The Summer Baseball Preview of the Leesburg Lightning, featured in the June 2014 issue of STYLE Maga

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

“WE JUST MAKE SUMMER BETTER” As we enter our eighth season at beautiful Pat Thomas Stadium/Buddy Lowe Field, our Leesburg Lightning board and leadership group continues to embrace the original goals. We are FREE admission baseball. We serve no liquor at our games. We are a family friendly venue where kids are king. We are great baseball and great ballpark food with low prices for great value.

We have parents from all around our country who share their college players and interns by spending the summer in Leesburg. Fans treat them as heroes. Our 20 host families take them in for the summer. Each June and July, about 25,000 fans see one of our home games, and our target is 30,000 in 2014. “Little” Leesburg has led attendance in our league for each of our eight seasons. Our fans continue to be the 10th player on the field… and those fans cheer great baseball plays, even if against our beloved Lightning. Our coaches and players make the magic happen.

We appreciate our great six-team Florida Collegiate Summer League. Key in all of this, the City of Leesburg provides use of Pat Thomas Stadium. Thank you! Beyond that, we rely heavily on our 80 or more corporate and community sponsors and advertisers. They are all listed among these pages. Be sure you know who they are and support them for bringing FREE collegiate baseball to our community each summer.

When you attend our games and contribute when the players “pass the hat,” or when you buy a raffle ticket, you are support the Lightning as well. We could not put the team on the field without every one of you.

This year, we also have a wonderful partnership with Style magazine and we love how they tell the story of the Lightning, Pat Thomas Stadium, and baseball in our area. With community partners like the City of Leesburg, and CenturyLink that make the best seats in the house available, and Leesburg High School Athletic boosters who make the best ballpark food in the country available at every game… you have the option of coming to see some great baseball and see how we “just make summer better.” And, this year, we do it with Style!

JOHN BRANDEBURG

GENERAL MANAGER, LEESBURG LIGHTNING BASEBALL

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LIGHTNING STRIKES

IN THE FORECAST

BY JAMES COMBS AND GARY CORSAIR

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As the smell of popcorn, hot dogs, and burgers wafts through a packed Pat Thomas Stadium/Buddy Lowe Field, cheers and applause erupt as the boys of summer officially take the field.

It’s time to play ball. For fans, coaches, and Leesburg Lightning players who come from all around the country to stay with host families and hone their baseball talents with wooden bats, few things could be more exciting.

“I just love it,” says host family coordinator Elizabeth Knowles, who pairs players with families for the two-month season. “I’m hosting for the fourth time. We’ve had two interns and two players and it’s always been a great experience for me and my family. I’ve never heard of any problems or issues with these guys during the seven years we’ve had a team. The guys are all clean-cut, serious athletes.

These guys are just trying to stay in baseball as long as they can.”

The players appreciate host families providing a roof over their heads, as well as meals. They also enjoy playing in front of hundreds of fans. “They love to play here, because they have a crowd,” Knowles said. “When they go on the road, there’s hardly anybody there.”

Leesburg leads the league in attendance year after year, largely because the Lightning is the only team that doesn’t charge admission. The $80,000 it takes to field a team is covered by sponsors, fundraisers, concession sales, and 50/50 drawings. The fact that Leesburg is nearly always a powerhouse and plays in a beautiful, majestic ballpark with a lake view doesn’t hurt the gate.

“Leesburg is kind of the crown jewel,” said Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) President Rob Sitz.

“This is the model for other cities to follow.”

So mark your calendar, the Lightning begin the 2014 season Wednesday, June 4, against DeLand.

Game time is 7p.m. And bring the kids, friends, neighbors, and co-workers — there is NO admission charge, and the ballpark grub is Big League all the way. So plan on taking in several games — or every game — but remember the season lasts just two months.

You won’t want to miss Style magazine Night on June 12. We hope you’ll join us for a night of giveaways and fun. And we encourage you to support all the Lightning sponsors.

The FCSL is wood bat baseball at its best. The quality of play is top-notch. More than 237 former Florida League players have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams.

And Leesburg is among the cream of the crop, year in and year out.

