• June 12, 2015 • Volume 37 Beac on • Issue 1 A publication of the Ban Johnson Amateur League

CLOSE PLAY - John Eckert , Milgram Mustangs third baseman, makes a play on Regal Plastics' shortstop Erik Benson who slides in safely. Milgram, the defending league champion, split its season opening doubleheader June 2 at Mid-America Sports Complex. Lucky 13 for 2015 season The 2015 Ban Johnson League schedule is underway the team,” Bradshaw said. “The is fast and can with 13 teams competing for the coveted 2015 BJ champi - cover a lot of ground. onship. “Our infield is extremely solid at all four positions. There are 11 teams back from the 2014 season and we Catching we have some solid guys that work extremely have added two new teams in Kansas City Sports Club well with our . And last but not least is our pitching Blaze and Prodigy Baseball Academy. staff. We have a group of guys that are willing to do what .In 2014, Seaboard won the regular season title. is best for the team and all take on different roles for dif - The Milgram Mustangs won the league title defeating ferent games.” Seaboard in the league championship tournament. Building Champions What will the 2015 season bring? The organization had two teams in the league last year, Stay tuned. but will have just one in 2015. Here is a look at the season based on information sup - The is Ryan Kisner. plied by the teams. The returning position players are Sam Goodwin and The teams are listed in alphabetical order: Chris Hendrix . BJ Raiders The returning pitchers are Connor Leach, Drake The Raiders have a new manager in Jake Bradshaw Herrman, Jake Slocum and Drew Durham. The Raiders return just three players from their 2014 The impact newcomers are Blake Shinkle, Austyn team in Jacob Huffman , catcher Nico Codemo and Gooch, Colton Larkins, Collin Rice and Nick Gavin . infielder Dylan West. “We have a great group of guys that have been added to See 2015, page 6 Notable Numbers presented by Independence Ridge Apts. A quick glance at the 2015 Ban Johnson League season Here are the key facts for the 2015 season: regular season standings. * This is the 89th season for the league that got * Games this year will be played at the Mid- its start in 1927. America Sports Complex, 3&2, Macken * The league has 13 teams, 11 returning and two Park, Liberty High School, Liberty North High new teams in Kansas City Sports Clubs Blaze and School, and Johnson County Community College. Prodigy Baseball Academy. * The 47th annual All-Star Game hosted by the * There are no divisions. Each team plays eight Royals will be played at Kauffman Stadium. The teams twice and four teams three times for a total of date and time is yet to be determined. 28 games per team in the regular season. * GameChanger will be used for scorekeeping, * All games are scheduled for seven dou - stats, livestreaming and game recap stories. bleheaders except the third game against a team, Access is free. You can register at gc.com or which will be a nine-inning game. download the app. * A tournament at the end of the season will decide the league champion. All 13 teams will be involved in the tourney with seeding determined by Beacon Publishers: Nancy Milgram, Nat Milgram Advertising Manager: Sally Milgram Executive Director: Bob McFarlane Head Scorer: Richard Dawson Ban Johnson League office: (913) 383-7765 P.O. Box 7869; Shawnee Mission, KS 66207 E-Mail: [email protected] Web site: www.banjohnson.com

Ban Johnson League Standings (thru June 10) WL GB BJ Raiders 40 ---- KC Sports Club Blaze 30 0.5 NKC Apts. Giants 30 0.5 MSBL Royals 20 1.0 Milgram Mustangs 63 0.5 MidAmeriCare Nationals 32 1.5 Building Champions 22 2.0 Seaboard 22 2.0 Natural Baseball 34 2.5 Regal Plastics 24 3.0 UMB Bank 02 3.0 Prodigy Baseball 16 4.5 Midwest Orioles 06 5.0

