Eagle County teams endangered species?
And then there were six.
That's the number of baseball teams in the Eagle County League this year after the Legacy Lions, Freeport and Wexford all dropped out.
The Legacy Lions forfeited three games last season due to a shortage of players and were expelled in accordance with league rules. But Freeport and Wexford, two programs that had combined for nearly 50 seasons in the league, met their end by very different means.
“There's plenty of people who want to play, that's not the issue,” said Saxonburg manager and Eagle County League president Dan Cunningham. “The problem is that nobody wants to step up and manage those teams.
“There is a lot of responsibility that comes with managing a team. There are expenses involved, like buying baseballs, uniforms, paying umpire fees. A lot of the fields have rental fees and you have to take care of the field as well.”
The other current managers in the league include Brendan Malone (Mars), Bill Clinefelter (Cranberry Township), Eric King (Mars II), Nolan Fetchko (Freeport II) and Stew Weimer (Zelienople).
Malone has been an Eagle County player since 2002. In 2009, he moved from Saxonburg's team to Mars and began pulling double duty as a manager last season.
“During my first 10 years in the league, I never thought about managing,” he said. “But after Rob Fester stepped down (following the 2012 season), it came down to me taking over a really good team or watch us disband.”
Now that he is in the lead role for Mars, Malone realizes the duties described by Cunningham.
“I work in Wexford. On days when we are hosting a game, I drive here (Marburger Field) and drag the field with my car. Then I drive back to work, hurry up and eat lunch there. I have some players on the team like Sam Sibeto and Brian Zima who help out, too.
“As far as the money needed to keep a team going, we have fund-raisers in the offseason and that alleviates a lot of the cost. We only have to charge each of our players $100, and not $250 or $300.”While the duties that fall to a team manager can be time-consuming, they are not overwhelming to someone who is committed.“Wayne Greiser took over Freeport's team when he was 19 years old (in the late 1990s),” said Clinefelter, who has served as Cranberry's player/manager for the better part of two decades. “My advice to any new manager would be to jump in with two feet. There are responsibilities, but it's not hard. It's been done before.”Malone does see a positive with the condensed league.“The quality of play has improved,” he said. “There used to be a couple of teams in the league that you knew you were going to beat. Now, you have to make sure that you're throwing a good pitcher, a good team out there to give yourself a chance to win.”Clinefelter agrees that the level of competition has risen within the league, but believes that bolstering membership is a must.“I am concerned with the numbers we're down to,” he said. “I still want to play a few more years and I don't want to see the league die on my watch. I would rather have a deeper league, at least get it to eight teams.”The Eagle County League's history is rooted in the Tri-Boro League, beginning in 1932. From 1950 until the mid-1990s, no less than 12 teams competed for the league title each season. The number dropped off to nine last year.Nobody knows more about the history of the circuit than Cunningham, who has served as president for the last 15 years.“The survival of Eagle County baseball means a lot to me,” he said. “The league has been running every year, except for two years during World War II, and I'd like to keep it that way. It's been a tremendously good wood bat league in the county for a lot of years.”
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