October 3, 2023 • 35 mins
We're talking Legion Baseball!
Coach talks to Orange Sr. Legion Baseball Coach Jeff Rotteck and North Haven Sr Legion GM and long time sponsor of all things HS sports Charlie Flanagan!
Coach talks to Orange Sr. Legion Baseball Coach Jeff Rotteck and North Haven Sr Legion GM and long time sponsor of all things HS sports Charlie Flanagan!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, I'm the coach George Demayo. The best of the coach. Tomayo
Sports Machine is brought to you byFlannagan Associates, twelve Peck Street in North
Aven. Charlie Flanagan by far thebest insurance man in the country. You
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World Insurance dot com. That's WorldInsurance dot com. And again give McCall
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Charlie Flanagan is the man. He'sbeen serving the North Haven area for
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more than thirty years and his advisersthere along with Charlie, they're going to
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twelve Peck Street, North Haven,or give him a call at two oh
three two three nine five one sevenone. That's two O three two,
three, nine, five, oneseven one. H Yeah, let's talk
(02:13):
some baseball. Talker basball. That'swhat you've got to play. When we
have baseball coaches, you gotta playthat talking baseball. Remember I told you
Henry the Terry Cashman talking baseball.This guy here, I just told the
story a couple of minutes ago.Jeff Roddick joins me. Now, I
said, I said, Jeff Roddick, course assistant coach, had amity for
(02:34):
twenty nine years. One coach,and he's coaching. And he's coaching the
Range Senior Legion team. Oh that'sa no, no, you can only
coach five year players, I said, rest easy. He resigned, so
he's doing nothing wrong coaching the team. But he joins me now, and
I'm glad to have him. Hello, Jeff, Good morning, coach Tomayo.
(02:57):
How are you. I'm littling great, listen, I know you're I
know you got a party at yourhouse today for your daughter. Is that
what you told me? Yeah?Graduated high school. I hope you got
a tent. You got a tent, We kept a couple. You got
a lot of friends came through forus. Okay, good, because it's
just I'm saying what times the partystart? About three o'clock. You'll you'll
(03:20):
be a trickle in. Yeah,you'll be all yeah, we should be
all right, Yeah, we'll seeI know you see. If not,
I don't want to get any troublein the Rotic family. But I can't
help the weather anyway. So youwere with South CA Polo, whom you
know I love dearly and a greatguy twenty nine years and then hung them
up this year. Really, Iguess to concentrate on family and things like
(03:44):
that, and I understand all that, but in my mind, this is
my mind, which is, wedon't know where that is. Could have
easily been over the twenty nine yearsa head coach anywhere. That's how good
you are. You could have beenhead coach anyway you want it. That's
my opinion. What do you thinkI'll tell you about that? When when
(04:08):
I had an opportunity to coach withuh Sal that's going back twenty nine years
ago. You know, it wasjust an opportunity to coach, and I
never really thought about coaching. Iobviously loved baseball, but then coaching with
him as long as I did,and you know, I not only have
I have I had a coaching career. I have a really close friend in
(04:30):
Sal Coppola and a lot of otherpeople in the Amity community. I mean,
it's just a great community. I'vemet a lot of great coaches,
a lot of great people, andthey've taught me a lot. Well,
I'll tell you right now, youand Coppola on a one two punch that
is unbelievable. And now this isyour first year as head coach of the
senior Legion team though, correct,right, I thought, so how to
(04:55):
do it legally? No? No, I know what it is. All
all he resigns, so you're notcoaching anymore. You're right, and your
son is on the team which thatnight, which is nice. But what
a start for this Orange Legion teamthat I've seen a couple of times.
And I think you're chew and ohwhen I'm there, because you've already had
(05:15):
two players that I put up gotPlayer of the game. So I'm certainly
no hindrance there now, am I? No? No show up every night?
Fine with us? You guys,you have a great bunch of kids
being the headman. Now right,you're the headman. It's not like,
oh, hey, where in thehell is cell I gotta now this is
(05:36):
your team. And obviously being withhim an assistant for twenty nine years,
obviously you know what deck's going onand what to do. But it's different
at Legion time, Jeff, asa coach said the other night, because
from night to night and you playa lot of games in just a few
weeks, you really don't know who'scoming all the time, do you.
(05:56):
Well, I tell you our guysthis year, you said, we had
a lot of guys, not onlyfrom an Amity program. We have a
couple of Notre Dame guys. Wehave a couple and Sonya guys. And
people are showing up consistently. They'rethey're eating my warning and just calling ahead
and letting me know if they ifthey have trips and things like that,
which I appreciate. It is summer, they got families and but everybody's been
(06:21):
there. They you know, justa good bunch of guys. So it's
a pleasure. And one thing Idid to make my life easier is know
that I needed assistant coaches. AndI have two former Amity players, John
mcnellis and John Lompinski, who arehelping me out. Well, yeah,
don't both have a very nice youngman. Yes, yeah, both are
great guys. And actually mcnellis hasbeen coaching the junior Legion for a while
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now and I I rely on himto tell me some things about how it's
done here in the Legion world.So I really appreciate what they're doing for
me. Makes my life a loteasier as head coach. Yeah, is
there all the general manager of thetwo? Who's theres a GM? Is
it still Nick? Yeah? No, it's Joe Pizzano, another former right,
(07:06):
former Amity guy. I'm sorry.I should have known next. I
talked to Joe all the time ortext them anyway. Yeah, he and
his brother VJ played in our programand uh both did a good job.
Joe is on one of our championshipteams back in the day, and he
is We're we are running up thephone bill, let's just say the least
(07:27):
this summer. Well, why nottell Joe take care of the bill.
Don't worry about it. Don't worryabout it. Obviously in Legion with obviously
like number of pitches in the game, you can throw up to so many
and so many days rest, Sopitching is so important in Legion ball,
like like high school baseball is,but you don't seem to have a problem
(07:50):
in lack of arms though. Here. Well, there are a lot of
guys who tell me they can throw, that's for sure. They all want
to SI come on, at leastthey want to it absolutely, absolutely,
and if they throw strikes on I'mhappy to have them. Well, you
know what, you and me both, I'll tell you what I mean.
I don't know if they understand justhow much that first pitch means. I
(08:13):
No, I don't think so.I don't think so. They don't understand
the most important words. It's tella picture strike one that determines all the
bat's gonna bat's gonna come out.But if you're con pitching from behind and
they know you gotta lay it in, guess what you could be in some
trouble. I mean, that's justcommon sense. But you can't be too
(08:35):
cute sometimes some of these guys thatthink try to be I don't know why,
or overthrow. I've seen a lotof that. You know what I
mean? But do you obviously howyou use the same kind of strategy and
techniques and the way you coach fromambity over the legion, same same concepts
the game doesn't change well when Iwhen it comes to pitching, it does.
(08:58):
Because Sal runs the pitching staff atAmity High School, call him off,
get him down there. I'm tryingto stay out of the kid's way.
