West Coast Fantasy Baseball Association

"Home for fantasy campers before and after camp"
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WCFBA member Dan Mettler passed away suddenly on September 28th of a massive heart attack.  He was 63 years old.  Dan resided in Lodi and was a regular participant in the 'Stuck in Lodi' tournament every August.  Dan went to the San Francisco Giants fantasy camp in the late 80's and brought back stories of the great times he had.  He is responsible for drumming up interest in the camp with many of the Lodi locals including our own Rich Thomas.   On the field, Dan was a 3rd baseman and solid, line drive hitter.  At his last tournament, he still wore his fantasy camp uniform from the 80's.   How many of us can say that?

Dan's obituary can be found at:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lodinews/obituary.aspx?pid=172651453  (feel free to sign the guestbook)

There will be a celebration of life for Dan on Sunday, October 19th at 11:00am.  Fittingly, the event will be held at Tony Zupo Field, the home of our annual 'Stuck in Lodi' tournament.  The address is 350 North Washington Street in Lodi.  Any Giant campers who plan to attend are welcome to wear their black away jersies as a show of support.

WCFBA member Lou 'Lindy' Paul passed away on April 21, 2014 at the age of 88 in Gilbert, Arizona.  He spent the final nine months of his life in a dementia care facility after his wife Betty could no longer act as his primary care giver. 

Betty and Lou settled in Arizona in 1991 after spending the previous 15 years in Marin County.  John Wintersteen remembers that Lou attended his first fantasy camp in 1990 at the age of 64.  He became fast friends with Tom Haller and Willie Mays.  Even though they lived in Arizona, Lou continued to play in tournament events like Lodi and San Diego as often as he could.  Each year, Betty and Lou would spend time with old friends in Marin County and Lou would participate in as many WCFBA league games as he could as a pool player.  His frequent designated driver was Steve Bennett.  Lou continued to play with us into his early 80's.  Lou always played second base and was in great physical condition for his age due to his experience as a handball player.  Lou's batting style was to punch the ball by the pitcher and try to beat it out.

When Lou used to live in Omaha, he was member of the Jewish Federation acting as their athletic director.  His obituary can be found in the Jewish Press at:

In memory of her father, and to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association, Lou's daughter, Judy Paul, will participate in the Chicago Marathon this fall.  The family has requested that memorials be sent to act.alz.org (click on ‘AlzStars’; then type in Judy’s name in ‘Find an Athlete.’). Memorials may also be made to the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

The West Coast Fantasy Baseball Association, as a non-profit organization, is required to post their yearly tax returns. Our treasurer, Mark Gemello, has filed our state and federal returns for this past year.  WCFBA events (league and tournament) generated over $65,000 in gross receipts.  This is due to a combination of the number of events we are involved in, the number of participants in these events, and the growing costs to run each event.  As an all-volunteer, non-profit organization, virtually all of this money goes right back out the door to pay for the events and the equipment that we use.

To view each return, click on the links below or visit the About Us page:

The 2013 Lodi Tournament served as the venue for the presentation of this year's Paul E. Roman award winner.  The award is given to the campers who most exemplify what we are trying to accomplish with these tournaments and league events.  Just as Dodgertown West has their David Blakemore award, we will recognize some campers each year for their contribution to the events. 

This year's sole winner was John Haines.  John has been a participant in the WCFBA since the late 90's.  He frequently coaches in both league and tournament events and has been a WCFBA board member for the last few years.  John has a very colorful sense of humor and players often ask to be placed on his team for tournament events.  He makes sure his team members get their fair share of playing time and that they have a good time.  John hosts an annual Halloween party that features a broken bat burning ceremony.  He invites all members of the WCFBA each year because those people are his family.  He has frequently stated that while the baseball games are fun, being with his friends is what this is truly all about. 

For those of you who didn't get a chance to meet Paul who passed away in 2002, get yourself a copy of his wife Jackie's book and you'll see why he was chosen to represent this award.  A web page has been created to honor Paul and all the award winners.  Each year, previous winners will be asked to select new award recipients.  Winners will be announced at the Lodi tournament each year and they will be awarded a certificate as well as have their names etched on a perpetual plaque. 

At the conclusion of 2012, the terms for Mark Gemello, Ray Miailovich, and J.C. Penney on the West Coast Fantasy Baseball Association Board of Directors ended and we thank them for their service.  In addition, the board has voted to increase the number of voting board members to six.  Four new board members were needed and eleven candidates stepped forward.

WCFBA membership was asked to choose four of the eleven candidates to serve over the next two to three years.  Ninety votes were received with each candidate receiving at least 20% of the vote.  Voting was very close for the final position with five candidates separated by just a half dozen votes.  In the end, the new board members will be:

• Keith DaCosta

• Mark Gemello

• Rob Lanterman

• Scott Lueders

These four will join returning board members John Haines and Matthew Schmuck.  Board members will participate in two to three meetings a year to discuss issues related to the WCFBA.  Issues include governance, league and tournament participation, rules, and policy.

Thank you to Marc Gerhardt, Ed Glover, Lynn Harkrider, Mike Miller, Jim Realini, Mike Shaffer, and Dave Vigil for running for the board and we hope you will try again.

For a list of all the roles and responsibilities that folks currently hold within the WCFBA, click here.

WENDELL KIM UPDATE

Many of you have met Wendell Kim ('WK') during your fantasy camp experience. WK was a long-time coach with the Giants and also worked with the Red Sox, Brewers, Expos, and Cubs during his career. He last worked as a coach in the Nationals system in 2005. Since then, WK and his wife Natasha have retired to Gilbert, Arizona.

Toward the end of his career, WK started to experience some loss of his short-term memory. Many tests were run to determine the cause, but nothing definitive was found. Over time, the memory loss worsened so Natasha scheduled more tests to be performed by the Mayo Clinic. Recently, it was determined that there is a 95% chance that WK has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that is incurable, degenerative and terminal in nature. To read more about the disease, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer. Steps are being taken to slow down the progress of the disease and WK will continue to see doctors at the Mayo Clinic.

UPDATE (11/27/10) : The disease has progressed to the point where WK now lives full-time at a center specializing in memory loss.  Natasha visits him one or two times a week and says he has his good days and his bad days.  He can no longer process cards or letters so please do not send any more.  Natasha realizes we would all like to help, but points out that even if there were a way to reverse the damage of the disease, WK is too far along.

If you would still like to do something, perhaps making a donation in Wendell's name would help.  The following organizations could use the money to continue research into the disease:

UCSF Memory and Aging Center

Alzheimer's Association