Tuesday, September 23, 2014

1st Class Ride for a 1st Class Guy

Radio Free Manager Pat Freni has retired from the Big Apple League. It's kind of appropriate that Patty drives a classy car for a living because he's always been such a classy guy. 

He's a throwback 

and in my experience he's always been a good fair stand up guy. In the heat of the moment I've had exchanges with him (hell who haven't I had one with?) and when he's been been wrong he has personally reached out to me and apologized. I may hate Contact, but I like Patty. He's a True Class Act and a winner.

Patty first joined the league with the Contact Hitters as catcher and field captain in 1983.


































They won their division that year and reached the BASL Finals in 1984 and first won the B.A.S.L title in 1988. Pat played on 9 BASL champions with Contact in 11 years, including an unprecedented 6 in a row from 1993-98. Pat was voted BASL all-star catcher many times during that period. 

Contact went on hiatus from 2000-02 during which time Pat played for the Rangers. When Contact reassembled in 2003, Pat was the new manager. He led them to 5 straight division titles from 2004-08 and 3 consecutive BASL championships in '04-'05-'06. 

He continued to manage the squad through this season (the team was known as Luckey's Famous Burgers for a few years and more recently as Radio Free NY). He also got them to the BASL Finals in '07, '08 and '13. Pat won several BASL Manager of the Year Awards and has been a respected member of the Commissioner's Committee. In all, Pat has played on 12 BASL champions, 17 BASL Finalists and 12 division winners. He is leaving behind a legacy that will be hard to match. 

Best of Luck, Pat---you deserve it.

3 comments:

  1. Enjoy your Sundays off Pat.

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  2. Take care Pat! Nothing but respect for you and your whole crew!

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  3. As a player who went to battle against Contact hitters over the years,I always admired Patty's loyalty to his veteran players,as well as the players who showed up every week.In the post season he went w/the players who got 'em there.Admirable!

    ReplyDelete