Bill "Spaceman" Lee to Speak at Annual Banquet
Members of the Berkshire Baseball Club, were extremely excited when they landed Bill Lee as their guest speaker last year to help kick-off their 20th anniversary celebration in 2009.
Unfortunately, due to Bill's father passing away shortly before the 2009 event Bill had to cancel but he immediately committed to attend the organizations banquet this year.  Bill is an extremely colorful guy who absolutely loves the game of baseball.
For 14 years as a left-handed pitcher (1969-1982) with the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos, "Spaceman" was anything but a conventional major league ballplayer. His career record was a respectable 119-90, including three consecutive 17-win seasons with the Red Sox (1973-1975) and a 16-win season with the Expos in 1979. He was selected to the American League All-Star squad in 1973 and pitched in the World Series in 1975 against the Cincinnati Reds. But it was Lee's rebellious spirit and opposition to the conservative baseball establishment that usually rated more attention than his performance on the field.
Lee was one of the game's few counterculture symbols: he talked to animals, championed environmental causes, practiced yoga, ate health foods, pondered Einstein and Vonnegut, quoted from Mao, and studied Eastern philosophers and mystics. It was in this context that former Red Sox teammate John Kennedy first dubbed him "Spaceman", a nickname writers thereafter used as shorthand to describe his free spirit.
A folk hero to fans, Lee was a voice of reason and sanity in a game corrupted by "Planet-polluting owners" and the corporate mindset. Although he often crossed swords with management, matching wits with their authority, Lee, in hindsight, can be viewed not as a rebel but as a "purist" and "traditionalist". In his freewheeling autobiography, "The Wrong Stuff" (1984), Lee argued his case: "I hated the Designated Hitter and all the other new wrinkles that had been introduced in an attempt to corrupt the game. I wanted to go back to natural grass, pitchers who hit, Sunday doubleheaders, day games, and the nickel beer. |
Berkshire partners with Advocare
Berkshire Baseball is proud to partner with Advocare, a premier health and wellness company offering world-class energy, weight loss, nutrition  and sports performance products.
The products are formulated by their distinguished Scientific and Medical Advisory Board with more than 250 years of combined experience. Professional and Olympic athletes such as Drew Brees and Wes Welker are amongst their unpaid endorsers, strengthening their careers through the use of Advocare products.
For a free consultation or your personal product recommendation, please contact the Berkshire Baseball Advocare Advisors:
Kristin Hace
Nick Frade
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Applebee's Flapjack Fundraiser
Berkshire Baseball is excited to announce that we'll be conducting the first of four Applebee's Flapjack fundraiser breakfasts on Sunday January 13, 2009 at the Applebee's Restaurant in Wyomissing from 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM.
Breakfast tickets are only $7.00 and patrons receive all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage, coffee, tea, soda or Orange Juice.
Please come out and and have breakfast with us. |
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Friendly's Family Fun Night
On Tuesday, December 15, 2009, all you have to do to help support Berkshire Baseball is to go out to dinner.
That's right, just head out to the Friendly's Restaurant located at 3024, Penn, West Lawn, PA 19609 between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM and Friendly's will donate 10% of your dinner bill to Berkshire Baseball.
All you have to do is eat and enjoy an evening out with your family. |
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Berkshire Baseball Friends & Family:
We are extremely excited to introduce our new e-newsletter, which will be taking the place of our old printed Berkshire News Quarterly.
This new format will offer everything that our old printed edition had and it will allow us to communicate with you on a monthly basis as opposed to a quarterly basis.
Please enjoy! |
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Berkshire Baseball World Equipment Outreach
Drive a Success
By Dan Reilly
Since I began interning with Berkshire in January, I have  come to realize how important giving back to the game of baseball really is. It's not just about teamwork on the field, but teamwork throughout your community and across the world.
In 2006, Dan Clouser, President of Berkshire Optimist Baseball Club, established the clubs World Equipment Outreach Program (W.E.O.) to benefit less fortunate children who may not be able to afford new or used baseball equipment. Three years later Berkshire Baseball's W.E.O. continues to strive.
