Crespi Baseball Team

In my seven years as athletic director at Crespi High, I have never responded to any of the articles written in either The Times or The Daily News regarding Crespi athletics. I have always felt that both publications have treated us fairly. However, I feel compelled to answer one of the charges made in your article (“The High Schools”) of June 1.

You make some very serious allegations against our baseball program, covering the past 10 years, without revealing some very pertinent information. It appears to me that you did not do your homework thoroughly.

It is true that we have had five different coaches in the nine years prior to Mitch Fair taking over in 1986. However, you failed to mention that none of these coaches were fired by us or that in three instances from 1980 to 1985 we were able to fill the vacant coaching positions with the assistant coach, thus no drastic change in the program.

You also failed to mention the success of our baseball teams during the nine years prior to 1986. This past season under Mitch Fair was the first season a Crespi varsity baseball team finished below .500 in 10 years. It also marked only the fourth time in 10 years that we have not gone to the playoffs (one of those four being the 1985 season when our team finished in a three-way tie for second place with an 8-4 record, yet lost a playoff spot due to a coin-flip). We have always been a strong contender in the very competitive Del Rey League.

In conclusion, I would like to state to you that there is definitely a commitment from the school to baseball. The cost alone of running this program reflects a real commitment on the part of the school. We would love to have a campus facility, but that is impossible given our present location. The baseball program here at Crespi costs a lot more to operate than most people realize, given the costs of two teams’ coaches, equipment, ballpark rental fees and transportation. A recent athletic department breakdown of the individual cost of running a program divided by the number of participants revealed baseball to be the most expensive of our 10 sports, even topping football and basketball.

PAUL MUFF

Athletic Director

Crespi High