A World Series ring is coming to Oakes Park this summer.
You'll find it on the finger of Darrell Evans, the former San Francisco Giant and Detroit Tiger who will be a coach with the city's first team in the Central Ontario Baseball League. Evans was in town Monday to meet with the mayor and executives with the Greater Niagara Baseball Association, which has forged a partnership with the Central Ontario Baseball Association to bring AAA baseball at the midget level to town.
Games will be at Oake s Park on Morrison St. from Tuesday to Thursday, starting in May.
"To make an excuse to spend time in Niagara Falls … there's nothing wrong with that," says the California-born Evans, who led the American League in home runs in 1985 with 40.
"It may be a little chilly for me right now, but this is a thrill to be here.
"This is one of those places you want to spend a lot of time."
Evans is one of several coaches the new Niagara Falls Giants will utilize. They'll be managed by Ricky Todd of Niagara Falls.
The team will compete against squads in Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton, and in addition to Niagara-area talent, will likely boast players from Venezuela, where Todd has been involved in a baseball academy.
Evans says it will mean local ball fans will potentially get to see future major leaguers, ages 16 to 18.
Mayor Jim Diodati, who played with the GNBA as a teen, hopes the new team can stir the same type of fan support as the city's hockey teams.
"There are a lot of hockey scholarships around here … why not baseball?" he said. "We've got a lot of talent.
"With (Evans) here, we have a chance to step it up a notch. You know that old saying, when the students are ready the teacher will appear."
Evans has been heavily involved in coaching, consulting and youth baseball since retiring in 1989 after 21 seasons in the pros.
He spent his first eight seasons with the Atlanta Braves, becoming one of the league's top sluggers by 1973, when he clubbed 41 home runs and made the All-Star Team.
He became part of baseball lore the following season: Evans was on first base when teammate Hank Aaron hit his record 715th home run.
After an eight-year stint with the San Francisco Giants, Evans signed with the Detroit Tigers for the 1984 season. It ended up being a season for the ages.
The Tigers raced out to a 35-5 start and never relinquished first place, eventually thumping the San Diego Padres to win the World Series. Led by manager Sparky Anderson, the '84 squad is among the most beloved teams in Detroit sports history and Evans feels it even now 27 years later.
"Having such a great year with the start, so much became expected," he says. "If you don't finish it off.…
"And you realize it may only happen once. But it was so much fun. You realize how much people have invested in their sports teams. Years later, people tell you they were happy going to work because the Tigers were doing well. So it's not just 25 guys and the coaches, it's the whole area."
It ended up being Evans' only World Series. The Tigers made the playoffs in '87, but were ousted in the American League Championship by the Minnesota Twins.
Flashing his World Series ring Monday, Evans says the '84 Tigers were the right team for the right time.
"Everybody wins differently, but that city needed it. You know, when you sit there and see millions of people at a parade, it's indescribable."
For more information on the baseball academy go to:
http://www.nfgiants.com
Baseball organizations across the province must be wondering what parents of young baseball players in Niagara Falls are feeding their children.
At the Ontario Baseball Association's championship weekend, held over the Labour Day weekend at locations across the province (including here in the city), three of five Greater Niagara Baseball Association travel teams won their respective provincial tournaments.
In addition to the major peewees, the other winning Falcons squads were the senior rookies (eight-and nine-year-olds and the major bantams (14-and 15-year-olds).
For the major peewees, the taste of OBA championship success from last year only whetted the team's appetite. Pysher said earlier the team was determined to repeat as provincial champions, and that showed on the diamond.
"Our team went undefeated over the weekend," he said.
But the assistant coach said that although the Falcons went undefeated, it wasn't a cakewalk. A few close games and a rain delay in the opening game kept the team digging deep for their wins.
"Everybody played really well," he said. "But Lucas Revill's pitching was phenomenal, Michael Brettell had a big bat with three homers over the weekend, Brendan Shannon hit his first out-of-the-park homer of the season and Joe Scaringi just provided total defence playing short.
"But it really was a team effort."
While the major peewees went undefeated in their tournament, both the senior rookies and the major bantams opened their respective tourneys with a first-game loss. Both, however, would regain form and go on to win.
For the senior rookies, head coach Ryan Diodati says it all came down to one thing: A complete team effort from every one of his 12 young charges.
"We lost our first game to North London 7-6," the coach said of the opener, which was played in Te cumseh, near Windsor. "The game was decided in the last inning."
Diodati said that defensive play was the Falcons' key to success Saturday, earning wins over Sarnia and Claringdon.
