Open Division History

   Gay softball has its roots back in the late 70's, when in 1977 three gay teams from New York traveled to San Francisco to play in the first inter city competition. In 1978, Los Angeles, Toronto and Milwaukee joined the competition and our Los Angeles team was the crowned champion of the 1978 competition, in addition to the next three subsequent years.

In 1979, the number of teams interested in participating soared. A national organization was formed called NAGAAA, (North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance), to govern the many leagues participating in gay softball. The first women's team entered in the competition in 1979, coming from La Crosse, WI. The "World Series" as it is called today was first held in Los Angeles in 1980 and again in 1992.

GLASA and Los Angeles  have a long tradition of success in gay softball. The Griff's team won seven World Series between 1978 and 1991. The Griff's team last played in 1992. 

In 1993, the L.A. Stray Cats were formed and they have gone on to win nine consecutive Gay Softball World Series titles in the highly competitive A Division.  Also, in 2001, Los Angeles is home to another Open Division champion.  The LA Destroyers took home the top prize in the B Division at the 25th Anniversary of the Gay Softball World Series in San Francisco.

And we don't want to forget the Rafters Blaze dominating B Division Victory in 1991 managed by our very own commissioner, Chris Groomes.  Many of the guys on this team still play in our B or A Division today but they are slightly older, (and slower).  

 

News From The Past

---

URGENT NEWS-Passing of One of Our Best

Jim Killion-Sept 22, 2004

 

Webpage in honor of Henry Pena.

http://www.thewalllasmemorias.org/henrypena.html

GLASA has lost a very special person, Henry Pena has passed away on Monday afternoon, September 20 from complications during a surgical procedure necessitated by a long battle with a medical issue.  Henry had been in our league since 1998, participating as a player and a dedicated coach.  As a coach, he was a successful leader, reaching out to individuals both on the field and off.   Henry was an accomplished player, standing in the batters box for his share of home runs but his biggest time at bat, his longest home run, was in the kindness and friendship that would clear any fence and contribute to his team and all GLASA members, the biggest win of all, the win of  being a great human being and touching all of us.     

Henry, you will be missed on the field but we know you are in our hearts!  

Photo Album (click on photos for full size:

       

 

 

---

League Mourning the Passing of a 26 Year Veteran-Jim Killion-December 7, 2003

On Friday, December 5, at 8:35 PM, Maurice 'Moe' Walker passed away.  The league is mourning the loss of Moe, who had played in GLASA for 26 years.   Moe was on the B Division Destroyers team as recent as this past summer season.   Moe was a part of the group that formed the first gay softball teams in Los Angeles, back in 1978 and was an active player every season including this year.  

Moe was one of the best outfielders ever to play in our league and in all of North American gay softball.  He was a part of the dominating Griffs dynasty during the late 80's and 90's.  Griff's had the title of the most A Division World Series Championships until being passed by the Stray Cats in the 90's.  Moe was a key resource for the Griff's highly successful teams.  He also participated in three Gay Games, starting with Gay Games I.  

For those of us that have been in the league for some time, Moe is an icon in our league and to people playing gay softball all over North America, a great guy, great ball player, great friend.  He will be missed.  

 

Griff's 1990 Season Team-Griff's won the A Division World Series in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1989 and 1991, (LA Dominated in 1991, Griff's won in the A Division and Rafters Blaze won in the B Division).   Moe is standing, second from right.  

---

2004-GLASA Teams Perform Well in Dallas

Christopher Groomes-GLASA Commissioner

 

LA TEAMS THAT PLACED IN THE 2004 GAY WORLD SERIES
Division	Placement	Team
A	3rd	LA Vipers
B	3rd	Titans
	5th	Killer B's
C	5th	Trunks
	5th	LA Batboys
D	4th	Titans

 

Our league received outstanding tournament results from its six team representation in the GSWS.  For the first time ever for a league sending six teams to the GSWS, all teams reached the final day of play in the double elimination tournament.  This proved the overall strength, depth of player talent, competitiveness and team balance within our league.  While all of our teams went down fighting for the individual divisional championships, all of our teams finished between third and fifth place with 100 teams participating.  With a few favorable breaks here and there, any of our teams were capable of defeating any one of the divisional champions.

