 
Equally as impressive is how they have played since then. Although their bullpen still can’t find the strike zone half the time.
Speaking of Sam Hecht, it’s a shame that our games were rained out last week. Team Brafman was on a bye last week, but Sam didn’t realize that and would have shown up the field ready to play in full uniform with no team. Man, I wish I could have seen that. 
For those of you that missed the Women’s College Softball World Series this year I highly recommend you catch it next year. We can all only hope to be half as good as those young ladies. 
Big shout out to David D-Sol Solomon for becoming the new director at Rockdale Temple. He had a very nice write up in the Israelite, which had a slight profile on him: “David enjoys spending time with his family, donating blood, playing softball and making lanyards.” It got me thinking of this classic scene from Tommy Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWrjBBXjjhM.  Start at the 28 second mark. 
Remember, even though the event is this week, to donate to the Adams Classic. It’s a great event that helps the JCC all year.
Sweet Butter Bakery continues to churn out great products all week. Be sure to order it here: https://sweetbuttercincy.com/order-online
I think all captains next year need to head out to the over-65 year old softball league that Gary Grefer and Jerry Kirzner are playing in. Gary said there is a lot of untapped talent out there playing. 
Finally, in Roger world-he reports that someone bought most of his “caps” and that he is dropping his new Shogo Bobbleheads price to the low, low price of $5. If this guy can’t get on the field for the Reds, he can’t sell for more than 5 bucks for me. But in a story that says a lot about Roger, he told us last night that one time he invited his entire softball team to come over for a post-game party and to look at and play with his electric train set. This was before Roger was married and when he was a captain in the league. The sad truth is that only one guy showed up.
Drink plenty of water next week boys..the double headers await. 
See you on the field next week
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Game Results: May 28, 2021

 

May 26 Recap (Rainout)

By Marc Brafman

 

As you all know I have been vocal in the past about the rainout line and how it gets used. This week we were all baffled as to why the games were called off so early in the afternoon when we all know that we’ve A) played in worse weather and B) that they haven’t called off games when they should. Never fear the Commish is on the job. Commish Rick had this to say to the Israelite press on Thursday morning. 

 

“After much soul searching, I have decided to put together a top-notch multi-team committee to look into this outrage of justice about why the game was cancelled. Roger Rosenthal and Ken Groh need answers now and I plan on helping them out. The committee will be made up of chairman, Adam Cronstein, and members Cory Norris, Riley “The Big Man” Able, Andy “snowboots” Heldman and Scott Berge.” Adam had this to say “We have no idea why the staff at Triple Creek cancelled our games so quickly. The Softball Association of America, the umpires, sponsored by the Clovernook School for the Blind, and the JCC were all monitoring social media all day about the weather. We knew that it was going to stop raining around 2:00 PM. Why did we know this and the Triple Creek people didn’t?” That is what we are going to get to the bottom of. With this being 2021 nothing is easy and Commish Rick and Chairman Adam are getting some heat from the likes of Ben “B-Rod” Rodriguez and Alan Lessure who both say there is no need for a committee meeting on this. “Look we know that the weather is fickle, and our games are always up in the air each week.” Why do we care why the games were cancelled? The guys at Triple Creek just wanted to go home and not worry about the games, and it didn’t matter that the radar looked fine and clear to everyone. All they saw was rain…  Adam will report back next week with any findings he comes up with. 

 

Speaking of B-Rod, he is the new Richard Simmons of the league. he has lost over 100 pounds and looks great out in the field this season. Well done, buddy.

 

Big shout out to Former JCC All Star infielder Ben “Weezy” Lefton on his son pitching Mason to the district championship yesterday. He might be able to teach his uncle Jimmy a thing or two about pitching.

 

Dr. Bob has gone from helping Eppy with his wing consumption at the Silver Spring House to joining the cast of Project Runway. Dr. Bob is not a fan of Yermin Mercedes and all his gold chains that he is wearing during the games. “Dude looks like Mr. T out on the field. And not the cool Mr. T from Rocky III but the cartoon version from the A-Team. (off subject, but if you haven’t started watching the Wrestling docs that are on A&E each week you are missing out. The one on Rowdy Roddy Pipper was outstanding. He HATED Mr. T and refused to take the pin fall at Wrestlemania 1 to him. I might be the only one who finds that interesting. Now back to the blog)

 

Shout out to Scott “Shorty” Adams who instead of going to see Phish at Deer Creek outside of Indy is going to see them in Vegas. “I’m just glad that I can hook up with my buddy Dick Nickelson when I hit the Vegas strip Shorty said. We love a 30-minute-long Tweezer out in the Desert Sun as much as the next Phish fan”. No word on if Shorty will be selling grilled cheese out of his car at this show.

