2017 VETERAN COMMITTEE ELIGIBLE MANAGERS

The following candidates are eligible for the 2017 MWBL Veterans Committee Election Vote.
When Nominating – please vote for One or Zero Players.

ELIGIBLE MANAGERIAL CANDIDATES – Through at Least – Six Years of Mid-West Baseball League Service

Dave Myers – Tijuana Bottle Rockets (1409 – 1184 – .543%)
Dave took over the Philadelphia franchise shortly after draft day 2001 and suffered through a miserable 50-112 inaugural campaign. He would though, turn things around quickly. Finishing with a winning record the very next season (the 1st of 3 in the next 5 years), including 100 wins in 2005 and playoff appearances in 2003 and 2005. Not an easy task in the very competitive AL Central. After the 2005 season (and getting knocked out in the post season) Dave realized that while he had built a solid team, it just wasn’t going to be enough to take on the powerhouses that roamed the league. The complete rebuild process begins, which continued through the 2007 season. The team saw many of its key players from the playoff runs of the past few years traded off for draft picks and/or top prospects. The 2008-2009 seasons saw the franchise put a respectable number of wins(83 & 86) on the board but more importantly, saw the home grown and acquired talent start to put it together, setting the stage for 2010. This is the year it all came together. The team won Its 1st Division Title (119 wins), 1st League Title and 1st World Series Championship (a sweep). Despite 104 wins, 2011 saw the franchise unable to defend their title, as they narrowly miss the playoffs. 2013 saw the team involved in the 2nd 163rd game in its history(both wins!), propelling it to 2nd straight post season appearance.
“Off the field”, Dave has worked hard with the commissioner’s office to grow the information available to all owners. He’s completed 2 enormous projects that pre-date the current automated commissioner tools, the Team Trade Histories and Team Draft Histories. These enhancements allow owners to view all trades and drafts, specific by team over the lifetime of their franchise.

John Niespodzianski – Pittsburgh Lumber Company (701 – 757 . 481%)
I would like to withdraw my name from consideration for the Hall of Fame? No league titles and a .484 career winning percentage are not worthy, in my eyes. I will gladly accept a nomination once our career record exceeds .500 and we win at least one championship!

Sergio Ivone – Detroit Crime (1465 – 1611 – .476%)
Sergio joined the league as Hamtramck in 1998 with LA, Midland and Connecticut. The franchise moved to Detroit in 1999. Overall the Detroit franchise has posted a winning percentage of .494 in 10 seasons with the Mid-West Baseball League. Sergio won the A.L. East and Manager of the year in 1999 and 2004. The franchise lost in the first round vs. Columbus three games to two. Detroit also won the wildcard in 2000 then beat Division winner Chicago three games to one, In 04 Division series winner last season the Crime went into a rebuilding mode and hopes to get back to winning ways soon .

Scott Farquharson – Yonge Street Stalkers (1365 – 1548 – .469%)
Scott Farquharson is honored to have met the criteria for HOF eligibility. His efforts are now focused on trying to re-build his once-kinda-powerful Yonge Street squad. Scott is getting anxious with the current combination of youngsters and veterans and views 2014 as a crossroads. The young players that have been added in recent years must begin to steer the Stalkers fortunes in a positive direction.
Nevertheless, The Stalkers are excited to be on a path towards respectability. The next step on the road to HOF relevance will be mixing in an array of farm team talent while still playing respectable ball. The Career .500 mark is still the next “big picture” milestone for Yonge Street. If all goes according to plan…this projection would end with hard earned, serious consideration for the MWBL HOF.

