2nd Place: Derry Astros - Eric Salvador, Cory Spencer, Mike Brody, Jim Manfield

3rd Place: Cards 2 – Eric St. Onge, Ryan Smith, Donnie Williams, John Butler

Besides trophies for the teams that placed there were also dozens of raffles
prizes awarded.

Thanks to all of our sponsors, golfers and to Eric and Greg for their efforts!!!

The Tourney continues to grow each year. Thanks to everyone that participated! If you have more photos please post or send them to gsblbaseball@yahoo.com

Thank You to this year's Sponsors:

2008 Blue All Star Team
Top: Grant Goulet, Bob Goldstein, Roberto Diaz, John Saraceno, Jay Hoyt, Andrew Luckhardt, Rob Porter, Scott Bilodeau, Jesus Dela Cruz
Bottom: Jeremy Boucher, Pete Krammes, chris Jarvis, Todd Robichaud, George Gatzimos, Gary Phillips, Tim Fisher, Dano Anderson

2008 Grey All Star Team
Top: Scott Marshall, Tom Parizo, Jon Butler, Steve Kreatz, Andy Aubut, Doug DelVecchio, Chris Tilton, Rich Mello, Melvin Torres
Bottom: Eric St. Onge, Frank Conforti, Brian McCarthy, Tim Richard, Jeremy Chaisson, Pete Sirois

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Sluggers Breaking Bats, Not Records
By LISA FLETCHER, PETER IMBER and FELICIA BIBERICA
Oct. 5, 2008

Records, as the saying goes, are made to be broken. But in this baseball season, what's being broken isn't a cause for celebration. It's a cause for concern.
Major league baseball has recently seen an alarming increase in the number of bats breaking upon impact. Pieces from those bats have struck and injured players, a coach, an umpire and two fans.

Watch the story on "World News" tonight. Check your local listings.

Baseball veteran and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he has never seen anything like it.

"From my playing experience, I remember we used to splinter bats and bats used to break," Torre said. "But they never just come apart like they do now."

Former player and Dodger coach Don Mattingly sees bats shatter with tremendous force.

"You think about somebody catching one in the neck, basically," he said. "Because a lot of times you see them coming down, you see them land in the middle of the field like spears almost."

Continue...

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Maple-bat backlash bothers Sam Bat pioneer
June 12, 2008 By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

Here's an interesting story...

The first maple bat was made on a bar bet in 1996. An old scout named Bill McKenzie was lamenting the frequency with which bats made of ash wood were breaking, and he wondered if his friend and drinking buddy Sam Holman could do anything about it.

Holman dabbled in carpentry and figured maple wood, so much harder than ash, might work. A year later, after countless hours spent inside a library poring through patent archives, the Original Maple Bat Corporation was born – as was a controversy that wouldn’t surface until this year.

How maple bats went from players’ most treasured piece of equipment to one facing a potential ban when Major League Baseball meets June 24 to discuss their danger is distressing to Holman. He wants to stick up for the bats’ quality to counter the growing public perception that the wood frequently snaps at the handle and sends two-sided weapons – one end thick and blunt, the other sharp and jagged – hurtling every which way.

Only he can’t. Holman believes that with the demand for maple bats, newcomers to the industry – from small companies to leviathans – have compromised it by putting out inferior products.

Click Here to continue

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BENEFITS

Wood bats have a smaller sweet spot than that of aluminum. The sweet spot is the area of the bat where the exit factor (speed of the ball off the bat) is the greatest. The benefit to this is that it forces the hitter to have his or her hands come through the hitting zone correctly, therefore maximizing the force of contact. Many professional scouts will describe amateur players as having an aluminum bat swing. This means that, more often than not, the player is hitting the ball off the handle or end of the bat. With aluminum, many of these balls will fall in for hits, but with wood they would be outs or broken bats. With this, scouts can get a much more accurate grade on a player using wood rather than aluminum.