 

I don’t understand all the hubbub over Phil winning the PGA at 50. Don’t CBS and the rest of the sports world know that we’ve got guys 20+ years older than Phil playing well in our league? I think that is about comparable, right?

 

Cowboy Joe West broke the legendary ump Bill Klem’s record for most games umpired this week. He started umping MLB games in 1975, and is still going strong. He should be ready for our league in about 10 years when he is old enough to qualify to be an ump. 

 

Sweetbutterbakery has branched into cookies now. Make sure you check out the web site the next time you are in the mood for some really good baked goods.

 

Robert Plant of Led Zepplin fame recently told his family they can release all of his archives which include demos and handwritten notes, etc. after he is dead. Why would he wait that long? And why doesn’t he want people to hear this stuff now? I know I for one can’t sleep at night if I can’t hear the demo of Stairway to Heaven. 

 

 Big shout out to Weston “Hungry like a “Wolf and his girlfriend Haley for getting engaged last week. I called them the “First couple of JCC softball” because, and with all respect to the wives of the Fogels, Rothsteins, Leftons and the Norris’s who come to watch us play, Haley would come before they were engaged. Now she would bring a book and read most of the night (she strongly recommends “Cable TV is for Me” by Bo Diaz and the leaflet of Famous Jewish Sports Legends with the forward by Kevin Youkilis and Aly Reisman) but at least she came when she didn’t have to. Congrats, guys. We are all happy for ya.

 

You all will be happy to know that Roger was not in fact banned from Target like many other collectors of baseball and sports cards have been. When reached for comment he laughed and said “New stuff? I don’t buy anything new. Why would I buy new baseball cards?  My crowd is only interested in used t-shirts, Joe S”B”lunderman commemorative coins, 10-year-old Felipe Lopez bobbleheads and random hockey cards that I only care about. Now about that Martin St. Louis Calgary Flames card you asked about…”

 

Hopefully see you all on the field on Wednesday. Have a nice holiday weekend.

Marc

 

 

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Game Results: May 21, 2021

 