Casey Hoch – Fremont Cannons (1201 – 1391 – .463%)
Casey has been in the league since 2000, managing the lame-duck franchise of East Erie Lake during the end of that season. He achieved full franchise status in the off-season and moved the franchise to Fremont. The early years were marked by trades of veterans to pick up prospects and draft picks; in fact, Fremont has the MWBL record for most first round picks with 5 in 2001. From 2004-2011, the Cannons found some on-field success, and did not finish lower than second in the division. Fremont first won the division in 2004 with an 85-77 record, then finished second in the division in 2005 and 2006. That was followed with two consecutive AL East titles in 2007 and 2008. The Cannons finished second in the division again in 2009 and 2010, but in 2011 Fremont again took first place in the division. The past two years have seen a downturn in fortunes as they are involved in a rebuilding project which has seen them stock the farm system with promising young bats, netting a Futures ranking of 1 or 2 for the past 4 consecutive seasons. The franchise’s most memorable year was 2007. The Cannons squeaked out the division title with an 82-80 record, but became the first AL East team in MWBL history to advance to the ALCS. Down 3 games to none, they shocked the Chicago Mobsters by winning the final 4 games of the series. They fell to eventual champion Severn, but that did not detract from a fine season. Fremont’s greatest source of pride was their success against their greatest rival, having a .568 career winning percentage against the Oregon Neon Knights and losing the season series only once. Other franchise highlights include winning the AL Gold Glove for pitchers four years in a row (2001-2004) and having back-to-back Rookies of the Year (Jay Payton-2001, Roy Oswalt 2002). In addition to running the Fremont franchise, Casey also has assisted the league by helping to assemble the season disk on draft day and by organizing the ballots and determining eligibility for the Post-Season Awards and Hall of Fame.

Peter Kilmarx – Long Beach Dirt Bags (664 – 794 .455%)
Until Peter Kilmarx wins a title or has a more accomplished track record than he currently has, Peter doesn’t think he should be considered for the Hall of Fame. Hopefully in the future Peter will have the success he desires to be considered.

Cliff Miller – Coconut Creek Crushers (1013 – 1256 – .446%)
Cliff joined the MWBL just prior to the 2003 draft. He assumed ownership of the Warfield Cheesehead squad, then moved them to Coconut Creek, Florida and renamed them the Crushers. The team was immediately blown up and a 3-year rebuilding project began. Going into that 3rd year it was determined that a .500 record was not good enough. So a few remaining veterans were traded away in order to get more young talent. This turned out to be a good strategy as the young talent was ready to bloom in year 5. After winning a total of 156 games in year’s 1-4, the Crushers became playoff caliber and won a combined 191 games in year’s 5-6. Would have been a great success story except the MWBL American League is incredibly stacked. So far the Crushers have not had the pleasure of participating in the post-season. The 2009 squad has a good chance to end that drought and start adding baseballs to our webpage.

Brian Mazurek – Elyria Indians (722 – 898 .446%)
Took over a sick team a few weeks before the 2007 draft. With not much time to research, that draft yielded only one strong pick: Jacoby Ellsbury. The next years or 2008 and 2009 were bleak record wise but through solid, smart trades and strong drafts, built Elyria into a perennial contender in the AL East. 2010 (106 wins) and 2012 (99 wins) gave Elyria first place finishes. Elyria made it to the AL Championship round of the playoffs in 2010.
Mazurek has completely turned over the roster of the team he inherited and has even had an MVP (Pablo Sandoval). Through research and trading, Brian hopes to be in the MWBL World Series soon.

Jim Farmer – Valdosta Snappers (549 – 747 – 424%)
Jim Farmers Bio will be placed here – He’s a first time manager, so his information has not been sent as of yet.

Bill Schindel – Columbus Explorers (802 – 655 .550%)
At this point in time, Bill almost feel like he’s too junior (and unaccomplished in MWBL) to even rate consideration.

