18-Grip Shield Glory Days

TIGRES 15 MANATEES 0 (7)   

     The Tigres won their fifth AAA division title in a row, and their 13th overall, by overwhelming a despirited Manatees’ team at Santaluces, Lantana.  The tone for the game was set in the first inning when the Tigres scored two runs without a hit, taking advantage of four walks, a stolen base, passed ball and wild pitch.  There was a somber tone among the Manatees, who lost teammate and 28-year old pitcher Lars Knepper earlier in the week.  Knepper died of an as yet undetermined cause. 

     After settling down from his uncharacteristic wildness in the first inning, Danny LaPerna retired the side in order in the second, but the roof caved in the third. 

     A pair of errors by the usually sure handed Jimmy Efre at shortstop opened the flood gates.  Ariel Adames walked to load the bases and catcher Luis DeLaCruz unloaded them with a three run double that just eluded left fielder Dave Gariepy, the drive deflecting off the top of his glove.  After Jose Mojica’s single advanced DeLaCruz to third, Ketnold Noel lofted a sacrifice fly to left for the fourth run of the inning and a six run lead. 

     The Tigres added nine more runs in the next three innings that left no doubt about the outcome.  First baseman Cory Shaver ripped a two run triple to right field that ended the day for  LaPerna.  Steven Hibbs walked three straight batters, including DeLaCruz with the bases loaded to make it 9-0. 

     Four more runs in the fifth inning upped it to 13-0.  The lefthanded hitting Shaver smashed a two run single down the right field line, followed by a double that dropped between three players in right field, off the bat of leadoff hitter Rob Conver. 

     The Tigres added two more in the sixth inning on hits by DeLaCruz and Noel, sandwiched around a third error by the Manatees’ shortstop.  Noel’s single drove in his second run of the game, sending Mohica to third, where he scored on an around the horn double play started by Mike Wood.   Drew Davis pitched the seventh and final inning and retired the Tigres in order. 

     The Manatees’ frustration carried over to their almost total lack of offense.  Tigres’ startier Juan Mejia held them to no hits for the first four innings with five strikeouts.  Catcher Manny Reyes broke the spell with a double to left, but courtesy runner Max Johnson,  was thrown out trying to steal third.  Mejia got the next two hitters to end the threat.  Nate Feldman pitched a scoreless sixth, giving up a hit to Cory Gammons.  Wilson Ciprian got the first two outs in the 7th, and Gustavo Lopez registered the final out.   Mejia with one hit shutout ball for innings was named MVP.

Palm Beacher is MVP as Dallas, Tampa Bay team capture Florida World Series titles

          The Dallas (TX) Redbirds and Tampa Bay Thunder won championships Sunday, November 9 in Jupiter, with both games shortened by steady rainfall.  Dallas, managed by Dallas-Fort Worth league President JD Magee, defeated the Tri-State Titans of South Jersey 4-0 at Roger Dean Stadium to cop the 25 Wood Division title, while the Thunder scored a first inning run and it held up to defeat the two time defending champion NY Mariners 1-0 at St. Louis Cardinals Field #4. 

          The Redbirds-Titans game had to be called in the top of the 6th inning when the morning long rain caused difficulties for the pitchers.  The Tampa Bay-New York game was called after five complete innings.  Stadium officials and the NABA agreed on Saturday night to move the championship games to two different fields because of the threat of rain, and that proved to be a wise decision since the title games were played to the point of being “official games”. 

          Paul Chasse (pronounced “chase”), who has pitched for several NABA Palm Beach League teams, went the distance with a two hitter and won Most Outstanding Player honors.  Another Palm Beacher, Joshua Rivera, also had a win earlier in the tournament for the Dallas team.  Several other Palm Beach players also participated in the tournament.  

The Tigres broke a 5-5 tie with a brace of five runs from the 5th to 7th innings to earn their 12th league championship, and their fourth in a row with a 10-5 victory over the second seeded Manatees in the 18AAA Division title game at the Santaluces Baseball Complex in Lantana on Sunday, September 7.  Former St. Louis Cardinals' farmhand Wilson Ciprian turned things around with a 4 1/3 inning shutout relief appearance, and another former Cardinals' minor leaguer, Luis DeLaCruz banged out three hits and knocked in three runs to earn Most Valualbe Player honors. 

Moments earlier, the upset-minded Glory Days made it five league championships for that franchise when they routed the Orioles 14-1 in the 18AA division title game.  The game featured a stellar pitching performance by lefthander Shane Farnsworth and a great game offensively and defensively by Dan Segui, the game's Most Valualbe Player.    

Glory Days, who first joined the Palm Beach League in 1993, went into the playoffs as the number three seed in the North Division and scored a 5-4 victory over the North's top seed, the Leones (18-2 for the regular season) behing the complete game pitching performance by veteran John Hrosovsky to earn the AA final game.  The Orioles upheld their #1 ranking with a 7-4 verdict over the second seeded Padres to earn a trip to the AA championship.   

The day started under threatening skies following torrential rains the night before throughout the area, but the threat of rain and thunderstorms never materialized as brillliant sunshine prevailed most of the day.  