They're they're calling pitches and having agood time, and I'm trying to
teach them a little bit about it. You know, there's a couple of
guys that want to play in college, and I want them to learn the
game of baseball and learn how tothink out there and be on their own
(09:20):
and be independent. But we areteaching as much as we can about just
bringing whatever level of baseball they're bringinginto the summer, and I just want
them to walk away from the summertimebeing just that little much better so they
can be successful, whether they're stillin high school, going to college,
whatever the case may be. Andyou've got obviously some players I'll be coming
(09:43):
back to their high school, soyou do have high school kids as well
as, no question about that.But the same fundamentals are there. I
mean, you've got to know whatto do with the ball, and you
get it. I know Jeff Rodickwill play small ball if he has to,
right, I know that, ButI mean so the same concepts are
there. And you know the thing, Jeff, and I think you and
(10:07):
i've talked before games. I thinksometimes boys and girls they just don't know
the game. They don't know Imean, they have to know what to
do with the ball before the ifit's hit time, before the ball comes
from, not make up their mindwhen it comes Oh wow, what do
I know? They just don't knowthe game, would you agree, Jeff,
(10:28):
Well, it seems like they don'twatch the game as much as maybe
we did as kids and just enjoyit. They have a lot of other
opportunities and things at their disposal thesedays that prevents them from just watching and
learning and soaking it all in andappreciating how great this game is. So
(10:50):
it's our job if they make amistake or if they do something good,
reiterate why it's such a good thingwhat they did. And we've actually had
some very good defense when we've mademistakes. It's hurt us though. Yeah,
that's the nature of baseball, hurtright now. You're right ahead.
I'm sorry, you're right. Imean, as my old coach Whydy percers,
(11:13):
they listen, I know you're gonnamake eras I know you're gonna make
eras you're gonna make you know erasof co mission. But don't make errors
of old mission. Don't forget whatto do with the ball. You know
what I mean? I know remindedme of Josh Donaldson the other night.
It doesn't at least I haven't hadbreakfast. I thank you. I don't
remem bring it. I don't evenbring it up, all right. I
(11:37):
just thank him and stay one shipon a boat. It's one thing to
make an air, it's another thingnot to hustle after a ball. That's
it. Now, there you go, You get it right? You know
what? Can't act like a ballplayer, look like a ball player and
go hustle. Do you know youused to say that too. I always
(11:58):
always say the players if they oncethey hit the ball, nobody can stop
you from running hard. That's corress. If you're magic popped up, could
pound the ground with your feet andhustle towards second if you can get there.
What you tell him the other night? You told the kid the other
night someone is that your game inours? And he did not slide.
(12:18):
Oh yeah, And he said,I think how about this? And it
goes to games. He said,Hey, if you're not gonna slide,
get off the field. Yeah,that's right. Well that was that was
our boy, Joe Lucibella the games, A player of the game. I
know that, but I mean,and I'm saying, is that what he
(12:39):
said? I said, that's what. Yeah, well he didn't slide,
and you know what, you gottaslide going in the second base. The
funny part he was complaining about howhard the field was was that he almost
got picked off. That's right,he did. You're right, he almost
got this. Hey, if you'renot gonna slide, I got other guys
who want to play, that's forsure. There's always people who want to
(13:01):
play. Well, you know,he split later, and he did a
good job. You've been actually oneof our best most consistent players all summer.
He'll be growing a game to playtoo. Oh really, yeah?
Got who do you got? Yougot? Who do you got today?
Milford? We got Milford for two? Yeah? Okay, yeah, okay,
I just yeah, I know,but it seems like you've got And
(13:24):
I've seen all the teams in thezone, there's only six. I've seen
them all, and I think youhave the most complete team. You know,
what I mean most complete, Well, not to tell you what I
see the most complete team all theway around. I'm talking pitching defense.
The one thing I like, Andyou did it the other night in North
(13:46):
Haven. You attack the ball.I think kids at the plate sometimes I
don't know what they're looking for sometimes, but I was always taught if the
first pitch is in there, andit may be the best pitch, you
see that I swing. And theother night you came out attacking. Doesn't
mean you're gonna get hits or scoreruns, but you're attacking at the plate,
(14:07):
putting the ball in play. AndI liked it. I think being
aggressive at the plate is just soimportant. I really don't. I mean,
well, there was this guy.There was this guy, Willie Mays,
who said the picture's job is toget strike one. That's so I
went up there ready to swing atthe first good one gave me. And
if Willie Mays is going to saythat, you know, I think everybody
(14:28):
should eat that philosophy. That's obviouslyhad the skill to crush the ball.
But well, you definitely want tobe aggressive up there. You didn't come
in this world to sit on abench. You get up there and swing
and and and give it a whirl. I mean, are there times during
a game, Jeff, hey,listen, we're down a couple or this
and that we need based Oh,yes, you're gonna take a strike there.
There are situations in the game whereyou will in fact take a pitch.
(14:52):
I understand that. But yeah,yeah, we're not swinging at everything
we're swinging at. Hopefully they canlearn to recognize what fair pitches early on
account, and if it's the firstpitch, then you do it right,
that's all you do. That's great. Uh, you gotta again, you're
off. Let's see your overall recordnow is what seven and three? Seven
(15:16):
and three. It's a great start. You play twenty two games, you
play some out of zone games ina couple of weeks on the one of
the weekends, which I think isI think it's a good idea. You
have to see different teams and thenthe state tournament comes and who knows what
can happen there. But I knowone thing. I mean, overall,
I think you have a pretty goodteam. Uh in the zone. I
(15:37):
like the how complete it is andhow you seem to cover most aspects of
the game offense, defense, youknow, what I mean, it's and
obviously you need pitchers and if theycan throw strikes, including the kid this
on the team. You got akid there. Uh, he's related to
the athletic director. You know.Wow, what are you gonna Oh yeah,
(15:58):
brock good, women's doing great.And uh and another senior who just
graduated, Amity Jack Claus Right,it's been improving with each outing. Sunday,
he pitched a great game, sixthinning, solid Steve Stiffarelli, who's
an outfielder who's learning how to pitch. Let me tell you this kid can
play. I'm yeah, he canplay on my team any day of the
(16:22):
week because I don't never mind,he pitched a great game. He hits
the ball se he comes in,he's a hitter, he's ahead. You
know. Yeah, he said,all I throw the ball. It doesn't
matter because I'm gonna hit it.It doesn't matter. I'm gonna hit it
anyway, So I'll just throw it. And he does. Yeah, he's
not a guy I have to worryabout telling him to swing. He's going
to do You're right, I no, no, but I'd rather have I
(16:45):
mean, okay, this is whatI'm living. That's fine, that's fine.
I love him, uh and Ilove the team. Anyway, Listen,
I know you got a party todo. Your wife has a list
of things you to do that's biggerthan any list I've ever seen. And
I have a big graduation party.That's great. And I'll obviously we'll see
you again at more games in theLegion season, so I look forward to
(17:07):
that. You already had two playersof the game. I've had covered three
games. Well, one game wasa tie the other night, so I
don't know player of the game there. I want to wow. I didn't
want to go check that out.I was at Milford the other night to
see Naugatuck at Milford thirteen thirteen suspendedafter seventies because of darkness, and Milford
and Milford blew a twelve five leadin that game. How about that blew
(17:30):
at twelve five? Oh yeah,I don't want to go into that.
I got home. I got homein time to go to bed. I
think it's all late that game.Anyway, You guys are doing great,
keep up the good work. Pleasesay hello to everybody out there, all
the kids for me, and tellthem I'll see him again real soon.
