TCBA Yearbook

1989

  INDEX

Seasons
1902  1903 
1904
1905  1906  1907 1908  1909  1910

1911  1912  1913
1914  1915  1916 1917  1918  1919

1920

1921  1922  1923
1924  1925  1926 1927  1928  1929

1930  1931  1932
1933  1934  1935 1936  1937  1938
1939

1940  1941  1942
1943  1944  1945 1946  1947  1948
1949

1950  1951  1952
1953  1954  1955 1956  1957  1958
1959

1960  1961  1962
1963  1964  1965 1966  1967  1968
1969

1970  1971  1972
1973  1974  1975 1976  1977  1978
1979

1980  1981  1982
1983  1984  1985 1986  1987  1988
 1989 

1990  1991  1992
1993  1994  1995 1996  1997  1998
1999

2000  2001  2002
2003  2004  2005 2006  2007  2008
 2009 

2010  2011  2012
2013  2014  2015 2016  2017  2018
  2019  

2020  2021  2022
2023  2024  2025 2026  2027  2028
   2029    

Miscellaneous
Foreword 1
Foreword II
Introduction
The Ad
The Letter
The Test
First Newsletter
Yesterday
Gold
Origins

TCBA Almanac

 

Metro Division

 

 Eastern Division

Long Island

113

48

...

Norfolk

95

67

...

Scranton

99

63

14.5

Annandale

79

82

15

Beacon

98

64

17

Kennett

76

86

19

Hoboken

78

84

36

Philadelphia

74

88

21

Newark

57

105

57

Bethesda

43

119

52

 

Central Division

 

Western Division

Bradenton

101

60

...

Morgantown

91

71

...

Harbor Beach

94

68

7.5

Horseshoe Bay

88

74

3

Bergen

75

86

26

Mimosa

82

80

9

Evanston

71

91

31

Fresno

79

83

12

Village

61

101

41

Texas

64

98

27

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Dan Warren - Meadowlands was renamed the Newark Eagles, still under the guiding hand of Jim Lafargue, while Frank Tedeschi returned at the helm of the Bethesda Bambinos. The Village Bluenotes replaced the Midlothian Mariners. 

Division champions were Norfolk, Long Island, Morgantown, and Bradenton, but once again it was a wildcard team, the beacon Braves, who captured the league championship.

Beacon’s Kirby Puckett hit .331 to lead the league, while Andre Dawson of Long island led with 44 homers and 144 RBI.  

Mark Langston (23), Rick Reuschel (23), Sid Fernandez (21), David Cone (21), Rick Mahler (21), Bob Walk (20), and Orel Hershiser (20) shared pitching honors.

Anthony Orlando graciously gives Jim Lafargue $150,000 for Kal Daniels.

 

Beacon: Back in the High Life Again

      It had been twelve years since Hudson Valley fans had rooted for their team in the playoffs. The 1976 Hyde Park Vita-men had won the AL championship over the Mt. Greenwood Foresters, but what followed was twelve long years of mostly losing. After redrafting prior to the 1985 season, Beacon embarked upon a five year rebuilding plan that was supposed to get the franchise into the playoffs. The trades, drafts and decisions that led Beacon to the 1989 championship are now a matter of record, but the glow of that final series victory against Metro rival Long Island can still be seen in the hills surrounding Beacon.

The championship series was supposed to be one of exciting close-action baseball, with strategic moves and difficult decisions abounding. Instead it more closely resembled a heavyweight bout, with both contestants pounding each other unmercifully. The first three games were decided by margins of 5, 10, and 8 runs and featured 20 extra base hits. Beacon and Long Island split the first two games by scores of 11-6 and 12-2. A big 9-1 victory in game three gave Beacon the 2-1 lead. 

Game Four featured Bryn Smith (13-8) against Teddy Higuera (16-5). A George Brett home run in the first was answered by an Andy Van Slyke homer in the second, as the see-saw action continued unabated. A double by Puckett and a single by Ready off Todd Worrell gave Beacon another victory and put them one game away from the championship. 

Spectators needed ringside seats for the flurry of action in Game 5. Long Island pounded David Cone for 3 first inning runs, but the resilient Braves responded with 4 runs off Tim Belcher to take an early 4-3 lead. The first inning alone had featured 4 singles, a double, 4 walks, a hit batsman, and a sacrifice fly! A homer by Brett in the second put Beacon up 6-3, and they stretched the lead to 7-3 after 8 innings. Then came the Islanders, given a huge lift on Jack Clark’s pinch-hit, two-out, game-tying 3-run home run in the top of the ninth. The Islanders went on to win the game 9-8, leaving the series at 3-2 Beacon.

After the devastating loss in Game 5, I had the desperate feeling that Long Island was about to pull a miraculous comeback win. I had started my ace and blown a 4-run lead. My starting pitching was in disarray - the man I didn’t want to start, Dave LaPoint, was the only one rested. He had been pounded by Long Island in appearances earlier in the season, and I had no confidence in him at all. Facing LaPoint would be Rick Reuschel, who had held the Braves to one earned run in Game 2

Although LaPoint only lasted 2.2 innings, the outcome of the game was never really in doubt. Using four consecutive singles in the first inning and three singles and two home runs in the third, Beacon jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never looked back. In all, Beacon pounded FIVE home runs in Game 6 and raced away with an 11-3 win and the second American League Championship for the franchise.

For the series, Beacon bashed 13 home runs, including 5 each by Brett (6 rbi, 12 runs) and Strawberry (11 rbi and 9 runs), compared to just four for Long Island. For the Islanders, Van Slyke had 8 rbi, Larkin batted .400 (6 rbi, 5 runs), and Tony Pena batted .571 to lead all batters.

In the end, despite all the adept maneuvering, despite all the quick pitching hooks, despite the random vagaries of the computer, it came down to something essentially baseball; it came down to who could hit the ball over the wall. In 1989 it was the Beacon Braves.

How about that?      - Bob Braun

 Frank Tedeschi - After one other aborted attempt to find time to rejoin the league, I received a call from Mr. Fiehl again. He told me about how the game was computerized and doing the statistical part of the league was no longer required. I had a computer at home, and two young boys as well. With two youngsters at home, that meant I was home as well. Time at home, computerized stats, it was time to get back in the TCBA! “Here, Frank, take this truly horrible team -- build this if you can.” I named the team the Bambinos in dedication to my kids, who’s existence was the major contributor to my return to the league.

     I finished out the string of a truly pathetic season. Luckily another franchise went down also; not a great team, but one with some cash and a few good ballplayers. We redrafted and our three year building plan hoped to put us in the caliber of playoff-type teams.

     “Come to Lancaster, it’s what the league is all about.” Let me get this straight. I should drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the middle of winter and spend 3 or 4 days drafting and trading and generally talking baseball with a bunch of guys I had not met? This is what the league is all about? I thought it was about trying to outscore the other team. To say I was skeptical about the first trip to Lancaster is an understatement. I was pretty much badgered into attending. It’s now one of the highlights of the year for me, a baseball weekend orgy. No thoughts of work, or life’s responsibilities, a great release to become a middle-aged kid and enjoy the simple passion of baseball with nineteen other nut cases. My hats off to whoever came up with the idea. It has kept the league together these twenty years, no doubt.

Random Comments - The August newsletter announced the resignation of Chuck Steinmetz due to business pressure.

The Mets deal Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to the Phillies for Juan Samuel. This puts Marty Fiehl and Bill Kirwin on opposite sides of the joy spectrum. Marty calls it a “totally worthless deal” for the Mets.

 

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