2005 YEARBOOK the San Antonio Men's Senior Baseball League
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2005 YEARBOOK The San Antonio Men’s Senior Baseball League triggered its 14th season in January 2005 with a huge Manager’s meeting at Kelly USA Officer’s Club. After coming off a tremendous 2004 season culminating in 12 teams going to the World Series with 6 reaching playoff day, the SAMSBL refocused to do better in 2005. We started the year by introducing Rookie managers for all to pick on. New to the title included Andrew Denny , 18+ & 28+ Dodgers Grays; David Vargas, 18+ Reds; and Rick Harm, 18+ Angels. The 28+ Group saw Ed Leos, Tigers; Aldo Aguilar, White Sox; Steve Beltran, Cubs; Sal Cuevas, Red Sox; and Joe Guiterriz, Tejanos. Only one new guy popped up in the 38+ Division, Rick Shasteen of the Astros. The 48+ Group had 2 new guys at the helm with Tom Keyser, Sox; and Pete Powell, Cardinals. However, they added two new teams with Bill Sirakos of the Pirates and Skip Bradley of the 58+ Texas. All new teams won at least 2 games and every team lost at least one. As a League, we have experienced the sensation of doubt for nearly all the games. As the season progressed, we lived the adage: “on any given day who knows who will win”. It is a great feeling to go to a game knowing that your competition can kick you hard if you do not play your very best. Two teams a generation apart retooled and literally “shot out of the cannon” from the start. The 48+ Mariners, managed by Doug McLaughlin, won their first 8 games with the addition of pitcher Tony Davis. The 18+ Astros, managed by Joseph Molina, won their first 5 games with the addition of Brent Bible, Shawn Hamilton, Jason Rusick, and Rolando Periales. Others for the Astros include Brett Joseph, Derrick Alvarado, Sean Bressette, David Davilla, Eric Martinez, Glenn Weaver, Matt Molina, Nick Mendez, and Roger Valdez. Joseph is considering stepping down as manager of the Astros. He created the team and has been its sole manager for 5 years. He will make his decision in late 2005. He is a good man. The 48+ Mariners supported Tony with Dave Mellott, John McCarr, David Bentley, Bob Crotty, Tom Flournoy, Carl Johnson, Earl Smith, Scott Tellkamp, John Ugrate, Ruben Cevallos, and Keith Becker. However, one man on the team was an anchor in the Mariner outfield and in the League. Sam Sarrizan has been playing in this league since its existence. He has been an adversary, an opponent, a teammate, and now an advisor, and finally a friend. He is an asset to the League. Still maintaining the team motto of “Thank God We Can Still Play”, the 28+ Braves completed one of their best seasons, ever. The additions of pitcher Xavier Garcia, shortstop Randy Diaz, and the added talents of Joseph Garcia, made a huge difference. The biggest change came from the Braves offense. Keys were the clutch hitting from Bryan Mylar, brothers Leon (Manager) and Sixto Aleman, Dale Haines, Bob Furmage, and Rene Martinez. Defense of Hector Trevino, Jaime Rangel, Ben Villalobos, Jason Marmolejo, and Raul Ritchie allowed fewer errors versus last year’s squad. Martin Esquivel was strong in relief. Losing more than half their games by one run with several of those being in the last inning, the Braves always showed up for the next contest. Perhaps, though, the toughest game to lose was a 9-inning, 2 hours-3 minutes battle with a close play at home for the deciding run for the opposing Rangers. As a team, the Braves all agreed the winning pitcher, our League President, pitched a complete game far above his head. But, we lost. What a season! The 48+ Sox had a slow start but came on strong at the finish. Tom Keyser grabbed his big bull by the horns and led the way to the City Championship with gutsy efforts. Steady performances by Rufus Miller, Juan Ahumada, John Blair, Fred Douglas, Dale Searles, John Neyland, and Lee Bunton were instrumental down the stretch. Billy Jacobs pitched 17 innings within 24 hours to cap an excellent season. Bob Hoeffner anchored the defense at shortstop nearly every game and provided timely hits throughout the season except when he faced a certain lefty buzz saw. Charlie Zapata finished out the season as the manager of the 28+ Cardinals. Mike and Rey Luna were the best brother combination up the middle in the league. Raul Salazar provided powerful hitting, often. He kept hitting homeruns. Once, he even hit what appeared to be a long, high, and deep grand slam until he ran past his teammate at first base. An interesting scene occurred even on the immediate correct ruling by the umpires. Bothers Tommy and