Great. Thank you so much forthe time coach to Mayo, and I'll
see you in the fall too.When I referee football in this area,
(17:52):
I'm always good to have you onour game. Yeah. Who's who's your
crew? Who's your headman on thatcrew? You right, Well, I'm
the head guy now. I tookover for Ralph's Czingerrella a few years ago,
and no one replaces Ralph's Singarella.Well, I had to like stand
in the same position. I'm not. I'm working at being toured as good
as he can be, hopefully.But I worked with Anthony Mace has been
(18:15):
my steady rock over the last him. Looked Ralph and I don't want to
go anywhere without Anthony, that's forsure. You know. Let me tell
you something. I remember a fewyears ago when I was at year football
officials dinner and Ralph Zingerrella came upto me that night and he said,
Georgia, Goes, I got somebad news. I said, oh,
(18:37):
I'm sorry, what's the matter,Goes, Well, you know, I'm
I'm not going to be refereeing anymore, you know, I'm just going to
do mentoring and stuff and all thisstuff. And he looked at me,
and I looked at him and Isaid, Okay, you know, I'll
tell me what's the bad news.You know what I mean. I just,
oh, yeah, I know that'swhat I am with him. Gay
(19:00):
you guys, and I'll tell youright now, and I'll say it.
I know. I've said it aboutall the even boards and all sports.
Still the best officiating board of allthe boards in Connecticut, not even clos
not even close. You guys aregreat. We've heard that a lot,
and we take a lot of pridein it would work really hard. Well.
Anybody's interested, they can call usand it'd be an official, great
(19:21):
avocation. I want to be abat. I always said I wanted to
be a back chesch. I lovewhen they throw those missiles, missiles from
the back. I love the backthere there comes. I don't know what
that's why I get it. Fora few years, did it had the
armed to throw them that far?Again, You've still got a great arm.
Listen, we'll talk. We'll talkagain. I'll see you soon.
Okay, thank you for promoting LegionBaseball. Anytime, anytime, all right,
(19:45):
Jeffy, you have a good one, you too, Thanks folks,
my man, Jeff Roddick, CharlieFlanagan it's not only a friend. He's
one of my main sponsors on allmy high school sports. The also sponsors
the Best of the Saturday Morning SportsShow, my podcast show on every week,
(20:10):
and he joins me now probably hasbeen at work now for a quarter
of eight at least three hours,closer to four, but I'm not counting
closer to four. I figure,I guess you're up early every morning.
I can always call you early becauseI know you'll be up and you can
call me vice versa. Charlie.It's great to have you a board,
(20:30):
and I will go out and justsay thank you for being a sponsor for
me low these many years in allsports, including the podcast show, which
I love, but so I thankyou for that. And now, George,
thank thank you for everything you dofor youth sports, high school sports,
(20:52):
girls sports. There's nobody else inthe state of Connecticut who does what
you do. So thanks, that'soff to you. Oh, thank you
very much. Hey, you andI go back a long way. You
used to coach against each other inbasketball. We had some great games,
but you know what, always itwas one of those friendly rivalries, which
was nice. We love beating eachother, but hey, you know what
we had some good times. Nowyou've been involved in American how long have
(21:15):
you been involved in American Legion show? About twenty six years? Thank every
take. And of course you runthe show in north Avan, general manager,
treasurer, president, vice president.You have all the officers at which
you deserve and run a show outthere. And let me ask you a
(21:37):
question. I mean, and wehave six teams in Zone two this year,
and I've seen all six and it'sa very I think, you know,
a good zone parody exists here,a lot of these teams, which
is nice competitive zone. But what'syour take on a Legion ball right now?
Chah, don't mince anyone. It'sby the way, you know,
(22:00):
we're on a we're on a kindof a time clip here, so I'll
get right to it. You know, Legion is failing. Legion organization is
failing you. In this day andage, you cannot be a reactive organization.
You have to be a proactive organization, and they're not. Okay.
(22:22):
Just look at the team attrition,Look at the team attrition in zones,
Look at the zone attrition across thestate. I would I would bet that
the Legion population is probably down sixtypercent of what it was three to five
years ago. Okay, it's it'syou know, it's just and and you
(22:47):
know they're getting eaten up by byclever people. Okay, they're getting they're
getting you know, Uh, playersare moving because of the song and the
dances they're getting from these travel leagues. There's no reason why Legion can't do
the same. And you know,at the end the end of the day,
the bottom line, if you're good, you'll be found. These these
(23:11):
scouts today, these colleges today areso sophisticated that they'll find you. Okay,
And you know, not a knockon Legion, but you know,
I look at it when you know, I was on the field, and
I mean if we if we hada three or a four game loss in
a season that was a bad year. I mean, we were through twenty
(23:36):
three twenty four wins a year andwe were, you know, a very
strong program. And it's not tosay the team we have out there now
isn't, but I mean I justI just look at the christness of the
plays, the pitching. It's notwhat it was. And you know,
(23:57):
we're just we're not getting the bestthat's out there. Uh, and that's
just a sad commentary on what people'sperception is of American Legion baseball. I'm
very very happy to see that Orangeis back. I'm happy to see and
(24:18):
I listened to your interview with misterRoddick. I think that's an excellent choice.
You know, he's he's good,and he'll he'll get one hundred and
fifty percent out of his players,and that's what you want. We have
Mike Bussilo, Andrew Lucy, KevinLucy, and Mike Ferrett. They'll get
one hundred and fifty percent out ofour players, will Okay, But it's
(24:41):
it's sad to see west Haven gone, sad to see east Haven gone,
New Haven gone, Shelton gone.I mean, what what what? I
don't I don't get it. AndI can tell you from a perception standpoint,
you just can't sit there and say, Okay, mister Jones is going
to call me and I'm going toget mister Jones as kid, those days
(25:03):
are gone. I mean, ifyou won't, if if you're ever a
fly on the wall and you sawwhat Andrew Lucy has to do to stimulate
this program, recruit for this program, I mean it's a full time job,
all right, And I know andkids are fickle. Parents are fickle.
You know. You say, Okay, I want to give you twenty
(25:23):
five quality games. I'm going togive you the instruction from Mike Bisillo,
Kevin Lucy and Mike Ferry. AndI'll tell you something. I'll put those
guys up against any coaches in thestate. So any coaches, absolutely,
okay. They are unbelievably improving orientedpeople. They're great communicators, their their
(25:47):
their their heart is in it.And kids says, well, you know
I'm gonna I'm gonna go over here. Well then then I'll see you in.
I mean, I just don't getit. I don't And it's just
it's just it's very frustrating. Weused to have three teams. We're lucky
to get one, okay, AndI don't think we're alone. I just
(26:08):
look at the other you know,the seventeen new programs and the fifteen new
programs. Everybody is down and it'sI look at you know, some of
these guys. They they they remindme the guy in the Wizard of Oz
sell them to sell them the fishoil crap. Okay, but these don't
buy this stuff. And next thing, you know, well, the coach
(26:29):
tells them where you're going to playin a college league. He puts them
in some seventeen new league up inNorth Branford, and they play feigning games
because they're blowing people out by fifteenand twenty runs. Oh you're you're going
to get real good by doing that. It's just I just mind boggling.