The Lightning struck fast and furious last season, leading the league much of the season and advancing to the 2013 FCSL championship game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the Lightning came out on the losing end in the title clash.

Coach David Therneau hasn’t forgotten that game.

And he feels the 2014 Lightning is primed to build off last year’s success. Several key players are returning, including pitcher Trey Norris of Stetson University, third baseman Colby Lusignan of Santa Fe College, and outfielder Brett Jones of the University of Tampa.

Midway through May, Jones was hitting .545 in 11 games for Tampa, while Lusignan was batting .353 with 34 RBI and 26 runs for Santa Fe. Former Eustis High School stars Nate Brecklin and Kuehl McEachern also return. Another familiar face will be team intern Taylor Cavender, former Miss Leesburg and sister of former Lightning player Jake Cavendar.

Therneau, who is in his fourth year as Lightning coach, hesitates to make any bold predictions regarding what this season will produce in the winloss column. But there is one thing he does promise.

“When you come to the ballgame you’re going to see the best effort possible by each individual player,” says Therneau, who also serves as pitching coach at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach. “As a player, I was a tough, fiery guy who played hard every game. My teams reflect my personality and drive.

You won’t see players going through the motions or giving lackluster efforts. I ask the players to give it their best for themselves, their teammates, and the fans. Every pitch and at bat matters. When they do that, you have a good chance to win many ballgames.”

As a former player in the Cincinnati Reds organization, Therneau enjoys honing the skills of Lightning players and helping them achieve their dream of playing Major League baseball.

“I feel I relate well to these young college kids.

I love working with them. They aspire to play professional baseball, and if I can help them in any way, then I know I’m doing something worthwhile.”

Therneau is assisted by coaches Robert Clayton and Jeff Lemon.

Visit floridaleague.com/Teams/LeesburgLightning. aspx for more information. And don’t miss blogs from the ballpark by Akers Media Group Executive Editor Gary Corsair at lakeandsumterstyle.com.

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2014 ROSTER NAME

POSITION HOMETOWN

COLLEGE

Brad Antchak Nate Brecklin Ryan Brinley Dillon Cooper Kameron Esthay Brett Jones Colby Lusignan Dirk Masters Kuehl McEachern Matt Menard Andrew Miller Daniel Miller Trey Norris Shea Pierce Byron Reichstein Frankie Sagarese Kyle Schackne Casey Scoggins David Wood

SS/P LHP C/RHP OF OF/1B/P LHP/OF CIF/OF OF/RHP RHP C 3B LHP RHP C/IF OF OF RHP OF RHP

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M The Citadel Sam Houston State Alabama State Baylor Univ Tampa Santa Fe College Sam Houston State Flagler Baylor Univ.

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Stetson Stetson Sam Houston State Southern Arkansas Flagler Lake Sumter Santa Fe College Lake Sumter

British Columbia, Canada Eustis, FL Georgetown, TX Palm Bay, FL Lake Charles, LA Plant City, FL Sorrento, FL Angleton, TX Eustis, FL Bridge City, TX Frisco, TX Ocala, FL Frostproof, FL Huntsville, TX Ontario, Canada Ocoee, FL Lakeland, FL Port St. Lucie, FL Groveland, FL

OFFICIAL SPONSORS OAKWOOD LEESBURG SMOKEHOUSE REGIONAL GRILL MEDICAL “The Official CENTER Barbeque Restaurant of the Leesburg Lightning”

STYLE MAGAZINE

“The Official Magazine of the Leesburg Lightning”

“The Official Hospital of the Leesburg Lightning”

CENTURYLINK “The Official Communications Provider of the Leesburg Lightning”

ADDITIONAL SPONSORS A-Plus Printing Ace Hardware Ak ers Media Group/Healthy Living Allstate Insurance Anytime Fitness Battery Power Beacon College Beyers Funeral Home Bill Bryan Automotive The Bone Law Firm BP Auto Spa Br own and Brown Insurance Burry’s Pharmacy Cart World Cecil Clark Chevrolet Center State Bank Ce ntury 21 Carlino Real Estate Chris Graham Cleaning City of Leesburg Cl ean as a Whistle Car Wash Da ily Commercial Doggybags Emmett Sapp Builders Etheredge Chirppractic Fi rst National Bank of Mount Dora Ford Press Fruitland Park Café H & M Mower Sales and Service Hometown Health TV Infiniti Fitness Insight Financial Services Key Scales Ford Lake County Tourism Lake Front TV Channel 22

