Fred LeSage spent most of the day July 7 calling around to find another position player so the Beecher Muskies could field a team that night against the Oswego Cats.
It was the second straight gameday the longtime Muskies manager was in that spot with various players calling off for work, school or family obligations.
Welcome to semipro baseball, a catch-all brand whose teams include everyone from players about to enter college to former pros in their 30s and 40s.
The calls paid off and the Muskies did have enough players against the Cats. And behind a stellar start from Lucas Rink and a big night at the plate by battery mate Marty Coyle, the Muskies won 10-2 to give LeSage his 1,000th win in his 33rd season as manager.
Rink pitched one-hit, one-run ball over five innings in his first start of the season and Coyle was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs.
“It means I’ve been here a long time,” said LeSage, who has been with the Muskies for all of their 49 seasons as a player or manager. “And there are a lot of guys who have contributed to 1,000 wins. … And the funny part of it is .. when I became the manager, it wasn’t even a job I wanted.
“I was still playing at the time and I really didn’t want to do it. For a couple years after that I kept trying to play and manage and I couldn’t do it.”
Now he’s managing some veterans like Coyle, who’s in his 19th season; pitcher Brandon DuBois, in his 25th season; pitcher Bryce Shafer, in his 12th season; shortstop Quintin Alexander and outfielders Mark Dye and Andrew Olszewski.
“It’s hard to put a value on what guys get from the examples they see out here,” said LeSage, who guided the Muskies to NABF World Series titles in 2010 and last year. “I’m proud of what we built here. We tried to build a really good culture. More than anything else, we wanted — we want good players, but we like guys who are good guys that are going to contribute to team effort. And it’s really team effort that leads to 1,000 wins.”
Coyle clearly fits that description. He has played in 664 games, the third-most in team history, and is the Muskies’ career leader in doubles (158), home runs (106) and times hit by pitch (99).
“When you’ve been around Fred for a while, it extends past baseball,” Coyle said. “There’s been some life moments for me that I’ve reached out to Fred and he’s kind of guided me through. And that’s a big part of what the Muskies are. A lot of us are passing some of this knowledge on to the younger guys.
“Fred got his 1,000th win today. But I think it’s even more important how many lives he’s actually changed through the Beecher Muskies.”