In the year 2000 AWA was certainly on the downside of its long history. Most of its veteran players were retired or well past their prime. While the roster did have some new good talent, on the whole we were lacking. The team could still hit, though the power numbers were down, but it was defensively where the shortcomings were mostly felt. A step too slow, a split-second too late, AWA was finding victory a real challenge from week to week.
The team was crushed 18-5 on opening day, and then proceeded to lose four of its next five games. The team's only win in this stretch was an astonishing 48-8 victory over a depleted and injured EA Sports squad. But the losses were particularly lacking of any form of defense, as the scores of 32-17 and 34-14 would indicate. AWA was just a shell of its former self.Sitting in last place with a 1-5 record, the team started to come together, in large part due to the newer players starting to fit in. AWA reeled off wins of 21-13, 20-9, and 14-4 heading into the season finale against a division rival called The Other Bleacher Bums. The Bums had a 5-4 record in the four-team division, as did the Guardino Pumpers. AWA was sitting in a tie for third with EA Sports at 4-5. As the evening unfolded, EA Sports upended the Guardino Pumpers and AWA held off the Bums 18-16. In the most bizarre of circumstances, all four division teams ended the spring season with identical 5-5 records.
The various tie-breakers were applied until it came down to net runs scored, and that's where AWA's lopsided victory over EA Sports made the difference. Incredibly, AWA was awarded the division crown, while the Other Bleacher Bums made the playoffs as the second place team.
The other division was crystal clear in the outcome. The Road Dogs posted a perfect 10-0 record, dominating play throughout the spring. They were not just the favorite to win it all this year. They were a lead pipe cinch.
The second place team in that division, and the fourth invitee for the spring playoffs, was a team called Cisco-SCM. Cisco struggled to put a team on the field each week as the season wound down, and they were frequently raiding the clubhouse before games for players to avoid forfeiting. This kept them in contention as they managed to win enough to make the playoffs, including a 19-17 slugfest over AWA. Playing a league game with non-roster players was not unusual, and while not legal per league rules, the practice largely went unchecked. While Coach Mike Applegate swallowed hard in losing to a roster of illegal players during the regular season, he knew he would not let this pass in the playoffs.
It was a warm June night that proved to be full of surprises. Cisco showed up for its scheduled first round game against AWA loaded with players who were not only on their roster, but they had so brazen as to snag players from other teams in our league. Coach Applegate was delayed getting to this first game, but he already knew what he wanted, leaving explicit instructions to protest the Cisco lineup before game time. The game started as league officials checked the rosters of both teams against the driver's licenses of all the players present. The game was tied 4-4 in the top of the second inning when the officials stopped the game and awarded a forfeit victory to AWA, counting five players who were not on the official roster. There was a lot of griping and grumbling that followed, but we were unfazed. It was on to the championship game.
Then things really got bizarre. The Road Dogs, possibly looking ahead to the title game, saw their year come to a crashing end as the Other Bleacher Bums scored a stunning 10-9 upset victory. That put the Bums and AWA, both with 5-5 regular season records, into the finals.
The Bums were a team much like AWA -- a veteran club who could score runs in bunches, but who could also suffer defensively. Coach Applegate saw this game as a high scoring affair, and as his team batted in the top of the first, extolled his players to "Just keep hitting!"
And the team did just that, scoring five times in the top of the first. Run-scoring doubles by Fred Forster, Maytheni Allen, and joe Sammut were the key blows of the frame, while sacrifice flies by Jody Fuller and Nick Suarez added to the scoring. But before AWA had a chance to get comfortable with its five-run lead, the Bums came back to score four times in the bottom of the inning.
A run-scoring single by Fred put the team up 6-4 in the second, and the guys were able to score two more in the third on a couple of Bum errors and singles by Nick and Mike Seabury. The Bums added a run in the home half of the third to cut AWA's lead to 8-5.
Mike Wheeler opened the fourth with a hit to left center, but he was gunned down trying to stretch it into a double. Fred followed that with a single to right, moved up when Greg walked, and scored when Jody's hard grounder went through the third baseman for an error. Maytheni followed with a hit to load the bases. After a foulout, Joe grounded one wide of first. The first baseman dove for the ball and deflected it just enough to escape the second baseman. Greg scored on the infield hit to give AWA a 10-5 lead.
The team looked to take control of the game in the fifth as the Bums continued to blunder in the field. With one out, Buddy Grimm reached safely on the third baseman's error. Frank Chavez, coming off the bench, drilled a rope to center for a hit. After Wheeler bounced into a force at third, Fred stroked a hit to right to score a run. Greg then lifted a towering fly to right center. The outfielder turned the wrong way at first, staggered as the wind played tricks with the ball, and then dropped it. Two more runs crossed the plate for a 13-5 lead. AWA was getting warmed up for the celebration.
But the Bums were not going to go out easily. The coach reminded his players that the Bums had walloped AWA 32-17 back in week 3, and that the Bums were a seriously dangerous offensive team. That fact was punctuated in the home half of the fifth when a walk, three singles, and a triple had four runs across. After five innings AWA held a somewhat tenuous 13-9 lead.
The teams traded runs in the sixth, but the team really put the bats to work in the seventh. Mike inserted himself into the game as a pinch hitter, and opened the inning with a hit. Frank and Wheeler each singled to load the bases. Fred then scorched a two-run double to right and Greg followed with a two-run double to center. Maytheni's sacrifice fly closed out the scoring for AWA, who took what appeared to be a safe 19-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
The Bums opened their final at bat with three straight hits for one run. After a force out, three consecutive hits had two more runs across. The bases were loaded and the heart of the Bums lineup was coming up. The next hitter grounded one to Jody, who took the ball to third for a force, as another run scored. Down to their last out, the next Bum hitter shot one down the first base line. First baseman Ralph Parraz made a terrific play to stab the ball deep behind the bag, and then made a perfect feed to Joe, who hustled over to take the throw at first.
AWA had won it, aided by some extraordinary circumstances. And because the team just kept hitting.