After completion of the two-day pool play, four of our teams (LA Vipers, Killer B’s, Batboys and Trunks) were undefeated and received high seeds and byes in the double elimination tournament.  The Titans –B team only lost one of three games in pool play, but the Titans – D team lost all three games and received a bottom seeding.

For the Thursday double elimination, weather dealt us a severe blow, there was a hard downpour of rain all morning and by 2:00 P.M. , the day’s schedule of games was officially postponed until Friday.  Later Thursday, it was decided to shorten the length of the games, begin play at 7:00 A.M on Friday and to play two days of games in one day.  That meant 160 games scheduled for two softball complexes on Friday and we actually finished the last game on Friday at 12:45 A.M. Saturday morning.

Friday’s play began with a little morning darkness, still some fields not ready for play, gloomy weather, a few light showers and overcast skies morning through early afternoon.  The weather reflected our league’s early results.  First, the Killer B’s were upset in their opening game by the Portland Haze, 7 to 4.  Proving their championship caliber, they dispatched five teams (D.C Nitro, Seattle Firemen, Ft Lauderdale Demons, Chicago Sidetrack and the Portland Haze) home before facing their LA league foe, Titans-B, whom they had beaten three times during the season.  This time, the Titans-B team got revenge and defeated the Killer B’s, 14-10, leaving the Killer B’s in a fifth place finish.

After hearing that the Vipers had opened with a 6-3 win over the Seattle Monarchs. Then, I heard an unbelievable score that the Ft Lauderdale Stingers had beaten the Vipers 21-1.  Again, showing the strength of their team, they dispatched four (San Diego Crush, Houston Force, Dallas TMC Fuel and Atlanta Tribe) teams before running into the Stingers again.  This time, the Vipers lost in a slugfest, 33-29, while finishing with a trophy for third place. 

The Titans-D team had to play the other last place seeded team as a play-in to the double elimination bracket.  They defeated Twin Cities Raptors, 10-1; however, that meant that they had to play the top seeded team, San Francisco Hustlers.  After losing 9-7, they then sent three teams (Atlanta Wackers, Seattle Maulers and Ft Lauderdale Sluggers) home before facing the Hustlers again and losing 8-6 and finishing fifth.  As justice would be served, the Hustlers, after beating the Titans-D twice were protested in the championship game for playing with an ineligible player.  The protest was upheld and the Hustlers were removed from the tournament. This allowed the Titans-D team to move up one spot and receive a trophy for their fourth place finish.

The Titan-B team got off to a good start by defeating the Atlanta Crush, Seattle Firemen and the Atlanta Comets before being sent to the losers’ bracket with a one run loss to the Long Beach Rebels, the eventual second place finisher.  While in the losers’ bracket, they sent the Killer B’s and New York Eagle teams home before losing to the eventual Champion, the Phoenix Crush; however, the Titans-B team garnered a third place trophy.

Trunks and Batboys mirrored each other throughout the tournament.  Both teams  received a first round bye with a second and fourth place seeding, respectively.  Trunks beat Philadelphia Key West and San Francisco Maniax before being sent to the losers’ bracket in a four run loss to the eventual Champion, Mid-Atlantic Evil Empire.  The Batboys beat Southern New England York Street and San Diego Viejas Fire before losing to the New York Rage team, who eventually finished in third place.  Trunks rebounded by beating the Fort Lauderdale Steam and Seattle Brewers before losing a one run game to the New York Rage.  The Batboys rallied by beating the Houston Meteors and the Long Beach Undertakers before succumbing to the Atlanta Sharks, the tournament’s fourth place finisher, in a two run loss.  Trunks and Batboys ended the GSWS in a fifth place finish.

