Larry Wolfe No, this article isn’t just about The Long Season, a book published in 1960, which chronicled pitcher Jim Brosnan’s candid personal diary of the 1959 baseball season when he pitched for both the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. That book was one of the first “tell-alls” regarding what life was really like…
Larry Wolfe In baseball and softball, it truly is “all about the stats.” No other sports are as focused on “the numbers” as are baseball and softball. The game’s individual matchups, such as pitcher versus batter, and the ability to track every action has led to a rich history of analyzing those statistics. The noted…
Larry Wolfe As of the beginning of July, we’re nearly halfway through our summer softball season. Our 22-week season started on April 29 and continues through Sept. 18. Doubleheaders are played every Tuesday and Thursday morning, with the first pitch at 7:30 a.m. That’s an attempt to “beat the heat,” but that doesn’t always work,…
Larry Wolfe A “Renaissance Man,” or modern-day polymath, is someone who has acquired knowledge, expertise, and proficiency in a wide variety of fields, usually unrelated. To the list of historical figures, such as da Vinci, Galileo, and Aristotle, maybe we should add Alex Santucci. Here are some of his interests and accomplishments: • Baseball player…
Larry Wolfe The Redeemed Team, managed by Ron Carmichael, won the Sun Division Spring pennant with a record of 9-5, outlasting Manager Jon Hendrikse’s Wolfe & Associates team and Manager Mike Gloyd’s Spooner PT club, both finishing tied for second with .500 records. In the Lakes Division, Manager Gary Hillabolt’s Young Home Team finished first…
Larry Wolfe He’s from Chicago. He’s Irish. What else could he be? I’ll let you ponder that for a while. Patrick Murphy graduated from Brother Rice High, Chicago’s premier Catholic college preparatory school, where he was on the football, wrestling, and softball teams. He attended Moraine Valley Community College before earning a Criminal Law Degree…
Larry Wolfe At press time, the Redeemed Team, managed by Ron Carmichael, had clinched the Sun Division Spring title with a 9-5 record. The Young Home Team-sponsored club, managed by Gary Hillabolt, led the Lakes Division, sporting a 9-3 record with four games remaining on their schedule. The Core Consulting team, managed by rookie manager…
Larry Wolfe One of eight kids, Bob Montelione grew up in East New York, a section of Brooklyn, in what he describes as a beautiful neighborhood that turned bad. He describes running home from school every day negotiating possible muggings, or worse. And he’s still running, and fast, as is evidenced by his always being…
Larry Wolfe Even though they still had two games to play at the press deadline, the A-1 Golf Carts team, managed by Dave Kratz, had clinched the Lakes Division Winter League title with an impressive 12-4 record. That was four games better than Manager Tom Erpelding’s First Response Roofing squad’s 7-7 mark. In the Sun…
Larry Wolfe A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, Joe DiLabio was a member of the Northern Ontario provincial high school football champions, playing corner linebacker. He’s been very active in a wide range of sports during his entire life, starting with Little League baseball, then fastpitch softball, intramural sports in college, ice hockey and…