Surprise! Northampton won't be in L.V. Series

Gilbertsville to take on Banko's.

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Those folks going to Limeport Stadium to see the first game of the Lehigh Valley Championship Series tonight without reading this story are going to be in for a huge surprise when they arrive.

Instead of league champion Northampton representing the Blue Mountain League, they'll find Banko's Orioles in one of the dugouts. Oh yes, Tri-County League champ Gilbertsville will be in the other dugout as planned.

The development of the Banko's-Gilbertsville game capped a bizarre day in which it appeared for a few hours no game or series would be played.

The BML champion Giants dropped out of the L.V. Series because they weren't going to be able to field a team. At least four of the Giants players have to go back to college, according to player-manager Ed Wandler and Northampton would likely be reduced to seven players.

Tri-County League President Jack Evans was deeply disappointed when informed of the Giants' inability to play in the series. It was the timing more than anything that had him annoyed.

"It's very disheartening to learn a day before the scheduled start of the first game of the series that the Blue Mountain League won't have its representative," Evans said. "The trophies are already ordered. The Limeport Stadium Committee had ordered the food.

"Everything was ready to go. Six months of planning down the drain. This is just a raw deal. It's very disheartening, not to me, but to the baseball fans of the Lehigh Valley."

The fans still figure to be disappointed by not getting the anticipated matchup between league champs and may not bother to show up at all tonight.

Bicentennial, the league runner-up, was first contacted and asked if it would represent the league. The Stars, through manager Andy Donatelli, politely declined.

But when Banko's manager Ron "Punkin" Miller was told of the situation with Northampton, he immediately offered to represent the BML. A phone call was made between Evans and Miller and the two decided to give it a shot.

"I just talked to Punkin and he felt that not having anybody representing the Blue Mountain League would make his league look terrible," Evans said. "I immediately called (Gilbertsville manager) Ryan Fox to see if it was all right with him if they played Banko's, and he said `fine.' Ryan wants to prove his team will fulfill its commitments and would show up to play under any circumstances."

Hellertown manager Bob Zerfass, whose team reached the Blue Mountain League playoffs, said it, his Royals would have participated if asked to maintain the league's integrity. In fact, Zerfass was upset he wasn't called.

"They asked Bicentennial first if they wanted to fill in, and then they should have asked the other playoff teams next," Zerfass said. "Why the other playoff teams weren't called is beyond me. We definitely would have been there. But we weren't asked, which I think is really wrong and typifies our lack of league leadership."

It's not certain whether the best-of-three series will go on as planned or whether it will just be a one-game deal. But regardless of what happens, the situation has put relations between the two amateur leagues -- already strained -- in the terminal category.

"They just haven't treated us with any respect in several matters," Evans said, noting that a letter was written to BML President Bob Schuster last month informing him of the Tri-Co's dissatisfaction. "Bob and I ironed all the details for this thing back on Aug. 3 and 5 and no mention of a problem was brought up.

"I'm just beginning to wonder how their league is run. This may be the final straw to relations between the two leagues. We tried to work things out between us when it came to our All-Star game and this series. But it's becoming more and more apparent that things can't be worked out."

Evans said that he ordered Stahley's Bar to play in the L.V. Series last year when it was the Tri-Co champ and doesn't understand why the BML didn't make similar plans to insure that its league champ or at least one of its top teams would be represented.

"Stahley's was missing a couple of guys, too, and had people out of position," Evans said. "They didn't play nearly as well as they were capable of playing, but they showed up and fulfilled their commitment to the series. You mean to tell me that if the Blue Mountain League series was postponed by rain both Wednesday and Thursday nights, that Northampton wouldn't have been able to field a team Friday. Of course, they would have fielded a team."

Northampton player-manager Ed Wandler said he felt bad about the situation, but felt there was nothing he could do.

"What I am supposed to do, order that these guys don't go back to college?" said Wandler. "That's just the way it is with a young team like we have. We were even missing a couple of guys for our last game against Bicentennial because they were already with their college teams.

"I feel bad about the situation and I have nothing against the Tri- County League, but it's just not feasible for us to go down there. I don't think it would be fair to put together a bunch of legion kids and go down there and embarrass ourselves. It wouldn't be fair to anybody to do that. It wouldn't be a competitive series and we've worked too hard and accomplished so much for us to go down there and field less than a respectable team."

Northampton player-coach Mike Schneider said that he had heard from someone that Gilbertsville was having trouble with some of its players heading off to college and would have trouble fielding a team tomorrow and Sunday.

"I was told that Gilbertsville didn't really care about the series and it was OK with them if wasn't played," Schneider said.

Evans said that wasn't the case, however.

"Ryan (Fox) told me that he would lose four players Sunday, but since the first two games were Friday and Saturday, he was hoping his team could sweep," Evans said. "And he said he would've fielded a team Sunday no matter what. It wouldn't have been his best team, but he would have been there."

In most other years, Banko's would be an outstanding representative for the BML. The Orioles won league titles in 1985, '87 and '88. The team reached the BML finals before losing to eventual L.V. Series champion Limeport last August. But the O's suffered through an uncharacteristic 16-24 season this year and missed the playoffs for the first time in several years.

"We had a bad year, but our guys love to play baseball," Miller said. "If they'll let us play, we'll be there. I think what Northampton did stinks.

"Maybe they didn't want to play in this series, but then an advance notice should have been given. Like a lot of managers, I thought that perhaps this series should be discontinued because everybody plays for our league championship and when that's over, anything else is anti-climatic. We rushed through our schedule this year to make sure we'd have our champ decided by the time this series began and I thought that was wrong.

"But once a commitment is made, you've got to honor it. This series was set up in April and May and all teams knew they were obligated to play.

"I feel sorry for the Tri-County League and all area baseball fans in this instance, and though I've been in the Blue Mountain League for 22 years, I'm ashamed of the league and our leadership right now. I think Northampton, if it didn't give prior notice, should have been forced to play in this series. It's a shame this has happened."

Blue Mountain League President Bob Schuster said he was caught by surprise, like everyone else. He wasn't even told of Banko's participation until about 9:30 p.m. yesterday after things were set up.

"Twenty-four hours ago I thought everything was on schedule with Northampton playing Gilbertsville," Schuster said. "I apologize to the Tri-County League because I know a lot of preparations were made. But what I am going to do if a team doesn't have enough players? There are some things that are just out of your control."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 21, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call