Washington Township Senators Baseball

Senatots Top 10s

Runs Scored

1. Alessandrini 258
2. Bevenour 176
3. Pavlik, M. 167
4. Frese 156
5. Reader 146
6. Rose 143
7. Laudisio 141
8. Stowell, B. 106
9. Santone 102
10. Izzi 89

Senstors Top 10s

At-Bats

1. Alessandrini 876
2. Rose 708
3. Pavlik, M. 633
4. Reader 627
5. Frese 621
6. Bevenour 544
7. Stowell, A 485
8. Conlin 476
9. Laudisio 470
10. Stowell, B. 454

Senators Top 10s

Games Played:

1. Alessandrini 277
2. Rose 269
3. Frese 247
4. Reader 214
5. Bevenour 200
6. Pavlik, M. 196
7. Stowell, A. 164
8. Laudisio 161
9. Stowell, B. 158
10. Conlin 149

And finally, there's rightfield. It's not easy to name someone at this position, because we really did not have anyone play the position regularly for very long.

But I'll go with a tie here between two guys who played out there quite a bit.

The first guy hit .417 in 99 games, drove in 65 runs and stole 26 bases. He scored 67 runs and was a versatile gamer who showed up ready to play every day.

The second guy appeared in 214 games for us while hitting .294. He had 34 doubles and drive in a healthy 132 runs and stole 53 bases. Another versatile fielder, he played all over the field and even became the regular catcher for a period of time when injuries occurred.

The two players selected for right field are Bobby Wood and Miles Reader.

It appears that I skipped the third base position, so let's fix that right now.

He played 164 games for us, most at the hot corner. He had 143 hits, 43 doubles, two homers, and 89 RBI in his career. His batting average was an outstanding .381.

A consistent offensive threat and a great teammate, this guy could really pick 'em at third, and his rocket arm was perfect for the position, and it made him an excellent closer for us, too.

The third baseman is the slugging #10, Allen Stowell.

Today, I'll look at the middle of the field, the quarterback of the outfield, centerfield.

This guy played in 277 games as a Senator, second only to the great Frank Rose's 289. He is the team's all-time hit leader with 297, resulting in a career average of a cool .400.

He is also the all-time leader in walks with 182 and stolen bases with 136. And this was no singles hitter -- he added six homers, 44 doubles and two triples to the stat line, along with 156 RBI (most as the leadoff hitter!), third best all-time.

And he did all this while playing stellar defense and daring anyone to run on his arm.

The centerfielder is obviously #16, Mark Alessandrini.

Moving to the outfield now, left field specifically, and again, a LOT of great players patrolled there for the Senators.

This guy was a fixture for the club for 200 games. He hit 20 homers, the most by any Senator player, while posting a career average of a l***y .420. His 178 career RBI is also tops in team history, and he added a team-leading 53 doubles and 171 bases on balls, second most all-time. And nobody wanted to be up there against the other team's best pitcher more than this guy.

If there was a Senators Hall of Fame, Ken Bevenour would clearly be the first inductee. Beave was a great one!

Today, I look at the shortstop position, usually occupied by the best athlete on the field, and this guy fits that bill. We had many good ones over the years, but for his combination of power, speed, solid range, arm strength and hit tool, I'm going to go with Joe Santone here.

Joey played in 135 games as a Senator, batting .281, cracking nine homers, pounding 33 doubles (four in one game at Cold Springs!), driving in 108 runs and stealing 37 bases to boot. He started his men's baseball career with the West Deptford A's as a rightfielder, but smoothly made the transition to the infield.

A great player and friend.

I played baseball with some guys who could really play the game. I hit a few home runs in my day, and though I made my contributions, I was nothing but a role player on our teams. I chipped in what I could, but most of my highlights were likely on the defensive side of the ball (with some notable exceptions). Hitters like Dave Koerner, John Mader, the Stowell Brothers, Pete Conlin, Ken Bevenour, and many others always had me in awe of their abilities to hit any kind of pitching at any time. But the best I ever played with or against was Danny Barbara. This guy no doubt had the ability to hit major league pitching, had he been given the chance. And he did it FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE PLATE, no less. Hats off to you, #22. You were the real deal, and those of us who were there to see it know it.

I wanted to give props to the several members of the Senator family still lacing them up these days (and I apologize if I missed anyone; please let me know)! Ken Bevenour, Frank Rose, Danny Laudisio, Miles Reader, Bobby Wood, and Mike Mars. Given the injuries and surgeries that Danny and Miles have had, it is EXTREMELY impressive for them to still step out on the field each Sunday to play this great game. Given how old I feel, I am very much in awe of those guys!

To all the Senators, I wish you well, miss you and the game of baseball very much, and wish we could do it all over again.

Peace.

In lieu of the Phillies' epic collapse last night, I thought I'd share one of my favorite baseball stories from my "career (I hesitate to even call it that!)" in men's armature baseball with the Senators. Baseball is a funny and great game, and weirdo stuff happens. If you watch it long enough, you'll see some interesting things.

Playoff game at Lindenwold Park. We are up one game in a best-of-three series against a great local club, the Medford Giants. We are in the top of the final frame, trailing 5-2 with our last six hitters coming up (we batted 11 in that league). In a surreal moment of what I can only call prescience, I see one of my players, who shall remain nameless, taking off his spikes in the dugout, a real no-no until the game is actually over. I somewhat angerly remind him of this unwritten rule. He keeps the spikes on.

The first two guys go down against a real battler on the hill, my old friend Doug Kepple, who later became a Senator teammate. Miles Reader stands in, our last chance. Miles hits a routine grounder to Steve Alemi at shortstop, a local great for many, many years. Well, the ball hits a pebble on the infield and bounces straight over Steve's astonished head. Miles is safe at first.

My turn. I step in, and being an old-school guy, I take two strikes in the hopes of drawing a free pass. No dice. Kepple throws me an 0-2 curve ball, and I do my thing, which is to flip it into right-field for a single, placing runners on first and second. Still a long way to go.

My oldest baseball buddy, Frank Rose, is up next. Frank slaps a liner into right-center field, splitting the outfielders. Miles races home to make it 5-3, and I get to third, Frank to second.

Unfortunately for us, the next hitter is our pitcher, John DiPietro. John is a decent hitter, but we almost never let him bat during his long and great career with the club simply because we had a lot of GREAT hitters. But today, we were short-handed with just 11 present, and we had no choice. I stared down the third base line hoping for a miracle, and lo and behold, it happened!

John ripped a solid single into left-field and both Frank and me raced across the plate to tie things up at 5-5. It felt like a miracle, all started by a pebble no less.

We won the game in the bottom of the 10th frame on a single to right-field by Senator great Ken Bevenour, scoring my old buddy Mark Alessandrini from second, to win the championship. It is one of my fondest baseball memories. Now that I no longer play, those are all I have left from my time in the game. They will sustain me until I visit that Ebbets Field in the sky sometime down the road.

Peace, my baseball brothers. I miss you all, both friend and foe!