And you cannot, you cannot collaboratewith these guys because they think who they
(26:51):
are and it's just the head peoplein legion. I mean, if if
the attraction is the showcases, yeah, okay, and let's organize showcases within
our own zone. Let's let's createcommunications with our college area coaches. It's
not hard to do. You justyou got to stay with it. And
(27:14):
you've got to get these college coaches. The day of the college coaches coming
down to say, oh, I'mgoing to go watch mister Smith place center
field. Forget it. They don'thave time for that. But if you
get you know, one hundred,two hundred and fifty kids, now it's
worth their while to come down totake a look. Okay, why can't
lead you do that? And I'veasked that, and they do one showcase,
(27:34):
and it's it's it's it's like,you know, you've got a two
hundred people running around like an antfarm, looking at how we're going to
figure out who's who were. Yeah, it's just now it's not not good.
So what do we do with y'all? When the bottom line is that
they'd say, well you can,well, you know, and unless they
do something, Unless they do something, I think, you know, there's
(27:56):
gonna be mothballs in the Legion halls. I mean, there's gonna be nothing
there, right, And it's sadcommentary because you talk to any veteran,
these guys don't the veterans really aren'tin tune with the day to day stuff,
okay, and and and no disrespect, but you know they're they're they're
on elderly and and it's it's it'ssometimes you know, they're just leaving everything
(28:18):
up to their underlings to to runwith this. But you know, you
know, think about them for aminute. If they weren't doing what they
did, and they weren't there toprovide the opportunity, there wouldn't be American
Legion baseball. Correct if you lookat the statistics in the big leagues,
I guarantee you that over fifty percentof the baseball population played American Legion baseball.
(28:41):
If you look at that stat,you look at that stat, in
the next couple of years, it'sgoing to be maybe twenty percent played American
Legion baseball. Yeah, you're right, everybody. Yeah, it's just not
what it was. I mean,I mean, I guess I remember showing
up and you knew you had theentire North Haven High School team, the
(29:03):
West Haven High School team, youknow, the Milford High School team,
the East Haven High School team.I mean, you've developed tremendous competition,
you know, tremendous rivalries. Youlook who's out there now, and it's
it's like who are you? Well, you know, where where do you
go to school? Or we're youknow, I mean, you know,
it's just it's sad, sad.I'm a i'm a I agree with you
(29:26):
everything. I don't know what,but it seems like, uh, and
some of the kids I know havehad to play with other teams because of
you know, there's no team inthere city and the Legion gives them,
you know, big things about wellyour population of your city and the population
you know what that that's a that'sthat's a bunch of crap to me.
(29:49):
It's too restrictive. Yeah, Imean you got the thing play exactly play
you know you don't you don't havethese kind of fences you had a climb
with these other programs, I mean, they make it difficult to even you
know, be out there. Uhand and you know, thank god North
Haven was able to pick up Wallingford. Okay, we we have we have
(30:12):
a core of thank god, fromMike Buscillo's position that she in high school
to and Andrew's perseverance with with LymonHall, I mean we would be real
thin and we I think from whatI see the North Haven well, well
we'll start to turn because I thinkwe've got to kids where they should be.
(30:33):
Now. It takes a little bitto kind of sort that out,
and we got caught short with somegraduations. But you know, to Andrew's
credit, hey, we're playing thegame. Well, we got nine guys
were out there and you beat youbeat for you beat ours the other Now
you shut them out. So it'saren't just good, they're very good team.
They're very good. So I meanthat's nice. But again when all
(30:56):
the kids and again legion is tough. Sometimes, like we said, you
don't know night tonight, who's coming, who's not coming, who's going away?
I got I never did Andrew AndrewLucy's two nice a guy. Some
kids said he can't show up tonightbecause he's delivering pizzas if I was there
time to keep delivering. Give methe uniform, You're right, I bring
(31:18):
me, bring me a medium mediumwith Mootzwell, and give me the uniform.
What what is that? No?I let me say something. In
days past, they wouldn't even thinkof doing that. No, not at
all, not at all. Thebaseball would work around work knock the other
way around. Right, And youtry to create logic to these boys and
say, we'll tell you what whatwhat are you gonna do? You're gonna
(31:38):
make twenty dollars tonight? Or doyou want to pitch seven innings? I'm
want twenty. Here's twenty dollars.Good? Get where you going? Yeah?
The best one, jolly is sometimeswhen the time they have, which
really kills because I wouldn't let mykids do anything like this. But graduation
party, well, we have agame that well then you go to the
game the situation party, right,But I'm telling you. I've heard him
(32:02):
tell coach, I got graduation,I got people coming over. Well,
yeah, well guess what you're goingto be late? Yeah, you know,
just go right or don't have itduring when you know there's a game.
Doesn't make anything, you know,you know, the Legion schedule is
no mystery. No, you knowwhat. It's a lot of in a
few weeks. It's a lot ofgames that I guess what you buy into
this. It's it starts and endsreal quick, it does. Okay,
(32:27):
you're right. So if we gota doubleheader on a Saturday, logic dictates
you probably wouldn't do a graduation partyuntil six o'clock at night, and that's
when that's when people are coming anyway. Okay, so but yeah, I
don't know. You just sit downand scratch your head and say, you
know what's wrong with this picture?Yeah, I'm with you, distrustrating.
You're right, And I could tellthat your voice and mine when I talk
(32:52):
to coaches and everything, and butI don't know, as I say,
we know where they're going and whothere playing with and what they're playing in.
The travel ball is eating up alot of the kids. But you
gotta make it worth their while theplayer, then what would they play?
Yeah, but but you know youwant to drop six thousand plus plus plus
(33:17):
to go to East East hash Goshto play whomever? Then what what what
what? What? Where's the where'sthe economic and and you know sports sense
to do that? Okay, whereyou can? You know when when when
I was calling full board here afew years ago, I mean we we
(33:40):
would play three games on a Saturday, I know usually two would be a
legion. Yeah, that's right.I remember that, and my kids loved
it, of course even that,and I okay, peanut butter and jelly
sandwich was a bottle gator a muchright now, My god, I can't
do that. This je might getsoiled or tired. I owe you.
(34:06):
It's just crazy. I know,it's just it's just a bad commentary on
where we're going. I thought yourcommentary was just great. Just now so
I think it had the nail onthe head. Listen, well, yeah,
yeah, I know we're because ofour phone service being crazy here and
you had a call in us,which normally we don't. I just want
to mention one other thing. Iknow you've probably got to wrap this up.
(34:27):
I just hats off to Dan Gluleyand Mike Terrello. Down in West
Haven. We have a team downthere in the West Haven Twilight League,
all right, and those guys,those guys have been unbelievably supportive and instrumental
in starting to turn that league.They recently organized the golf tournament, which
which the league is gonna make somesome nice profit on, which goes to
(34:52):
enhance our financial position. But thethe the inventory is starting to turn over
down there. We're attracting college It'sKevin Lucy, who's who I mentioned before
is an assistant coaches is on ison my team down there. And here
for a kid who and I'm onlygonna say this briefly, who who didn't
get a lot of playing time withthe team called the Owls, it's it's
(35:12):
it's unbelievable to see how this kidproduces and d the catcher for the Irish
national figure. I'll be talking aboutthat because Andrew told me about that.