Lake Glass and Mirror Lake Nissan Leesburg Firefighters Leesburg Partnership Logan Sitework LP G Urban and Regional Planners LSTV Channel 13 Ma thias Food Service Equipment Michael A. Glick, MD Microtel of Lady Lake Mid Florida Tractor NAPA Auto Parts Pal Realty PAQCO Pat’s Pawn and Gun Pat’s Sales Ph il Mathias and Bob Farrow (fans) Phillips Buick GMC Phillips Car Dealerships Plaza Cadillac Ramshackle Café RoMac Lumber Ross Plumbing Sea Tow Signcrafters So uthern Traditions Flower Shop Superior Cleaners Technicuff True Value Hardware United Southern Bank V ic’s Embers Restaurant and Catering Waterboy xclntDesign

xclntDesign serves as the print material coordinator and Webmaster for the Leesburg Lightning. The Leesburg High School Athletic Booster Club operates the concession stand and has contributed to the Best Ball Park Food in the USA. The Lightning would like to acknowledge The Daily Commercial for its massive coverage since we began 8 years ago.

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2014 SCHEDULE AWAY

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Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Sanford River Rats Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Winter Garden Squeeze Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Winter Park Diamond Dawgs

Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Leesburg Lightning Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Leesburg Lightning Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Sanford River Rats Winter Garden Squeeze Winter Garden Squeeze Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Leesburg Lightning Winter Garden Squeeze Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats Leesburg Lightning Sanford River Rats College Park Freedom Leesburg Lightning College Park Freedom Deland Suns Leesburg Lightning Leesburg Lightning

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Pat Thomas Stadium Conrad Park Pat Thomas Stadium Sanford Memorial Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium West Orange Pat Thomas Stadium Bishop Moore HS Pat Thomas Stadium Bishop Moore HS Alfond Stadiumium Pat Thomas Stadium Alfond Stadiumium Pat Thomas Stadium Conrad Park Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium Sanford Memorial Sanford Memorial West Orange West Orange West Orange Pat Thomas Stadium Bishop Moore HS Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium Alfond Stadiumium Conrad Park Pat Thomas Stadium Alfond Stadiumium Pat Thomas Stadium West Orange Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium Sanford Memorial Pat Thomas Stadium Sanford Memorial Bishop Moore HS Pat Thomas Stadium Bishop Moore HS Conrad Park Pat Thomas Stadium Pat Thomas Stadium leesburg lightning I

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2014 LEESBURG LIGHTNING LEADERSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS: CHUCK JOHNSON, ROGER CROFT, JOHN MEIER, AND JOHN BRANDEBURG DAVID THERNEAU Head Coach and Director of Baseball Operations ROBERT CLAYTON Assistant Coach JEFF LEMON Assistant Coach JOHN BRANDEBURG General Manager JAYME JOHNSON Asst. Game Night Ops ZACHARY HANKLE Journalism Intern, Broadcast Intern SEAN MATHEWS Team Intern TAYLOR CAVENDER Team Intern LIAM KNOWLES Lightning Bat Boy

SOME OF THE BIG HITTERS WITH THE LIGHTNING: (left to right) Coach David Therneau, GM and board member John Brandeburg, Voice of the Lightning Chuck Johnson, statistician and board member John Meier, and broadcaster and board member Roger Croft.

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CHUCK JOHNSON Voice of the Leesburg Lightning JOHN MEIER Scorekeeper, Statistician ROGER CROFT Broadcaster FRED NENDZA Webmaster (xclntDesign) ELIZABETH KNOWLES Host Family Coordinator KIM HIGGINS Concessions Manager STEPHEN STRICKLAND Head Groundskeeper MICHAEL THOMPSON Asst. Head Groundskeeper

CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN …

BEFORE THE LIGHTNING ARRIVED

BY GARY CORSAIR

Leesburg’s love affair with baseball dates back to the 1890s, when local boys played for pride against any nine willing to ride the train to Leesburg.