May 19 Recap
By Marc Brafman
Sorry that the blog is late today. Don’t you hate when work gets in the way of softball? But better late than never, right?
Let’s head to the fields last night on a great night for softball.
Over on field one, it was Team Solomon vs. Weisser. Solomon won in a pitching duel. 
Team Solomon 6-Team Weisser 3
Roger from Team Weisser leads off:
TEAM SOLOMON       6
TEAM WEISSER         3
MARK WEISSER pitched a great game, and the defense played well for the most part except for a few rough spots, but the offense just never got it going, thanks in a large part to MIKE “MR.CUB” GRAY. When your 10th place hitter only gets up twice, you know it’s not a good offensive day.
Nice defensive gems were turned in by NORM “LET’S BE” FRANKEL at third base and ROGER “DR. WHO” ROSENTHAL at second base.
STEVE “ZZZZZZZZZ” ZAWATSKY was back after a week off nursing a bad back and was stellar at 1B, making some nice plays including tagging out a runner who made the wrong turn at 1B, but after the game, ROGER ROSENTHAL made this comment, “All I know is the only game we won, you weren’t here. What does that say?”
ZAWATSKY countered, “Maybe I should miss the next game and see if that continues.”
ROSENTHAL then countered that comment by saying, “No. I want you here win or lose. I just love you so much I don’t know what I’d do if you missed another game.”
DAVID “STUDMUFFIN” WERTHEIM added, “Roger, just shut the f— up!”
(Stu’s update will come later…)
On field 2, Team Brafman took on Team Groh and won 13-3.
Team Brafman played their most complete game of the season and defeated the previously undefeated Groh 13-3. All aspects of the lineup and defense were on display for Brafman’s squad last night. Playing in front of his proud mama, Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg got the game ball by going 2-3 with a triple and two nice catches in the outfield. The birthday boy, Rick “The Commish” Tenenholtz had a double. Fink, Mark “Big Blue” Tenenholtz, Marc Brafman, Zach “the Wild” Horse” Zakem and “Macho Man” Andrew Gage also each had multiple hits. Playing his last game for Team Brafman, “Playboy” Mitch Evans made a couple of outstanding plays at 3rd and along with Sam “The Hitman” Hecht, Eric “The Fastest Guy in the League” Zied and Brafman kept Groh off the bases. It was learned post game that league owner, Mark Fisher, traded Evans to the Indians for Mitchell Friedman, Willie Mays Hayes, and former All Star 3rd basemen, Roger Dorn. When asked about the trade, Capt. Brafman said, “I wish we had Dorn 3 years ago” When informed they did, he said, “Well, 5 years ago then.” All kidding aside, good luck Mitch with your new job in Cleveland. We’ll miss ya. Team Brafman would be remiss if we didn’t wish Capt. Groh a speedy recovery from his broken glove-hand finger he got trying to catch a line drive from Mark Tenenholtz (It was that kind of night for Groh). Kenny did want to single out Mr. Nice Guy, Todd Wasserman, who made a diving grab on a foul popup and nabbed the very greedy Brafman trying to score from 3rd. Nice play Todd!
Over on Field 3 it was Team Loon vs. Team Lefton trying to stay undefeated. It didn’t go well for Lefton as they lost 21-14.
In somewhat of a revenge game for Team Loon (because, you know, Loon played for Lefton in his rookie year of 2003), Loon, playing with 9 players, got on the victory board for the first time with a 21-14 thumping of previously undefeated Lefton.
When you score 21 runs, pretty much everybody contributed, but one man stands above the rest. Jerry Kirzner, one day shy of his 75th birthday, was a perfect 5-5 on the day. And there were no cheapies among those 5 hits. All were line drives and Jerry was in the middle of every rally.
Also of note is that Jerry caught the entire game as his nephew, rookie pitcher Camden Kirzner, picked up his first JCC softball win. Camden threw strikes and also contributed with a 3-run HR in the first inning.
Finally, on field 4, not since 1987 when Tom Seaver faced Steve Carlton have two older pitchers gone head-to-head as it was Team Kamrass taking on Team Grefer. Howie outdueled Eppy 6-4.
Captain Kyle Grefer reports:
We beat Team Kamrass 6-4 in a defensive showdown. Howard Schwartz pitched a fantastic game, with 6 or 7 strikeouts, bailing us out in a few innings. Wes Wolf played a great game, with a key double play, some great throws to first, and an opposite field homer. Tyler Wolf and Dan Grefer had some key hits, Scott Wolf manufactured a run with great baserunning, and Brad Gallop made a great throw to get a runner at second base going for a double.
On the other side, Ryan Silverman made 4 great catches in left center, including a full extension diving grab that was about an inch from touching the grass.
I wish every week was the Commish and Jerry’s birthday as we had more cupcakes and baked goods than at any time ever last night. Thanks, guys.
Speaking of baked goods, I say it every week but please check out sweetbuterbakery.com for all of your Jewish baked goods. She is working on the black and white cookie next so we can all say Look to the Cookie all week.
Last night post game, Jeremy Fogel informed his very nice girlfriend that instead of going to the Silver Spring House he would take her to Frisch’s and if she were nice she could get either the brawny lad or the little burgers, but not both. Nothing says being a ladies man than taking your girlfriend to Frisch’s.
Maybe he could learn something from “Playboy” Ron Rose, who when asked if he would like to catch an inning of ball from Ep (at 91) years old said, “I’ll have to ask my lady friends first. They won’t want me to get hurt”
Eppy was in full force last night buying cake for the Lefton Triplets and Brooke Fogel post game. As he likes to say it was their birthday at least at some point.
Congrats to Eric Goldstein’s daughter Gabby for winning the water polo title at Sycamore this week.
Last week we mentioned that Evan Gildenblatt graduated from law school. This week he posted some pictures of his two best friends from law school who happen to be very attractive women. When I commented that one was cute, he stopped me in my tracks and said, “Both of them are cute.” I stand corrected, Evan.
Jacob has a friend who without question every time he comes over leaves something at our house. He is 8 years old. I’m not sure what our excuse is for leaving gloves, bats, sunglasses, etc on the field each week. Pick up after yourself guys (and remind me of this when I leave something there next time).
Journey is playing Lollapalooza this year in Chicago. I guess Styx and Kansas were booked.
It was nice to catch up with Greg Harris last night and he showed me some of his baseball cards he sold during Covid including some amazing Hank Aaron cards. Not to be outdone, Scott Wolf then showed a picture of Duffy with Sandy Koufax praying at temple…no, just kidding…they were in the Crosley locker room. Both were very cool until you read today that a lawyer who died of Covid in Florida had a baseball collection worth $20 MILLION that his family is putting up for auction.  Unfortunately, his Jonathan India rookie card continues to decrease in value.
If you are like me, you have always wanted a Lindsay Davenport bobblehead. Lucky for you, we all know a man that has such a thing. So now if you are in the market for used XU shirts, Covid and herpes infected used plastic cups, or Cincinnati Rockers caps, you can also own your very own Lindsay Davenport bobblehead. Thanks, Roger. 
Till next week,
Marc
Posted on

