Mike Malone

#20 - SS, LF (profile)

Mike has been playing DRS softball ever since being hired by the Department back in the early-1980s. Originally, he played on the all-male agency team that captured the State League Softball Championship in 1982 and 1983. Later, he joined the Market Street Maulers, an all-Audit Division coed team, and suited up with them from the late-1980s through 1997. On the side, Mike played in other leagues, most notably his father’s old bar team that went on to win a handful of New Haven Men’s League crowns and advanced to state and regional tournaments. Mike then played for the hybrid DRS team (made up of members of both the Maulers and Team inDRStructible) that participated in the 1997 Cove Cup. Finally, following the disbanding of the Maulers, Mike joined Team inDRStructible full-time in 1998.

Over his decade with the team, Mike has been the club’s best player on the field and at the plate.

For years, Mike patrolled left field for the taxmen. It didn’t take long for him to gain the reputation as the league’s strongest throwing arm. He nailed numerous baserunners at home plate, turned several would-be singles into forceouts at second base, and on about a half-dozen occasions, threw all the way across the field to nab a batter at first base on what should have been a base hit to left field. Mike has 51 career outfield assists, including a team-record 15 (in only 25 games played) in the 2002 season.

Of late, Mike has taken over the starting shortstop job, and has been equally solid in the infield. With barely three full seasons at short under his belt, Mike already holds the team record with 64 double plays turned. (To put this into perspective, consider the next closest DRS defender only has 46 twin killings.)

But defense aside, it has been in the batter’s box where Mike has really made his mark. Though the DRS captain always mixes up the line-up and shuffles everyone around, the one constant is Mike in the clean-up spot. In 240 games, Mike has 204 homeruns and 666 runs batted in, both far and away the team records. He’s also batted .708, scored 501 runs, and racked up 585 hits, 144 doubles, and 30 triples.

Mike has had many great outings with DRS (he’s had 50 multi-homer games, and at least 5 RBIs in a game 48 times.) Twice, in a 2000 game against DPUC and again in a 2005 game against ConnectiCare, Mike has driven in 8 runs and belted a team-record 4 homeruns. In 2005 against AAA, Mike went 5 for 5 with 5 runs scored, 10 RBIs, a double and 3 homeruns. And in a 2004 game against the Arch Sports Bar, Mike went 5 for 5, scored 4 runs, knocked in a team-record 11 runs, and had 2 doubles, and 3 homeruns.

Mike is a six-time team batting champ, nine-time homerun leader, nine-time RBI leader, and has been voted the team's MVP eight times.