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The Renegades are built of a team of blind players and sighted volunteers.
One thing that makes beepball somewhat unique is the fact the coaching
staff acts as both coaches and part of the team. Our sighted help teaches
strategy, implements game plans and teaches fundamentals. The sighted help
also contributes on the field. Offensively sighted coaches pitch and a
catch, acting as a team to help the player hit the ball. Defensively, we
have sighted help on the field to help position players and call zones
when the ball is put into play, these people are called spotters. The Renegades
view the players and coaches as one team.
The Players:
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#19 Darren Black
Garbage Man (Short Fielder), 3rd Base. Mid-Fielder
Black was the captain of the team till 2005
and we named a position after him. Darren put the G in Garbage as he
plays the short man position in our defense. Black is the all-time
leader in putouts for the Renegades with 275 put-outs from 2002 to
2007. He won awards for his defensive prowess in
the Bolingbrook tournaments from 2004-2007, won the defensive MVP
at the 2006 Long Island Classic and made the World Series Defensive
All-stars in 2004 and 2006. Black wants to be known as more than
a defensive player and he set a career high of 11 runs scored in the
2007 season.
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#15 Joey Buizon
3rd Base, 1st Base, Rover
Wrong Way Buizon has one of the biggest
swings in the NBBA. Buizon is third all-time in career batting
average at .332 for the Renegades. His best tournament
statistically was in the 2006 World Series where he hit .519.
Defensively, he improved his skills and made the play of the year
in 2007 on a 160 foot smash to center field by Indianapolis Thunder,
Steve Michaels. He graduated from Bridgewater State College in May, 2005
with a degree in Social Work and is currently working at the
Massachusetts Commission for the blind.
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#36 Tony Flinn
Designated Hitter, 1st Base
Tony Flinn has
dove into the game head first and embraced it with all that he has.
Tony has made improvements by leaps and bounds every time he
practices. In his first at-bat against Long Island in the 2008
Long Island Classic, he put the ball into play in.
As he retreated to the bench after being put-out both Long Island
and his teammates gave him an ovation for his great efforts and
accomplishment. This is just the beginning for this promising
Rookie. |
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#35 Chris Genikos
Designated Hitter
Genikos joined the Renegades late in the 2008 season to join Tony Flinn
as rookies on the squad. His first look at the game was during a
charity game against Chen PR. Chen signed Genikos to a one game
contract and placed him in the line-up. In batting practice
Genikos was launching balls over 100 feet in the air on his first few
swings ever. In his first at-bat he hit the ball hard in the game
but found himself running to the wrong base as his baseball instincts
took him to first base instead of third which was buzzing. A
common mistake by most people who play the game for the first time.
This is a mistake he will not forget and you can expect him to be
scoring runs for the Renegades in the near future. |
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#81 Larry Haile
Rover, 3rd Base
"All
Hail...Larry Haile" screams his teammates as Larry steps into the
batters box and finds his chi. His second year as a Renegade is
in the books and he improved every step of the way. His improved
skills were a big part in helping the Renegades to their first ever
winning season. Larry has found confidence in his game which has
allowed him to put the ball into play. He had a career game
against the Stockton Stingrays by scoring 3 times in that 2007 World
Series match-up.
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#2 Steve Houston
Designated Hitter, 1st Base
Houston
came to the squad late in the 2005 season.
Houston has more baseball experience than
the entire Renegade team combined as he played collegiate baseball at Salem State and also played in the Boston Park
League. He scored his first ever run against the Chicago Comets in the 2007 Bolingbrook tournament.
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#3 Melissa Hoyt
1st Base, Rover
Hoyt picked up a bat in spring, 2007 and
became the second
female player in Renegade history to play in tournament
competition. As a child, she played soccer and basketball
until her vision loss seemed to put an end to her participation in team
sports. “As a kid I was an avid sports fan, following
football, basketball
and baseball, wishing at times I could be on a team again.”
That wish is
now reality, as Hoyt brings her desire and her positive attitude to a
team sport
that allows her to develop her skills and her abilities.
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#17 Sengil Inkiala
Rover, 1st Base, Shorty
A rare combination of speed and age is what this African born player brings
to the Renegades. Inky was born in the Congo many, many years ago. He is
the oldest member of the team and arguably is the fastest player as well. In the 2005 Bolingbrook
tournament, Inkiala came an at-bat shy of making the all-offense team as he hit
.571. Inky
has won championships in
blind sailing and fencing, and looks to add Beepball to the list of his
achievements. After taking the 2007 season off, Inky returned in
2008 and scored the tying run in Boston's amazing 5 run come from
behind walk off victory against the Chicago Comet B team to clinch the
first ever tournament championship for the Boston Renegades
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#24 Luis Marquez
3rd Base, Mid-Fielder, Rover
He wears #24, he plays left field, he is Hispanic and he has crazy hair. In
many ways Marquez is like Manny Ramirez. He makes occasional spectacular
defensive plays and at times we kid with him because he seems asleep on the
field. Like Manny he has quickly become
a fan favorite for his offensive power, defensive skills and the way he just
has fun playing the game.