Listen. I got a run.But let's let you go. Let's get
you on again towards the end ofthe season, because we had to cut
this one short. All right,Thank you George Jugan at Charlie anytime,
Hi, I'm the coach George Demayo. The best of the coach. Tomayo
Sports Machine is brought to you byFlannagan Associates, twelve Peck Street in North
Aven. Charlie Flanagan by far thebest insurance man in the country. You
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World Insurance dot com. That's WorldInsurance dot com. And again give McCall
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Charlie Flanagan is the man. He'sbeen serving the North Haven area for
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twelve Peck Street, North Haven,or give him a call at two oh
three two three nine five one sevenone. That's two O three two,
three, nine, five, oneseven one. H Yeah, let's talk
(02:13):
some baseball. Talker basball. That'swhat you've got to play. When we
have baseball coaches, you gotta playthat talking baseball. Remember I told you
Henry the Terry Cashman talking baseball.This guy here, I just told the
story a couple of minutes ago.Jeff Roddick joins me. Now, I
said, I said, Jeff Roddick, course assistant coach, had amity for
(02:34):
twenty nine years. One coach,and he's coaching. And he's coaching the
Range Senior Legion team. Oh that'sa no, no, you can only
coach five year players, I said, rest easy. He resigned, so
he's doing nothing wrong coaching the team. But he joins me now, and
I'm glad to have him. Hello, Jeff, Good morning, coach Tomayo.
(02:57):
How are you. I'm littling great, listen, I know you're I
know you got a party at yourhouse today for your daughter. Is that
what you told me? Yeah?Graduated high school. I hope you got
a tent. You got a tent, We kept a couple. You got
a lot of friends came through forus. Okay, good, because it's
just I'm saying what times the partystart? About three o'clock. You'll you'll
(03:20):
be a trickle in. Yeah,you'll be all yeah, we should be
all right, Yeah, we'll seeI know you see. If not,
I don't want to get any troublein the Rotic family. But I can't
help the weather anyway. So youwere with South CA Polo, whom you
know I love dearly and a greatguy twenty nine years and then hung them
up this year. Really, Iguess to concentrate on family and things like
(03:44):
that, and I understand all that, but in my mind, this is
my mind, which is, wedon't know where that is. Could have
easily been over the twenty nine yearsa head coach anywhere. That's how good
you are. You could have beenhead coach anyway you want it. That's
my opinion. What do you thinkI'll tell you about that? When when
(04:08):
I had an opportunity to coach withuh Sal that's going back twenty nine years
ago. You know, it wasjust an opportunity to coach, and I
never really thought about coaching. Iobviously loved baseball, but then coaching with
him as long as I did,and you know, I not only have
I have I had a coaching career. I have a really close friend in
(04:30):
Sal Coppola and a lot of otherpeople in the Amity community. I mean,
it's just a great community. I'vemet a lot of great coaches,
a lot of great people, andthey've taught me a lot. Well,
I'll tell you right now, youand Coppola on a one two punch that
is unbelievable. And now this isyour first year as head coach of the
senior Legion team though, correct,right, I thought, so how to
(04:55):
do it legally? No? No, I know what it is. All
all he resigns, so you're notcoaching anymore. You're right, and your
son is on the team which thatnight, which is nice. But what
a start for this Orange Legion teamthat I've seen a couple of times.
And I think you're chew and ohwhen I'm there, because you've already had
(05:15):
two players that I put up gotPlayer of the game. So I'm certainly
no hindrance there now, am I? No? No show up every night?
Fine with us? You guys,you have a great bunch of kids
being the headman. Now right,you're the headman. It's not like,
oh, hey, where in thehell is cell I gotta now this is
(05:36):
your team. And obviously being withhim an assistant for twenty nine years,
obviously you know what deck's going onand what to do. But it's different
at Legion time, Jeff, asa coach said the other night, because
from night to night and you playa lot of games in just a few
weeks, you really don't know who'scoming all the time, do you.
(05:56):
Well, I tell you our guysthis year, you said, we had
a lot of guys, not onlyfrom an Amity program. We have a
couple of Notre Dame guys. Wehave a couple and Sonya guys. And
people are showing up consistently. They'rethey're eating my warning and just calling ahead
and letting me know if they ifthey have trips and things like that,
which I appreciate. It is summer, they got families and but everybody's been
(06:21):
there. They you know, justa good bunch of guys. So it's
a pleasure. And one thing Idid to make my life easier is know
that I needed assistant coaches. AndI have two former Amity players, John
mcnellis and John Lompinski, who arehelping me out. Well, yeah,
don't both have a very nice youngman. Yes, yeah, both are
great guys. And actually mcnellis hasbeen coaching the junior Legion for a while
(06:46):
now and I I rely on himto tell me some things about how it's
done here in the Legion world.So I really appreciate what they're doing for
me. Makes my life a loteasier as head coach. Yeah, is
there all the general manager of thetwo? Who's theres a GM? Is
it still Nick? Yeah? No, it's Joe Pizzano, another former right,
(07:06):
former Amity guy. I'm sorry.I should have known next. I
talked to Joe all the time ortext them anyway. Yeah, he and
his brother VJ played in our programand uh both did a good job.
Joe is on one of our championshipteams back in the day, and he
is We're we are running up thephone bill, let's just say the least
(07:27):
this summer. Well, why nottell Joe take care of the bill.
Don't worry about it. Don't worryabout it. Obviously in Legion with obviously
like number of pitches in the game, you can throw up to so many
and so many days rest, Sopitching is so important in Legion ball,
like like high school baseball is,but you don't seem to have a problem
(07:50):
in lack of arms though. Here. Well, there are a lot of
guys who tell me they can throw, that's for sure. They all want
to SI come on, at leastthey want to it absolutely, absolutely,
and if they throw strikes on I'mhappy to have them. Well, you
know what, you and me both, I'll tell you what I mean.
I don't know if they understand justhow much that first pitch means. I
(08:13):
No, I don't think so.I don't think so. They don't understand
the most important words. It's tella picture strike one that determines all the
bat's gonna bat's gonna come out.But if you're con pitching from behind and
they know you gotta lay it in, guess what you could be in some
trouble. I mean, that's justcommon sense. But you can't be too
(08:35):
cute sometimes some of these guys thatthink try to be I don't know why,
or overthrow. I've seen a lotof that. You know what I
mean? But do you obviously howyou use the same kind of strategy and
techniques and the way you coach fromambity over the legion, same same concepts
the game doesn't change well when Iwhen it comes to pitching, it does.
(08:58):
Because Sal runs the pitching staff atAmity High School, call him off,
get him down there. I'm tryingto stay out of the kid's way.
