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The Bucks Started and Stopped Here: A wild ride inside the world of independent professional baseball
In fall of 2014 Matt McClusky was working for the New York State Senate, trying to help the constituents of New York's 48th district--a lot of calming down pissed off people. A sports fan for life, his qualifications for what would come next in life would lead you to believe he wasn't exactly qualified. Sure, Matt had a sports talk radio show that aired for just two hours every Friday morning on AM radio. Other than that? Not so much.
But a lack of true background aside, by the spring of 2015, Matt wouldn't be thinking about politics or helping alleviate the troubles of residents in upstate New York, he would be consumed with surviving the day-to-day grind/freak show that is small-time indie baseball. From managers quitting minutes after games, to teams being kicked out of cities, to somehow getting to a championship series, there was nothing routine about life.
And the thing is, none of it was supposed to happen in the first place. The omens and signs all pointed that McClusky, along with a reluctant owner, were making a big mistake. Take for example, when the "league" their team had signed up to play in turned out to be a figment of some delusional person's demented mind. Information that finally came to light just days before what was promised to be the kick off to this brand-new, awesome (and stable} "East Coast Baseball League." The so-called owner of that ECBL finally came clean and admitted that he didn't have any money to deliver on what he promised.
Did I mention that was just days before what was going to be opening freaking day? How do you tell would-be fans that we're done before we start? And the media, small in quantity for the area but large in demand of wanting answers, were all over the place asking questions. What do you say to them all? How do you pick up the pieces when there seems like too many pieces to actually pick up?
Somehow, someway it all mostly came into place, where everyone making square pegs fit as best as possible in the round holes.
"One-Man League" takes you through how an idea at a diner was turned into a real honest-to-goodness minor league baseball team. And how, in order to get that team out on the field playing, a new league would have to be created in a matter of days. Then from there, a newbie to it all would have to run a ball club and a league, putting up with fragile minds and strong egos, breaking down buses, an ever-changing schedule, a lack of baseballs, team managers dropping like flies in rundown, small-market locker rooms. All on a nearly minuscule operational budget.
Seriously, there are shoestring budgets in sports and there is what the North Country Baseball League and the Watertown Bucks had to do to get by in the summer of 2015.
You may have never heard of the NCBL or the Bucks, which puts you in a rather large group of people, but you'll find a real appreciation for all that it took to put on a game each and every night. Because, as the old saying goes, the show must always go on. Even if there is no audience and the performers are tired, sore and broke.
But a lack of true background aside, by the spring of 2015, Matt wouldn't be thinking about politics or helping alleviate the troubles of residents in upstate New York, he would be consumed with surviving the day-to-day grind/freak show that is small-time indie baseball. From managers quitting minutes after games, to teams being kicked out of cities, to somehow getting to a championship series, there was nothing routine about life.
And the thing is, none of it was supposed to happen in the first place. The omens and signs all pointed that McClusky, along with a reluctant owner, were making a big mistake. Take for example, when the "league" their team had signed up to play in turned out to be a figment of some delusional person's demented mind. Information that finally came to light just days before what was promised to be the kick off to this brand-new, awesome (and stable} "East Coast Baseball League." The so-called owner of that ECBL finally came clean and admitted that he didn't have any money to deliver on what he promised.
Did I mention that was just days before what was going to be opening freaking day? How do you tell would-be fans that we're done before we start? And the media, small in quantity for the area but large in demand of wanting answers, were all over the place asking questions. What do you say to them all? How do you pick up the pieces when there seems like too many pieces to actually pick up?
Somehow, someway it all mostly came into place, where everyone making square pegs fit as best as possible in the round holes.
"One-Man League" takes you through how an idea at a diner was turned into a real honest-to-goodness minor league baseball team. And how, in order to get that team out on the field playing, a new league would have to be created in a matter of days. Then from there, a newbie to it all would have to run a ball club and a league, putting up with fragile minds and strong egos, breaking down buses, an ever-changing schedule, a lack of baseballs, team managers dropping like flies in rundown, small-market locker rooms. All on a nearly minuscule operational budget.
Seriously, there are shoestring budgets in sports and there is what the North Country Baseball League and the Watertown Bucks had to do to get by in the summer of 2015.
You may have never heard of the NCBL or the Bucks, which puts you in a rather large group of people, but you'll find a real appreciation for all that it took to put on a game each and every night. Because, as the old saying goes, the show must always go on. Even if there is no audience and the performers are tired, sore and broke.
154 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 9, 2016
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