Pete McGuire had a twenty-one year career playing sixteen-inch softball. Six of those years were on the major level, most notably with the Whips and the Stompers. His best memo- ries though, were the years with his cousins Mike and Tom McGuire on The Groundsmen teams from the South Side and South suburbs. But […]
As a kid, Sal Milazzo remembers watching his dad, Nick Milazzo, play sixteen-inch softball at Saint Bonaventure Elementary School in Chicago. Sal had the opportunity to play softball in the intramural program at Northern Illinois University. After the championship game his senior year, he was asked to pitch for the Willoughby Elrod Raiders at
The Molex team is considered the best team to play in the Western suburbs in the 80’s and 90’s. They were recognized by the HOF for their longevity, tenacity, and ability. Organized by Jim Geiser in the 70’s for employees of the Fortune 500 global connector manufacturer. Joined by new employee and future HOF founder
In the late 1970s, a chance meeting at a recently opened North Side bar led to the creation of McSchnapps, a women’s neighborhood team that would win many championships during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s and create lifelong friendships along the way. During their heyday, McSchnapps played at Touhy, Paul Revere, Wells, Lake Shore, and
If you were a softball player or simply a young person growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, you had probably heard of Butch McGuire’s. Softball players knew of McGuire’s as a powerful team not to be taken lightly; non-players knew of it as one of the best bars of its time. Managed by
What do you get when you take female players from five different softball teams, add some colorful coaches, and mix in some banquet circuit rap and stepping? Well, you get the softball team Mixed Company. Pam Black and Popati Wing are given the credit of naming this eclectic group of ball players. They were a
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Dale Mitchell started playing softball on a CYO team in 1966. From 1971 to 1986 he played at Boyce, McGuane, Donavan, and Armor Parks. In 1987 Dale and the Aces won the ASA “A” Tournament in Portage, Indiana. That victory launched a career in Major Softball that would last for another twenty-one years. He
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Don Martina began playing softball in the ’60s and continues playing today for a career spanning over forty years. While serving in the Army, he played softball and basketball overseas and along the East Coast. He returned to Chicago in 1968 and joined several local teams playing at Lawndale (now Piotrowski) Park on Chicago’s
Al Maag was named Man of Year by the HOF in 1996….for his untireing efforts to organize the HOF with Tony Reibel and it’s first awards dinner and display at Hawthorne Park. He was inducted into the HOF as an organizer of the game in 2004. See his full biography there. Besides his talents as
Unlike any other “Friend of Softball” winner before him, Butch McGuire actually was a friendly acquaintance of Richard J Daley. One of his customers described the social and gregarious McGuire in a 1986 Tribune magazine profile saying, “Butch is 30% businessman and 70% humanitarian.” Back in 1962, McGuire’s prototypical singles bar-considered to be the first
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