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Home > What's New > Fantasy Baseball Challenge
Fantasy Baseball Challenge
Posted: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
By Michael Moretti
The sun was shining at the beginning of the day and the clouds rolled in by the end. Such was the fate of the Cigar Aficionado softball team that took the field in late September, but it was all for a good cause. In the name of defeating prostate cancer, we took the F train to the far reaches of Brooklyn to play in Ed Randall's fourth annual Bat for the Cure Fantasy Baseball Challenge. While we fell short when it came to rounding the base paths, we still made strides for the foundation.
Team Cigar Aficionado and many others suited up for a charity softball game to raise money for prostate cancer.
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In truth, the team may have taken itself out of the game from the beginning. The first misstep was the beer and Nathan's hot dog lunch about a half hour before game time. Since the field where we were to play, Keyspan Park home of the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones, is on Coney Island and the world-famous hot dog stand that began the American tube steak glut is only a few blocks away, it was difficult to resist the temptation. Actually, it wasn't even the will that failed. We had planned to meet there about a week in advance. We ate our dogs in the sun and basked in the glory that was to come.
Sports radio host Ed Randall started Bat for the Cure in December 2001 to fight prostate cancer, the leading cause of death behind lung cancer for American men. It is essentially a fantasy camp game where players come from sponsoring companies or are sponsors themselves and field a team with the help of professional baseball players. In attendance at this year's game were former Mets Rafael Santana and Ed Charles, and former Yankees Paul Mirabella, Mark Leiter and Steve Balboni, among others. The New York City police and fire departments, longtime sponsors of the event, faced off in the game following ours.
Ed Randall, founder and president (far right) shares cigars with Paul Mirabella, Steve Balboni and Tony Lacitignola, co-founder and coo.
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As we waited for the ESPN and Nickelodeon squads to finish their game, we eyed our competition from the bullpen. Our opponents were the formidable squad from Jim Beam. It was clear that its players had the advantage from the beginning…like at batting practice before the game. First, they had uniforms. They were wearing red shirts that said "Jim Beam." We had a jumble of attire, no two shirts alike, consisting of old high school jerseys, T-shirts of favorite teams and maybe a few shirts emblazoned with the insignia of a beer, wine, restaurant, bar or cigar brand. Second, they had all guys. I am not saying that women are any less talented at sports than men, but softball has a lot to do with brawn and they had more. No, that's not just an excuse.
This was our team's first game on a professional field – the bases were spaced 90 feet apart compared to 45 on our usual field. The stands rose high over our heads and the outfield had walls that we couldn't dream of hitting.
The thrill of running out onto a professional field was coupled with getting to shake hands with three former major leaguers and having our picture taken with them prior to the first pitch. I marveled at Rafael Santana's 1986 Mets World Series ring and quipped with Mark Leiter that we let our play speak for itself when he asked about the whereabouts of our uniforms. I think he bought it, although he chuckled in a way that seemed to say our garb already matched the expectation of our play. The shot was snapped -- frozen in time -- and the umpire sounded the call to "Play Ball!"
Although the field seemed immense compared to the Central Park softball field in Manhattan where our team cut its teeth this summer, we surprised ourselves in the first couple of innings. We only gave up one run. Our fielders, with the odd slip here and there, stood up to the test. An umpire asked a Beam runner who got on base in the second inning, "What's happening, I thought you guys were going to destroy them, you've got the uniforms and everything?" Uniforms…who knew? Despite our ragtag appearance, we held up. There were valiant efforts all around. Shortstop Steve Cannizzaro had a diving catch and retired the runner by throwing from the ground. That same umpire even caught an overthrown ball for us, keeping a Beam runner from reaching second. Up at bat, we tied it in the second on an RBI double from outfielder Eric Arnold.
Team Cigar Aficionado poses with former pro-ball players prior to the game.
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The clouds were building in the sky, though, and sprinkles of rain began to fall here and there. The fourth inning J. Beam started to really hit. Balls flew to the outer reaches of the outfield and before we knew what was going on, our opponents had tacked on five more runs. Third baseman Carolyn Price, later named our team's Most Valuable Player, popped her bad knee out of place while making a diving stop on a line drive and limped off the field.
By now the sky was gray. We were still fighting tooth and nail, but something told us that we should adopt the – "hey it's for a good cause" attitude and forget the "we have to win" mantra talked about over dogs earlier. In the fifth, pitcher and leadoff hitter Eric Cheung was thrown out trying to valiantly take home on a passed ball. The courage was there, but unfortunately, so was the catcher and the ball.
We managed to build up some steam in the seventh and get a second run in, but alas, that was the last one we would get. Six to two was the final score. Next year, we will get Jim Beam, which, by the way, should have forfeited four runs for not supplying our dugout with a Gatorade-sized cooler of Bourbon. So let's call it a tie.
For more information on Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure foundation, go www.erbatforthecure.org.
Photos by Jack Miller
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