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East Harlem National Stickball League


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The Repomen had a great year.
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The Repomen had a great year, runner ups in the E. Harlem competition and winners in the Stickball World Series
Bad Boys are East Harlem League Champs

The Bad Boys were the winners of both the regular season and playoff competitions
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The Bad Boys won the East Harlem League's regular season and playoff competitions.
Sometime the Bad Boys can be just too good. Their 17-5 record made them the best during regular East Harlem Stickball League play. Their continued clutch hits and outstanding fielding propelled them on to take the playoff rounds as well.

The East Harlem National Stickball League actually plays two kinds of ball. The first type, "pitching in" has a pitcher lobbing a ball on a bounce to the hitter. The second form "hitting by yourself" is where the hitter throws the ball up and lets it bounce one or more times before swinging away. Pitching in was the dominant form of play until perhaps 20 years ago. However, it is a slower game than the currently more popular hitting by yourself format. While it is still preferred by some of the older 'stickball purists" the East Harlem league realized that in order to compete with teams from other locations, both forms of play needed to be incorporated.

Throughout the regular season when teams meet they will play two games, one pitching in and the other hitting by yourself. The playoffs are the best of three competition. If a third game is required, the team with the better record calls the style of play.

Seven of the ten teams that make up the East Harlem League participated in the playoffs. As winners of the regular league competition, the Bad Boys got a bye. In the first round the Brooklyn Knights defeated the Bronx Old Timers, Sugar Hill defeated the Mambo Boys and the Repomen beat El Barrio Gents

In the semifinals the Bad Boys continued to dominate, beating the Brooklyn Knights in two games, but the Repomen had a tough time against Sugar Hill. Repo won the first and third games (both pitching in, as it was their call). The final game went 18 innings before the Repomen were able to prevail.

The final match appropriately came down to the Repomen and the Bad Boys the two top teams in regular league play. Even more noteworthy was the fact that the Repomen won the 2000 Stickball World Series, the main stickball competition for this year. Both teams have excellent records and strong players, it was just a question of who would play better on the final day.

The Repomen won the first game 4-3. The Bad Boys then went on to defeat Repo 4-0 in the pitching in match. For the final game, the Bad Boys selected hitting by yourself, even though they had been defeated in that style earlier. This time, the Bad Boys came out on top, scoring the winning run on back to back doubles in the bottom of the seventh.

This is the 10th year that the East Harlem National Stickball League has been in existence. According to League Commissioner Moe Marrero this might have been the busiest year yet. "We hosted the Stickball World Series where 16 teams from all over the country came into compete. We established the Stickball Hall of Fame as a non-profit incorporated organization. We sent several of our teams down to Puerto Rico for the Labor Day tournament and just wrapped up our regular schedule and playoffs. To tell you the truth, I'm really looking forward to the off-season this year."


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