They're they're calling pitches and having agood time, and I'm trying to
teach them a little bit about it. You know, there's a couple of
guys that want to play in college, and I want them to learn the
game of baseball and learn how tothink out there and be on their own
(09:20):
and be independent. But we areteaching as much as we can about just
bringing whatever level of baseball they're bringinginto the summer, and I just want
them to walk away from the summertimebeing just that little much better so they
can be successful, whether they're stillin high school, going to college,
whatever the case may be. Andyou've got obviously some players I'll be coming
(09:43):
back to their high school, soyou do have high school kids as well
as, no question about that.But the same fundamentals are there. I
mean, you've got to know whatto do with the ball, and you
get it. I know Jeff Rodickwill play small ball if he has to,
right, I know that, ButI mean so the same concepts are
there. And you know the thing, Jeff, and I think you and
(10:07):
i've talked before games. I thinksometimes boys and girls they just don't know
the game. They don't know Imean, they have to know what to
do with the ball before the ifit's hit time, before the ball comes
from, not make up their mindwhen it comes Oh wow, what do
I know? They just don't knowthe game, would you agree, Jeff,
(10:28):
Well, it seems like they don'twatch the game as much as maybe
we did as kids and just enjoyit. They have a lot of other
opportunities and things at their disposal thesedays that prevents them from just watching and
learning and soaking it all in andappreciating how great this game is. So
(10:50):
it's our job if they make amistake or if they do something good,
reiterate why it's such a good thingwhat they did. And we've actually had
some very good defense when we've mademistakes. It's hurt us though. Yeah,
that's the nature of baseball, hurtright now. You're right ahead.
I'm sorry, you're right. Imean, as my old coach Whydy percers,
(11:13):
they listen, I know you're gonnamake eras I know you're gonna make
eras you're gonna make you know erasof co mission. But don't make errors
of old mission. Don't forget whatto do with the ball. You know
what I mean? I know remindedme of Josh Donaldson the other night.
It doesn't at least I haven't hadbreakfast. I thank you. I don't
remem bring it. I don't evenbring it up, all right. I
(11:37):
just thank him and stay one shipon a boat. It's one thing to
make an air, it's another thingnot to hustle after a ball. That's
it. Now, there you go, You get it right? You know
what? Can't act like a ballplayer, look like a ball player and
go hustle. Do you know youused to say that too. I always
(11:58):
always say the players if they oncethey hit the ball, nobody can stop
you from running hard. That's corress. If you're magic popped up, could
pound the ground with your feet andhustle towards second if you can get there.
What you tell him the other night? You told the kid the other
night someone is that your game inours? And he did not slide.
(12:18):
Oh yeah, And he said,I think how about this? And it
goes to games. He said,Hey, if you're not gonna slide,
get off the field. Yeah,that's right. Well that was that was
our boy, Joe Lucibella the games, A player of the game. I
know that, but I mean,and I'm saying, is that what he
(12:39):
said? I said, that's what. Yeah, well he didn't slide,
and you know what, you gottaslide going in the second base. The
funny part he was complaining about howhard the field was was that he almost
got picked off. That's right,he did. You're right, he almost
got this. Hey, if you'renot gonna slide, I got other guys
who want to play, that's forsure. There's always people who want to
(13:01):
play. Well, you know,he split later, and he did a
good job. You've been actually oneof our best most consistent players all summer.
He'll be growing a game to playtoo. Oh really, yeah?
Got who do you got? Yougot? Who do you got today?
Milford? We got Milford for two? Yeah? Okay, yeah, okay,
I just yeah, I know,but it seems like you've got And
(13:24):
I've seen all the teams in thezone, there's only six. I've seen
them all, and I think youhave the most complete team. You know,
what I mean most complete, Well, not to tell you what I
see the most complete team all theway around. I'm talking pitching defense.
The one thing I like, Andyou did it the other night in North
(13:46):
Haven. You attack the ball.I think kids at the plate sometimes I
don't know what they're looking for sometimes, but I was always taught if the
first pitch is in there, andit may be the best pitch, you
see that I swing. And theother night you came out attacking. Doesn't
mean you're gonna get hits or scoreruns, but you're attacking at the plate,
(14:07):
putting the ball in play. AndI liked it. I think being
aggressive at the plate is just soimportant. I really don't. I mean,
well, there was this guy.There was this guy, Willie Mays,
who said the picture's job is toget strike one. That's so I
went up there ready to swing atthe first good one gave me. And
if Willie Mays is going to saythat, you know, I think everybody
(14:28):
should eat that philosophy. That's obviouslyhad the skill to crush the ball.
But well, you definitely want tobe aggressive up there. You didn't come
in this world to sit on abench. You get up there and swing
and and and give it a whirl. I mean, are there times during
a game, Jeff, hey,listen, we're down a couple or this
and that we need based Oh,yes, you're gonna take a strike there.
There are situations in the game whereyou will in fact take a pitch.
(14:52):
I understand that. But yeah,yeah, we're not swinging at everything
we're swinging at. Hopefully they canlearn to recognize what fair pitches early on
account, and if it's the firstpitch, then you do it right,
that's all you do. That's great. Uh, you gotta again, you're
off. Let's see your overall recordnow is what seven and three? Seven
(15:16):
and three. It's a great start. You play twenty two games, you
play some out of zone games ina couple of weeks on the one of
the weekends, which I think isI think it's a good idea. You
have to see different teams and thenthe state tournament comes and who knows what
can happen there. But I knowone thing. I mean, overall,
I think you have a pretty goodteam. Uh in the zone. I
(15:37):
like the how complete it is andhow you seem to cover most aspects of
the game offense, defense, youknow, what I mean, it's and
obviously you need pitchers and if theycan throw strikes, including the kid this
on the team. You got akid there. Uh, he's related to
the athletic director. You know.Wow, what are you gonna Oh yeah,
(15:58):
brock good, women's doing great.And uh and another senior who just
graduated, Amity Jack Claus Right,it's been improving with each outing. Sunday,
he pitched a great game, sixthinning, solid Steve Stiffarelli, who's
an outfielder who's learning how to pitch. Let me tell you this kid can
play. I'm yeah, he canplay on my team any day of the
(16:22):
week because I don't never mind,he pitched a great game. He hits
the ball se he comes in,he's a hitter, he's ahead. You
know. Yeah, he said,all I throw the ball. It doesn't
matter because I'm gonna hit it.It doesn't matter. I'm gonna hit it
anyway, So I'll just throw it. And he does. Yeah, he's
not a guy I have to worryabout telling him to swing. He's going
to do You're right, I no, no, but I'd rather have I
(16:45):
mean, okay, this is whatI'm living. That's fine, that's fine.
I love him, uh and Ilove the team. Anyway, Listen,
I know you got a party todo. Your wife has a list
of things you to do that's biggerthan any list I've ever seen. And
I have a big graduation party.That's great. And I'll obviously we'll see
you again at more games in theLegion season, so I look forward to
(17:07):
that. You already had two playersof the game. I've had covered three
games. Well, one game wasa tie the other night, so I
don't know player of the game there. I want to wow. I didn't
want to go check that out.I was at Milford the other night to
see Naugatuck at Milford thirteen thirteen suspendedafter seventies because of darkness, and Milford
and Milford blew a twelve five leadin that game. How about that blew
(17:30):
at twelve five? Oh yeah,I don't want to go into that.
I got home. I got homein time to go to bed. I
think it's all late that game.Anyway, You guys are doing great,
keep up the good work. Pleasesay hello to everybody out there, all
the kids for me, and tellthem I'll see him again real soon.