Albert Martinez also hit often and hard. Brothers David and Nate (& Charlie) Zapata pitched, caught, and hit consistently. The Cardinals were the League and City Champions for the second year in a row. When the 38+ Missions would field its entire team, they were tough to beat. Manager Terry Talley was excited early on when guys like Todd Sandage, Robbie Moore, Mike Hausig, John Leland, Joe Santos, Gene Snider, Buster Jones, Johnny Chapa, Jesse Hernandez, and Fernando Villagran would all show up. He had many options from this talented group. However, as the season wore on, Terry saw the handwriting on the wall. The Missions played their last game in August. Wes Rogers, 48+ Mets, also looked forward to an excellent year. He made some off-season trades to acquire Dick Evans, John Pugl, Armando Cantu, Rocky Self, Bill Ehrhardt, Phil Bepko, and Rey Arredondo. This group added to the talent of Davis Jackson, Jim Lee, George Morales, Ben Powers, and Mike Peterson. Then to cap it off, his team had the 1st round draft pick in February, and chose rookie Jim Bailey. This squad finally gelled and played some excellent baseball. The Mets will be tough to beat for years to come. Rookies David Vargas and Javier Guerrero managed a new team, the 18+ Reds. As with any new team, the players need to get to know each other. They took a rookie team of Jim Snowden, Simon Rodriguez, Jesse Jasso, Ronald Sibley, Charlie Rickman, Thomas Reavis, and Daniel Reyes among others and learned once again that it takes time to make a team. About mid-season, David White and Drew Spencer showed up and the Reds became a force. They have an excellent future in the 18+ Division. Rookie manager, Rick Shasteen, 38+ Astros, got off to a slow start. A consistent powerhouse of a team the last several years, Rick had to re-organize the group his way. His talented team included Tony De La O, Sean Nolan, Charlie Griffin, rookie Ron Gray, Gino Martinez, Nick Flores, Bob Furmage, Dale Hanes, and Leon Aleman. They finished very strong. Dr. Kent Keeton, 18+ Rangers, turned most of the operations over to former pro player Kelly Skeens and he did not disappoint anyone. With talent like Matt Largent, Roman Villareal, Robert Ott, Mat Srp, Chad Zimmerman, Clint Samsom, Carlos Chavez, and Jeremy Brimer, the Rangers proved to be a good ball club, once again. Doc built solid team over the years and Kelly knows baseball. The team finished one game out of first place in the league and then dominated the city championship tournament with lopsided victories. Doc and Kelly have agreed to one more year. Jim Parker, 48+ Astros, added Mike Surls and Hal Butler to the mix of John Moore, Val Cass, Sid Dukes, Kevin Kline, Ed Oswald, Dicky Vaughn, Clarence McCarty, and Tom Hearn to make a team that was hard to beat. When pitcher Joel Morley was on the mound with Dave Parker (brother) catching, they were especially tough. But Jim’s main asset was his keen organization of his team’s myriad of details handled by Mr. Albert Motz. Everything from lineup cards to identifiable game balls, Albert got it all done each week. Oscar Banda, Sr, Oscar Banda, Jr, Roland Banda, and Ralph Banda (father and sons) all of the 38+ Cubs had another sensational year. With pitching from David Hernandez and Jose Luis Velasquiz, the Cubs were hard to hit. Defensively the Cubs had Miquel Rodriquez in the infield and Chefo Guiterrez in the outfield along with David Cantu, Rafael Olivares, Reggie Smith, Ramiro Flores, Joe Besa, Jason Hild and Larry Cheatwood. And all these guys could hit. But on a rare occasion, when a certain lefty buzz saw pitched against them, Greg “Red” Hemphill had trouble nearly every at bat, once even hurting his back on a swing. The Cubs played very well all season and won both the League and City Championships for the second year in a row. Great job! Rick Harm, 18+ Angels, took over the squad and made it his own. He got to play with his sons, Justin and Ryan. Joseph Gonzales, Chris Kottwitz, Jeff Lewis, Brian Salas, Mike Veliz, Santiago Cavazos, Derek Kratewski, Ed Lopez are some of the players who helped make the team solid in every aspect of the game. The 48+ Rangers, managed by Bob Bepko, had a tumultuous year from the start. Losing several key players, Bob added rookies Dan Acosta and Pat Bonney to the mix of Jerry Spencer, Glenn Grossenbacher, Gil Cortez, Dennis Iker, Dale Meek, Bill Downing, Gary Etter, John Lerette, Robert Stull, and Louie Mendez. These guys played great together. Dan and Pat proved to be excellent ball players who anchored the outfield and pitching duties. The team won the League Championship.