October Newsletter and Tribute

COOPERSTOWN RECAP
GREATEST GAME EVER PITCHED IN PATP HISTORY
JAPAN RECAP
2017 SCHEDULE
*PLAYING FOR THEIR DAD*

Dear Players,

Hope your favorite MLB team is in the playoffs. (mine ain’t) Lot’s to talk about so here we go…..

COOPERSTOWN RECAP
Just over a week ago we had our largest group ever in Cooperstown for our Father/Son event. I am confident we can get to 10 to 12 teams for next season. The event was won by Bill Steele’s team the Steelers. They went undefeated and beat the defending champion Reds 4 to 3 early in the tournament. The Reds won their remaining games and surrendered only 9 runs over 6 games.

GREATEST GAME EVER PITCHED

On the last game of the event which we scheduled as a possible “championship game” at Doubleday Field, Preston Thompson (pictured above)of the Reds pitched the greatest game in PATP history. He threw a NO HITTER against a very good team the L.I. Braves and struck out 17 batters!! Hats off to Preston and to all the players who made the trek to beautiful upstate New York.

Next year’s tentative dates are Sept. 15 to 17.

JAPAN TRIP

The week before Cooperstown we brought a team of international travelers to Japan for our annual trip to Tokyo. It was another stellar time. Great group of people, stiff competition and a lot of laughs. We won our game in the Tokyo Dome against Mitz Tokuda’s Suns team, with Tommy Gerber picking up the game MVP. Also have to mention “Big” Mike Garcia who was the player of the week. We also had a very memorable game in the country side the last night with great friends Sugimoto and Kouzama and a lovey sukiyaki dinner afterwards. It was a blast. Dates for next years trip will be forthcoming in the near future. Thanks again to John Baessler for all he does for our clients and for all he has done for me personally the past 4 years.

2017 SUMMER SCHEDULE

The 2017 schedule is taking shape. We will be in Sugarland Texas February 24 to 26 and Palm Beach for the 14th time April 6 to 9. We are in the midst of changing our location in Florida for our February event. Don’t panic I’m on it. We’ll finalize that in the next 2 weeks.

Our summer is wide open as I type. We are moving the Rickwood Classic in Birmingham to Sept 29-Oct. 1 and that will be the rebirth of The Champions League. Bring your team and win a ring. We are hoping that the defending champs 2 years ago from Slidell Louisiana will venture up to Birmingham and join us.

We are thinking of the following summer destinations: Dayton Ohio at 5/3 Field, back to Toledo at 5/3 Field (How many are there?) I am going to re approach the Minnesota Twins and hopefully iron out a deal this year and we are going to contact Georgia State University which now owns Turner Field for a possible event. I am also tinkering with going back to Central Park. A lot of you always ask about that….. Chattanooga is also a possibility. We should have firm dates for the summer by the end of the month. We are also seriously considering the Sand Castle in Atlantic City. We may be working on the field this fall and early spring. We’ll keep you posted on AC.

*PLAYING FOR THEIR DAD*

And finally….Last week in Cooperstown was very special for me as I looked out and saw 28 fathers and their son’s playing ball together. But sadly 2 brothers were there who couldn’t play with their Dad. A father who had brought them to Cooperstown just the year before. The young men were Kyle and Kevin Savoia, Jr.

Their Dad Kevin who was a great client for many years and a true baseball lifer and lover, died from a heart attack over the winter. I found out about his passing by seeing his name on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard during old timers day. Kevin Sr. worked at Yankee Stadium on game days as part of their security team. In fact the last time I saw him was at the stadium quite by accident. To see his name on the board that day was heartbreaking. I made some calls to mutual friends to see if in fact it was him. It was. Shortly after that I received an email from his boys that they were coming to Coop to honor their father and play in the event. They did so with grace, dignity and love for him and the game. They were on the Steelers which won the event and Kevin Jr. finished the event with a Home Run at Doubleday Field.