April 8, 2010
Strong recruiting pays off
by Brett Rudy/
Franz Strassman took over Grossman Marketing in 2008 and led the team to a Park League championship.
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It’s a long offseason in New England for amateur baseball league
players, as their season does not begin until May. For amateur
baseball league managers, there is no offseason.
At the amateur level, recruiting can be the most critical component
of building a successful ballclub.
For managers, there are many barriers to overcome. Playing on a team can be expensive. New players are asked to contribute about $250 for team fees and another $125 or so for a uniform. Amateur ballfields aren’t always high quality. Home fields are often leftovers that college, high school and youth teams are not using. Game times can be less than ideal. Those who work or enjoy weekend sleep may be deterred by games often starting at 10 a.m. on weekends or running as late as 11 p.m. on work nights.
So, how do managers convince players, especially the good players, to play for them?
Sean “Skip” McCarty
West Roxbury Bluefish
Yawkey Baseball League
The Bluefish were formed immediately after the 2003 season with the merger of two Men’s Adult Baseball League teams, the Braves and Mets. Al Becker, who at the time was leading the Mets, was looking for a replacement, as he wanted to just play, not manage.
The Braves team was older, with many players looking to retire. So, the Mets and Braves merged, and Sean McCarty became manager.
The Bluefish migrated to the Yawkey Baseball League in 2005. Through their six years as a franchise, the Bluefish have appeared in the playoffs each year, with a .665 winning percentage overall.
The Bluefish also are the two-time defending champions in the Yawkey League. McCarty was rewarded with Manager of the Year accolades both years.
McCarty shared his approach to how he built up his team.
“With every year that has gone by, the Bluefish have tapped more and more college players to join our team,” he said. “The key to
winning championships is to upgrade the team particularly through
young pitching. Our starting pitching staff during the last two
championships has been comprised of guys that are either still in
college or have just graduated. This is important, because these
pitchers still have the fresh arms that are needed to compete for
titles.”
Added McCarty: “It’s about networking. Every year that you bring
in new players to your team, they will generally have a friend or two
to recommend to the team as well. Entering our 2009 season, Chris
Sandini, one of our ace pitchers from Wentworth, asked to bring in
another one of their pitchers, Matt Dannenhoffer, to the team. Matt
was a key piece to our 2009 title. Networking also enabled four
former Billerica Memorial High School standouts to come together:
Sean Glavin, Kevin Graham, Chris Santosuosso and Chris Hartery. We have also collaborated with some area colleges to obtain a player here or there.”
McCarty said each new season brings challenges in roster management.
“The biggest issue we have in preparing for any season is making
sure we have commitments from the previous year’s players,” he
said. “Players sometimes do not know what their summer plans are for many reasons, and sometimes it makes it tough to go out and recruit for positions of need when you do not know the status of those from the year before. We recruit and formulate our roster all the way up until Opening Day, but I would prefer to have all that work done a lot sooner.”
McCarty believes he has made some roster moves that will allow him to compete for another championship in 2010, though he expects the Bluefish to have a bull’s-eye on their back while trying to win
their third straight title.
Franz Strassmann
Grossman Marketing
Boston Park League
In 2008, Franz Strassmann took over as manager for Boston Park
League’s Grossman Marketing. The team had just changed its name from Mass Envelope and had come off an abysmal 9-22 season.
Having first played in the Park League in 1980 with the Triple D’s, Strassmann knew what made for a successful amateur team. In Strassmann’s first year as manager, he turned Grossman Marketing around and won a Park League championship.
Strassmann attributes recruiting efforts as key to his success.
“League president Walter Bentson contacts all the area college
coaches each year and reminds them that the Park League is a good summer option for their kids. Of the responses Walter gets, he
forwards them to all the Park League managers to go after.”
Instead of competing against other Park League managers for the same referrals, Strassmann makes his biggest roster moves on his own.
Grossman Marketing added eight players in 2008 who had played the prior season for league rival Towne Club: Bill Andruskevich, Chris
Malloy, Don Ferbert, Jim Klocek, Joe McCabe, Pete Pasciucco, Scott
Hampe and Tim Reinhardt. The team improved to 19-13 on its title run.
Still, getting players to show up for games wasn’t always easy.
“On any given day, kids don’t know if they are going to play.
Players all show up when the team is doing well, which makes the team better. But when the team isn’t doing as well, players stop showing up. It’s always a balance between having too many kids and not enough showing up regularly.”
In 2009, Grossman Marketing had a strong team again, returning 20 players from its championship squad. Yet the squad finished dead last at 8-24.
“We lost a lot of one-run games last season,” Strassmann said.
In fact, Grossman Marketing lost six games by a single run. Yet, had the team won all those games, it still wouldn’t have made the playoffs.
Perhaps it was the lack of recruiting. In 2009, Grossman Marketing
added just one player that contributed 10 or more at-bats — Alex
Fischer, a .324 batter, but one who played in just 11 of 31 games.
Sometimes even a championship team needs to recruit each year to stay competitive.
Strassmann is looking forward to a rebound in 2010.
“We have been doing a lot of networking for younger blood,” he
said. “We have Holy Cross alumni on the squad who are helping us
with recruiting, and we have some other collegiate leads as well.
Getting college kids can be important, as they have just played a
full season of college ball by the time our season starts. So they
start playing Park League already in midseason form.”
According to Strassmann, there will be no complacency for Grossman Marketing looking ahead to 2010. l
