2023 VETERAN COMMITTEE ELIGIBLE MANAGERS

The following candidates are eligible for the 2023 MWBL Veterans Committee Election Vote.

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

Nik Malatestinic – Bethesda Bandicoots (937 – 1073 – .466%)
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 defense 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 down 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 Max Scherzer. 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 an awesome and tolerant wife and four amazing children (now aged 27, 23, 20, and 9) 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 … save for my youngest who closed out her end-of-season boys’ little league double-header with four homers and 19 RBIs in 8 at-bats? Another important thing about moving to this city is that I had the good fortune to stagger into the Beats and Bytes pawnshop 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 my joining to see if 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.

Cliff Miller – Coconut Creek Crushers (1343 – 1802 – .427%)
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 years 1-4, the Crushers became playoff caliber and won a combined 191 games in years 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.

Bill Schindel – Columbus Explorers (1339 – 994 .574%)
Bill has been playing APBA Baseball since the computer game was invented. Starting with a co-worker, he played in a 24-team (2 GM) league for several years while living in Rhode Island and Iceland. While in Iceland, he began his experiences with Kenneth Miller (Miller Associates) and become a beta tester when he discovered that the original DOS StatMaster had a 113-game limit for stats! That relationship blossomed when BBW was created to the point that Bill became Miller Associates’ lead Technical Support director, office manager, design team member as well as head of the Beta testing teams.

Many of the integral parts of BBW (particularly the League Manager league play parts and the Advanced Draft drafting features) were direct designs from Bill’s mind. In addition, he provided all the Help files through the BBW 5.5 version. When BBW was updated to BBW 5.75, Bill was (and is) part of the beta development team and continues to provide input as the game continues to be produced.

But – so much for development avenues. Bill’s first foray into GM League Play began with CSN’s Online Dos version where Bill won the WS in 2 of the 3 leagues he played there (1992-93). At the same time, he got into his first DOS “mail-PC” league – IBC and it was there that his friendship with John “Stray” Corrado began. They both came into the league in the same year. They would then join the ICBL together and when Bill started WIBL in 1997 (the first BBW league – and a BETA league for the new League Manager league play features), Stray was right there. It was not surprising that Bill came into MWBL at its beginning with the 1997 season and he was an unofficial advisor for Stray (and actually remains as such today).

Bill took a hiatus from baseball leagues for about a 9-year period (2005-2012) and returned to baseball in 2013 returning to both WIBL and MWBL as well as joining MWWL, TNL, and later TNRL (similar to MWWL) and lately ABPL. Bill has won world series titles in WIBL (5), MWWL (1), TNL (3), and TNRL (1) and is still looking for his 1st in MWBL (2020 was so close). He has turned a weak team into a consistent 100+ game-winner per season.

In addition to baseball, Bill spends a LOT of time on the golf course (not enough, but a lot). And he loves bike riding (the 30-50 mile jaunt types) and photography – in which he has a part-time business. He also spends much of his time teaching Bible classes and streaming online services for his church. The highest on his list of priorities (which explains the 9-year hiatus) are God and family, then friends!

Barry Abrams – Mesa Solar Sox (485 – 552 – .468%)
Christmas 1970 in New Haven, Connecticut saw a 16-year-old baseball nerd receive what his mother calls “The worst mistake I ever made”. It was the Christmas present that just keeps on giving, even after 52 years, 2 colleges, 3 marriages, 6 kids, and one cross-country move from the snowy east coast to the low desert of Arizona.

It was the 1969 card edition of the APBA baseball game. 

Besides my parents and my 2 siblings, my relationship with APBA is my life’s longest. It saw me through births, deaths, divorces, career changes, and more highs and lows than one man want or deserves.

Starting with playing the 1969 season solo, through face-to-face and then mail leagues, the computer version of the game, and now over the internet play, this game has been a constant companion, source of inspiration, frustration, and a lifelong love for baseball that, even in the darkest times, has sustained me, nourished me, and made me whole…….  Ok…  Some of that is BS. 

What a great game, though. I started my love of the game standing in front of Kresge’s Department store as a 6-year-old in downtown New Haven, watching Bill Mazeroski crushing my Yankees in the 1960 World Series. The Yankees were GODS and to see them go down to defeat was my life’s first lesson. Gods sometimes lose, too.

On my block, you could walk from one end of the street to the other and not miss a single play of the Yankee game because everyone was on their stoops listing to the game! That’s how important the game was in that culture.

I was at the first bat day at Yankee Stadium in 1963. I saw the decline of the mighty Yankees in the mid-60s. I saw the resurrection in the 70s. I saw Reggie blast 3 World Series homers in one game. I saw the flags at half mast for fallen hero Thurman Munson.

Then I moved to Arizona, a baseball wasteland, in 1980. The only games to see were the Giants AAA team (ugh!) or, better still, spring training games, and believe me, you have not lived until you saw the Padres play a spring training game in Yuma!

APBA filled the hole, fortunately, until the Diamondbacks came into being in 1998. In 2001, even after the horror of 9/11, baseball helped heal the pain with a classic World Series between my Yankees and my new love, the DBacks. I could not lose. Whoever won was OK with me. My friends could not understand how I could have split loyalties, but it was easy!

Now, my APBA journey has taken me to the MWBL, a great league where it is a challenge to build a sustainable winning franchise. I’ve made the playoffs 2 times in 7 years, but the consistency I seek is elusive. Trading away Jabob DeGrom did not help…

Jarl Jackson – Dallas Cougars (764 – 921 – .453%)
Jarl’s Bio

Sergio Ivone – Detroit Crime (2007 – 1945 – .508%)
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.

