Maier, Bartman and Vernick by Havelock Hewes

   The answer is "Jeffrey Maier, Steve Bartman and Bill Vernick." The question is "what three fans decided the outcome of a game by touching a live ball?"
  During a playoff game at Yankee Stadium on October 9, 1996 Derek Jeter hit a long flyball.  Tony Tarrasco, the Oriole outfielder, settled under it in right field, when 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the fence and had the ball bounce off his glove into the stands.  The umpire, Rich Garcia, called it a home run, allowing the Yankees to win the game.
  During a playoff game at Wrigley Field on October 6, 2003  the Cubs had a 3-0 lead and would be in the World Series if they could hold on.  In the 8th inning, the Marlins batter hit a flyball to right which was drifting toward the stands.  Moises Alou, the cub outfielder, reached up to catch it, but Cub fan Steve Bartman put his glove out in front of Alou's, and, in an attempt to catch the ball, had it ricochet off his mitt.  The Marlins went on to score 8 runs and dash the Cubs attempt to get to their first World Series "since the year we dropped the bomb on Japan."
 During game one at PS 141, on Monday, September 1, 2014 Havelock Hewes' team scored five first-inning runs.  During one of the early innings a fan, believed to be Zach Nilva's father, standing in the gate behind firstbase retrieved a live ball.  The umpire, Havelock Hewes, awarded the runner at first, second base.  At this point he announced "the rule for this field will be 'if any spectator touches a live ball the runner will be awarded one base'"  In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the score now tied, the hitter for Freddy Melendez' team singled and the ball briefly eluded Havelock and rolled past first.  Havelock trotted over to pick up the ball, when spectator Bill Vernick picked the live ball up and tossed it to Havelock.  Freddy, now umpiring, enforced Havelock's rule and awarded second to the runner. The next batter singled and the runner scored from secondbase to win the game.
  "Hoisted on my own petard," Hewes mused after the game, "At least Bill has better hands than Maier or Bartman."  

SFL Old Timers Game

The first annual SFL Old Timers Game, organized by SFL founder Tony Connor, took place on August 21 at the Great Lawn.  Connor's team, with Dave Rosengard pitching, secured a victory over Havelock Hewes's team, with Lee Lowenfish pitching.

Participants were:
Jose Balento (1983-2011)
Marvin Cohen (1992-present)
Noel Cohen (1987-1991)
Tony Connor (1983-present)
Joe Gerber (1989-present)
Steve Gould (1983-1984)
Stu Hackel (1984-1997)
Havelock Hewes (1983-present)
Lee Lowenfish (1983-2009)
Dave Metzger (1983-present)
Dave Rosengard (1983-present)
Nick Rowlands (1997-2010)
Rich Rowlands (1984-present)
Joe Sopiak (1988-present)
Bill Vernick (1994-2010)
Bill Weinberg (1983-2006)

SFL Teams of the 1990s

1990:
P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Jorge Loarte, 2B-- Bobby Naranjo, 3B--Larry Savell, SS--Manny Santiago, LF-- Havelock Hewes, CF-- Derek Martinez, OF-- David Speed, RF-- Jose Balento.

1991:
P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Jose Balento, 1B-- Jorge Loarte, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Larry Savell, SS-- Bobby Naranjo, LF-- Alan Walker, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Jeff Miller, RF-- Glen Lawrence.

1992:
P-- Peter Bochan, C-- Jose Balento, 1B-- Jorge Loarte, 2B-- Bobby Naranjo, 3B-- Larry Savell, SS-- Kurt Hettler, LF-- John Montalto, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Havelock Hewes, RF-- Mitch Bogard.

1993:

P-- Jorge Loarte, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Larry Savell, 2B-- Bobby Naranjo, 3B-- Dan Schneider, SS-- Kurt Hettler, LF-- Dave Metzger, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Havelock Hewes, RF-- Jose Balento.

1994:

P-- Havelock Hewes, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Larry Savell, 2B-- Bobby Naranjo, 3B-- Dan Schneider, SS-- Joe Gerber, LF-- Jeff Watts, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento.

1995:

P-- Jorge Loarte, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Marvin Cohen, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Dan Schneider, SS-- Joe Gerber, LF-- John Grieco, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento.

