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As the 1989 season began the Brewers were the two-time defending regular season champions in the DVFL. But the team had not been able to win a league championship since 1985. That obstacle would finally be overcome in one of the most eventful seasons in team history.
There were many challenges during the 1989 season, with the DVFL in it's prime and with a number of strong teams. Front and center were were the Bad Loads, our traditional arch-rivals, who had won the 1987 & 88 championships. The Indians had knocked us out of the playoffs in winning the 1986 title and were a very strong team.
The Warriors had added a couple of fire-balling pitchers ('Stewie & Shuey") who would cause much controversy in the league, and would help them to edge out the Brew Crew for 1st place in the regular season.
The Snakes had advanced to the DVFL finals for three straight seasons from 1985-87, and were using 1989 as their swan song. The A's were emerging as dangerous opponents after years as a league doormat.
Yet despite the tremendous competition during the 1989 regular season, the Brewers lost only three games. Two of those came at the hands of the controversial pitching of the Warriors. The third was on a typically terrible offensive night against the Wild Bunch's Fran O'Connell, who always gave us fits.
As if the DVFL competition weren't already keen enough, there was a new and psychologically difficult opponent facing the Brewers in that 1989 season. In facing that opponent, we had to literally overcome a shadow of ourselves and our own history.
Ed Markowski, had been with the team's predecessor at Pennamco and oversaw the birth of the Brewers since 1983, decided to leave after the 1988 season and start a new venture. Ed recruited former Brewers star and manager Ken Grolsko to help him put together a new team that would become known as the Rebels.
To stock his roster Ed turned to the Brewers own glorious past. He was able to get four starters from the Brewers 1985 championship team to play for him in shortstop John Kelly, first baseman Lou Gentilucci, and outfielders Tom Loiacono and Greg Nigro.
Ed also signed up Brewers 1985 champion reserve outfielder George Torres. In addition, he got ex-Brewer players Bob Vanderziel, Mark Brunken and Joe Ready to play for the team during the season.
The Rebels roster was supplemented with a handful of longtime DVFL players such as Fran and Jim Mehaffey, Frank Avato and Herbie Szentjobi. Counting himself, Ed had a total of nine former Brewers on the active roster. That camaraderie would help the Rebels reach the DVFL playoffs in their very first season.
The Brewers and Rebels didn't have to wait long for the much anticipated "reunion" games. On April 27, the teams met at Archbishop Ryan HS with both sporting perfect 3-0 records.
With a world of pride and the early DVFL lead at stake, the Brewers scored six runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to break a 3-3 tie, going on to an 11-3 victory. The biggest keys were the old vs. new match-ups in pitching, and at the top of the batting order.
Ed went with the same 1-2-3 hitters that had brought 1985 glory: Loiacono, Nigro and Kelly. On this night though, the ex-Brewers only combined to go 2-9. Meanwhile the new-blood Brewers first three of Pat Guido, George Sweeney and Tom Nejman went a combined 6-10, scored six runs and knocked in three. On the mound, Ray Emery shut the Rebels down on four hits and three walks in a complete game victory, while the Brewers got to Rebels starting pitcher Ray Lister for eight earned runs on 13 hits.
The two teams met again just a couple weeks later on May 15th, again at Ryan. The Brewers were still unbeaten at 6-0, while the Rebels had played just once since the previous meeting and lost, now standing at 3-2.
This game would prove to be just as exciting as the last. The Brewers used a shaky Rebel defense to score five times in the top of the 2nd inning. The Rebels answered with a single run in their 2nd, then took advantage of the Brewers own sloppiness to score four more in the bottom of the 4th and tie the game at 5-5.
The score remained tied into the top of the 6th when Frank Gleason and Tom O'Connell led off with singles. An error on Tommy O's single allowed Frankie to score, and sent Tom to 3rd base. He then scored on Ron Stein's sac fly. That 7-5 Brewers lead held into the bottom of the 7th.
After a leadoff single, the Brewers turned a nifty 5-4-3 double play to apparently clinch the win. But the Rebels weren't done yet. Two more singles brought the winning run to the plate. Brewers pitcher Adrian Kosteleski finally got John Loftus to ground out to shortstop Chris Novak, and the Brewers had won Round II, raising our record to 7-0 on the season.
Those two gut-wrenching regular season games were just a preview for the real good stuff. The Warriors dumped the Brewers in the season finale, and the Brew Crew slipped down to 2nd place. Who would be waiting then in the DVFL playoff semi-finals but the Rebels!
In Game One on July 24 at Ryan, the two teams picked up right where they left off in the regular season. The Brewers scored twice in the 1st and once in the 3rd, while the Rebels scored a single run off Adrian in the 2nd. The teams went to the bottom of the 6th with the Brewers clinging to a slim 3-1 lead.
In that 6th inning, the Brew Crew broke it open, batting around and scoring six times to take a 9-1 lead. The final was 9-2, and the Brewers had won the 3rd straight meeting between the teams. More importantly, they had moved within a game of getting to the DVFL finals.
Game Two was back at Ryan on July 27. This time the Brewers were playing for a chance to return to the DVFL finals for the first time since that 1985 season. We decided to leave no doubt in this one.
