Chicago’s game characteristically mirrors the city that created it – it’s brash, bold, loyal, and smart. It possesses a never say die attitude. From 1981 to 1996, no team better exemplified these traits than the Stooges, the team that in 1993 the Sun Times called “The neighborhood team that plays big-time ball.” The Stooges were […]
Although they were only together for a few years, the Slo-Pokes made their mark on women’s softball on the North and Northwest sides of Chicago. Like many great teams, they were a compilation of teams that had played against each other. And like other great teams, they had a strong organizer who could spot and
The Sulky Inn Favorites began as a true Cinderella story when a team sponsored by Ray’s Pizza and coached by Roy Logan, Ray Martino and John Szczecina and dressed in t-shirts, bib overalls, and tennis shoes played at Hart Park in Blue Island. The older teams began chanting E-I-E-I-O when they saw their “uniforms.” But
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George Sherman began playing softball in 1963 for Durty Nellies in Palatine. He was nineteen at the time and was playing football for Northern Illinois University, so he could not fully commit to the travel necessary to play full-time for Nellies. After college, he became the quarterback for the Lake County Semi-Professional Football Team, further
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As a young boy Jimmy Spidale often ventured to Kells Field to watch the greatest softball teams of the 50s and 60s duel it out in some classic matches. Little did he know that some day he would join the ranks of softball’s elite players and managers. He joined the Nocturnes in 1965 playing second
Born into a family of six on December 18, 1923, Phil Sutera attended Mark Twain Grammar School and Thomas Kelly High School at 42nd and California. Phil Sutera’s softball career began early at the age of sixteen when he played 14″ ball against Ted Klusinki, a future White Sox player. In 1942 he played softball
Larry Sowa grew up on the Northwest side of Chicago where he started playing 16” softball in the alleys and playgrounds around Kosciusko Park He played C.Y.0 ball for Our Lady of Grace elementary School and played on a number of neighborhood teams during his high school days at Notre Dame in Niles. In the
With video camera to his eye and his trusty Nikon at the ready, Jack Stout can be found prowling the first base fence at many championship softball games. As the official photographer of the 1997 Nationals and 16 inch Softball Hall of Fame dinner and unofficial photographer at legions of other games, Jack has been
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Ron Schabinger began organizing the Jackmen in the early ‘80s for league play that began in 1982 and continued into the late ‘90s. During that time they accumulated 878 wins and won nearly forty league championships and twenty tournament titles during their uninterrupted run in leagues throughout the city and suburbs. Although teams that stay
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