1996:

P-- Havelock Hewes, C-- Marvin Cohen, 1B-- Larry Savell, 2B-- Gil Schmerler, 3B-- Bobby Naranjo, SS-- Peter Traub, LF-- Glen Lawrence, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento.

1997:

P-- Havelock Hewes, C-- Dave Rosengard, 1B-- Tony Connor, 2B-- Gil Schmerler, 3B-- Bobby Naranjo, SS-- Joe Gerber, LF-- Rich Inserro, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento.

1998:

P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Marvin Cohen, 2B-- Gil Schmerler, 3B-- Bobby Naranjo, SS-- Joe Gerber, LF-- Havelock Hewes, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento.

1999:

P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Tony Connor, 1B-- Marvin Cohen, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Gil Schmerler, SS-- Rick Tovar, LF-- Mike Palma, CF-- Phil Kotik, OF-- Bill Vernick, RF-- Jose Balento, DH-- Larry Savell.

Triple Play

One of the game's very rare feats was accomplished in our second game today, in the top of the 3rd inning. Sam Melendez led off with a walk, and moved to second on a single to left by Sam Magnus. This brought up Bob Holzwasser, who got 4 hits in the first game, so he shouldn't feel too bad about this:

Bob hit a hard grounder to Freddie Melendez at second base, and Freddie flipped it to Dave Sommers to retire Sam Magnus. Sommers' throw to Joe Geller at first was in time to get Bob. While this was happening, Sam Melendez turned third and decided to head in, and it took a perfect strike from Geller and an acrobatic tag from pitcher Ian Parfrey to get him, to complete a 4-6-3-1 triple play.

A similar triple play was turned last season, with the added complication of Marvin Cohen getting the final assist to nab a runner headed home.

Anyway, the play turned the fortunes of the defensive team, who were in a 3-0 hole at the time, and scored six times in the bottom of the inning, keyed by Jim O'Connor's grand slam down the LF line, enroute to a 9-4 win.

SFL Teams of the 1980s

I thought it would be fun (for me, anyway) to put together 10-player teams for each SFL season, based on who got the most playing time. I tried to organize it by position, with some help from Hav, Gil, and Tony, though some of this is just our best guess. In the event that two players were tied for the last spot, a DH position was added. If anyone in the know spots any awful mistakes, please leave a comment below.

1983:
P-- Paula Gannon, C-- Lee Lowenfish, 1B-- Les Taub, 2B-- David Air, 3B-- Tony Connor, SS-- Bill Weinberg, LF-- Bob Morgens, CF-- Rudy Hirsch, OF-- Dave Metzger, RF-- Jose Balento.

1984:
P-- Lee Lowenfish, C-- Dave Rosengard, 1B-- Les Taub, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Rich Rowlands, SS-- John Decker, LF-- Tony Connor, CF-- Stu Hackel, OF-- Dave Metzger, RF-- Jose Balento.

1985:
P-- Peter Bochan, C-- Dave Rosengard, 1B-- Austen Ruse, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Bill Weinberg, SS-- John Decker, LF-- Dave Lagesse, CF-- Joe Picciano, OF-- Stu Hackel, RF-- Jose Balento.

1986:
P-- Peter Bochan, C-- Dave Rosengard, 1B-- Steve Nackenson, 2B-- Bill Weinberg, 3B-- Luis Rodriguez, SS-- John Decker, LF-- Tony Connor, CF-- Dave Metzger, OF-- Havelock Hewes, RF-- Milt Mankoff.

1987:
P-- Havelock Hewes, C-- Dave Rosengard, 1B-- Tony Connor, 2B-- Bob Karen, 3B-- Bill Weinberg, SS-- Rich Rowlands, LF-- Dave Metzger, CF-- Mark Allen, OF-- Richard Tedesco, RF-- David Spitale.

1988:
P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Jose Balento, 1B-- Pico Brown, 2B-- Bobby Naranjo, 3B-- Jim Mayer, SS-- Bob Karen, LF-- Dave Metzger, CF-- Mark Allen, OF-- Havelock Hewes, RF-- David Spitale.

1989:
P-- Dave Rosengard, C-- Jose Balento, 1B-- Tony Connor, 2B-- Havelock Hewes, 3B-- Bobby Naranjo, SS-- Bob Karen, LF-- Dave Metzger, CF-- Gary Alvarez, OF-- David Speed, RF-- David Spitale.