* 1998 BLLA LEAGUE OFFICERS *

President - Tony "Bear" Colangelo
Vice President - Angelo Masullo Jr.
Secretary - Paul "Sharkey" Romano
Treasurer - Paul Sullivan

* T-BALL FEVER *

JUNE 6: With the 1998 baseball season well under way, the Boys T-Ball Division is coming on strong. There are six teams made up of 7-8 year old boys headed by Commissioner Tony Colangelo. Although we play scheduled games every Friday evening, our main goal is teaching the fundamentals of baseball. Teamwork, practice and instruction are everything. The coaches in our league are preparing the boys to move on to the next level of competition. After our games on Friday THERE ARE NO LOSERS, ONLY WINNERS. I know each and every coach, and it is a priveledge working with them. Carl Muller, Billy Blake, Jeff Leghart, Bob Smith, Tony Zwickle and myself do our best each and every week to help these boys develop the skills they need to move on in their baseball career. It's nice to know we may be coaching a future Hall of Famer!

-submitted by Rich Kaczmarek, coach of Bob Hayes Photography.

* PIRATES DAY *

Pirates Day was held on July 11 at Brookline Park. BLLA sincerely thanks everyone who helped out. The event was a huge success. Pitcher Rich Loiselle, bullpen coach "Spin" Williams, first-base coach Joe Jones, and hitting coach Lloyd McClendon were on hand from the Pittsburgh Pirates for a one hour mini-clinic and fan appreciation day. Estimates are that nearly 200 kids and accompanying parents were in attendance. The Parrot flew the coup and missed the show, but the zany bird was not missed as our other guests put on a major league show, full of spirit and good baseball advice. While mingling with the fans, our pros handed out autographed cards, complimentary game tickets, sunglasses, chips and juice. After about an hour, the Pirates headed for the Stadium to prepare for their game, and the fans returned to the business of all-star tournaments. A fond thank you to Rich, "Spin", Joe and Lloyd for spending some time with our kids. GO PIRATES!

* THE MAYOR'S CUP *

The 1998 Mayor's Cup representative from Brookline was Poremski Plumbing, regular season champions of the Little Division. Under Mayor's Cup rules, three more players were picked to round out the roster.

The Brookline Roster: John Gallagher, Tom Francesconi, Domenic Mecca, Billy Seibel, Kevin O'Rourke, Scott Dallas, Dave Vergot, Demetri Xenakis, Kurt Faust, Brandon Poremski, Tim Schmidt, Josh Poremski, Jordan Zahorchak, Joe Mercuri, Nick Tsangaris and Coach Tim Reitmeyer.

This years team made a quick exit from the B.I.G. League Tournament with a 4-0 loss to Mount Washington on July 12. No matter, the boys returned to sweep a two-game series in the league championship to lay claim to the 1998 Brookline Little Division title.

The story was a little different in 1995, when the Brookline squad rose to the top of the heap and brought home the Mayor's Cup trophy. For a look at "The Year Brookline Went All The Way", click here.

* THANK YOU LADIES *

Dee Sheridan
Jill Novorosky
Louise Tsangaris

I can not thank the three of you enough. The enormous amount of hours that you ladies put in as volunteers helped make the concession stand the huge success that it was. Please accept my sincerest gratitude because I couldn't have done it without each one of you.

I'd also like to thank all of the parents who helped out with the stand, and especially those parents who not only helped once, but two or three times throughout the season. Hope to see you all again next year.

Sincerely,
Lisa Blake