Washington Township Senators 35+

Once again the Senators get to spend the winter basking in the glow of a championship season. It was a year filled with adversity, challenges, and fun, and I feel very, very privilged to be standing on top of the mountain once again. And I am proud to have been able to share the experience with all of you. Right now, I want to provide a brief reminder of that #41 we wore on our caps this year. This championship season was and is dedicated to the memory or Joe Pavlik, former Senator and great friend to many of us, brother to our 28+ catcher, Mike Pavlik. How Joe would have loved being a part of these past two years! I have two very fond baseball memories of Joe, a true gentleman, and a true character if there ever was one. 1. We visited the Northeast Reds up at Riverside AA field. At this point, Joe was badly hobbled by a case of gout -- think Jim Toth BEFORE and subtract about 10 steps of speed. Well, Joe lets fly with a blast on this field that soars over the centerfielder's head and lands (I'm not kidding) almost on the PITCHER'S MOUND of the field directly opposite the one we were playing on. This had to be a 480 foot blast if it was a yard. It was hit so far that gout and all, Joe was able to take a home run trot around the bases and score without a throw. To this day, it's the longest home run I've ever seen live outside a big league ballpark. 2. We traveled up to Middlesex one Sunday morning to play a Middlesex White Sox team that was LOADED. We had NO SHOT to win this game, as we were as short-handed as we've ever been in team history. Mike Malatesta, all 5'2" of him, was our first baseman. Dean Marchese was in right. Miles Reader was at shortstop, and Pete Elliot (a pitcher) was in left. Those guys all had one fact in common: they were playing positions they had NEVER played in a Senator uniform, and to my knowledge, positions they never were to play again as Senators. The rest of the players were in position -- Mark Alessandrini (cf), me (2b), Mike Pavlik (c), and Frank Rose (3b). And on the hill was #41, our second string hurler with a big, looping curveball, no fast ball whatsoever, and a ton of heart. Well, Mike Pav hit a first-inning three-run dinger off this big, hard-throwing pitcher (who had started the All-Star Game that year), and our lefty spent the entire day playing pepper with those guys. Grounder after grounder to the left side, and a few to the right as well. He survived a beautiful FOUR-ERROR performance by Mr. Reader at short (sorry Miles!), and held those guys down as we beat them 4-3. I have never seen a team as vexed as those White Sox were on that morning. You could almost see steam coming from under their batting helmets. It was the most unexpected victory perhaps in team history. Joe LOVED it. And that's how I'll always remember Joe Pavlik. I hope #41 is up there starting the Senator Heaven Squad, so we'll all have a place to play when we join him.