Plain Dealer sportswriter Bill Nichols, a baseball coach on the sandlots of Lakewood, recently put on the uniform of the Batavia Trojans to be a coach of the Indians' lowest minor league team and chronicle the experiences of youngsters getting their first taste of the professional sport. This is the fifth of his reports.
No one punches a clock
For the Class A ballplayer, playing the game is just part of day's work
by Bill Nichols
After spending nearly two weeks with the Batavia Trojans, one gets a new appreciation for anyone who can make it to the Major Leagues.
Naturally, you have the ability, But you also must have desire, courage and be willing to work and never quit.
At Batavia, the hours are long, sacrifices great and often, there are no rewards.
The Batavia Trojans of the New York-Penn League play their home games at 7:30 p.m. But the players' ball-playing day begins at 10:30 a.m., when they have a three-hour workout.
Then it's back to Dwyer Stadium by 5 p.m. to get ready for the game.
These players never have to work so hard at playing ball in their lives. Sure, pitchers get sore arms, but so do infielders and outfielders. They throw, hit and run more than they ever did in high school and college.
In the season opener, the Trojans messed up a cutoff play. The next morning, the entire team worked on cutoffs for nearly 45 minutes.
The Trojans have a tireless manager in Rick Colzie. He will pitch batting practice as long as anyone wants to hit.
Colzie and his chief aide, Luis Isaac, will spend 12 hours a day at the park if just one player wants help. More than likely, no coaches or managers on any higher level in the minor leagues work any harder than this pair.
Any player who moves up in the Cleveland Indians' organization will not say he was cheated during his summer at Batavia.
While most of the players never will forget their one season with the Trojans, the folks in Batavia will always remember Jerry Dybzinski, who now plays for the Indians.
Three years ago, Dybzinski played with the Trojans. He hit just .219, but was the most popular player on the team. "Hey, Jerry is the most popular player in the history of the club," says Ed Dwyer, who has been the team president since 1948.
Colzie uses Dybzinski as an example of someone who made it to the big leagues because of hard work.
Hard work is the key. Colzie hopes it rubs off on his players.
Batavia attracted 38,000 fans for 37 home games in 1979, The best year was 43,000, the poorest 32,000... Dr. James Ross of the Baldwin-Wallace College communications department once played infield at Batavia. "He was a heckuva guy," says Dwyer. "He was very slow. He played second base and never threw a runner out by more than six inches, but he never missed a runner, either" ... On an overnight trip, Colzie takes a hot plate along and cooks his meals in his hotel room ... Mike Schwarber and Tom Stibora, pitchers from Cleveland State, are having problems with the Trojans. Stibora pulled a muscle in his shoulder and Schwarber was having trouble getting batters out.
Velma Lewis is Batavia's No. 1 fan. She has seen nearly every game since 1942. "Scouts tease me," says Miss Lewis. "When they come to town, they look me up and ask about the players before they go to the team. Once a scout took my advice too."
Half the Batavia players live in apartments, the other half in private homes. Chuck Melito, the only married player, lives in a basement under a mobile home. "It sounds strange, but it's nice," says Melito...Not counting salaries picked up by the Indians, the Trojans have an annual budget of around $40,000. If the team makes any money, it goes back into the operation... The official scorer is Steve Petherbridge, who also doubles as a sportswriter covering the games... Outfielder Matt Minium is nicknamed Condo as in Condominium.
Dennis Brogna, the Trojans' trainer, warned the players one day not to take ice from his refrigerator just to eat. "We need the ice for sore arms," he said. "I get my ice from the Holiday Inn and I can't spare it."
This article originally appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
on July 17, 1980.
Reproduced by permission.