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3/17/07
Modified Pitch is getting some newspaper coverage. This article recently appeared in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Softball league heads south
Modified fast pitch players seek teams in Allegheny County
Thursday, March 15, 2007
By David Guo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the world of men's softball, Mike McGrogan is a "tweener." He's too small for slow pitch, too hit-hungry for fast pitch.
That's why the Ross resident says he's perfect for modified fast pitch, making its first league appearance in Allegheny County since 1992.
Mr. McGrogan is treasurer of the Fieldhouse Mens League, which, after more than 20 years, is moving from Cabot in Winfield to the Culmerville District Sportsman Club on Saxonburg Boulevard in West Deer.
Mr. McGrogan hopes to boost the number of teams from five by tapping a new population base. "We're looking for more teams, more players," he says. "Hopefully we can get more guys who say 'hey, modified's back in Allegheny County.' "
As of Monday, he's got one new team close to joining.
He knows there's something of a base here, from the days of the North Suburban League that dissolved in 1992. The Fieldhouse league season opener is May 19. Organized in 1984, its five teams are made up of players from Butler, Armstrong, Allegheny, Lawrence, Westmoreland, and Washington counties. The league has produced nine state titles in various classifications.
Mr. McGrogan, 39, and other disciples of modified fast pitch know they have some convincing to do. Their message is that there's more to life than slow pitch, which is by far the most popular of the three types of softball.
There's only one or two fast pitch American Softball Association leagues in southwestern Pennsylvania, and about the same number of modified leagues.
Mr. McGrogan doesn't think his sales pitch should be too difficult if athletes understand why his game can be more fun and competitive.
Slow pitch is more hitter-dominated and appeals to men who can boom the ball 300 feet without trying. But there's no base stealing or bunting allowed, and Mr. McGrogan says that can take out a lot of the strategy.
Fast pitch, meanwhile, is pitcher-dominated, with hurlers whipping out 70-mph pitches that can keep the bases empty and hitters bored.
Modified fast pitch allows base stealing and bunting and can favor players like Mr. McGrogan who have some speed. But the pitchers are easier to hit than in standard fast pitch because they are not allowed the windmill windup that fuels a lot of their speed and motion.
All three versions fall under the aegis of the American Softball Association and in Western Pennsylvania, District 9 Commissioner Guy Demaio, of New Castle.
As overall commissioner, he can't play favorites. But if there were to be an edge given among equals, he just might give the nod to modified fast pitch; after all, he recently served as chairman of the national modified rules pitch committee.
While the eastern part of the state -- and Erie -- tend to be more fast pitch-friendly, he says southwestern Pennsylvania just loves high-arc, hit-it-silly, slow pitch play.
"The big guys, the big muscle men, they come up and hit it over the 300-foot fence like they were having batting practice," the commissioner says. "They couldn't run or field," he says, "so they score more runs and they're going to hit the ball over the fence more."
For those who favor small ball, such as 5-foot-9-inch, 160-pound Mr. McGrogan, "it was too easy." This is what forced modified to come about.
"For him to play slow pitch, he'd have a tremendous disadvantage because he's so small," the commissioner says.
At the other end of the highway is the version of softball that most sports fans of the '60s and '70s are familiar with, the game that Eddie Feigner built. Known as "The King and his Court," Mr. Feigner and his teams became a legend for his 100-plus mph windmill fastball.
Since the distance between the mound and home plate is shorter than in hardball, he was virtually untouchable. "He could go out to center field and strike you out," Mr. Demaio says of The King, who was still touring when he died Feb. 9 at age 81.
Nobody on a sandlot can approach that kind of speed, but Mr. Demaio says a top fast pitch ace can clock 70 mph, or 20 mph faster than what Mr. McGrogan would ever face.
"There's very, very few strikeouts in the modified game," the commissioner says, while "in fast pitch they're in double figures" with lots of 1-0, 2-1 scores.
4/1/07
I have been hearing about you guys trying to promote Modified Pitch softball and will try to help as much as I can. I am the Commissioner of the Central PA Modified Softball League (CPMSL) based in Harrisburg, PA. I know at least Michael and Peter are a little bit familiar with our league and website at www.leaguelineup.com/centpasoftball. I know that Modified is the best brand of softball there is and have been promoting it in the central PA area for a number of years. With the CPMSL I am also the webmaster, scheduler, league photographer, fundraising chairman, etc. I can add links to websites and forums on our website....I know there are a number of them, so let me know 2 or 3 links that you might suggest. Our website gets a lot of traffic as we will go over 100,000 hits this summer since 2002 and about half of those have been in the last year.
