by Pete

The Beat '99 Spring Season Wrap-up The Beat emerges from the abyss to post its 1st winning Spring since 1994

Unless my memory is seriously declining, and that's possible, The Beat of Division C-6 Spring '99 achieved only the third winning Spring season in our 13 years of existence. Since we haven't always kept record of season records, I can't be sure, so correct me if I'm wrong somebody. I meant to ask 2-time champion former manager and rare character Wilfred Spoon when he & Anne were here a couple of weeks back, but forgot...

Fortunately we've always been a better Summer team, which bodes well for the remainder of '99.

Congratulations gentlemen on a hard-nosed, character-building 5-3 record for what is also only our second winning season in C-league since our arrival in Spring '96. We were in 1st place through the first 5 games of the season and played a meaningful late-season game for the division lead for the first time since Summer '97. While we didn't make the big time, we did tie with Mars for 2nd place and should be ready to contend again. So let's get primed for Bear in the last Summer of the Millennium.

After surprising the division by charging out to a 3-0 record on April 17, during which time we brought home the scalps of mighty Hammertime, we had a tough 4-week spell. Frankly, we were lucky to be only a half-game behind HT at 4-1 heading into the revenge matchup on May 15 when they kicked our asses. As you'll recall, we blew an 11-run lead over HGA in game 5, but mounted a gutty comeback in the bottom of the 6th to pull it out 14-13. We also came back from a tough 7-6 loss to Mars on May 22 and wound up the Spring on a winning note by humbling Nicoya 11-6.

Moreover, an excellent jolt of karmic energy was brought about by the return of the Spoons to SF in mid-June for Wilf's art show and a weekend of parties right after the season ended. Nothing like bringing the extended family together whenever we can. Legendary ex-manager Jim (Leather) Harvey, where are you?

Geez, where do I start?? It was a season in which we overcame monkey-wrench curve balls thrown by bad luck and highlighted for the most part by adult responsibilities and opportunities. This caused 3 more players to come and go by the end of the Spring, a familiar theme in Beat folklore. The positives featured the gelling of a team nucleus solidified by the presence of 9 veterans and 3 new players signed since the grand exodus that essentially ended after Spring '98.

We began our 5-week Spring training on a precociously warm day back in mid-February at Parkside Playground, showed a lot of spirit in our solid turnouts and split 2 close well-played exhibition games. The highlight was a preview gut-check when we fell just short of division winner Hammertime 7-6. A big chemistry-builder was marked by the return of the veteran Greg "Lukie" Lukoski, who'd left the team in '97. All positions were thrown open to competition in the pre-season and you all responded to create a radically rejiggered, and solid defense.

The scheduling was weird and we wondered if the league officials were impaired when they included only five teams in the division and scheduled each team to play twice. We had two byes and a Holiday weekend scattered throughout the Spring.

The Beat showed the importance of getting a lead in winning 4 of the first 5 games, including our first 3 games of the season. In those games, we scored early, then took control of the momentum to hold on, 3 times in close fashion. Hell, we wouldn't have won more than one of those games last year. Despite a few typically Beat one-inning defensive lapses, we were solid in the field and established veterans and new players at new positions that made us, well rejuvenated, and ultimately a better team.

What a different look we had. Think of it, last year, amid all of the turnovers and the combined 5-11 record--and this was primarily the look for many years--we were manned in the field by departed rookies Devin Fletcher and Matt Barber at catcher, me, Mike Laffey, and Mike "Butts" Buttafuso at 1st, Mark "The Cottonmouth King" St. Georges and Butts at 2nd, Kevin Austin at shortstop, Donnell "Big Daddy" Moody at third, Jeff "Rocks" Ricketts, Rick Coglio and Matt in left, Mike "Pizza Man" Weiss in left center, Chris Young and last year's Cyber-rookie Jim Colleto in right center, and BJ Bateman in right.

This year, we were transformed: This year's Cyber-rookie Gunnar "Man" Rosequist at catcher, Big Daddy and Jim at 1st, Butts and Kevin at 2nd, Brian Arcuri and Pizza Man at short, MSG at 3rd, the returning veteran Lukie in left, Jim in left-center, Chris as Rover, and BJ in right, me at EP. Add to that a flexibly dependable pitching rotation of Beat founders Denny "OB" O'Brien and team captain Kevin Austin that was discovered in the Summer of '98. The defense was better than it's been in years, possibly the tightest overall in C-6. They say that if you keep it under 5 errors a game in softball you're doing really well. Well this Spring we averaged 4.1 errors per game so what more can I say??

Change was good. Change was fun.

As for the hitting, we looked like the anemic Beat of 1996-98 at times, but still scored in double figures 5 times as opposed to only twice last Summer. And there were surprises. You'd normally expect to see Big Daddy at the top of the RBI leaderboard. Instead it was MSG with 12 and Pizza Man followed with 10. Mark made a major resurgence and threw down the gauntlet for the #3 spot in the order with a team high .682 batting average and 12 RBIs. MSG also placed second in hits with 15 and has the team's longest current hit streak at nine games. Mike Weiss put up some all-star numbers of his own. A late surge pushed him over the six mark as he finished the spring with a .611 average and 10 RBIs. Pizza came in with 11 hits on the season, a team high .778 slugging percentage and .714 OBP. Kevin Austin found his groove in front of Mark in the #2 spot leading the team with 16 hits including 3 doubles and a .571 average. He also posted a 4-2 record on the mound and joins MSG as the only other beatster to make it through the spring collarless with an eight game hit streak. Big 'D' Moody filled the #4 spot leading the team with 10 runs scored. Donnell was third on the team with 12 hits and posted a solid .500 average.

Though seeing limited time at the plate, our old pal O.B. impressed everyone with a .600 average in ten at bats. John Palmer also posted limited but impressive numbers in his brief return with a .667 average and .833 slugging percentage.

Of course, there have to be lowlights and those are usually the longtime players we lose to family changes and moves back to the "right-coast." This Spring was no different as we said hello and goodbye to both promising rookie Steve Harper and legendary veteran returnee John Palmer within 2 months. Steve headed back to Maine to take care of family business, and John surrendered to the burden of trying to keep up with six-month-old twins in Petaluma, but may be back next Spring. In the biggest surprise of all, we bid adieu and wish the best of luck to veteran stalwart Mike "Don't Call Me Joey" Buttafuso, as he moves on to New York, NY to open a new Chevy's Restaurant in Times Square. We're expecting free pitchers of margharitas for all Beat players who take their lives in their hands and visit "the Big Apple," right Buttsy?

Butts has always been a gamer, and rarely missed a match in 6 1/2 seasons. He joined the team in '93 at the urging of former captain Frank "Pepe" Green. Butts quickly established a reputation as a dynamic lefty extra-base hitter and batted .481, .600, .405, and .488 between 1994-97. He was an excellent right-side infielder, providing solidarity at 1st and 2nd base. After taking a scorching grounder off his nose at 3rd base early on in his Beatnik tenure, Butts vowed never to play the hot corner again. His career average stands at a robust .450, which ranks him among the best Beat hitters of all time. As with all veterans who leave, Buttsy will always have a place in the lineup whenever he returns.

View The BEAT's 1999 Final Batting Statistics

On The BEAT News Archive