Game Results: May 14, 2021

 May 12 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

What a nice evening for softball (and sun) at Triple Creek. Maybe the weather is turning to our advantage before the bugs get here in a couple of weeks. I’m still waiting on anyone to tell us what it was like 17 years ago. I can’t imagine it is going to be easy with all of them flying around…

Onto the action. 

 

On field one it was Team Groh taking on Team Schwartz with Groh winning 12-11

 

Another week and another nail biter for Team Groh. Jeremy Fogel, Scott Friend and Ken Groh had extra base hits to put a 3 spot up in the 1st but Team Schwartz tied it in the bottom of the inning. Jim Beckett and Zach Michelson had a single and double to start the 2nd as Todd drove in Jim for a brief 4-3 lead. Schwartz broke open the game with timely hits to take an 8-4 lead after 2. After a brief team meeting, Team Groh had 6 straight hits except for a SF from the captain and Jeremy, Scott, Marc and Ryan scored to tie the game up at 8. Team Schwartz scored 1 to take a 9-8 lead. After a scoreless 4th for both teams Ryan Baum and Bryce Anslinger had 1 out singles and scored off rbi’s from Jim and Zach to put Groh ahead 10-9. In the top of the 6th with 2 outs Jeremy Fogel got HBP then Scott Friend capped his best night of his softball life my hitting a homerun over the left field fence to complete the CYCLE!!! Team Schwartz got 2 back in the bottom of the 6th to cut the lead to 12-11. Each team couldn’t plate any runs in the 7th and Groh squeaked out another one. 

 

I am wishing Jeremy Fogel a speedy recovery as he nearly broke his ankle tonight…

 

On Field 2 it was Team Weisser vs. Team Kamrass with Team Weisser winning 10-8

First Cap. Weisser chimes in:

So we won 10-8. We were up 10-2 and gave up 6 in the bottom of the seventh. There was a nasty collision on the base paths on the last play of the game between base runner Micah Kamrass and David Wertheim but everyone is ok.

 

Josh Rosen went 4-4 and scored 4 runs. Harry Meisner with a big 2 RBI single in the sixth. Also hitting well were David Wertheim, Sam Castellini and myself.  Very good defense throughout.

and from Roger:

One thing is clear in this league, that it’s never over until the final out……

 

TEAM WEISSER led by the great pitching of captain MARK WEISSER, played flawless defense for six innings except for a couple of misplays and built up what seemed like a commanding 10-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, when the wheels fell off and the team was sweating bullets. A miscue in the outfield and the sun playing a factor on throws to first base, TEAM KAMRASS put the tying runs on base with two outs, but WEISSER got the final out on a pop up on the left side that had 3B NORM FRANKEL and SS DAVID WERTHEIM both calling for the ball only to have MICAH KAMRASS run into WERTHEIM in the base paths, but FRANKEL ended up catching the ball to end the game……

 

The injured recent OHIO STATE graduate, WERTHEIM, laid on the ground for a good ten minutes while LARRY NEWMAN, the only doctor available, looked him over and got him up on his own power….

“Did we win the game?” WERTHEIM asked while still on the ground.

 

On the offensive side, hitting stars included JOSH ROSEN, WERTHEIM, SAM CASTELLINI, and  HARRY MEISNER.

 

KUDOS also goes out to EVAN WEISSER, son of MARK WEISSER, who was forced into catching the entire game and did an admirable job. “Catching isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Those base runners didn’t dare try to steal on me or else I would have gunned their ass out,” the younger WEISSER said after the game.

 

On field 3, it was Team Brafman taking on Team Solomon and the sun. Brafman won 17-13

 

In a back and forth slug fest Team Brafman came out on top 17-13. Mark Tenenholtz was the star of the game both on offense and defense last night for Team Brafman. Not only did he make three outstanding catches in LC but he gunned down two runners on the bases. “Mark put on one of the best  performances I’ve seen in my 7 years in the league last night Capt. Brafman said. His throw to 3rd would have made Dave Parker proud I don’t think Mitch even moved his  glove.” Other good glove work from Team Brafman came from Sam “The Hitman” Hecht in RF, The Commish Rick T behind the plate,  “Playboy” Mitch Evans at 3rd, who turned a 5-3 DP with Brafman to end an inning and Fink who covered first base and beat Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury to first on a rocket shot to first. On offense Rabbi Yitz, Andrew “The Macho Man” Gase, Eric “Fastest Guy in the League” Zied and Ben “Raindance” Rosenberg also contributed. Not to be overlooked in the win was the overall hustle of Alan “Family Truckster” Lessure. Not only did he leg out an infield FC but he was able to motor over to third (when he wasn’t rolling around in the dirt) and score on a single to RF. Alan, we hope your leg is feeling better. 

