Seniors in the Baseball Field: It Was a Blast--and a Dud

First the news: “There will be a second season,” Jim Morley, founder of the Senior Professional Baseball Association, said this week as the Florida-based league’s 72-game regular-season schedule ended. Four of the eight teams will take part in playoffs this weekend.

But judging from attendance, many didn’t know the league had a first season. Average attendance was only 921. Most teams, said Morley, lost “between 500,000 and 1 million dollars.” One owner disappeared and still hasn’t been found.

However, Morley is going on a gut feeling that life in the golden-age league will improve. He’s even talking of expanding into Arizona. The SPBA has a three-year cable-television contract and more players than it can use. As Graig Nettles said, “If I can stay in baseball, I may never have to grow up.”

The league has proved to be a conversation piece. Dick Williams once more was managing a front-running team, George Foster again was hitting tape-measure home runs, Pete Broberg was on the mound and winning more games than he had for the Washington Senators. So what if some people thought the Orlando Juice was a drink?

But Morley’s dream may not be shared by enough others. To lure fans, he said, the league will emphasize marketing and advertising during the offseason. A businessman, Morley says there’s now plenty of time to promote the league; a baseball lover, he can hardly wait to start again -- only 8 1/2 months to fall training.

Nobody objected when Morley, who also owns the St. Petersburg Pelicans, activated himself a couple of times during the season.

Morley, 33, was eligible to play in the league for 35 year olds and up because catchers and designated hitters can be 32. He caught an inning in December and popped to short in his only turn at bat. But in January he hit his stride in Winter Haven -- and quickly retired again.

That day, the team again was plagued with injuries. Morley took batting practice, although he said he was “pathetic.” But Manager Bobby Tolan came to him and said: “ ‘Hey, you’re going to play today.’ I was surprised.”

For the first six innings Morley served as designated hitter, and caught the last three. At the plate he went three for five. “I should have been four for five,” he said, but the official scorer charged the Winter Haven third baseman with an error on a tough chance.

Staffers gave Morley a framed box score that he hung in his office.

The Orlando Juice couldn’t draw fans -- and even its owner disappeared.

Philip Breen, the Juice’s owner and president of the Group One Mortgage Corp. of Southfield, Mich., was reported missing by his wife on Jan. 9. Group One has filed suit against Breen, charging he may have taken as much as $10 million from the company through dummy corporations. The FBI reportedly is investigating the case and looking for Breen.

Breen took off before meeting the last two Juice payrolls. The team used money from a $100,000 letter of credit each team had to put up before the season. According to league spokesman Peter Lasser, league funds are being used to cover the last payroll. The league plans to sell the franchise and reimburse itself for the salaries it had to pay.

The Juice cornered one of the league’s biggest markets to no avail. It faced withering competition from the National Basketball Association’s Magic. Just about every promotion imaginable failed: Bat night, seniors day, ladies night, discount tickets. Only 245 fans showed up for the league’s first doubleheader. (The Juice beat the Winter Haven Super Sox twice, including a 12-inning first game; afterward, Juice Manager Dyar Miller told reporters: “That was a long day, but everybody’s still standing.”)

On a Monday night for Bradenton, the Juice sank to an attendance of 182. The biggest attraction proved to be “Frank Viola Night,” which drew 1,500.

Luckless on the field, as well, the Juice just missed the playoffs although it went all out for the “stretch drive.” The Juice sent former Pittsburgh third baseman Bill Madlock and pitcher Roy Branch (0-1, Seattle, 1979) to the St. Lucie Legends for Vida Blue, 40, who last pitched in the major leagues in 1983. Blue pitched well, but couldn’t stop the team’s slide.

Earl Weaver never could get his Gold Coast Suns up to .500 after a dreadful start and, according to Lasser, was “looking pretty tired” by season’s end. Now the former Baltimore manager is scheduled to keep some fantasy-camp commitments he made before the baseball season. “He figured to be golfed out by now,” said Lasser, “instead of being baseballed out.”

One of Weaver’s disappointments was cigar-smoking Luis Tiant, who failed to round into shape with the Suns. Tiant, who will turn 50 this year, was released and found work with the woeful Legends as pitching coach. As Tiant departed, Joaquin Andujar, 37, arrived from the Dominican Republic after receiving a call from his friend Cesar Cedeno, a Suns outfielder.

