Stampede - Saratoga's best-kept secret

July 9
SARATOGA SPRINGS – There’s some great baseball being played right here in the Spa city, and no one’s watching.
The Saratoga Stampede, the defending District IV Champions of the American Legion, is one of Saratoga’s best-kept secrets.
The Stampede was founded by their head coach, Paul Mound, seven years ago. Starting out as a Babe Ruth team as well as a 15-and-under independent travel team, Mound turned down offers to bring his club into the Connie Mack league and instead opted to join the American Legion. Some say that his club is better suited for Connie Mack, but Mound defends his choice to join the Legion.
“I don’t believe that Connie Mack baseball is as good as American Legion baseball because college guys don’t come out and follow Connie Mack baseball. I can give you college coach after college coach that are big proponents of Legion baseball. I think it’s a much better brand of baseball also because in American Legion, you can come back and play after you’ve completed your freshman year of college and challenge high school kids. You can’t do that in Connie Mack, they’re all high school players. So it’s an extension of high school baseball in many ways. It (Connie Mack) typically doesn’t travel outside of the immediate area, where we go outside of our immediate area to seek out tougher competition.”
Others believe that the competition would be better in Connie Mack, but again Mound stands by his league.
“Locally, when we play weeknight games I would make an argument that some of the teams that come out of certain counties are not as strong because there are too many posts in that area.
“If you were Melvin Roads out of East Greenbush, who won the Newburgh tournament last weekend, they’re a very good team, and we pounded them. After we pounded them they went up to Plattsburgh and won the Plattsburgh tournament, and went down to Newburgh and won the Newburgh tournament.
Mound is 100 percent dedicated to his team as well as his league, and he has made it a point to learn the history of the league, former players, and the current teams as well as the management of the other clubs.
“We go down and we play Shrub Oak. The director of the Shrub Oak baseball program happens to be the East coast director of scouting for the Kansas City Royals. We play the Newburgh Nuclears, chartered in 1948 and personally have put nine players in the major leagues and continue to be a college hotbed for quality college baseball players. Beacon is a solid program whose players are always being recruited to go play. So to the nay sayers I would say this, ‘What percentage of players are you placing at top-shelf college programs versus what percentage the American Legion is placing,’ and I think that speaks volumes.”
Mound continued to show his detailed knowledge of the league.
“St. Johnsville’s head coach was a nine-year major league baseball player, Roger Weaver, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers for nine years… St. Johnsville has an amazing baseball program. You go out to Utica, New Hartford, who are New York State champions, they ran nine guys out on us last year, eight of them who were Div. I or Div. II baseball players!”
American Legion baseball has been around since 1925. The American Legion in the state of New York has produced over 50 major league baseball players, including many from this area.
“Think of these names, out of the Utica area; American Legion baseball players Mark Lemke, Andy Van Slyke, Dave Cash, all out of Utica, New York. Gary Tuck, who played American Legion baseball with me out in Amsterdam, was solely responsible for the development of Jorge Posada. He’s currently the catching instructor for the Boston Red Sox. Dave LaPointe from Glens Falls Post, and David Palmer, who pitched for the Montreal Expos and the Atlanta braves.
“American Legion baseball is quality, quality baseball, and, on top of it, you can go travel to American Legion tournaments and get tested even more.”
And when it comes to quality baseball, Saratogians do not have to travel to Utica or Amsterdam to see fine athletes, as the Stampede play right in our own back yard.
Of the players from last year’s squad who helped bring home the crown, Kevin Gent, who pitched for the Stampede for six years and holds all of Saratoga’s pitching records, is now hurling for Plattsburgh State. Matt Kelley is playing for Hartwick, Oliver Aldrich is a member of Castleton State’s baseball team, Steve Hughes is in the U.S. Naval Academy, and Brian Sheridan is part of Hudson Valley Community College’s starting rotation.
And it doesn’t end there. Currently, part of this year’s Stampede team just completed their freshman year of college, while others who graduated high school this year have a college career already mapped out for them.
Third baseman Chris Hackett, one of five Saratoga High School products currently on the Stampede roster, will be headed to the University of Albany. Second baseman Jeff Mound, one of the team’s co-captains, just completed his freshman year at Plattsburgh State, as did Andy Brown, the team’s other co-captain, at Union College. Underclassmen Brad Elliott and Ryan White also hail from the Blue Streaks’ squad. Zac Kozersky, a Schuylerville grad, is playing for Hudson Valley, where he led the team in stolen bases in his freshman campaign. Ryan Washburn, who was a teammate of Kozersky’s at Schuylerville, is also on the roster at Hudson Valley, where he led the club in batting average in his first year.
Not only are the players on the Stampede talented, as their record consistently shows, but they are loyal to the program as well.
The aforementioned Gent was with the Stampede for six years, co-captains Mound and Brown are seven-year veterans of the program, and since they have been with the club since before they were a Legion team, have put up records that will never be broken by another Stampede player.
Kozersky, while sitting out last season, is also in his sixth season with the club, as is Washburn. Hughes played for Saratoga for four years, and Hackett is in his fourth season and will most likely be back for a fifth and maybe even a sixth season. Neil Callahan, Justin Wilock, and Kenny Recore are all three-year veterans of the Stampede.
When asked why he thought his players were so loyal to the team, Mound wasted no time in giving his perspective.
“Because I love each and every one of them like they’re my own family,” said Mound.
“You won’t know what kid is my kid, other than the name on his back. I don’t treat any of them any different. They’re all an extended part of my family. They know that I care about them not only as players, but as people, and I want them to have these years, when they look back at them, to be the greatest time in their life. So we have a lot of fun.”
Ryan Washburn added some color on the subject when he said that he had opportunities to play elsewhere, but he didn’t want to miss a season of “Paul Ball,” as the players have titled Mound’s baseball philosophy.
What exactly is “Paul Ball?” Quite simply put, it’s fundamentally sound, winning baseball. His team can hit, they are excellent defenders, there’s plenty of team speed, and they round it all out with outstanding pitching.
The Stampede are off to another fine season, as their record shows (20-5 American Legion, 22-7 overall). So, if you’re a fan of baseball, there are some great games being played right here in town, where you can see the stars of the local high school and college baseball diamond, and it also gives you a chance to follow the area players after they have graduated from high school.
Saratoga plays its home games at East Side Rec, and will have an extended home schedule this season, as they will be hosting the 12th annual Cooper’s Cove tournament, an 18-team tournament that will be played from July 10-15, as well as the American Legion District IV Tournament, which runs from July 31 - Aug. 5. To see the complete 2007 Saratoga Stampede schedule, visit http://www.saratogastampede.com/, click on the eteamz link, and the click on schedules.