Casey Hoch – Fremont Cannons (1647 – 1821 – .475%)

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 set the MWBL record at the time 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 by 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 next eight years saw a downturn in fortunes as they were involved in a rebuilding project, which netted only a single season above 70 wins in that time, but saw them stock the farm system with promising young bats. The Cannons have not netted a Futures ranking lower than 8th between 2012-2022 and finished 1 or 2 in 5 of the seasons. Finally, in 2020, the Cannons broke through with 86 wins, their first winning season since 2011. Fremont then advanced to the (expanded) playoffs in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season. 

It all came together perfectly for the Cannons in 2022, going wire-to-wire as the top team in the league with 121 wins in the regular season and going on to win the World Series. Fremont scored the most runs of any team in 2022 while allowing the fewest runs in the American League. 2013 11th rd pick Carlos Rodon took home WS MVP, while 2016 5th rd pick Shohei Ohtani was AL MVP. 

Prior to 2022, 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 MWBL Hall of Fame. Casey is a Detroit Tigers fan and is hoping that they can follow his lead to success.

Wally Bender – Jersey Nor’Easters (928 – 920 – .502%)
I agree with John N. almost word for word. I don’t deserve HOF consideration at this point, not with a winning percentage below 500. Please withdraw my name from consideration. I will write a short bio in anticipation of having a couple of winning seasons.

I was born and raised in Gary, Indiana widely believed to be the worst possible place to be raised. The one redeeming factor was that I worked in the steel mills that stretched for 22 miles along the south shore of Lake Michigan every summer. I earned enough money to pay for most of my college expenses at Purdue University. After a period of time in which I married, had two kids, and moved twice we eventually wound up in New Jersey in 1977. We planned on staying no more than 2-3 years as NJ seemed like a foreign country where the people talked funny. We’re still here and even in retirement, we live in this high-cost state. Actually, NJ isn’t so bad.

I got introduced to APBA by a neighbor who knew I was a big baseball fan. We played the basic game, eventually moved up to the Master game, and found other guys who played the game. We formed a league we cleverly called “The League” and had weekly sessions where we played an 81-game schedule. We paid dues, had a trophy with each year’s winner engraved on it, and had a banquet and the end of the year. The games were hotly contested, loud, and sometimes dangerous. During the Championship Series one year, – one of the participants got so mad at a bad role he threw his dice cup and accidentally hit his opponent in the eye that eventually requiring medical treatment. “The League” lasted a fair number of years but life circumstances eventually caused us to dissolve.

My old neighbor who I started playing the basic game with called me out of the blue one night a few years ago and said we’re back in business. He discovered the computer game and here I am.

Peter Kilmarx – Long Beach Dirt Bags (1096 – 1238 .470%)
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.

Jim Craddock – Motor City Muscle (803 – 1045 .435%)
Jim’s Bio

John Niespodzianski – Pittsburgh Lumber Company (1113 – 1059 .512%)
I want 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!

Ken Kurylis – Selkirk Steelers (684 – 840 – .449%)
Ken’s Bio

Brian Devine – Southbend Lynx (957 – 1052– .476%)
Brian’s Bio

Brian Mazurek – Southwest Detroit Fighting Chihuahuas (1009 – 1486 .404%)
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.

Pat Vukelich – Triple Creek Patroits (567 – 633 – .473%)
I began rolling the basic game in 1976 at the age of 8 as two older brothers got me hooked early. The distinct sound of a yellow dice shaker was rattling somewhere in the house most days of my childhood. I joined my first dice APBA baseball league in 1987 at the age of 19 and 33 years later I am still in that same league. Being in Information Technology, and a programmer by trade, I have always been drawn to Sabermetrics and the computer version of the game. It took several failed computer leagues for me to finally stumble upon an ad for MWBL and was fortunate to collect an invitation from Stray for a franchise. Right away I knew this league was going to be different, and oh, how it is. Nearly six years into taking over an aging team needing a rebuild, I have been rewarded with some risky trades for Corey Seager and Shane Bieber, a bit of luck drafting (Cody Bellinger / Andrew Benintendi / Michael Kopech / Keston Hiura), to hopefully have the ship heading in a good direction. Since manning the helm the Patriots have achieved some solid success which is reflected in their 466-506 (.479) record. After their inaugural draft in 2015, the Patriots had garnered the 10th-best team Futures points and after the 2017 draft, they were #1 in this category. The franchise has won 96 games twice in the first six years and just missed a division title win by just two games in 2020. Finishing 2nd in the NL West three of the last four years Triple Creek has been on the rise. Two Wild Card playoff series wins have netted game six and game five losses in the Division Series round. Eight different Patriot players have made All-Star appearances with two making it as starters (Michael Brantley 2015 / Cody Bellinger 2019). Grateful to be a small cog in what the MWBL is and look forward to many years ahead battling for a World Series title.

Jim Farmer – Valdosta Snappers (926 – 1246 – 426%)
Jim’s Bio

Scott Farquharson – Yonge Street Stalkers (1789 – 2000 – .472%)
Scott Farquharson is honored to have met the criteria for HOF eligibility. His efforts are now focused on trying to rebuild 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 Stalker’s fortunes in a positive direction.
Nevertheless, The Stalkers are excited to be on a path toward 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.

TRADE DEADLINE
WEDNESDAY 07/24/2024
AT 11:59 PM - ET!

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