SLUGGERS
SOFTBALL (1978-79-1981-83-1991-2004)Sluggers Softball History
WELCOME to the Sluggers Softball History Section. The Sunday Sluggers name came from playing on Sunday's back in the summer of 1976 & 1977. We used to get together and play Sunday softball at some of the local ball fields in Novato, Ca. In the summer of 1977 we had enough players coming out to have two games going at the same time. Then the winners would play each other to end the day. We all thought we were Sluggers back then. All the players came from our Sunday softball games.... and the Sluggers Softball Club was born!
The Sluggers played in the Novato Parks & Rec. league in 1978 and ended up with a 5-5 record in our first year. Didn't make the playoffs, heck we wasn't even thinking about that. We're playing league ball baby. We went 6-4 in 1979 and made the playoffs! We lost in the first round. The team wasn't even that good that year, how we won six games beats me. The players not showing up until the last minute. The all about me ball players and not the team players. Maybe even a couple of players that shouldn't have been on the team. I was just a rookie manager back then getting my feet wet. I had a lot to learn!
The Sluggers two year run was over! The team didn't play like a team in 79', it felt divided. Players doing their own thing and NOT playing as a team. The team was breaking up, I could feel it. I knew this would happen, but it wouldn't last long.
I hooked up with a another team in 1980. I wasn't sure about this managing stuff. Even through the Animals won the Hamilton league title that year, things just didn't work out with that team, if you could call it a TEAM. At the end of the 1980 softball season, I decided to get the Sluggers team back together for the 81 season. We didn't have a sponsor so I went out and got a sponsor. The new name was now, DeWeyl Sluggers. I called some of the 1979 Sluggers, picked up a few new players and the team would be back on the field again in the 81 season!
We played at the old Hamilton Softball League a few miles out of Novato. The Sluggers went 10-10 in the new league and missed the playoffs by one game on the last day of the season. I learned a lot that year! It would carry over to the 82 season.
1982 I got a new sponsor in 1982,(the team got new uniforms!) and the Sluggers name was changed to The Exterminators, sponsored by Rich Pest Control. They didn't want "Sluggers" on the shirts. It was still Sluggers Softball.
We had most of the same players but like always i picked up some new faces. It worked, the Exterminators/Sluggers won a league best 17 games to take our 'FIRST' league title. We also won the playoff tournament to end up with a 19-4 league record. That was also our FIRST playoff title. The team won a weekend tournament on Mothers Day by going 4-1, (another first) ending the season with a 23-5 record and three championships! We even had a couple of home-run hitters that year.
This is the first and only time I got fired as a manager from a softball team! The reason was, I kicked two of the sponsors so called favorite players off the team, for reasons I won't get in to here.
In 1983 the sponsor and the team name was to change again. Having a sponsor is always a big help building a good team! The new name was Tom Brown C.P.A. Again just a name change. I was able to keep the players from the 82' team and added a couple of new players. This is still Sluggers softball, only the name has changed. The team came in second place that year with a 16-5 record. Then they got beat in the first round of the playoffs. Notice I said "they"? (NOTE) When I got fired the team was 15-3. They lost 1st place by 1 game by losing 2 out of their last 3 games with the new manager. The sponsor took over the team. Hey, he paid the big $$$$ and thought he could manage. WRONG! I left and the two players came back. They lost in the end. But it did cost me what could have been, back to back league titles. Back then that would have been big.
Then came the 1984 season. The last season in the league. After getting injured early in the year playing in a tournament, there would be no Sluggers softball in 1984. The back operation came late in 84', there was to be no Sluggers team this year or for the next few years.
After playing in the Novato league with another team in 1990. It was time to play Sluggers Softball again! For the third time in 13 years, I was getting the team back together for the 91 season! The rest is Sluggers history.
The team had a record of 126-47-1 and 13 championships from 1991-1999, while playing in the Novato league.
After the 1999 season it was time to rebuild or move to another league, so we did both.
We found new life in the Petaluma 40 & over softball league playing on Sundays. In the 2000 season we came in second place in the summer league, and then went on to win the league tournament with a three game sweep! We also won the league championship in the fall league with a perfect 8-0 record. All in our first year! Plus we're back to the Sunday Sluggers again! Still playing Sluggers softball.
The Sluggers won 3 more league titles and 3 more playoff championships between 2000-2003, before it came to an end in 2004.
When the Sluggers took the field in 2004, it was our 29th season and 19th year. Playing Sluggers Softball. The Sluggers Way.
The 2004 softball season was the last of the 'Once mighty Sluggers' Coach Dave retired and moved from the area. With his retiring the Sluggers name was also put to rest. His long time friend Bill Cline and teammate all those years, which his company sponsored the team for 16 years is no more. Their legends will live on!
What made all this special, was 13 of us played together and against each other, back in the early 80's at the 'Old Hamilton Softball League', out side of a town called Novato, located in California. The following players by names. Bill Cline. Gerry Steppler. Glen Hearrell. Larry Klemenson. Tim Wilson. Bob & John Bulleri. Mike Hall. Steve Gilday. Dan Metzger. Dave Nattress. John Williams and Coach Dave. Legends in our own right!
- Team Name: DeWeyl Sluggers (dwild or dwhile)
- Team Founded: 1978
- First Team Name: Sunday Sluggers
- Past Team Names: Exterminators & Tom Brown CPA
- Best Season: 1982 - One league championship - two tournament championships - 24-4 season record
- Game Winning Streak (season) 9
- Game Winning Streak (over two seasons) 14
- Most Runs (game) 34 in 4 inning game
- Most Runs (inning) 18
- Most DP's (game) 5