I think its safe to say that over the last 10 years the CPMSL may be one of the bigger success stories in "bowling style" Modified Pitch softball....ten man. We have 12 teams now...down for a most ever of 13 in 2006 but we lost 2 real weak teams that we rather not have back and gained a better one. 2006 was our most competitive year ever and 2007 should be even better. I have been involved in the CPMSL since 1984 when I started as a player just out of college with the league having 8 teams. Me and another guy (still our Treasurer today) took over running the league when our previous president retired in the early 90's. Neither one of us really wanted to do it, but agreed to share responsibilities as we did not want Modified to die in Harrisburg as it was not as strong as it was in the past anyway....6 teams or so. We did what we needed to run the league (neither of us considered ourselves the president or commissioner) but not a whole lot else.
Then we came to a crossroads in the offseason prior to the 1996 season. We lost some key teams in prior years and had only 3 returning teams from 1995. In the offseason the 3 returning teams voted to stick it out rather than fold if we could get a 4th team. I started a 4th team which was entirely made up of players that answered an advertisement in the newspaper. No one knew each other, and only 2 of us even played in the league before. To make a long story short about that particular team, with a .500 regular season record with most of the wins late in the season, we won the playoffs for the league championship. That team is now the Lamp Post Inn which won the PA Class "B" nine man State championship last summer. Yes, we are normally 10 man league/team that won the 9 man state championship in a state tournament that uses strict 10-man pitching rules....if that makes any sense.
Our league struggled thru the rest of the 90's gaining a team or two.....with a lot of teams that only lasted a year as we would take any team that had players that could chew gum sitting down. Around 2000 for some reason I decided to see what I could do if I invested some time into the league and almost treat it as if it were a business. I did a lot of recruitment of players...even if a player didn't seem to have a whole lot of skills I encouraged them to play with the hopes that they would introduce others to our league. Every year I made it a goal to introduce a big improvement to the league and also to make it more like a community...where guys on other teams got to know each other better. One year it was securing a top field with lights...another year it was starting to play All-star games against another league and an intra-league All-Satr game...another year it was our website...another year it was starting a fall league, etc.
Our Fall league has been a tremendous success and I would recommend it to any league as a way to grow their summer league. Of course your summer league has to be pretty solid to begin with as your not going to get as many of the summer teams to also play the fall. We started in 2005 when our summer league had 11 teams...our fall league had 7 teams. In 2006 our summer league had 13 teams and our fall league had 9. But what our fall league has allowed us to do is to get a number of guys that normally play slow pitch but do not have a fall team to play on or their fall team plays on weekends (we are one of the few weeknight fall leagues)...introduced to modified. Some end up switching to modified the next summer. Some of the more serious players in our league whose teams do not have enough guys to field a summer team join another team...and then go back to their summer league team in the summer. When guys get to know each other on other teams that just adds to the interest...the All-star games have helped that way too. In fact, the offseason now has a buzz that we never had before....guys getting to know players on other teams and switching teams during the offseason. The fall league actually has actually in my opinion become more competive and is played at a higher level than the Summer league as we have less teams but a higher percentage of more serious talented players. Another added bonus is we practically have our choice of the lighted fields in the area as there very few weeknight fall leagues....most are on Sundays. We start in late August and go until very late October. The weather is a lot better than the summer as its cooler but comfortable....less late afternoon thunderstorms come thru that routinely wash out summer league games. In the 2 seasons, there were only 2 or 3 nights where it was a little colder than we would have liked...but our championship game in ! late Oct ober both years had 60-70 degree temperatures.
Sorry for the long email...I had no intention of writing all of this when I started...but kind of got on a roll. Anyway, as you can tell I do have some passion for the game of Modified. I don't need to work as hard as I did in the past to keep the league strong as others are carrying that torch now. In fact, this past fall I have channelled that energy and time into starting my own trophy and awards business (www.crowntrophy.com) ....figuring if I can be as successful with a business as I have been with the CPMSL I might be able to make a living at something I enjoy more. Now I am working 2 jobs (temporarily I hope) so I have less time, but I will continue to promote the game of modified. If your involved in leagues that need awards, let me know and I will work out a good deal. (Sorry for the plug there...also did not intend to include that when I started to write this).
I think guys like you three are doing a tremendous job promoting modified (I am sure there are others but you seem to be the ones I have come across the most). The CPMSL will be having a ten man tournament this year on a date still TBD...last year was our first in mid to late August where we only had 5 teams but 2 of them were PA state champs in 2006 (Lamp Post Inn at Class "B" and Ground Zero at Class "A"). Not sure if its enough of an event yet for it to be worth teams travelling a distance to it.
Anyway, keep up the good work and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Brian Dubas
Commisioner, CPMSL
A letter sent from Pennsylvania
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