• Sunday, June 30th, 2019
BIO:
Ron Baird managed the only greater Cincinnati team to capture a USSSA Men’s Class A World Tournament (1989) and won an unprecedented four consecutive ASA Men’s Major Metro Championships from 1987-‘90. Baird’s VIP club also won trips to both the ASA Super Major Nationals and USSSA World Series in 1990 – a feat that has never been equalled in Greater Cincinnati Softball. Other noteworthy championships included two Hudepohl Classic crowns, a victory in the Great Lakes Invitational in Toledo, USSSA NIT titles in the Springfield Stroh’s (Springfield, Oh.), Agler-Davidson (Columbus, Oh.), and the Louisville Slugger (Cincinnati, Oh.) and an ASA Mid-West Regional championship. Baird was named Greater Cincinnati “Manager of the Decade” in 1990, and to the Greater Cincinnati All-Century team in 2000. He retired in 1991 after an eight-year coaching career that produced a 573-223 won-lost record.
• Wednesday, February 01st, 2017
BIO
Mike Tribble dedicated 35 years to the game of slow pitch softball as a player, manager, coach and sponsor of men’s C, B, A and AA open teams, masters teams and co-ed teams before retiring from the game in 2002. His best known teams were Jewelry Company (1982-83), M. W. Tribble (1983-89), M. W. Tribble/Union Savings (1994), M. W. Tribble/James Hall Construction/Worth (1996-97), and Union Savings/Worth/Tribble (1998-1999). Mike tasted his first tournament championship of consequence when his Jewelry Company team captured the ASA Co-Ed Metro crown in 1983. Then from 1983-89 Mike’s M. W. Tribble teams were ranked among the top Men’s A-AA powers in the nation, achieving a number one national ranking in 1985. They won numerous prominent National Invitational Tournaments, including the Springfield Stroh’s, Agler-Davidson and Bluegrass. In 1985, fate intervened to prevent M. W. Tribble from winning a USSSA “A” World, as a hurricane forced tournament operators to stop play with Tribble ahead in the championship game. Tribble also won a USSSA Mixed World in the mid-80’s, and finished 2nd in the ASA Major Metro. Mike’s teams began focusing on the Masters program in the mid-90’s, capturing four World Championships. Those included the 1996 ISA 40-Over Major, 1997 USSSA 40-Over Major, 1998 USSSA 45-Over, and 1999 USSSA 40-Over Major. Mike was named to the All-World team in ’97, ’98 and ’99.
• Saturday, February 13th, 2016
BIO:
Eron Smith, aka “Big E,” managed NSA and USSSA Men’s “B” level teams, ASA and USSSA “A” teams, ASA “Major” teams, and NSA 35-Over and 40-Over teams for over two decades from 1989-2011. Eron spent his career with three teams – Bruce Miller Oil from 1989- 91, Backstop Easton from 1992 – 97, and EMR/Meiners Café/Worth from 2000- ’11. He is best known for winning ASA “Major” Metro crowns in 1995 with Backstop/Easton, and in 2000 with EMR/Meiners Café/Worth. His teams were double-dipped in five Metro finals. Other notable championships included a “B” National, 35-Over and 40-Over World titles in NSA; and a USSSA “B” National and “A-AA” One-Pitch National in USSSA. In the “A” Metro, Eron recorded five top-seven finishes, and in the “Major” division four top-two finishes, six top-three and eight top-four finishes. In ASA “A” National Tournaments, his teams placed in the top seven on four occasions. In NSA, Eron finished 2nd in an “A” National and 4th in a “B.” And in USSSA, his teams finished 4th and 7th in “B” Worlds, and 7th in an “A.” Eron consistently surrounded himself with outstanding talent, and has managed eleven Greater Cincinnati Softball Hall of Fame players during his career. He was recognized not only for being an outstanding organizer and motivator, whose players were always ready for the big games, but also for building strong relationships with players, who became fiercely loyal to Smith and his sponsors. Eron compiled an overall won-lost record of 1,086-408 during his career. With his own induction into the Hall of Fame this year, he joins his father, Loyd, a 2012 inductee, as the third father-son duo to be inducted.
• Friday, February 06th, 2015
BIO:
Robert “Red” Moore has been associated with the game of softball for over 50 years as a player, manager and sponsor. A former ball boy with the Cincinnati Reds, he began managing teams in 1972, eventually molding them into regional, then national powerhouses under the “Red’s Boys TPS” banner and “Red’s Astros Louisville Slugger.” In ASA, ISA and NSA World Tournament play from 2003-’08, Moore’s Red’s Boys teams earned three runner-up, ten top-five, and fourteen top ten finishes. His players were named to 24 All-World teams, and Moore collected three All-World manager awards. Over the last three seasons, Red’s Astros has emerged as one of the top teams in the nation while competing in Conference USSSA. In 2012 they earned their first World Series berth as a USSSA “B” team. That year they upset eight-time USSSA World Series champion Resmondo at the Windy City Classic, and went on to shock the softball world with a 5th place finish at the World Series. A year later they captured a runner-up finish in the U-Trip “A” World, placed 2nd in Conference USSSA, and 7th in the World Series. Then last year they finished 3rd in the “A” World, and 9th in the Series.
• Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
BIO:
Bobby Hays could be described as softball’s “Man for All Seasons.” As a player, he was the Most Valuable Player on both a Kentucky fastpitch (Falmouth Farm Supply in 1964) and slow pitch (Grants Lick Merchants in 1967) state championship team, and was named All-State with a Kentucky slow pitch state champion (Delaney’s Auto in 1971). Bobby was also selected Most Valuable Player when his UAW #674 team captured a Major Industrial Metro, and when his Kramer-Meyers team won a 35-over Metro. He also competed at the Open level, finishing 2nd in two Major Metros with Jay’s A. C. But most of Bobby’s success came managing in the Masters and Senior programs. His 40-over teams were ranked among the top ten nationally for six of the eleven years he played, sponsored and managed teams. From 1987 through 1991, his 40-over teams finished no worse than 4th in USSSA World play, capturing a World crown in 1988 with Bushelman Construction. The following year the tournament was rained-out with Bushelman being one of four teams remaining in the tournament. His senior teams were national runners-up three times (2000 and 2001 with Jim & Joe’s and 2003 with Estes Chevrolet), and Bobby was named to the All-Tournament team all three years. And in 2002 his Marshall Construction team won a national title and he was named Most Valuable Player.
• Friday, January 27th, 2012
BIO:
Arguably, Dave Watanabe is the most successful manager-sponsor of men’s teams in Greater Cincinnati Softball history. Watanabe may never win multiple national or world titles like Al Brausch of Gatliff Motors or Matty Carrelli of Hamilton Tailoring. But then it is unlikely that anyone will ever match his personal overall legacy – if for no other reason than its pure longevity. During the last twenty years, Watanabe Optical teams have captured nine Major Metro titles. For fourteen consecutive years, Watanabe teams have either finished first or second in the Metro, and for seventeen consecutive seasons their teams have finished in the top three. They have made four Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Super Major National Tournament and four United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) Major World Series appearances. Most recently, the team capped off the 2011 season by winning a USSSA Men’s Class “B” World Tournament. Most impressively, Dave Watanabe was named “Manager of the Decade” in both 2000 and 2010. After earning class “B” manager of the year honors in 1991, Watanabe made such an impression on his peers in 1992 with a 4th place finish in the Hudepohl Classic and Major Metro and a Thoroughbred Classic championship that his fellow managers voted him “Open” manager of the year in 1992, despite the fact that his team was classified “B.” In 1993 Watanabe moved up to class “A” and it proved to be his team’s breakout season. In addition to a 5th place finish in the prestigious Springfield Stroh’s National Invitational, Watanabe finished runner-up in the ASA Major Metro, and captured a USSSA “AA-A” State crown and an ASA “A” National Championship. Watanabe went on to capture back-to-back Major Metro titles in 1998 and ’99, and “Manager of the Year” honors five more times in the ‘90’s, then collected seven more Metro crowns and three “Manager of the Year” selections between 2000 and 2010. No shortage of talent has worn the Watanabe Optical name on their jerseys, including no fewer than fifteen “Players of the Year” and several “All-Decade” and “Players of the Decade” selections. There have been countless other All-City, All-American and All-World honorees as well.
• Friday, January 27th, 2012
BIO:
Merle Williams’ name was synonymous with women’s major softball for 18 years. His teams captured two Amateur Softball Association (ASA) National Championships, including 1970 with Rutenschroer Floral, and 1976 with Sorrento’s Pizza. Over a seventeen year period from 1967 to 1984, Williams’ teams finished among the top 4 teams in the National Tournaments an incredible ten times, making it to the championship game six times. He organized his first team in 1966 around a young phenom from Milan, In. named Jenny Johnson, who would one day become the most recognized name in women’s softball. The following year, Williams and Johnson joined defending national champion Dana Gardens, coached by the legendary Commie Currens, to take a shot at a national title. But Dana fell short, losing to Ridge Maintenance of Cleveland in the finals. In 1968 Dana split up, and Williams and Currens formed a new team, which evolved into 1970 national champion Rutenschroer Floral. Like Williams’ Sorrento’s team six years later, Rutenschroer lost their first game of the national tournament, but roared back to win 10 straight games, double-dipping defending champion Miami Dots. After Rutenschroer failed to repeat in 1971, the team split up and Williams formed Sorrento’s Pizza in 1972. It took Williams four years to re-tool, but Sorrento’s finally jelled in 1976, and he captured his second ASA National Championship. Over the next five seasons, Sorrento’s finished second once, third three times and fourth once. In his final season in 1984, he merged with UPI of Cookville, Tn. and finished second. Williams was credited with transforming the game of women’s softball. He was the first coach to implement a four-man outfield. He stressed fundamentals and discipline, and utilized the skills each of his players brought to the game. The players were taught to sacrifice. And batting averages were trumped by teamwork. He also insisted on mental toughness. And no one was better at player development. Local and national hall of famers Jenny Johnson-Kappes, Beverly Beck, Marsha Helton, Sue Malcomb, Marilyn Booher, Martha Kidd, and V. K. Lehmann were just a few of the great players who came under Williams’ tutelage.