But sandlot ball took a backseat after the turn of the century when Major League Baseball teams began preseason training in Florida. Competition to lure a Major League team became fierce.

In 1922, Leesburg threw its hat in the ring by building the ultimate enticement — a modern ballpark. Residents donated lumber, dug and hauled clay, planted grass, sawed, hammered, and nailed for three months in hopes of attracting the Philadelphia team. And it worked. The Phillies were thrilled with Cooke Field, which had an outfield fence 357 feet from home plate, a level field, glorious grandstand, and a clubhouse with toilets, showers, and 35 lockers.

But Philadelphia only trained at Cooke Field (located where the Cutrale plant is today) for three years. The Phillies jilted Leesburg for Bradenton in 1925.

It would be decades before a Big League baseball team called Leesburg its winter home, although the city hosted a number of exhibition games. Most years, Leesburg settled for hosting minor league teams for spring training.

Leesburg really got serious about baseball in the mid-1930s, when the city was approved for a Workers Progress Association project — a ballpark called Baseball Island of Venetian Gardens. The baseball stadium on an island that was accessed by two bridges was Lake County’s first lighted athletic facility.

Civic leaders hoped the unique facility would attract an American or National league franchise for spring training, or better yet, lead to a working agreement to be part of a Major League team’s farm system. That was the real prize. Minor League affiliates only had day-to-day expenses to worry about — the Big League team paid all the salaries.

Initially, only Minor League teams expressed interest in Leesburg. The Rochester Red Wings of the American Association were the first team from the North to train at Venetian Gardens, in 1937.

Leesburg entered the Florida State League as an independent later that year and finished fourth in the eight-team league with a respectable 72-67 record. Off the field was another story. Community leaders had to dig into their own pockets to help

the Leesburg Baseball Association meet the $160/ day cost to employ 15 players.

Leesburg’s second season was much better. The Islanders racked up 87 wins and upended two-time defending champion Gainesville to win the Florida State League title! Yet the team still finished in the red. The Leesburg Baseball Association board solved its problem by selling four players for $2,000.

The practice of selling, or optioning, players to teams in a higher league would be used to balance the books repeatedly in the future. That may explain why Leesburg had just one winning record in the 12 seasons it fielded a team during the 1940s and 50s.

Baseball was a losing proposition until Byron Herlong bought the team and secured a working relationship with the Milwaukee Braves. Leesburg was a Class D Braves’ farm team for 1956 and ’57. Neither team broke .500, but the ’56 squad included 29-year-old Buddy Lowe, who would become a Leesburg legend.

Leesburg was odd city out when Milwaukee reduced its Class D affiliates to three. The Venetian Gardens ballpark went the next two seasons without a Minor League team. At least the city had the Philadelphia Phillies for spring training.

The Baltimore Orioles partnered with Leesburg in 1960, but the team finished dead last. In 1961, the team was so bad that the parent club tried three managers. One was Cal Ripken, a Leesburg Orioles infielder with a one-year-old son, also named Cal. Baltimore pulled the plug after two seasons.

Three summers passed before the Kansas City Athletics agreed to field an entry in the Florida State League.

The ’65 A’s were in and out of the basement most of the year, but speedy Allan Lewis led

the league in stolen bases and Roland “Rollie” Fingers posted a superb 2.98 ERA. Fingers somehow lost 15 games (he won 8). Leesburg’s hitting was merely lousy most nights; it was usually atrocious when Fingers took the mound.

Fingers was promoted to Modesto, California in 1966, but Lewis remained in Leesburg, where he played a significant role on Leesburg’s greatest baseball team —the ’66 A’s profiled later in this special section.

If ’66 was the pinnacle, ’68 was the abyss. A new owner didn’t have the cash to make it through a season and the league moved the franchise to Daytona. That was the end of professional baseball in Leesburg.

But the grand old ballpark would see more glory days.

Pat Thomas Memorial Field became the home turf of the Leesburg High School Yellow Jackets, coached by one Buddy Lowe, who took over the program in 1960. The man who experienced so much losing as a member of the ’56 Leesburg Braves enjoyed incredible success. Leesburg made the state finals three times and won the state championship in 1977. Lowe would amass 599 wins by the time he retired as a high school coach.