There was an emotional start to championship day as Rona Ginsburg, and her son Adam, came to the Santaluces Complex before the start of the morning game and offered a prayer, followed by a moment of silence with all four teams lining the base paths in tribute to the late umpire Bernie Ginsburg, who passed away on Tuesday, September 4 after a fall at a rehabiliation facility in Wellington, where he was recovering from nine hours of back surgery the week before in the Miami area.  In the afternoon on Sunday, members of Los Tigres and the Manatees also lined the basepaths and offered a moment of silence to Bernie's memory before the start of their championship game. 

Below is a rundown of the complete Palm Beach League playoff results. 

PALM BEACH LEAGUE SCHEDULE/SCOREBOARD

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

(All games at Santaluces Baseball Complex, Lantana, Florida)

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS  

18AAA-Los Tigres 10 Manatees 5    18AA-Glory Days 14 Orioles 1 

 DIVISIONAL FINALS

North Final-Glory Days 5 Leones 4, South Final-Orioles 7 Padres 4

PLAYOFFS---AUGUST 24, 2014

At Roger Dean St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Complex, Jupiter, FL  

18AAA Semifinals-Los Tigres 10 Beach Bums 6

18AAA Semifinals-Manatees 9 Bandits 3

At Santaluces Baseball Complex, Lantana, FL 

18AA North Division Quarterfinals

Glory Days 14 Dodgers 8, Mets 7 Cuban Sugar Kings 4

18AA South Divisional Quarterfinals

Red Sox 14 Rough Riders 2, Thunder 6 Marlins 1

18AA North Division Semfinals

 Glory Days 17 Reds 12, Leones 8 Mets 0                   

 18AA South Division Semifinals

 Padres 6 Red Sox 1, Orioles 9 Thunder 8

Bernie Ginsburg, who served us so well for the past few seasons as Umpire Supervisor and working umpire, passed away at the age of 70, in the early hours of Tuesday, September 2, 2014.  He was recovering in a rehabilitation facility in Wellington, from back surgery performed the week before in the Miami area.   

In addition to his umpiring work in the NABA Palm Beach League, Bernie worked many games for the New York Mets and their minor league affiliated players at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, where he was well liked by the late Hall of Famer Gary Carter and present Mets' manager Terry Collins.  He came into contact with many players who have gone on to major league stardom with the Mets and other organizations. 

In attending his funeral service, I learned a lot more about this wonderful man.  He was unabashed in his love and loyalty to his wife, Rona.  They were married for 46 1/2 years and raised two children--Adam, an assistant basketball coach at the University of Massachusetts, and Alana, his daughter who is a pediatrician.  Each of Bernie and Rona's children have two children of their own, all of whom adored their Papa Bernie. 

It was so gratifying to see so many umpires and players who attended the morning funeral service.  He was laid to rest on Thursday, September 4. 

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bernie was a high school biology teacher in his home town, and worked other part time jobs to help support his family.  He began his umpiring career in Long Island, New York, working Adult League games there before moving to Boynton Beach, Florida, and becoming our fifth Umpire Assigner.    

He was a golfer, an avid fisherman (his email address--umpangler@comcast.net tells us that), and enjoyed bowling, neighborhood family card games with Rona and friends, and was an accomplished car mechanic as well.  He also loved music, played clarinet and was famous for sending out jokes and other articles of interest to many of us.  He had a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh that permeated any discussion we had. 

Personally, Bernie's passing leaves a great void for me.  We talked many times each week, not only about baseball (for both of us, the greatest game in the world), but about our families.  Bernie was so proud of his kids and grandkids, and attended all of the many family events.  With Bernie it was always---God, family and his great love of baseball, traits that all of us should want to emulate.    

In the past couple of years, Bernie umpired games through lots of pain.  He had hip and knee problems and underwent surgery for both.  A tireless worker, Bernie worked many doubleheaders in his heyday, but the pain he suffered through most recentlylimited him to mostly one game on any given Sunday.  

We will sorely miss Bernie and we will dedicate the league championships this Sunday, September 7 to the memory of this wonderful man.   I will ask the teams to observe a moment of silence before their games as a tribute to a truly great human being.     

His umpiring partner for many, many games---Hector Cruz, will take over as umpire assigner, and Andy Sadowsky has volunteered to help Hector in several ways, including the recruiting of more umpires for the Palm Beach League.   

It is with great sadness that I say----Shalom, my dear friend. 

Lou Palmer, President

NABA Palm Beach

AAA---TIGRES CAPTURE THEIR 11TH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP, SINK SENATORS 9-1.   WINNING PITCHER NATE FELDMAN GOES SEVEN STRONG FOR WIN, AND MVP AWARD.

AA---LEONES BREAK OPEN CLOSE GAME WITH FIVE RUN 9TH INNING TO KNOCK OFF NATIONALS 10-4 FOR THEIR FIRST LEAGUE TITLE.   RACIEL ESCALONA WINS MVP PLAQUE WITH THREE HITS AND STELLER DEFENSIVE PLAY.  

PALM BEACH PLAYOFFS - RESULTS FEB. 2, 2014 (SEEDINGS IN PARENTHESES)

AAA SEMIFINALS--(4) SENATORS 9 (1) MANATEES 3

AAA SEMIFINALS-- (2) LOS TIGRES 18 (3) BEACH BUMS 6

AA SEMIFINALS---- (1) NATIONALS 4 (4) SUGAR KINGS 0                         

AA SEMIFINALS---- (3) LEONES 4 (2) MARLINS 0