With a spirited practice last night at the A-Diamond, and a team meeting at the Biergarten, in Schenectady afterwards, the Cubs put a nice wrap on their preparations for Florida and the 2019 Fall Classic. I want to personally thank Don Ball and Dennis Lane for all they did to make sure that we stayed in "baseball shape" for the two months between the end of our season, and the beginning of our tournaments. It is a huge benefit to stay active in this normally idle time. Thank you gentlemen!!!
The Cubs Fall Classic roster (which lost to Puerto Rico in last year's final) is almost completely in tact. We will be missing Randy Craft (retirement), Jim McQuade (family obligations), and Jim Konstantakis (injury); but have added Andy Hoyle, Pete Geanellis, and Jim Bonaparte to take their roster spots. The returning players are: Scott Ross, Jack Griffin, Bob Bolt, Danny Maguire, Ron Lochner, Dave Mitchell, Mike Girard, Jerry Rosen, Tim Brown, Ron Massaroni, Ralph Caputo, PJ Martone, Darrell Duncan, Mike Labarge, and Dean Little.
We are a rarity in this National tournament, as our roster is made up 100% of players from our own league. Most teams have a few players that they have taken from the pool of players, or recruited ringers. Other teams are 100% sponsored and made up of guys from all over the country. We are proud to represent the CDMSBL without needing any outside talent. This league is rife with talented players and we will be going into battle with these recruited and many times sponsored teams, with a very solid squad. I think we are as good a hitting team as there is in the tournament. We are solid defensively with a ton of depth in the infield and catching. The pitching staff has 4 playoff veteran pitchers (for 3 playoff games), and six other pitchers who will eat the majority of the Round Robin innings, while throwing strikes and keeping their team in every game. If we play our best, no team is too tough.
The competition will be stiff (probably tougher than last year)! Yet I have no doubt that we will prevail, and make the CDMSBL proud.
The game recaps will start immediately after Sunday Morning's opening game at Roger Dean Stadium. Stay tuned! Go Cubbies!
Thanks Mike, for pointing out the all-CDMSBL aspect of this team. Its a true and indeed rare way to go represent. Sponsorships and nationwide recruiting have replaced what was originally a local league and sometimes even local team flavored event. But we are deep in talent and our older divisions have served to keep many of us active and playing locally while others have no choice but to just look to be recruited (or be a pool player) for tournament ball. Proud of you guys already; good luck , stay healthy, let them all find about how powerful we are while showing your usual fine sportsmanship. And enjoy the baseball and good weather.
