Traffic is a classic neighborhood softball team from the Riis Park area that evolved into a consistent top- fifteen team. They started playing in a Sunday league at Riis Park in 1986. In 2011, they took second in the Westchester Tournament of Champions and finished fifth in the Forest Park No Gloves Nationals in […]
The Saints sixteen-inch softball team first played in the Darien Park District League in the late 1970s. They were sponsored by Our Lady of Peace Church. Its pastor, Reverend Alphonse Mika, served as their first general manager. Father Al later joined forces with softball veteran Mike Paulo to take a group of neighborhood players
In 1946, Mr. William Ahern Sr. established the Peppers as a South Side neighborhood team. They were a powerhouse from the beginning, winning money and beer games that were prevalent at the time. In 1965, William Ahern Jr. (Bill), the oldest son of the founder, took over the reins of the team and began
Deathwish was founded and managed in 1979 by Carey B. Goins with his Phi Beta Sigma fraternity brothers, friends and family. They played their first year in Avalon Park on Chicago’s South Side. With Ted Gothard added as coach, the team began playing in the Washington Park Sunday League in 1980 and the Budweiser
Toncie Siriscevich’s fifty-plus year softball career started on the sidewalk by Ward School when he was ten. He was too young to play at Armour Park or Harden Square, so he and his friends made bases with chalk and were coached by Frank Stubitch. Three years later, he was playing “sewer softball” (in the
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Tom “Bomber” Horn is one of the greatest mound magicians in sixteen- inch softball history, a defensive master who won nearly one hundred championships at every level and was beloved by friends and foes alike. Horn’s dad Bernie pitched for the Lyons 45s (a team honored by the Hall of Fame) and his mother
Curtis Granderson was born in Tchula, Mississippi. He developed a love for baseball at a young age watching his older brothers play. He began playing the game once he was old enough to swing a bat. He graduated from Tchula Attendance Center High School where he played baseball and basketball. He then attended Coahoma Junior
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Rich Catizone started playing softball when he was fourteen. He played on local teams with his friends on the playgrounds in Chicago. He was young and inexperienced and his teams lost most of their games, but he loved the game from the beginning. A few years later, Rich met Hall of Fame manager Nick
There aren’t many sixteen-inch softball people who use the word passion to describe all aspects of the game, but John Reglein is one of those. John embodies the role of team sponsor, manager, player, friend, and successful business owner. His softball successes have come mainly from Iowa, but his business, The Graphic Edge is
Rich grew up on Chicago’s West Side and moved to the Oak Park area. In the summer of 1973 after graduating from St. Catherine’s, Rich was introduced to Pete Chrisos. At that time they formed the Who, a park district team at Stevenson Park under the direction of Frank Zepf. It was sponsored by