Clouser established the W.E.O. after a vacation with his wife, Sandy, and some friends in 2006. While on a cruise, the group's ship docked at a port in Roatan, Honduras. During their time at the port, one of the Clouser's friends dropped off a small suitcase full of clothes to a local orphanage. At that moment, Dan figured out a life-long way to give back to the game of baseball.
This year's equipment drive brought in a total of 63 boxes containing used baseball equipment, which could be distributed to youths in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean through the National Alliance of Youth Sports (N.A.Y.S.) and their Global Gear Drive program. N.A.Y.S. will send the equipment to these countries based on what they request.
Global Gear Drive Director, Cindy Daub said "We have several organizations, like Berkshire Baseball, who hold community equipment drives and fundraisers and want to contribute the items they collect. Most of the equipment we collect is donated from schools around the country, different park and recreation centers, teams, and over-runs from various athletic stores."
The N.A.Y.S. Global Gear Drive was established in 2004 with the goal of providing equipment to its partner program, Game On! Youth Sports. "Our headquarters here in the U.S. will receive word of the needs of a particular community in the region where Game On! Youth Sports is being run and we will provide the equipment to them based on their needs of what we can supply them," Daub said.
Game On! is a program designed to educate communities and schools how to implement physical education and sports into daily curriculums. "Global Gear Drive is always accepting of sports equipment. We accept all different types of equipment, however our main focuses are on basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, as well as the basic equipment such as cones, nets, hoops, sneakers and cleats," Daub said. Financial donations to help offset the cost of shipping can always be submitted via a secure link on our web site at BerkshireBaseball.com. |
Berkshire Baseball Hall of Fame
First ever Inductees to be announced at 2010 Banquet
As part of our 20th Anniversary celebration at our upcoming banquet, which will be held on Sunday January 10, 2010 at the Reading Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1741 Paper Mill Road in Wyomissing, the Berkshire Baseball & Softball Club will be inducting their inaugural class of Hall of Fame honorees.
Kevin Kantner has been appointed by our board of directors as the chairman of the Hall of Fame committee and is excited about overseeing the ceremonies for the first class of inductees.
"This is a great honor to be able to help with the first class of Berkshire Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees." Said Kantner, who has been involved in the organization for every one of it's 20 years of existence along side Dan Clouser, the organizations President and founder. "20 years ago, I can't honestly say that I would have envisioned what this organization has accomplished and what we are going to accomplish in the future. It has truly been an amazing journey so far."
Anyone who has worn a Berkshire Baseball uniform is eligible to be nominated and anyone is allowed to submit a nomination for someone else. However, as with any Hall of Fame, there is a certain minimum criteria that must be met for an individual to be considered for induction to the Berkshire Baseball Hall of Fame.
Players, coaches and administrators are eligible for nomination. Players, coaches and administrators must have been involved with the organization a minimum of three years. Players who are still playing for one of the Berkshire Baseball youth programs (12-U, 13-U, 14-U 16-U and 18-U) are not eligible for nomination. Players who are still currently playing for any of the Optimist, Independent or 28-Over teams are eligible for nomination even if they are still currently playing. Someone other than the individual being nominated must submit a written nomination in order for an individual to be considered for induction. The nomination letter can include statistics and on field accomplishments, but most importantly it should outline how the nominee has had a positive impact on the Berkshire Baseball organization both on and off the field. Nomination letters must be signed and contact information of the individual submitting the nomination must be provided so that the Hall of Fame Committee can verify the nomination. Anonymous nomination letters will not be considered.
Nomination letters for the class of 2010 should be received by the Hall of Fame Induction Committee no later than December 15, 2009 in order to be considered for induction.
Nomination letters should be sent to the following address:
Berkshire Baseball
Hall of Fame Induction Committee
Kevin A. Kantner, Chairman
P.O. Box 170
Womelsdorf, PA 19567
Please be sure to mark you calendar and come out and support the inaugural class of the Berkshire Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Coffee Cake Sale
My Grandma's Coffee Cake Fundraiser Underway
The Berkshire Baseball Club is currently in the process of selling coffee cakes to help raise funds for the organization. Please contact any member of the organization if you would like to support us by purchasing a delicious coffee cake baked by "My Grandma's Coffee Cakes of New England."
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