|
Manager: Kirk Spano
414-617-6669
kirkydu at yahoo dot com
Leff's will have two teams in 2010. Because the league has gone to a format where we pick either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon as a primary game day, we have split it up a bit.
Our over-18 team will play primarily Saturday nights, with some Fridays. We are going with this to accomodate Lakes players as the schedules will not conflict. This team has picked up several new guys from the defunct Jimmy B's, all good players. As of now, presuming most guys come back with a few of us moving up to the Vets team, this will be a very competitive squad again. Jared Catenacci and Greg Ketz will be co-managing this team.
Our Veteran's team (over-25/30) will play Sunday afternoons, with some Fridays and weeknights (no Saturdays at all). Fully half of the games will be weeknights or Fridays, and we will actually get one or two weekends where we don't play on Sunday at all. We're hoping some of you who haven't played in a year or two will be able to play on this team. Kirk Spano and Terry Dittrich will be co-managing this team.
Kirk Leff's MBL Rosters American Division Team Catenacci
| Jared
| c,of
| Ketz
| Greg
| 2b,ss,1b,rp
| | Bartosh | Andy | 3b | Lazewski
| Jeff
| ss,of,rp
| | Brooks | Jeremy | 2b,of,rp | | Tschimperle | Rob
| of
| Cefalu
| Joe
| of,c
| Kroll
| Jeremy
| ss,3b,rp
| Ureda
| Bryan
| of,rp
| | Kuhn | John | 3b,of | | Mennicke | Jeff | c,3b | | Schroeder | Mike | p,1b | Huffaker
| Matt
| of
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| | | | |
Veterans Division Team | Ditterich | Terry | 1b | | Spano | Kirk | 2b,3b | Smeby
| Bruce
| p,c
| | Sohns | Jeff | of | Jaeger
| Brian
| 3b,1b,c,p
| Birchbauer
| Kyle
|
| | Hornung | Josh | of,c | Paydon
| Evan
| c,of
| Mortonson
| Tom
| of,rp
| Krueger
| Aaron
| of
| Morgan
| Mike
| of
| Weber
| Adam
| 1b,of
| Duffy
| Patrick
| of
| Domanski
| Neil
| of,2b,3b
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Players will be listed on both rosters, in case of game day roster shortages so they can be called to fill in.
======================================================================
For the 2009 season, the Long Wongs club has merged with Leff's Lucky Town club. The merger was facilitated by several players on each squad growing up, growing old or moving. In any case, the sadness for managers Kirk Spano and Terry Dittrich of not having all their old buddies to play with was stemmed by the mutual admiration society which had been formed over years of playing against each other. So, in January of 2009, Kirk and Terry decided to marry the two teams together.
In addition to vets from both the Long Wongs and Leff's squads, the team will see the addition to the roster of brothers Jeff Lazewski (2006 All League) from the retired MPD squad, as well as, Rob Tschimperle from the Prior Lake Amateur Baseball Association. If you are looking for a team that has a lot of fun and is competitive every year, contact Kirk Spano directly to discuss at 414-617-6669. As every team in the league does every year, we are specifically seeking one more solid pitcher to add to our rotation, although we will consider other quality players of good upbringing (drinks beer, no major criminal record, and drinks beer).
Long Wongs: The History Behind the Legends
Long Wongs Baseball Club has history going back to the late 1980s, but really began in ernest in the late 1990s when The Bandits and Luke's Sports Spectacular of the old Milwaukee County Open Baseball League merged to form Fritz's on Water Baseball Club. After several years of competitive play in the Open as Fritz's under the leadership of manager Dan Yesbeck, the team decided to move it's location nearer to the diamonds it played on to the comfortable confines Long Wongs on Bluemound. Leadership eventually fell to Kirk Spano soon after he returned to play from being in marital exile for several years, and Yesbeck moved to the hinterlands to build a family.
Long Wongs has established itself as a consistent playoff contender, culminating in an 11-7 record and a playoff game win (before falling to the previous two season's Champion Southshore Club) in 2008. Various MBL All-team players have filled the roster including Whitefish Bay High alum Tom Mortonson (2006 & 2007), Greenfield High alum Adam Graves (2008), Janesville Craig's Chris Adamski (2007 & 2008) and Houston native & Concordia University pitcher Joe Brand (2007). In 2007 and 2008 the team also featured stalwarts Brian Jaeger the lone remaining Bandits' player heading into 2009, transplants Greg Ketz, Bruce Smeby & John Kuhn (all from somewhere in Minnesota and each an MBL All League honorable mention in their careers), as well as, local players "Fat" Mike Schroeder, Ryan Estes (Racine Lutheran All Conference), Aaron Krueger, Josh Sopczak (Lakeland College), Paul Sinklaire, Jeff Mennicke (Sussex Hamilton All Conference) and top local musicians Jon Wade & Evan Paydon.
Long Wongs alum include Mike Dreckmann who played at Carthage College, Randy Kumm who still graces us from time to time, Dan Scherrer who is working on a screen play, Erik Spano who is involved with baseball in the Phoenix area, Nate Blenkush who studies brains and plays ball in Boston now, the Puerto Rican Sensation Francisco Romero, world traveler Dr. Tom "El Chubecabra" Minior who has recently learned to play Cricket, Ray who wasn't really that good, Earl whose real name is Stanley, Eric Lazenby whom we're sure still has a sore arm and others whom we affectionately remember.
|