Andujar, who last pitched in 1988 for the Houston Astros (2-5), won his first five games and was signed to a AAA contract by the Montreal Expos and invited to their big-league camp. “I’m not going to play minor leagues. I’m not a minor-legue pitcher,” said Andujar, who worked on a forkball in the seniors league to go with his still-effective fastball.

Managers who didn’t survive: Gates Brown at Orlando, Nettles at St. Lucie and both Bill Lee and Ed Nottle at Winter Haven. Bobby Bonds took Nettles’s place and Nettles took up playing at Bradenton. Leon Roberts, former Houston and Seattle outfielder, ended up as Winter Haven’s player-manager with Lee, the “Spaceman,” as one of his pitchers.

Even if he hasn’t become a household name, Tim Ireland rose from obscurity to grab at least a footnote in baseball history. Ireland, 36, had a major-league career of 11 games with the Kansas City Royals in 1981 and 1982. He had one hit in seven at-bats. Career average: .143. But he tore up the seniors league.

Ireland, second baseman for Fort Myers, won the batting title with a .374 average. He also worked the hidden-ball trick successfully three times, the first coming on opening day for the league’s first out.

Besides having the team with the best record by far, the West Palm Beach Tropics led the league with player lawyers.

Pete Broberg, former Senators pitcher and now a Palm Beach attorney, was 8-1 with a 3.41 earned-run average. Broberg, 39, broke in with the Washington Senators in 1971 and went on to a 41-71 major-league record -- never having a winning season until now (although he never played on a winning team until now).

“The number one highlight was playing again and letting my kids see me play,” said Broberg. “Pitching well was a bonus.”

Broberg said he still has a fastball and occasionally threw it more than 90 mph. He also has a curve, slider, cut fastball and change-up. “I threw it all,” he said.

Joe Mincberg, 41, was a backup first baseman for a while, the only player in the league with no pro experience, not even in the minors.

Mincberg, who had requested a county judge not to schedule any of his trials from November through January, called it “a dream come true” when he was activated from the Tropics’ three-man taxi squad.

In his first three at-bats, he struck out, but got a single his fourth time up. The game was stopped and he was given the ball.

Mincberg never got another hit and was deactivated after going one for 11 (.091).

The Tropics were so good they held “guaranteed-win day” five times. Trouble was, they managed only a 3-2 record despite playing .722 ball for the season. Still, “guaranteed-win day” boosted concessions; everyone who hoped to cash in his stub for a ticket to a future game had to stick around until the last out.

Some names to remember:

-- Irv Tuman, 72-year-old bat boy. Appropriately for the seniors league, West Palm Beach came up with a Florida retiree who grew up in Brooklyn. He was known as “Uncle Irving.”

-- Hoot Gibson, the Pelicans’ version of “The Natural.” Like the fictional Roy Hobbs, Gibson had been away from the game a long, long time when he resurfaced. A 37-year-old would-be left-handed pitcher, Gibson watched a game on television at home in Bryan, Texas, and figured he could make the league. He drove to St. Petersburg and handed over his resume. The highlight: three years in the Atlanta Braves oraganization in the early ‘80s. He’d retired after developing a sore arm.

The Pelicans sized him up and signed him. On his first day in uniform, he was put in to pitch in a tough situation. The batter: George Foster. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Gibson. “I was actually pitching to George Foster.” Foster hit into an inning-ending double play. Gibson found that hard to believe too.

He lasted the rest of the season, compiling a 3-3 record and 6.96 ERA. In the final regular-season game, Gibson was put in to play center field. He got three hits in three at-bats.

-- Dick Bosman, former Senators pitcher. Bosman began the season in the Pelicans radio booth as color man. Later, he returned to the mound. At 45 the oldest Pelican, he finished with a 1-1 record (the victory coming in the last game of the season). He wasn’t missed for long in the booth because the team went off the air in early January. Pelicans General Manager Phil Bensen said the radio deal was made the day before the season, leaving little time to line up sponsors.

-- Sergio Ferrer, once a shortstop with Minnesota and the New York Mets. The Pelicans let him go in December after he made 16 errors. “The figure is misleading,” insisted Morley, who traded Ferrer to St. Lucie for “future considerations.” “He had two games in which he had four errors. He’s a good guy. If we were to win it all, we’d buy him a ring.”

Morley said “one or two” franchises may be relocated in Florida. If four Arizona teams are added, each Arizona team would make two trips to Florida during the season and the Florida teams would make one to Arizona.