In 1985, Leesburg commissioners decided to demolish the rundown ballpark and use the land for a marina, shops, a hotel, and convention facilities. Pat Thomas Memorial Field was saved when the commission reversed itself, voting 4-1 against the developer’s proposal.

The park remained shuttered until the late 1980s, when long-overdue repairs, a lighting upgrade, and overall sprucing up was ordered.

Leesburg High and Lake-Sumter Community College shared the stadium, which was renamed Pat Thomas Stadium/Buddy Lowe Memorial Field in 2003.

Fittingly, Lowe was one of the community leaders instrumental in bringing winning back to Venetian Gardens.

Happy days returned when the Florida Collegiate Summer League formed in 2003.

The Leesburg Lightning were a hit from the get-go. Leesburg won the Florida Collegiate State League title in 2007 and added another championship in 2008 under the coaching of former Major League star Frank Viola.

In 2013, the Lightning came within one game of winning their third championship.

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’66 LEESBURG A’S

BY GARY CORSAIR

Longtime baseball fans remember Charles O. Finley as an eccentric owner and architect of the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won the World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974.

What isn’t widely known is Finley laid the foundation for his powerhouse in the mid-1960s right here in Leesburg.

In 1966, in the ballpark at Venetian Gardens, Finley conducted baseball’s second greatest experiment by assembling baseball’s first truly racially diverse team. (Branch Richey signing Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier is obviously the greatest.)

Catcher Fred Velazquez hailed from the Dominican Republic, outfielder Allan Lewis was from Panama, catcher Jamie Cepeda was a native of Puerto Rico, and shortstop Oscar Flores, pitcher George Lauzerique, and infielder Dick Fernandez were born in Cuba. Finley’s scouts even went to Venezuela to sign pitchers Juan Campos and Evangelista Nunez and first baseman Gonzalo Marquez.

All were assigned to Leesburg to spend five months living — and hopefully winning — with 12 white players and two black rookies, Jim Holt and Dwain Anderson.

If you don’t think that was an experiment, you don’t remember the Deep South of the mid-1960s.

Finely was pushing the envelope. Some American League teams didn’t have a single player of Spanish descent.

But nobody was paying attention to what Finley was trying in Leesburg with a Class A team (the lowest rung of the minor leagues) that hadn’t won a Florida State League (FSL) championship since 1941 and finished with 53–80 record in 1965.

First-year manager Jimmy Williams, who was just 33, was expected to make the experiment work. Fortunately, Williams had learned some Spanish during winters playing in Cuba and Venezuela.

Communication would be an ongoing challenge, but not an insurmountable obstacle.

Racial prejudice, on the other hand, could blow the team apart. Williams immediately made it clear he wouldn’t tolerate any discrimination.

He needn’t have worried. The Leesburg players seemed to be color-blind.

“We got along fine. I don’t think there were any arguments. And the bus was pretty small,”

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JIM HOLT batted .286 with 21 doubles for the ‘66 A’s. He reached the Big Leagues in 1968.

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Jim Holt, the slugging outfi elder who ca offense in the rried Leesbur 1966 Florida g’s State League series, almos championship t didn’t have a baseball care Holt was abou er. t to re-enlist in convinced hi the Army whe m to attend a n a friend Kansas City A played well, ’s tryout. Hol signed a Min t or League baseba headed to Lee ll sburg, where he would have contract and teammate. just one black A few weeks into the season player when , Jim became Kansas City the lone black reassigned H Dwain Ander olt’s roommat son to anothe e r farm team. bunked two to Since players a hotel room on the road, m Williams was anager Jimm faced with as y signing a whi room with H te teammates olt. But he di to dn’t have to. mates volunt Eight differen eered to room t teamwith Holt befo address the is re Williams co sue. No wonde uld r Holt still spea 1966 Leesbur ks fondly of th g A’s. e

MANAGER JIMMY WILLIAMS signs autographs (top). Lou Hemauer walks the field with his grandson 30 years after the championship season (center).