Many professionals will say that the hardest adjustment to professional baseball is the switch from aluminum to wood. These days many amateur pitchers have been known to throw just as hard as professionals, but with aluminum bats all the hitter has to do is make contact. On the other hand, professionals have to make consistent contact.

Another benefit of using wood over aluminum is bat speed. Aluminum bats are anywhere from minus 3 to minus 5 (difference between length and weight). Wood bats would be no more than minus 2. Swinging a heavier bat will help to develop bat speed and with bat speed comes power.

HOW TO HIT WITH WOOD BATS

When hitting with wood bats the first thing the player must do is make sure when contact is made the label of the bat is straight up or straight down. This area of the bat is not only the hardest but also the strongest. Many amateurs are told when using aluminum bats to rotate the bat to insure maximum life of the bat. This is not true for wood.

WHY WOOD BATS BREAK

There are many reasons why wood bats break. If contact is made too close to the end or close to the handle, the bat will break. If contact is made on the wrong side the bat will break.

Weather conditions also effect wood bats. Over the years you will notice that more bats break in major league baseball at the beginning and end of the year. Many will say the players at the beginning of the year don't have their timing yet and at the end of the year are fatigued. While this may be true to a degree, the colder the temperature the more likely a wood bat will break.

Where wood bats are stored also affects longevity. For example, many amateur players will come home from a game and leave their equipment in the trunk of a car. As you know, the trunk of a car can get extremely hot. The extreme heat will dry out a wood bat and cause it to weaken.

WOOD BAT MYTHS

The biggest myth concerning wood bats regards the width of the grains. Many will say that the further apart the grains are from each other the better. This is not true. Density is what is needed in wood bats.The model and weights control the density.

Another myth is wood bats are more dangerous than aluminum because they can break. It is a known fact that more players are injured due to the velocity of the ball off aluminum bats than are injured by broken wood bats each year.

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Want to join the GSBL? Read this.....
Hello and welcome! You probably have come across the GSBL website for one reason: You want to play hardball. Having the desire to play is the first thing you need, but you also may need to have the desire to do much more than just play to be a member of the GSBL. Each year the existing teams will have players that decide they either want to retire or move to another league (such as the 38+ league). That means new players are needed each year. This year, for example, over 20 players who submitted their information via our "Players wanted for the 2007 Season" link (above right on homepage) were added to team rosters. In reality there have been over 100 prospective players who submitted their information using that link. This does not mean that the league is turning our back on 80 people who want to play in our league. We just do not have the room to reasonably add many more players to any of our 12 existing team rosters. When information is submitted using the link on the home page it is sent via email to all current team managers. The GSBL managers will then decide if they want to add a player to their team. Then the manager will typically contact the person who submitted their information for a possible team tryout. If the manager likes what he sees they will most likely ask you to join their team.

So at this point you may be saying to yourself "what kind of shot does a person like me have at getting into the GSBL"? Well, allow me to let you in on a secret that will guarantee you a spot on a roster: start your own team! This is where the desire to do more than just play baseball will come in handy. If you have the interest and desire to start and manage a team in the GSBL the league will help you, all you need to do is ask. Below ar a few things you need to consider if you want to start a team:

1. Where will my team play?

2. Where will I get players?

3. Do I have the time to attend league meetings and events?

4. Can I raise the amount of money needed to pay for the associated team/league costs?

5. Do I have anybody I can rely on to help me pull this off?

If you are interested in starting and managing your own team for the 2007 season the GSBL can help you answer the questions above. The league is willing to expand if there is enough committed interest, and of course desire.

For more information about starting a team in the GSBL please contact League President John Saraceno

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Sponsors
The sponsors help keep our league successful. Please take a look at the folks that sponsor our league and the teams in our league and make them your first consideration when you need a service or product. Support those that support the GSBL!!!

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Upcoming Events Tuesday, Dec 9 League Meeting 7:00pm  Merrimack Town Hall Tuesday, Jan 13 League Meeting 7:00pm  Merrimack Town Hall

For a complete calendar listing, click here!