Dave Cushman

#18 - P, 3B, SS (profile)

Dave is a tremendous softball player and provides a huge lift whenever he is able to make a game. Unfortunately for his teammates, involvement in several other softball teams, a golf league, and little son Bryant at home have all conspired through the years to prevent Dave from ever being a full-time player. When he does play, the taxmen are usually accused of bringing in a ringer, though in reality he’s even better than a ringer as he works for the agency and is a legitimate member of the team roster.

Cush has played with DRS since the team’s very first game on April 24, 1996. In that outing, Dave played third base while the DRS captain tried to figure out which player on the roster could be the ace of the pitching staff. Darren LaForge and Jerry Zayas split time on the mound that night, but that ill-conceived experiment was short-lived. A game later, Dave was on the hill and pitched DRS to the first win in team history. Eleven seasons later, and Dave has pretty much kept to these same two positions on the playing field. He has also played some stellar shortstop, but has primarily been stationed either at the hot corner or on the pitching mound.

However, while outstanding, it’s not with his glovework on defense that Cush has left his mark. Instead, it’s with his legendary homeruns that Cush has amazed and astounded both teammates and opposing players alike.

At the Veterans Hospital in Rocky Hill, Cush not only cleared the fences, but put a ball onto the roof of the three-story dormitory set fifty feet beyond the outfield walls. At the Hockanum School in East Hartford, he scorched a rising drive that hit the roof of the school’s gymnasium in deep centerfield and skipped up and over to the other side. At Hartford Pope’s Park, Cush blasted a moon shot that carried far over the fence and halfway across the pond that sits out beyond the ball field. Finally, his most memorable round tripper came during a game at DMV in Wethersfield, in which he lofted a drive over the trees in deep left field, across the distant street, and onto the front lawn of a local homeowner. (He had circled the bases and was back on the bench drinking Gatorade before the opposing left field had even got to the ball.)

Dave is one of the few DRS players to have been with the club for all of the team’s eleven seasons. In 56 career games, Cush has amassed 156 base hits, 112 runs scored, 187 RBIs, 31 doubles, 13 triples, and 59 homeruns. (For anyone who is not math-inclined, that’s an average of one homerun and over three RBIs per game!) Dave is also a three-time team batting champ, and in 1996, led the team in homeruns.

Dave has had countless great outings with the taxmen. During the 2006 Cove Cup, Dave needed only three at bats to accumulate 10 ribbies in a win over the Bisons. In a seven-day stretch in 1997, in back-to-back games, Dave went a combined 12 for 12, with 9 runs, 14 RBIs, 2 doubles, a triple, and 5 homeruns. Dave also holds the team record of 18 total bases – hitting for the cycle with a single, double, triple, and 3 homeruns - in a single game.