Lou is all smiles after another win in 1966 (bottom).

(Photos provided)

recalled Lou Hemauer, a white pitcher from Hibbert, Wisconsin.

The A’s were tested during an early-season road trip when the team stopped at a restaurant.

When the proprietor refused to serve Holt, his white teammates walked out. “We stopped at a 7-Eleven or somewhere and got lunch meats and bread and made sandwiches on the bus,” Williams recalled.

Thankfully, Holt’s skin color wasn’t an issue in Leesburg. “I never had trouble in Leesburg,” Holt said. “I heard some things at other ballparks we played in, but not Leesburg.”

Holt quickly established himself as one of several stars on the team. But no one acted like a big shot. All the A’s were humble. There wasn’t a single prima donna on the roster.

White veterans paid attention to Hemauer, one of the few A’s with experience, a wife, and a car. The foreign players followed the words and example of 27-year-old Velazquez, a bonafide star in the Dominican leagues. “He was very friendly — a real extrovert. Everybody loved him on that team,” Flores recalled. “He held that team together, too.”

The young kids (there were five teenagers on the squad) even had a leader — 18-year-old shortstop Gene Tenace, signed out of high school but possessor of adult demeanor and swagger.

The ’66 A’s had chemistry, a quality only the manager truly appreciated. Each and every man played for team success instead of individual glory.

Well, everyone but Lewis, who desperately wanted to set the league record for stolen bases in a season. Lewis slapped several hits between outfielders that could have been doubles, but Allan usually stopped at first base so he could steal second, and hopefully third.

Ironically, Lewis’ selfishness was a catalyst for team success. His speed made Leesburg’s offense appear more potent than it actually was. With Lewis, you could score a run with an infield single, two steals, and a sacrifice — and Leesburg frequently did.

Lewis stole 30 bases, batted .306, and scored 32 runs as Leesburg started the season by winning 32 of 38 games.

Every Florida State League team became obsessed with trying to keep Lewis off base.

They should have been worrying about hitting the A’s hurlers.

Rick Johnson (surely the best pitcher to come out of Columbia Baskin Junior College) led the league with an 0.69 earned run average.

Imagine, a pitcher who only gave up a run every

12 innings or so!

And the rest of the staff were nearly as unhittable. Hemauer, who came to Leesburg with a tired arm and the unannounced conviction that ’66 would be his last season, was 8–0.

Lauzerique, all of 18 years old, allowed just three runs in his first 34 innings. John Dunn was 6–0.

Lauzerique and Don Lohse were 5–0.

Leesburg was obviously focused on winning, not ethnic differences.

Nothing seemed to faze Williams’ troops — not riding the oldest bus in the league, not playing in an ancient stadium with a cramped dressing room with one toilet and nails to hang clothes on. Not even the bloodsuckers.

“The mosquitos were something else,” Tenace said.

The A’s slapped mosquitoes — and the competition — as they cruised to the first-half FSL title with a stunning 50–14 record. St. Petersburg, managed by future Hall-of-Famer Sparky Anderson, was runner-up at 42–23.

And the A’s triumphed in style, winning seven games (and losing just one) by just a single during June. Lewis’ speed was often the deciding factor.

But Leesburg was only halfway to its first championship in 25 years. Every FSL team started the second half of the season with a clean slate — a 0–0 record.

Leesburg needed to finish atop the second-half standings to win the title outright.

Otherwise, the championship would be determined by a five-game playoff between the

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LEESBURG took a lot of heat for traveling in a converted school bus, but the A’s had the last laugh on oppeonents in 1966 (far left). Fleetfooted John Ruedy played with Leesburg in 1966 and ‘68 (left). Jim Holt, Lou Hemauer, Charlie Robinson, and Gene Tenace celebrate the A’s championship at dinner with Judy Hemauer and Martha Earls (above).

(Photos provided)

A’s and the second-half winner.

As the second half began, Leesburg was still very much a team — in every sense of the word.

Most of the A’s were having career years, but no one got bigheaded.

The A’s played .500 ball the first two weeks, but then caught fire and put together a 12-game win streak.

