Movers and shakers
Their baseball backgrounds are different. Their goals in the sport are the same.
Both men want to bring their respective teams,— the Butler BlueSox and Slippery Rock Sliders, to the top of the Prospect League and make their franchise the most desired summer location for top college players.
"Our players will be treated with respect on and off the field from day one," Sliders owner Mike Bencic said. "We want coaches to want to send players here in the future.
"Word of mouth can be a positive tool."
By his own admittance, Bencic did not become a huge baseball fan until five years ago.
By contrast, BlueSox owner Leo Trich has been a baseball junkie since childhood.
Trich grew up in the Washington, Pa., area and was coaching a Pony League baseball team while in college at California (Pa.). He had worked at a local glass plant to earn money to go to school, but lost that job opportunity the following summer.
"Roy Gillespie was assistant commissioner of Pony League Baseball at the time and I was coaching his son," Trich recalled. "I asked him if there were any odd jobs I could do in the office to pick up some extra money.
"I started out doing some groundskeeping, mailings, any little thing. I worked my way up the ladder and 15 years later, I served as assistant commissioner of Pony League Baseball International."
Trich eventually became national commissioner and served on the U.S. Olympic Baseball Committee from 1980-84.
"That 1984 team that won the gold in Los Angeles with Mark McGwire, Will Clark and all those guys — dummy me, never even asked for an autograph," he said.
The travel involved with Pony League International became a little too much for Trich, whose wife gave birth to twin girls in 1984. He decided to stay home to run for public office, serving seven terms as a state representative serving Washington County.
When his final term ended, plans to build a new ballpark to attract minor league baseball to Washington were under way. The Wild Things debuted in the new stadium in 2002, the same year Trich's final term ended.
Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee asked Trich to work part-time for the league as a consultant.
"It was my chance to get back into baseball," Trich said.
He served as director of development for the Frontier League, which considered Butler as the potential home for a franchise.
"The timing of the construction of Pullman Park and a lack of parking went against the league's expansion schedule," Trich said. "But it was enough for me to fall in love with Butler.
"The demographics here are similar to Washington's, and, coupled with the tradition of Pullman Park, I knew a good collegiate program could flourish here."Trich has been involved with college baseball since 2004, when he developed a team to debut in the Tri-States Collegiate League in 2006.Bencic said he didn't "live and breathe baseball" growing up, but a trip to a minor league game in Georgia changed all of that five years ago."I drove for Campbell Bus Lines and took an academic team from Mount Lebanon down to Georgia for a competition every year," he said. "Part of that trip included taking them to an Atlanta Braves game."Five years ago, the Braves were out of town. We changed our route home and took them to a Chattanooga Lookouts minor league game."The ballpark was packed, hot dogs cost a buck, admission was $5 and the children hustled and played a good brand of baseball. I was introduced to a whole new world in the sport," Bencic added.When the Frontier League added the expansion Slippery Rock Sliders in 2007, Bencic became the team's bus driver to road games."I loved being around those children," he said. "Their hustle and desire were infectious. They'd come out of a Sheetz or a 7-11 with a quart of milk and a Twinkie. That was dinner sometimes on the road."My 3-year-old daughter got five baseballs that year. She didn't want to watch cartoons anymore. She wanted to watch baseball."So when the Sliders sought permanent ownership in 2008, Bencic was at the front of the line.Owning two office buildings and 153 storage units in the Slippery Rock-Grove City area, he drives a bus for a hobby. He wanted to keep the Sliders in Slippery Rock as a community service."Basically, there wasn't enough time to put the deal together and they were gone," Bencic said.He thought his venture into baseball had left with them."Then I get a call from Leo and my interest was piqued again," Bencic said.Trich had teamed with Chris Hanners, owner of the Chillicothe Paints and founder of the Frontier League, in an attempt to form a collegiate wooden bat league. They stumbled upon the Central Illinois Collegiate League, which was looking to expand, and everything fell into place."When I saw the completion of Pullman Park in the spring of 2008, I was so impressed," Trich said. "We had to make Butler a part of this."Slippery Rock soon followed."I like the people and teams behind this league," Bencic said. "It's bringing more quality baseball to Slippery Rock and I'm proud to be part of that."We want to do our part in making this the best wooden bat league in the nation, bar none. Danville's franchise has sent 150 players to the major leagues. That's the type of foundation that's here."And Bencic will again be driving the bus for the "new" Slippery Rock Sliders."I wouldn't have it any other way," he said.