For the final day of play Sunday, it was all offence for the Falcons. The team battled from a 2-0 deficit to defeat North London. Because of the double-knockout format, the senior rookies then had to defeat the same team again for the championships.
With bats warmed up, they got right to work, whipping the team 15-5.
The mercy rule had to be enforced in the fifth inning.
"We started practising in the gym in January," Diodati said. "Our focus, because we don't play in a regular loop, was Labour Day weekend. We worked towards that all season. And all our work, and the parents' support and dedication paid off.
"One of our guys was just so happy that they won, that he cried," said the coach. "I thought he got hurt in the celebration, but he said, 'I'm just so happy!'
"It was a total team effort -- everybody played every game -- and they just never stopped fighting."
Although major bantam coach Randy Luciano couldn't be reached for comment, Pysher said he's not surprised his team won.
"Randy, both of those guys actually, Randy and Ryan, both of them put in a lot of hard work, diligently going through drills and working with the boys," he said.
"Those championships were won as a result of hard work."
Friday, the Falcons are aiming to make it two in a row.
The Niagara Falls major peewee team has its sights set on repeating their Ontario Baseball Association championship, despite some tough competition from across Ontario.
"There are 13 teams coming, including teams from Sudbury, Windsor, Barrie, Kingston and Sault Ste. Marie," said assistant coach and GNBA president Bob Pysher.
Pysher said all competing teams in this tournament, which begins Friday at 1 p.m. with the Falcons playing at Oakes Park Diamond 2, are of the highest quality."There are some strong teams participating this year, teams such as Lasalle (Windsor), Kingston, Chatham, East York and Brantford. They are going to give the Falcons all they can handle."
And that's saying something after the impressive season that the Falcons have had, including going 18-0 in league play; a 5-0 playoff record and an 11-5 record against elite teams from Welland and the United States. This year's squad has picked up where last year's champions left off , an accomplishment in itself because this is an entirely new team of 13-year-olds.
"You know, this team might even be stronger that last year's," Pysher said. "We are tighter on the pitching and defensive end.
"But when it comes to playing teams like these, our boys have to be prepared to play as a team. Anything can happen if they play as a team."
While Pysher is cautiously optimistic about his team's chances, he is unabashedly proud of their success, especially in light of the competition -- not from other teams, but other leagues.
"It has been extremely tough from an organization standpoint having to compete with the so-called 'elite' programs that surround us," he said. "There is all kinds of talk from outside programs about building or bringing baseball back to the Niagara district, when in my opinion baseball is doing just fine."
Another source of pride is that the GNBA has been awarded the tournament for the second year in a row. A big part of that was the quality of parks and diamonds.
"We have to tip our hats to the city and the parks guys," he said. "They do a great job of keeping the diamonds in great shape for events like this. They've been taking good care of us all season long."
Admission to all games is free. See page B2 for the schedule.
Falls baseball looks to States; Low regional numbers has rep teams concerned
DAN DAKIN Sports - Friday, February 02, 2007 @ 02:00
Despite strong numbers for baseball in this city, declining numbers elsewhere in the region has forced the GNBA to look stateside for more competition. The Greater Niagara Baseball Association held a meeting at Niagara Falls Arena Thursday night explaining its plan to have most of its rep teams play in the Western New York Boys of Summer Travel Baseball League this season. The decision is the result of fewer teams competing in the Niagara District Baseball Association, which has been hurt by a decline in baseball enrolment combined with an increase in elite travel programs which draw players from all of the municipal programs. "We learned some information last week that it doesn't look like St. Catharines will have a travel program other than bantam," said GNBA president Bob Pysher. An uncertainty over how many travel teams Welland will field led Pysher and the rest of the executive to make a decision before being forced to. "It's a proactive approach on our part. The alternative is there's no travel baseball and that's not something anyone wants," he said. The Boys of Summer League won't mean any extra travel for parents because the furthest diamond is about 30 minutes away, but it will likely mean tougher competition because there are more teams playing than were in the Niagara District loop. "If you want to have the best teams possible playing in the Ontario Baseball Association (finals), you have to play against the best competition," said Vito Scaringi, who has two sons playing in the association. "I think this is something they had to do. They had no choice because the district has been dying." There is slight difference in how the age divisions are structured in the U.S., but Pysher said the GNBA will work around it. They will field teams in whatever age groups they have the numbers for once registration sessions are complete. The GNBA is also planning to turn its midget program into regional travel teams because of the lack of numbers outside Niagara Falls. Any players between 16 and 18 in Niagara will be invited to attend tryouts here for one of three midget-aged teams. The next registration session for the GNBA is Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the association's clubhouse. ddakin@nfreview.com