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The Islandian Times
Monday, September 22, 2025
2025 Tycobbian North Final Recap
Frogs Leap Past Rascals In TU North
Fairfax leapfrogged past defending champ White River in July and maintained a good lead until the final week when the Rascals cut it down to 3 games... Oxford and Hartsdale were the other two clubs with winning records in the division... the Red Caps came in third, 8 games off the pace and the Hellcats were fourth, trailing by 9 games.
Strong pitching carried manager Dane Wesner's Fairfax Frogs (87-67) to the title this year... This is the fourth time the Frogs have won the TU North, last capturing it a dozen years ago in 2013... All-Star Kevin Meeks (21-12 2.26), Ken Hill (17-16 2.84) and rookie Darien Russell (19-13 2.97) stood tall on the hill... however Walt Smith (23-13 4.24) was the biggest winner... and closer Manny Hunsinger (2-5) led the IPA with 37 saves and a super 1.83 ERA... the Frogs were not much with the bats, hitting only .251 (20th)... top bats were CF Alton Dale (.293/13/57/83) and RF Johnny Eichhorn (.269/18/93/65).
Last year's TU North winner White River (84-70) possessed good hitting and scoring with a .260 BA (6th)... the Rascals ranked 8th in runs... on the mound manager Mick Cronyn was better-than-average with a 3.28 team ERA (8th)... All-Star 1B Marty Blake again led the club with a .306 BA, 25 homers, 92 RBIs and 106 runs... Blake is a 6-time All-Star and a career .332 batter with 512 homers... fine RF Kenneth Kent chipped in with 109 RBIs, 17 roundtrippers and a .283 BA... other solid contributors were LF Jim Abrams (.303/12/82/70) and CF Hal Littleton (.297/8/56/88)... 3B Sammy Tucker (.300/3/43/67) missed the last third of the season due to injury... splendid Paul Sardini (18-14 1.96) and Ron Hendrix (17-12 3.34) topped the twirlers... twins Don French (13-12 4.08) and Jon French (17-15 4.53) struggled this season.
The Oxford Red Caps (79-75) were the runner-up last year, but slipped to third this year... All-Star LF Dennis Hartwig was brilliant again with a .353 BA, 24 homers, 109 RBIs, 111 runs and 33 SB... at age 23 Hartwig is averaging a lofty .353 for his 3 years in the league... RF Barney Burns also stood out with a .284 BA, 125 walks, 5 homers, 70 RBIs and 95 runs scored... skipper Mack Spencer didn't have much punch after them on his line-up card... 10-year vet Tony Mack (23-14 3.20) had his best season and last year's TU top rookie Carmine Scalise (16-12 3.41) dipped in production from 22-10 and 2.71... Spencer found himself a fine closer... Kurt Jelesko, a very reliable middle reliever for four years, found a niche as closer with 10 saves and a 1.41 ERA after taking over the spot in August... Jelesko was 7-0 for the year.
Fourth place Hartsdale (78-76) is pretty much an average team... Zim Donner is at the helm of the Hellcats... his best performer was All-Star 1B Johnny Scott (.301/27/92/108)... CF Ken Wessel (.279/17/84/78) added some offense, too... closer Tommy Klein (4-5) sparkled with 36 saves, which led the Tycobbian Union and was second-best in the IPA... Donner's best starter was 41-year-old Bobo Boisseau... the 15-year vet posted a 19-14 mark with a 4.00 ERA.
Winding up fifth for the second year in a row were Rudy Tanussa's Mahaska Haymakers (70-84)... they were 17 games back in the race... the Haymakers have some talent... All-Stars Sammy Kafelnikov (18-13 2.94) and C Bucky O'Brian (.299/16/75/69) were the team leaders with help from standout RF Travis Tuttle (.302/34/96/77) and rookie CF Pasha Yablonski (.305/3/42/91), who stole 55 bases and was ranked third in the TU and the IPA... Hillsboro's Biggy Washington was the IPA and TU leader with 76 thefts... 26-year-old rookie James Allington stood out with a 13-8 record and a fine 3.03 ERA after joining the team in June.
The rest of the TU North are just plain bad... the North Hills Hawks (61-93) were sixth and 26 games out... manager Masaichi Okawa has little talent... his best are only ordinary... Kerry Hoffman (15-13 3.85) was the best pitcher, while the most productive hitters were RF Al Bowden (.251/10/65/81) and 1B Lou Hooper (.309/10/51/68).
Next-to-last were the Blue Lake Blue Sox (60-94). who finished 27 games back of the Fairfax Frogs... Cobb Tyson's best pitchers were 36-year-old starter Kip Day and 25-year-old closer Chris Landry (6-5), who chalked up 23 saves and an impressive 1.81 ERA... the Blue Sox best bats belonged to CF Gil Willis (.265/19/85/85), rookie LF Douglas Pitts (.293/15/60/62), 1B Randy Milne (.317/4/28/70) and 43-year-old 3B Sal Avallone (.323/2/55/51).
The last place Luxora Zorros (50-104) were terrible, but they didn't set the record for the most losses in a season... that mark still rests with the North Hills Hawks, who were 47-107 in 2019... the Z's wound up 37 games behind Fairfax... 38-year-old Tiago Torres (11-23 3.53) and 21-year-old closer Toby White (3-5 2.14) were skipper Cristo Viamonte's only credible hurlers... White saved 20 games... at the plate rookie LF Kevin Hanley hit 20 homers, batted in 75 runs, scored 88 and hit .286... Hanley also stole 34 bases... C Jim Thorpe Chandler, a 3-time All-Star in his career, had a good year with a .282 average, 16 roundtrippers, 69 RBIs and 81 runs with 15 SB... and 2B Julio Canseco made the All-Star team, hitting .319 for the year with 6 homers, 51 RBIs and scored 76 runs.
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