Luis picked up offensive MVP honors by placing on the all-offensive
teams in Bolingbrook and the World Series in 2007 by hitting .600 in
both events. Luis is the all-time leader in
runs scored (82), batting average (.402) and second in defensive
put-outs (63)
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#23 Joe O'Neill
Designated Hitter, Rover
O'Neill has been playing beepball longer
than anyone on the team in the boson area. He got his start playing
recreationally for the Lowell Association of the Blind in the 1990's. He
saw his first competition in tournament play in 2004 at the Bolingbrook
tournament. Despite his tourney inexperience, he managed to get the bat
on the ball as he was the only player not to strike out in the 2004
season. O'Neill has put 75% of his at-bats into play in his
career and had a career high of 6 plate appearances in the 2007 season.
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#14 Joe Quintanilla
Rover, 1st Base
Q was Captain of the
Renegades from 2005 to 2007. Q may be one of the
quieter guys on the team, but his bat is one of the loudest. He has
been the
offensive leader of the team since the inception of the franchise. Q is
the
all-time team leader in At-bats (248) and second in runs scored (75).
He was named the Offensive MVP of the 2007 Long Island Classic
with his .600 batting average. In 2007, Q made huge strides in
his defense. He made 17 stops in 2007 which surpassed the 16 he
had made in the previous 5 seasons combined.
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#29 Evan Silver
Midfielder, Rover
HI HO SILVER! You will hear that call
every time Evan steps to the plate or makes a defensive put-out.
Silver has been a pampered athlete on the Renegades in the past
because he was one of the first players to have his own personal
pitcher. He thrived on the pitching of Rob Weissman in the 2004
season. Since then, Weissman has not pitched often and Silver has
struggled at the plate. That struggle ended in the 2008 Long
Island Classic as Evan Silver was named co-offensive MVP (with Luis
Marquez) for his five runs scored and his .500 batting average.
Silver's bat represented 26% of the offensive output for
Boston in their Long Island Classic championship.
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#13 Dino Vasile
1st Base, 3rd Base, Garbage Man (Short Fielder)
Vasile is one of the oldest players on the
team but may have become the most improved player over the past few
years. Dino has been big on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, he is second all time in batting average at .353. He
is just one of two players to score 5 times in a game as both he and
Buizon performed that feat against Columbus in the 2006 World Series.
Defensively, Vasile had a break-out year in 2007 as he was 4th on
the team in stops with 18 which surpassed his previous 3 year total of
just 10. His best defensive game was against Long Island where he
made 4 stops in their first ever win over the Bombers.
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#22 Tom Walsh
Rover
For NBBA enthusiasts, Tom Walsh has been mistaken by many to
look like Jeff Dell (who is considered one of the better players in the
game). Walsh busted onto the scene making an instant impact as a rookie.
He scored the second highest total of runs for a Renegade rookie
(9) in 2006 and set a rookie record for lowest Strike-out percentage
(19%). Walsh did this despite missing time to injuries and taking
time off to attend guide dog school in the middle of the season.
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#10 JJ Ward
1st Base, 3rd Base, Rover, Shorty
Ward fell in love with hitting. He
spent the entire off season working on his swing in the batting cages
on his own. That work paid off in 2007 as he had his best season
ever. JJ scored 17 times in 2007 which almost equaled the 20 runs
he had scored in the previous 4 seasons of play. He was also
second on the team in 2007 in putting balls in play at 88%. His
best game of the year was against the Indy Thunder where he plated 3 of
the teams 6 runs to lead their offense to victory.
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#9 Guy Zuccarello
Midfielder, 1st Base, Rover, Shorty
Guy was one of the original players from the 2002 squad. He
left the team to have a baby after the first season of play. As his
child has grown, he was coaxed back to the sport of beepball and has made an
instant impact making the starting line-up. In
just 3 seasons of play Guy has made his mark on both sides of the ball.
He is third all-time in defensive put-outs (55). His career
high was 6 stops against the Indy Thunder in the 2007 World Series win.
Offensively, Guy was third on the team in batting average in the
2007 World Series hitting .357.
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The Coaches and Staff:
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John Oliveira
The Owner
John is the man behind the Renegades. You
may not see him on the field or hear him in team meetings, but his
influence is everywhere. John met Coach Weissman in 2000 and the two
had a vision to create a competitive beepball league in the Boston
area. That vision may have been tweaked over time, but the Association
of Blind Citizens found a way to fund the Boston Renegades Beepball
program. John helped get the team started in 2000 and coached them in
their first World Series in 2002. In 2003, he moved "upstairs" and left
the coaching duties to new coach Rob Weissman. Oliveira's passion to
promote programs for visually impaired people has been the number one
reason the Boston Renegades exist as a team.
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#62 Rob Weissman
Head Coach & Catcher/Pitcher
Weissman helped start Beepball as a competitive sport in the Boston area.
He got his start as the head coach of the Lowell LAB Retrievers in 2000.
In 2003, he returned to the coaching ranks as the head coach of the Boston
Renegades. He brings a unique style to the team where he is heavily involved
in every aspect of the game as a hands on vocal coach. Those vocal chords
get a work out during the season as he is known to lose his voice during
tournaments yelling words of encouragement and barking out strategy. He
may be the only head coach who catches during the game, which helps him
keep a unique perspective.
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#42 Nick Bebas
Hitting Coach & Spotter
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