Page 2 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Awesome performances presented by North KC Apt. Giants Awesome performances This space is where we are going to reward outstanding per - June 5 formances in the games throughout the season. * The Milgram Mustangs beat the Midwest Orioles 10-0 in And guess what? five . Shamus Kearney went the distance on the mound. Our first outstanding performance has to go to the rain. He allowed just one in fanning nine and not walking a batter. Why? Because we have had so much rain in the first two weeks * The BJ Raiders blanked Natural Baseball Academy 5-0. of the 2015 season. Andrew Miller pitched a one-hitter. He fanned five and walked A total of 17 have fallen victim to the Kansas City monsoon four. season. June 7 June 1 * Building Champions scored seven runs in the bottom of the * The first game of the season went 12 innings with Building eighth in beating Milgram Mustangs 10-2. Collin Rice was Champions’ Nick Gavin driving in two runs in the top of the three-for-four with a double and four RBIs. 12th with a double to rightfield that netted two runs. * James Richards was four-for-six with two RBIs in the Building Champions went to defeat the Midwest Orioles, 5- Blaze’s 16-3 win over the Orioles. 4. * Jared Gage was three-for-four with a homer and four RBIs June 2 in the AmeriCare Nationals 16-5 win over Prodigy Baseball. * The NKC Apts. Giants scored seven runs in the top of the * Mitchell Rogers was three-for-five with a triple, homer fifth inning in beating Prodigy Baseball 13-3. David Stober had and six RBIs in Seaboard’s 15-5 win over Regal Plastics. five RBIs including a grand slam home . * Jack Pauley was one-for-two with a homer and four RBIs * Tyler Cox had a and three RBIs in the BJ in Natural Baseball’s 9-3 win over the NKC Apts. Giants. Raiders’ 8-4 victory over Seaboard. June 8 * The Milgram Mustangs’ Dylan Christie was three-for-four with two homers and five RBIs in 8-7 win over Building Champions. * The Mustangs’ Cameron Dean was two-for-three with a double, homer and four RBIs in an 11-3 win in the second game.

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Page 3 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Ban Johnson Awards Dinner Dec. 27 at Deer Creek Golf Club

Patrick Burns , NKC Apartments second baseman, received the Frank White Luke Luccetti, Regal Plastic outfielder, received the Alex George Batting Award for Fielding Excellence from KC Royals eight-time Gold Glove winner and BJ Champion award from Alex George, son of BJ Hall of Fame manager Alex George. alum Frank White .

Kent Shelley, (right) head baseball coach, Johnson County Sam Morman, (middle) Milgram Mustangs outfielder, received the Bruce Rice Community College, was inducted into the Ban Johnson Hall of Fame by Hustle Award from 1986 Hustle Award winner Kerry Shaw (left) and 2013 Hustle BJ Hall of Famer Roger Twibell. Award winner Andrew Blackwell.

Matt McHugh, who pitched, played first base and outfield for Seaboard, Tyler Meeks (right) of Natural Baseball Academy, received the 2014 Rick received the Lester Milgram MVP award from 1958 MVP Moe Lago (left) and 1966 Sutcliffe Pitcher of the Year award from event MC Neil Harwell. MVP Ron Zuber . Page 4 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Presented by Steve Stillwell’s Blue Valley Bushidokan BJ Award Winners for 2014 Here is a look at the awards that were pre - by the John Stipetich family) - Sam sented at the Awards Dinner Dec. 27, 2014 at Morman, Milgram Mustangs . the Deer Creek Golf Club: Frank White Award for Fielding BJ Champion - Milgram Mustangs Excellence - - Patrick Burns , NKC Regular Season First Place - Seaboard. Apartments. Most Stolen Bases - Mitchell Glessner, Sidney Brown of the Year - UMB Bank. James Wooten . Moe Lago Most Home Runs Award- Service Awards . Dylan Christie , Milgram Mustangs. 25 Years - Kevin Shaw, manager/coach Marvin Tucker RBI Award - Sam Milgram Mustangs Morman, Milgram Mustangs . 20 Years - Pete Cannizzaro , umpire Alex George Batting Champion - Luke 16 Years - Blake Moore , manager/GM, Luccetti, Regal Plastics BJ Raiders. Ron Zuber Most Award - 15 Years Tim Cordill , umpire. David Reese, NKC Apartments . 10 Years - Ron Rodriguez , umpire. Joe Presko Most Wins Award - Ryan 5 Years - Adam Clay, manager, UMB; Lasneske, Milgram Mustangs and Tyler Aaron Courter, coach, BJ Raiders; Tom Meeks, Natural Baseball Academy . Dailey, manager, NKC Apts.; John DeRoo, Don Saint Lowest ERA Award - David scorekeeper; Danny Holmes, umpire; Reese, NKC Apartments. Mike Leach, umpire; Jim Lilleston, Arnie Briggs -Pitcher of the Year umpire; Carlos Martinez, umpire; Brent Award - Tyler Meeks , Natural Baseball Voth, umpire. Academy. KC MSBL Royals - 10 year team spon - .Bill Fenton All-Star Game MVP - sorship. Aaron Stubblefield, Milgram Mustangs. Appreciation Pat Nolan Championship Series MVP - Special thanks to Awards Dinner Gold Sam Morman, Milgram Mustangs . Sponsor Jack Talley and Enterprise Rent-A- Lester Milgram MVP (Presented by the Car; Silver Sponsor: Dunn Family Foundation; Twibell family) - Matt McHugh , Seaboard. and Bronze Sponsor: Goodwin Pro Turf. Bruce Rice Hustle Award (Presented