Congratulations to all of Los Angeles ’ teams for a job well done and for representing our league and city so well.  

---

GAY WORLD SERIES 2003 Results-August 20, 2003 Chris Groomes and Desmond Fletcher

The 2003  NAGAAA Gay Worls Series tournament, which has become known as The Gay World Series, was held in our nations capitol, Washington DC.  Some 160 teams, over 2000 athletes attended representing over 30 cities.

Los Angeles did very well in the 2003 event.  We won two 1st place titles ( A and D divisions) and one 2nd place title( C division).  I would like to congratulate all the teams who did a great job in representing our city.  We received numerous compliments from other cities on our sportsmanship, spirit and quality of our teams.

In the open division there were 11 A teams, 33 B teams  44 C teams and 16 D teams.  According to Lon Berger ( NAGAAA commissioner),  this was one of the most competitive Series ever. The first of three pool play games started on Tuesday and concluded on Wednesday.  The Opening ceremonies Tuesday 8/19/03 were held at Historic Freedom Plaza with the capitol building in the back drop.  It was impressive to see the parade of athletics march on stage  representing their respective cities.  The Los Angeles team members were some of the vocally spirited chanters with there matching team L.A. tee shirts.  The quote boldly printed on the back stated  out hit/ outplay.  This proved to be prophetic as the Los Angeles braved the heat and high humidity  The Knights (D Division) who were first time series attendees showed pose and class as they remained undefeated during pool play.  The D division proved to be the most challenging division to keep focused as there were  4 protest in that division. All the protest were upheld resulting in 3 of the 4 teams being kicked out of the series. The fourth team rating increased to the maximum 100 but the three players along with the coach were eliminated from the series.  Through all the challenges, the Knights remain focus on winning their games.  Their sportsmanship won support among their competitors as a number of teams came out to support them to their victory.  The Bandits(C division) who came back this year to represent L.A. in the C division after representing L.A. in the D division last year.  This season proved to be an inspirational story of dedication to a goal. The bandits after losing a game early in the double elimination proved to be tough as a band of marauders as they were forced to play 7 games on Friday in weather hovering in the high 90's.  They were then forced to come back on Saturday and attempt to win out from the losers bracket to take the title.  Unfortunately, they were not able to win the Championship game but I think they showed the heart of a champion.  It was a treat to watch them as they must have the most set of cheers of any team that I have seen.  Those cheers must have been the boost that keep them coming  back to the very end. Great job guys.

The Stray Cats( A division) came back to obtain a record 10 titles in row.  Several cities put together strong teams to challenge them this year.  The first tough match was one of the teams from Atlanta.  This proved to be a close game  with the L.A.   teams edging out a 3-2 victory.  With the first victory under their belt, the team seemed to be well on their way to the goal of 10 in a row.  They reached the finals undefeated at which time they meet up with a Determined, DC team who beat them in the first match by one run.  The second game was a battle to the end with the Stray cats winning in dramatic fashion by one run.

The other three teams that represented L.A.( The One Eyed jacks, The Titans and The Bat Boys)also did very well and we congratulate them on their fine efforts.

Good luck to all the teams who play in the spring league on their march toward Dallas 2004.

The World Series started on Sunday, August 17 with the Round Robin Play and the actual double elimination play begins on Thursday, August 21 and continues through Saturday, August 23.  I will try to keep the table below updated at least daily but it depends on how often I get information from the people in DC.  It is also difficult due to the games being played at many fields throughout the Washington DC area.  Please check back regularly to get updates. 

 

Final World Series Results-2003
Division	LA Team	Status
D	El Dorado Knights	1st Place Finish
C	Bandits	2nd Place Finish
	Bat Boys
B	One Eyed Jacks
	Titans
A	Stray Cats	1st Place Finish