Jim Craddock – Motor City Muscle (373 – 599 – .384%)
Jim’s Bio

Bob Shecter – Manhattan Project (453 – 519 – .466%)
Bob’s Bio

Nik Malatestinic – Bethesda Bandicoots (461 – 673 – .407%)
God, Family and Baseball … and not always in that order depending on whether you’ve heard from my wife.
I grew up in Montreal and lived and breathed the Expos (sorry to everyone about that stupid mascot Youpie!) and died a little when they left only to be reborn when the Washington Nationals finally shook off the last cobwebs of the old ownership. I’ve come to realize that I know more than some people about the game, but knew enough to know that what I did know was hardly enough. I’ve always believed that the core of a good team is always on the mound and that a good pitching staff with good defence can beat a good hitting team 4 times out of five. Sorry Mr. Eckersley, but I think that a good starting pitcher is to be coveted while a relief pitcher is to be held in contempt. A few jokes about relievers lacking the staying power of starters comes to mind, but that’s for another day. I’ve been playing APBA’s BBW since version 2.0 first came out and peaked at being in about eight leagues a few years ago and now have pared downed to the best of them sticking with that “Less is More” philosophy. Every player should be more like Kirby Puckett and Lou Gehrig and less like Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds. Keeping with the Nationals theme my favorite current players are Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon. Unfortunately one of my least favorite players is Bryce (Whiny Pants) Harper. Annoying players seem to have haunted me and attached themselves to my favorite teams … first A-Rod with the Yankees and now the Bryce is Right in Washington. Oh well. I was born in eastern Europe (I bet with my last name you figured I was Irish) and moved to Montreal in 1966 at the ripe old age of two where I lived until I was 17 whereupon I was dragged kicking and screaming from the best city on earth to what I thought was the worst place on earth – Saint John, New Brunswick in eastern Canada. It’s funny how things work out … Saint John is still the asshole of the world, but without coming here I never would have had the unbelievable good fortune to have awesome and tolerant wife and four amazing children (now aged 23, 19, 15, and 5) all of whom who have in their short time on earth not only exceeded every expectation I had of them, but also have far surpassed their old man. Their one Achilles’ Heel is having no appreciation of baseball … although with the five-year-old there is time as she has said one of her favorite days this past summer was watching a local men’s league ball game. Dare I hope that she becomes the first female Nolan Ryan? Another important thing about moving to this city is that I had the good fortune to stagger into the Beats and Bytes pawn shop and computer supply store about 25 years ago and there found BBW 2.0. As I mentioned I have been in a fair number of leagues, but this one is the only one of two in all that time that the owner took the time to call me prior to me joining to see it was a good fit. Maybe it’s the dedication and savvy of the commissioner and the other team owners, but being in and winning in this league has always meant more. Thanks for having me … as my wife is fond of telling me I seem to take great joy in being had.

Brian Devine – Southbend Lynx (493 – 641 – .435%)
Brian’s Bio

Wally Bender – Jersey Nor’Easters (478 – 494 – .492%)
Wally’s Bio

Rick Cooper – Clovis Wheat Kings (1270 – 1320- 490%) – DEFUNCT FRANCHISE
Rick “Coop” Cooper joined the Mid-West Baseball League as GM of the Clovis Wheat Kings just before the start of the second season. The Wheat Kings finished with 3rd place finishes in 98, 99, & 00, but have been on the upswing since that time, with three 2nd place finishes in 01, 02, and 05 as well as a 1st place finish in 2003 in the National League Central. Rick has been an All-Star coach once (2002), and was the 2002 National League West’s Wild Card Winner. With a 565-567 cumulative record Rick and the Wheat Kings are looking forward to finally getting their collective head above water in the MWBL this year. While trading has become more difficult with the passing years Rick is looking forward to finding that one deal that will put the Wheat Kings over the top.

Jonathan Mayo – Iron City Yinzers (731 – 889 .451%) – DEFUNCT FRANCHISE
Jonathan Mayo joined the Mid-West Baseball League in 2006, his first foray into the world of APBA. Inheriting the Toledo Wild Cats that lost 97 games in 2005, Mayo renamed the club the Iron City Yinzers as a nod to his hometown and set about rebuilding. In the standings, he had to take some steps backward to move forward, losing 100+ games for three straight seasons before starting to turn things around in 2009. The 2010 season was a huge leap as Mayo piloted the Yinzers to a 98-win season, an NL East title and a trip to the World Series. Iron City has finished over .500 for the past three seasons, using Mayo’s vast knowledge of the Minor Leagues (he claims to be the prospect expert for MLB.com) to build a farm system via the Draft and trades. That started back in 2006, when he was able to draft Carlos Gonzalez and Russell Martin, Tim Lincecum in 2007, Austin Jackson in 2008 and Elvis Andrus in 2009, to name a few highlights.