Great. Thank you so much forthe time coach to Mayo, and I'll
see you in the fall too.When I referee football in this area,
(17:52):
I'm always good to have you onour game. Yeah. Who's who's your
crew? Who's your headman on thatcrew? You right, Well, I'm
the head guy now. I tookover for Ralph's Czingerrella a few years ago,
and no one replaces Ralph's Singarella.Well, I had to like stand
in the same position. I'm not. I'm working at being toured as good
as he can be, hopefully.But I worked with Anthony Mace has been
(18:15):
my steady rock over the last him. Looked Ralph and I don't want to
go anywhere without Anthony, that's forsure. You know. Let me tell
you something. I remember a fewyears ago when I was at year football
officials dinner and Ralph Zingerrella came upto me that night and he said,
Georgia, Goes, I got somebad news. I said, oh,
(18:37):
I'm sorry, what's the matter,Goes, Well, you know, I'm
I'm not going to be refereeing anymore, you know, I'm just going to
do mentoring and stuff and all thisstuff. And he looked at me,
and I looked at him and Isaid, Okay, you know, I'll
tell me what's the bad news.You know what I mean. I just,
oh, yeah, I know that'swhat I am with him. Gay
(19:00):
you guys, and I'll tell youright now, and I'll say it.
I know. I've said it aboutall the even boards and all sports.
Still the best officiating board of allthe boards in Connecticut, not even clos
not even close. You guys aregreat. We've heard that a lot,
and we take a lot of pridein it would work really hard. Well.
Anybody's interested, they can call usand it'd be an official, great
(19:21):
avocation. I want to be abat. I always said I wanted to
be a back chesch. I lovewhen they throw those missiles, missiles from
the back. I love the backthere there comes. I don't know what
that's why I get it. Fora few years, did it had the
armed to throw them that far?Again, You've still got a great arm.
Listen, we'll talk. We'll talkagain. I'll see you soon.
Okay, thank you for promoting LegionBaseball. Anytime, anytime, all right,
(19:45):
Jeffy, you have a good one, you too, Thanks folks,
my man, Jeff Roddick, CharlieFlanagan it's not only a friend. He's
one of my main sponsors on allmy high school sports. The also sponsors
the Best of the Saturday Morning SportsShow, my podcast show on every week,
(20:10):
and he joins me now probably hasbeen at work now for a quarter
of eight at least three hours,closer to four, but I'm not counting
closer to four. I figure,I guess you're up early every morning.
I can always call you early becauseI know you'll be up and you can
call me vice versa. Charlie.It's great to have you a board,
(20:30):
and I will go out and justsay thank you for being a sponsor for
me low these many years in allsports, including the podcast show, which
I love, but so I thankyou for that. And now, George,
thank thank you for everything you dofor youth sports, high school sports,
(20:52):
girls sports. There's nobody else inthe state of Connecticut who does what
you do. So thanks, that'soff to you. Oh, thank you
very much. Hey, you andI go back a long way. You
used to coach against each other inbasketball. We had some great games,
but you know what, always itwas one of those friendly rivalries, which
was nice. We love beating eachother, but hey, you know what
we had some good times. Nowyou've been involved in American how long have
(21:15):
you been involved in American Legion show? About twenty six years? Thank every
take. And of course you runthe show in north Avan, general manager,
treasurer, president, vice president.You have all the officers at which
you deserve and run a show outthere. And let me ask you a
(21:37):
question. I mean, and wehave six teams in Zone two this year,
and I've seen all six and it'sa very I think, you know,
a good zone parody exists here,a lot of these teams, which
is nice competitive zone. But what'syour take on a Legion ball right now?
Chah, don't mince anyone. It'sby the way, you know,
(22:00):
we're on a we're on a kindof a time clip here, so I'll
get right to it. You know, Legion is failing. Legion organization is
failing you. In this day andage, you cannot be a reactive organization.
You have to be a proactive organization, and they're not. Okay.
(22:22):
Just look at the team attrition,Look at the team attrition in zones,
Look at the zone attrition across thestate. I would I would bet that
the Legion population is probably down sixtypercent of what it was three to five
years ago. Okay, it's it'syou know, it's just and and you
(22:47):
know they're getting eaten up by byclever people. Okay, they're getting they're
getting you know, Uh, playersare moving because of the song and the
dances they're getting from these travel leagues. There's no reason why Legion can't do
the same. And you know,at the end the end of the day,
the bottom line, if you're good, you'll be found. These these
(23:11):
scouts today, these colleges today areso sophisticated that they'll find you. Okay,
And you know, not a knockon Legion, but you know,
I look at it when you know, I was on the field, and
I mean if we if we hada three or a four game loss in
a season that was a bad year. I mean, we were through twenty
(23:36):
three twenty four wins a year andwe were, you know, a very
strong program. And it's not tosay the team we have out there now
isn't, but I mean I justI just look at the christness of the
plays, the pitching. It's notwhat it was. And you know,
(23:57):
we're just we're not getting the bestthat's out there. Uh, and that's
just a sad commentary on what people'sperception is of American Legion baseball. I'm
very very happy to see that Orangeis back. I'm happy to see and
(24:18):
I listened to your interview with misterRoddick. I think that's an excellent choice.
You know, he's he's good,and he'll he'll get one hundred and
fifty percent out of his players,and that's what you want. We have
Mike Bussilo, Andrew Lucy, KevinLucy, and Mike Ferrett. They'll get
one hundred and fifty percent out ofour players, will Okay, But it's
(24:41):
it's sad to see west Haven gone, sad to see east Haven gone,
New Haven gone, Shelton gone.I mean, what what what? I
don't I don't get it. AndI can tell you from a perception standpoint,
you just can't sit there and say, Okay, mister Jones is going
to call me and I'm going toget mister Jones as kid, those days
(25:03):
are gone. I mean, ifyou won't, if if you're ever a
fly on the wall and you sawwhat Andrew Lucy has to do to stimulate
this program, recruit for this program, I mean it's a full time job,
all right, And I know andkids are fickle. Parents are fickle.
You know. You say, Okay, I want to give you twenty
(25:23):
five quality games. I'm going togive you the instruction from Mike Bisillo,
Kevin Lucy and Mike Ferry. AndI'll tell you something. I'll put those
guys up against any coaches in thestate. So any coaches, absolutely,
okay. They are unbelievably improving orientedpeople. They're great communicators, their their
(25:47):
their their heart is in it.And kids says, well, you know
I'm gonna I'm gonna go over here. Well then then I'll see you in.
I mean, I just don't getit. I don't And it's just
it's just it's very frustrating. Weused to have three teams. We're lucky
to get one, okay, AndI don't think we're alone. I just
(26:08):
look at the other you know,the seventeen new programs and the fifteen new
programs. Everybody is down and it'sI look at you know, some of
these guys. They they they remindme the guy in the Wizard of Oz
sell them to sell them the fishoil crap. Okay, but these don't
buy this stuff. And next thing, you know, well, the coach
(26:29):
tells them where you're going to playin a college league. He puts them
in some seventeen new league up inNorth Branford, and they play feigning games
because they're blowing people out by fifteenand twenty runs. Oh you're you're going
to get real good by doing that. It's just I just mind boggling.