Frank Gleason's three-run home run in the 1st inning capped a four-run rally. After the Rebels answered with one of their own in the bottom of the 1st, the Brew Crew scored four more in the 2nd frame. When the Brew Crew then batted around for six runs in the top of the 3rd to take a 14-1 lead, it was all pretty much over.
The Brewers finally put down the Rebel uprising of 1989 for good with a six-run 7th inning outburst. Tom O'Connell's tremendous play on a hot-shot grounder by Lou Gentilucci in the bottom of the 7th was one of the team's best infield plays of all-time. It put the capper on the "old vs. new" Brewers angle as the current version clinched a berth in the finals with a huge 21-4 win.
Five different current Brewers players had at least three hits in the game. The ex-Brewers playing for the Rebels did their share, going 7-14, but the rest of their lineup went just 5-17 in the game.
The Brewers would go on to win the DVFL Championship in 1989, the first of four straight titles for the team. But it was perhaps fittingly not able to get that opportunity without overcoming the ghost of it's own 1985 Championship club.
The Rebels were not able to maintain their ex-Brewer connection after that 1989 season. Most of the former Brewer players did not return to the team in 1990. Though Ed Markowski worked to keep that team on the field, the club folded a couple seasons later. Yet what they did in 1989, and it's contribution to Brewers history, will always be remembered.
Pictured among the red-shirted Rebels above are former Brewers players Bobby Vanderziel, John Kelly, Ed Markowski, Joe Ready, Lou Genilucci and Greg Nigro
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Players who appeared in matchups between the two clubs in 1989:
(*) ~ signifies former Brewer
APRIL 27TH: REG SEASON
BREWERS
Pat Guido (rf), George Sweeney (2b), Tom Nejman (rc), Ray Emery (p), Frank Gleason (lc), Tom O'Connell (3b), Ron Stein (lf), Vince Menello (ep), Jim Adams (ep), Kevin Curran (c), Matt Veasey (c), Chris Novak (ss), Joe Gessner (1b), Anthony Sciulli (pr)
REBELS
Tom Loiacono* (rc), Greg Nigro* (lf), John Kelly* (ss), Herbie Szentjobie (p), Jim Mehaffey (3b/ss), Fran Mehaffey (lc), Tom Crossett (2b), Frank Avato (1b/3b), Ray Lister (p/1b), Mark Brunken* (rf), Ed Markowski* (c)
MAY 15TH: REG SEASON
BREWERS
Pat Guido (rf), George Sweeney (2b), Tom Nejman (rc), Ray Emery (1b), Frank Gleason (lc), Tom O'Connell (3b), Ron Stein (lf), Vince Menello (ep), Kevin Curran (c), Chris Novak (ss), Adrian Kosteleski (p), Jim Adams (ph)
REBELS
Greg Nigro* (lf), Bob Vanderziel* (rf), John Kelly* (ss), Jim Mehaffey (3b), Fran Mehaffey (lc), Ray Lister (1b), Frank Avato (c), Tom Crossett (2b), Joe Ready* (2b), Bill Stires (p), George Torres* (rc), Lou Gentilucci* (rc), John Loftus (ep)
JULY 24TH: GAME #1 - DVFL SEMI-FINAL PLAYOFF
BREWERS
Pat Guido (rf), Chris Novak (ss), Tom Nejman (rc), Ray Emery (1b), Matt Veasey (pr), Frank Gleason (lc), Tom O'Connell (3b), Ron Stein (lf), George Sweeney (2b), Vince Menello (dh), Joe Gessner (dh), Adrian Kosteleski (p), Jim Adams (ep), Kevin Curran (c)
REBELS
Tom Loiacono* (rc), Bob Vanderziel* (rf), Jim Mehaffey (3b), John Kelly* (ss), Bill Stires (dh), Herbie Szentjobi (p), Lou Gentilucci* (1b), Ray Lister (ep/p), Frank Avato (c), Ed Markowski* (c), Fran Mehaffey (lc), Greg Nigro* (lf), Mark Brunken* (lf), John Loftus (2b), George Torres* (ph)
JULY 27TH: GAME #2 - DVFL SEMI-FINAL PLAYOFF
BREWERS
Pat Guido (rf), Jim Adams (rf), Chris Novak (ss), Tom Nejman (rc), Ray Emery (1b), Mike Kneisc (ph), Frank Gleason (lc), Tom O'Connell (3b), Ron Stein (lf), Kevin Curran (c), Matt Veasey (c), Joe Gessner (dh), Adrian Kosteleski (p), Vince Menello (2b)
REBELS
Tom Loiacono* (rc/ep), Greg Nigro* (lf), Bob Vanderziel* (lf), Jim Mehaffey (3b), John Kelly* (ss/lc), Bill Stires (p/1b), Lou Gentilucci* (rf/rc), Ray Lister (1b/p/2b), Frank Avato (c), Ed Markowski* (c), Fran Mehaffey (lc/ss), John Loftus (2b), George Torres* (dh), Herbie Szentjobi (p), Mark Brunken* (ep/rf)
Brewers assistant coach Joe Gessner and Rebels manager Ed Markowski, longtime friends and former longtime teammates, exchange starting lineups at Ryan HS
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