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS - 2014 BJ Champion Milgram Mustangs Manager Kevin Shaw and team members celebrated their winning season.

Page 5 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Lucky 13 for 2015 season Continued from page 1 Martinkus, Christian Patterson, Carson Garett, Jared KC Sports Club Blaze Henderson, Luke Knight, Nathan Miller, Alex Cargin This new team is managed by former Major League and Zach Pirrello . Baseball pitcher Jaime Bluma . “We have a lot of new faces on our team this year,” man - MidAmeriCare Nationals ager Brian Knipplemeyer said. “Those who compete early Nationals manager John Gage return first on will make an impact.” baseman/catcher Jared Gage , outfielder Anthony Biondo , North KC Apts. Giants pitcher Sean Goosetree , pitcher/outfielder AJ Boyer , pitch - “The NKC Giants will have a young roster with many er John Rector , infielder Rohman Viar , infielder Mason new faces to the league,” manager Dan Stacks said. “We Nowell and pitcher Mark Montisano. have a number of high school seniors and college freshmen The newcomers are catcher AC Long , infielder Phillip that will make up the majority of our team.” Hammons , outfielder Shaq Theus , outfielder J ordan He mentioned four returning players in pitcher Brock Eckley , pitcher Luke Eckley , infielder Jordan Barba, Lorenzen , pitcher Alex Merithew , pitcher/ pitcher Alex Smith , pitcher Caleb Curry , infielder Chris Alex Pener and third baseman Tim Mahoney . Flansburg and pitcher Cory Pleacher . Prodigy Baseball Midwest Orioles This is a new team with Jesse McSpadden as the man - The manager is Vince Smith. ager. Milgram Mustangs He is counting on two high school players in third base - The Mustangs are the reigning league champions. man/pitcher Jordan Robben and pitcher Zachary Heggar Veteran manager Kevin Shaw returns outfielder along with college infielder Andrew Vogelbaugh . Andrew Curry , catcher Colton Hilbrenner , outfielder Regal Plastics Wes Jones and pitchers Dakota Graham and Derek The manager is Hunter Brown . Mann. Seaboard Shaw is looking for contributions from returnees out - Veteran manager Will Meie r only returns only three fielder Cameron Dean , infielder/outfielder AJ Salinas and players from the club’s 2014 regular season championship. shortstop Zac Shaw . Back in the fold are catcher/outfielder Andrew Warner , The newcomers include pitchers Shamus Kearney and catcher/first baseman David White and catcher/first base - Easton Barnes and third baseman John Eckert . man Michael Hayworth . MSBL Royals UMB Bank Veteran manager Tony Hurla doesn’t return a lot of The team has a new manager in Cary Lundy , who is players from his 2014 team. back at the helm after taking a few years off from manage - Back in the fold is first baseman/outfielder Ryan Fisher . rial tasks. He is expecting help from pitcher/outfielder newcomer The team returns outfielder Eric Ross and pitcher Jacob RJ Burrola . Van Vacter. “We are just a gritty bunch,” Hurla said. The newcomers mentioned by Lundy are pitchers Natural Baseball Academy McConnell Preston and Tyler Townsend , catcher Zach The club returns a number of players from last year Harris and outfielder Willie Brown . including Trevor Burkdoll, Miatt Elliott, Brandon “We will have to earn respect in the league,” Lundy said.