Unfortunately, third baseman Jim Pamlayne, who batted third, suffered season-ending knee injuries in one of the victories.

The loss of Pamlayne ignited a string of misfortune. Pitchers Steve Dabbs and Ray Johnson and infielder Dick Fernandez suffered injuries. Slugging outfielder Charlie Robinson was sidelined by an ear infection. Gene Tenace and gritty second baseman John Ruedy, one of the top base stealers in the league, were hobbled. Pitcher Jim Buker was called into the Army Reserves. And Don Lohse went home to get married.

Leesburg stayed in contention with hot hitting from Lewis, Flores, and Holt, the only black on the team after Anderson was promoted to Class AA Birmingham.

Lewis was simply sensational. Aptly-named the “Panamanian Express,” he broke the Florida State League record for stolen bases when he swiped his 82nd base on Aug. 2. Three weeks later, Lewis upped his total to 95 steals. Lewis had more steals than most teams.

He almost got it, too. Lewis swiped a mind-boggling 116 stolen bases in 131 games, a league record (the previous mark was set in 1912) that still stands and will likely never be broken.

In the end, Leesburg couldn’t overcome all those injuries. The A’s finished a disappointing fifth despite playing above .500. St. Petersburg

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used an incredible hot streak of 22 wins in 25 games to finish first.

The Cardinals obviously had the momentum going into the post-season, winner-takes-all championship, but Leesburg drew first blood with an 8–3 victory keyed by three hits from Holt.

Holt added two more hits and Robinson smashed a towering homerun to lead Leesburg to an 8–4 win in the second game.

More than 1,100 fans came out for Game 3 in St. Pete to see if Leesburg would win the crown.

It didn’t happen. St. Pete’s Dave Bankenhauser struck out 10 A’s in a 3–0 Cardinals win.

Game 4 also went the Cardinals’ way. An 8–6 St. Pete win necessitated a fifth and final game.

Manager Jimmy Williams selected 18-yearold Lauzerique to pitch the final, and the kid didn’t disappoint. Lauzerique went all the way, striking out 14 and walking just two in a 3–0 Leesburg win.

The A’s were champs!

There were no showers of champagne, bonus checks, or diamond-studded rings to mark the occasion, just cold brewskis and cigars on the converted school bus.

Class A was light years away from the Big Leagues each player dreamed of reaching.

Most of the A’s would never even reach Class AA. But seven players and manager Jimmy Williams would ascend all the way to the Major Leagues. And five of the eight men would win World Series rings — an incredible feat for a Class A team no one but Charlie Finley expected much from.

Allan Lewis, who led the Florida State League in steals with 76 in 1965 and 116 in 1966, was the first member of the ’66 A’s to make the Big Leagues. He arrived on April 11, 1967. Five months later, Lauzerique was called up.

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Jim Holt reached the Majors on April 17, 1968 (he would play nine years there), and Frederico Velazquez made the jump a year later as a member of the expansion Seattle Pilots.

Gene Tenace reached “The Show” on May 29, 1969. He would play 15 seasons in the Majors, participate in four World Series, and win the World Series MVP award in 1972 after becoming the first player to hit homeruns in his first two Series at bats (he hit two more and batted. .348 in the Fall Classic).

Dwain Anderson arrived on Sept. 3, 1971.

Gonzalo Marquez first pulled on an Oakland A’s jersey on Aug. 11, 1972, just in time to star in the World Series.

Marquez played in eight post-season games, earning a World Series ring by rapping five hits in eight at bats — a sizzling .667 batting average.

The 1972 A’s validated the great experiment Finley quietly conducted in Leesburg in 1966. The ’72 World Champs included two players from Cuba, two from Puerto Rico, one from Panama, and another from the Dominican Republic.

Today, Major League Baseball is filled with players from foreign soil. And yet few people recognize that the ’66 Leesburg A’s helped kick open the door for players outside the United States to make a living playing America’s pastime.

In 1966, Leesburg seemed like an unlikely place for a successful experiment in race relations, but two dozen ballplayers from different backgrounds, a forward-thinking manager, and a supportive community came together to prove Leesburg was the perfect place to make baseball history.

COVERING LAKE & SUMTER WITH STYLE

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