Team Brafman improves to 3-1 and looks forward to playing the 4-0 Team Groh next week.

 

Finally over on field 4 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Loon. Grefer won 14-1.

9:55 AM (1 hour ago)

We defeated Team Loon 14-1 in 6 innings. This was our most complete effort as a team so far this year. Howard Schwartz pitched a great game, with the only run scoring on a defensive miscue on a first and third steal. Wes Wolf played a great shortstop making throws from deep in the hole (with Duff making a couple great stretches at first) and hit a homerun. Everyone on the team was hitting, but notable performances were Bob Pelberg with 3 hits, Brad Gallop with a double over the left fielder, Dan Grefer with 6 RBI’s, and Tyler Wolf with some key hits and solid plays in left center

 

League notes:

If you haven’t signed up for Jewish night at the Reds please do so. Talk to Rick Lefton for the details. It’s a fun night and maybe Ken Holtzman, Youk and Brad Asmus will show up.

For those of you that don’t read the Israelite (And shame on you since there is usually about half an article worth reading) the web site to donate to Justin Berg and his wife Lauren is www.helphopelive.org 

Speaking of the Israelite, fun to see Stu Solomon in there advertising for his company. What better way to reach the old Jewish folks of Cincy than through that?

As mentioned above a huge shout out to Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend(s) for hitting for the cycle last night. What’s amazing to me is that no Reds player has hit for the cycle since Eric Davis on June 2, 1989 (which was 8 days before my Bar Mitzvah). Since then the Reds have thrown 3 no-hitters, won the world series, had a guy hit 4 homers in a game employed some of the worst MLB players and managers of all time and yet no one else has hit for it. Well done Scott.

Big shout out to Even Gildenblatt for graduating law school-also for rocking that non baseball hat-hat. Looking good!

I’ve never been one to root against the USA in international sports but I might start if Homer Bailey makes the US Olympic baseball team. Go Cuba!

It’s pretty cool to see all of the guys in the league post pictures of their kids graduating high school or college. The latest was Eddie Gallop, whose daughter just graduated from Miami of Ohio.

And for those of us who have younger kids, bring them to the games. They can join Team Brafman-Creeger for games of toss and being the ball boys. I can remember as a kid watching my dad play in the old league and it will help get the younger generation excited about the league when we are too old to play.

With the opening of the new FCC stadium in the West End on Sunday I still don’t understand where 20K people are going to park once it opens up 100%. It’s the reason the Reds left Crosley to go to the River. It’s great that they are putting it in the West End and the stadium looks amazing but where is everyone going to park?

I have no idea what type of car it is but if you are friends with former All Star First Basemen Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn on Facebook check out a picture of his ride. It looks more and more like the batmobile each week 

If you haven’t seen Eppy eat wings you are missing out. I thought Dr. Bob was going to have a heart attack watching Ep order the wings let alone at all of them last night.

Is it me or are the 9 Capt. in our league better than David Bell? Yesterday in the 10th inning the Reds were ahead 2-1. Due to Bell using up all of his bench guys earlier in the game like he tends to do, he had to pinch hit Wade “Mr. No-No” Miley. The bases were loaded and there were no outs. The Pirates pitcher had just walked a guy to load the bases. Isn’t the smart play to tell Miley to just stand there and not swing so as to not hit into a DP? If you strike out fine then you have real hitters (in theory) behind you where a fly ball would bring in the run. Of course Miley takes the first two pitches for balls then swings away and pops out to 3rd. What dumb strategy is that? I know that Jimmy or Mark would not have had Miley swinging away

Finally if you want the best Jewish baked goods in town I’m telling you www.SweetButterCincy.com is the way to go

In this week in Rogerland-I have to give him credit as he somehow came across a Jimi Hendrix bobblehead which I bought because hey why not? So thanks Rog you can keep your 1 cent XU Shirts but next time be on the look out for a Richie Havens or Link Wray. I’m your guy

See you on the fields next week!