Page 6 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 In Memoriam Paul Provas He pitched for the Milgram team, was He passed on Oct. 23, 2014. the 1957 BJ MVP and is a member of the He was a professional scout for the Ban Johnson Hall of Fame. White Sox since 1992 and the , 1983-1992. He was a mem - Frances Motley ber of the Texas and Midwest Scouts Halls She passed on Dec. 12, 2014. of Fame. He was a graduate of Shawnee She was the wife of former Milgram Mission North and JCCC. He played and Mustangs manager and current general coached for the Milgram team, 1967-1975. manager Don Motley for 67 years. She played a vital role in Coach Ray Sadecki Motley’s baseball teams in BJ and He passed on Nov, 17, 2014. American Legion. He was a graduate of Bishop Ward High She was the mother of former Milgram School in Kansas City, Kan. players Don Motley, Jr., and Leonard He was a pitcher Motley who preceded her in death. from 1960-1977. The left-hander pitched She was the grandmother of Brittan for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Motley, Milgram Mustangs scout. Giants, , She spent 31 years as an accountant and . He won 135 big for the City of Kansas City, Missouri. league games.

Page 7 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Alumni Corner presented by Moe Lago Shelley inducted into BJ Hall of Fame Long-time Johnson County Community College Johnson in the 1980 and 1981 seasons. baseball coach and former Ban Johnson League He was an All-Star catcher for KC Life in 1981 player Kent Shelley was inducted into the Ban and finished in the top 10 in batting with an average Johnson League Hall of Fame on Dec. 27, 2014 at of .344. the BJ Awards Dinner. He played in the 1981 All-Star Game at Kauffman In attendance were JCCC President Dr. Joe Stadium. Sopich and Athletic Director Carl Heinrich. “As a former player/all-star in the Ban Johnson Shelley has been the Cavaliers’ coach since 1987. League, I was deeply humbled and honored to learn In his 28 years at the helm of the Cavaliers base - that I was going to be inducted into the Ban Johnson ball progrm, his team’s have posted a record of 879- Hall of Fame and join such an elite group of individ - 530-1. uals who have made significant contributions to our His 2014 team went 50-14, making it to the game and have impacted so many young lives NJCAA (Naional Junior College Athletic throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area,” he Association) . said. “The Ban Johnson League has always been Shelley was inducted into the American Baseball recognized as a first-class league, which provides Coaches (ABCA) Hall of Fame in 2013, the highest opportunities for college age players to continue honor for a college baseball coach. their individual skills, while gaining exposure to col - He was president of the ABCA in 2007 and is lege coaches as well as professional scouts. now a lifetime board member “The leadership is outstanding and the coaches Shelley grew up in Lawrence. who work with these players during the summer are He played baseball for the Lawrence Lions, Pratt passionate and dedicated to making each player a Community College and the University of Kansas. better player, but more importantly, a better person.” Shelley played for Kansas City Life in the Ban

Several members of the Ban Johnson Hall of Fame enjoyed the 2014 Ban Johnson Awards Dinner. (left to right): Chuck Dobson, Roger Twibell, Carl Blando, Moe Lago, Frank White, Kent Shelley and Don Motley.

Page 8 BJ Beacon June 12, 2015 Early season Ban Johnson League action

NEW TEAM - Prodigy Baseball, coached by for - mer Ban Johnson players Jesse McSpadden and Michael Younghanz , played its first league games against the NKC Apartments Giants June 2 at Mid-America Sports Complex.

MEETING OF THE MINDS - Kevin Shaw , Milgram man - ager (left), confers with pitch - er Derek Mann and catcher Colton Hilbrenner in the first game of a twin-bill against Regal Plastic June 2 at Mid- America Sports Complex. Milgram is trying to repeat as league champion.

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