And you cannot, you cannot collaboratewith these guys because they think who they
(26:51):
are and it's just the head peoplein legion. I mean, if if
the attraction is the showcases, yeah, okay, and let's organize showcases within
our own zone. Let's let's createcommunications with our college area coaches. It's
not hard to do. You justyou got to stay with it. And
(27:14):
you've got to get these college coaches. The day of the college coaches coming
down to say, oh, I'mgoing to go watch mister Smith place center
field. Forget it. They don'thave time for that. But if you
get you know, one hundred,two hundred and fifty kids, now it's
worth their while to come down totake a look. Okay, why can't
lead you do that? And I'veasked that, and they do one showcase,
(27:34):
and it's it's it's it's like,you know, you've got a two
hundred people running around like an antfarm, looking at how we're going to
figure out who's who were. Yeah, it's just now it's not not good.
So what do we do with y'all? When the bottom line is that
they'd say, well you can,well, you know, and unless they
do something, Unless they do something, I think, you know, there's
(27:56):
gonna be mothballs in the Legion halls. I mean, there's gonna be nothing
there, right, And it's sadcommentary because you talk to any veteran,
these guys don't the veterans really aren'tin tune with the day to day stuff,
okay, and and and no disrespect, but you know they're they're they're
on elderly and and it's it's it'ssometimes you know, they're just leaving everything
(28:18):
up to their underlings to to runwith this. But you know, you
know, think about them for aminute. If they weren't doing what they
did, and they weren't there toprovide the opportunity, there wouldn't be American
Legion baseball. Correct if you lookat the statistics in the big leagues,
I guarantee you that over fifty percentof the baseball population played American Legion baseball.
(28:41):
If you look at that stat,you look at that stat, in
the next couple of years, it'sgoing to be maybe twenty percent played American
Legion baseball. Yeah, you're right, everybody. Yeah, it's just not
what it was. I mean,I mean, I guess I remember showing
up and you knew you had theentire North Haven High School team, the
(29:03):
West Haven High School team, youknow, the Milford High School team,
the East Haven High School team.I mean, you've developed tremendous competition,
you know, tremendous rivalries. Youlook who's out there now, and it's
it's like who are you? Well, you know, where where do you
go to school? Or we're youknow, I mean, you know,
it's just it's sad, sad.I'm a i'm a I agree with you
(29:26):
everything. I don't know what,but it seems like, uh, and
some of the kids I know havehad to play with other teams because of
you know, there's no team inthere city and the Legion gives them,
you know, big things about wellyour population of your city and the population
you know what that that's a that'sthat's a bunch of crap to me.
(29:49):
It's too restrictive. Yeah, Imean you got the thing play exactly play
you know you don't you don't havethese kind of fences you had a climb
with these other programs, I mean, they make it difficult to even you
know, be out there. Uhand and you know, thank god North
Haven was able to pick up Wallingford. Okay, we we have we have
(30:12):
a core of thank god, fromMike Buscillo's position that she in high school
to and Andrew's perseverance with with LymonHall, I mean we would be real
thin and we I think from whatI see the North Haven well, well
we'll start to turn because I thinkwe've got to kids where they should be.
(30:33):
Now. It takes a little bitto kind of sort that out,
and we got caught short with somegraduations. But you know, to Andrew's
credit, hey, we're playing thegame. Well, we got nine guys
were out there and you beat youbeat for you beat ours the other Now
you shut them out. So it'saren't just good, they're very good team.
They're very good. So I meanthat's nice. But again when all
(30:56):
the kids and again legion is tough. Sometimes, like we said, you
don't know night tonight, who's coming, who's not coming, who's going away?
I got I never did Andrew AndrewLucy's two nice a guy. Some
kids said he can't show up tonightbecause he's delivering pizzas if I was there
time to keep delivering. Give methe uniform, You're right, I bring
(31:18):
me, bring me a medium mediumwith Mootzwell, and give me the uniform.
What what is that? No?I let me say something. In
days past, they wouldn't even thinkof doing that. No, not at
all, not at all. Thebaseball would work around work knock the other
way around. Right, And youtry to create logic to these boys and
say, we'll tell you what whatwhat are you gonna do? You're gonna
(31:38):
make twenty dollars tonight? Or doyou want to pitch seven innings? I'm
want twenty. Here's twenty dollars.Good? Get where you going? Yeah?
The best one, jolly is sometimeswhen the time they have, which
really kills because I wouldn't let mykids do anything like this. But graduation
party, well, we have agame that well then you go to the
game the situation party, right,But I'm telling you. I've heard him
(32:02):
tell coach, I got graduation,I got people coming over. Well,
yeah, well guess what you're goingto be late? Yeah, you know,
just go right or don't have itduring when you know there's a game.
Doesn't make anything, you know,you know, the Legion schedule is
no mystery. No, you knowwhat. It's a lot of in a
few weeks. It's a lot ofgames that I guess what you buy into
this. It's it starts and endsreal quick, it does. Okay,
(32:27):
you're right. So if we gota doubleheader on a Saturday, logic dictates
you probably wouldn't do a graduation partyuntil six o'clock at night, and that's
when that's when people are coming anyway. Okay, so but yeah, I
don't know. You just sit downand scratch your head and say, you
know what's wrong with this picture?Yeah, I'm with you, distrustrating.
You're right, And I could tellthat your voice and mine when I talk
(32:52):
to coaches and everything, and butI don't know, as I say,
we know where they're going and whothere playing with and what they're playing in.
The travel ball is eating up alot of the kids. But you
gotta make it worth their while theplayer, then what would they play?
Yeah, but but you know youwant to drop six thousand plus plus plus
(33:17):
to go to East East hash Goshto play whomever? Then what what what
what? What? Where's the where'sthe economic and and you know sports sense
to do that? Okay, whereyou can? You know when when when
I was calling full board here afew years ago, I mean we we
(33:40):
would play three games on a Saturday, I know usually two would be a
legion. Yeah, that's right.I remember that, and my kids loved
it, of course even that,and I okay, peanut butter and jelly
sandwich was a bottle gator a muchright now, My god, I can't
do that. This je might getsoiled or tired. I owe you.
(34:06):
It's just crazy. I know,it's just it's just a bad commentary on
where we're going. I thought yourcommentary was just great. Just now so
I think it had the nail onthe head. Listen, well, yeah,
yeah, I know we're because ofour phone service being crazy here and
you had a call in us,which normally we don't. I just want
to mention one other thing. Iknow you've probably got to wrap this up.
(34:27):
I just hats off to Dan Gluleyand Mike Terrello. Down in West
Haven. We have a team downthere in the West Haven Twilight League,
all right, and those guys,those guys have been unbelievably supportive and instrumental
in starting to turn that league.They recently organized the golf tournament, which
which the league is gonna make somesome nice profit on, which goes to
(34:52):
enhance our financial position. But thethe the inventory is starting to turn over
down there. We're attracting college It'sKevin Lucy, who's who I mentioned before
is an assistant coaches is on ison my team down there. And here
for a kid who and I'm onlygonna say this briefly, who who didn't
get a lot of playing time withthe team called the Owls, it's it's
(35:12):
it's unbelievable to see how this kidproduces and d the catcher for the Irish
national figure. I'll be talking aboutthat because Andrew told me about that.
Listen. I got a run.But let's let you go. Let's get
you on again towards the end ofthe season, because we had to cut
this one short. All right,Thank you George Jugan at Charlie anytime,
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