After four captains and 28 games, Mitch Heckenkamp’s team is the 2003 Veto League Baseball World Series Champion.
Heckenkamp, Vinny Polito, Ashley Engstrom, and Casey Thomas all took part in the leadership of Heckenkamp’s team.
Casey Thomas, who took over for the final two games of the playoffs, led the team into the World Series where he and Ashley collaborated for a 4-1 series victory over Veto.
“This was an awesome series, man,” Thomas said after the game among the shivers as Craig Fyfe doused him with the water jug.
Thomas led the World Series in batting average hitting .783.
In game one of the Series, Thomas would come away with a 17-4 win as three Thomas players had five hits or more. Lance McCafferty was 5 for 8 with 2 RBI, Thomas was 6 for 8 with 2 RBI and Ashley Engstrom was 5 for 8 with 4 RBI.
However, the biggest story came from the bat of Nathan Linn who was making his VLB debut. Linn brought in six runs on four hits. Three of those hits were home-runs.
“I have a feeling that dropping my first home game is going to come back to hurt me later,” Veto said.
Game two was a marathon adventure that would go on into the night.
Down one run in the ninth, Matt Veto stepped up to the plate with two outs and a runner on third. Veto smacked a hard ground ball to the left side that got through, and the tying run came around to score.
Darkness fell with the game tied at six and it was decided that the 11th inning would be the last. Veto’s team produced. With Veto on third and McCafferty in the box with one out, McCafferty looped a lazy liner to short that was mishandled and the winning run came in. Veto walked away with a 7-6 victory tying the series momentarily.
The tie would be broken when Ashley Engstrom took the captain role for game 3. Assuming that Thomas would have selected Ashley with his first pick, Ashley played captain and led his team to a 7-6 victory. McCafferty provided the biggest blows knocking two home-runs over the left field wall, while bringing in four runs in the game.
“One time I hit the ball to right field,” McCafferty said.
Ashley would keep the captaining role in game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader. Ashley led his team to a 21-15 victory as he went 7 for 11 with a double, 4 home-runs, and 12 RBI. Kiel Engstrom was 8 for 9 with 2 doubles and a home-run bringing in 6 runs on the day. Scott Ellefritz also homered capping off the win.
For Veto, Dave Anderson would have an amazing 8 for 11 day in his first game in almost three weeks. Despite Anderson’s efforts, Veto fell to a 3-1 Series deficit.
In a must-win game 5, Veto had the 4-0 individual World Series record of Ashley Engstrom on his side as Thomas returned to play captain in game 2 of the doubleheader. Game 5 was not without drama.
Veto’s team took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Veto base hit and an Ellefritz sacrifice fly.
“I wanted to get out to an early lead, because we failed to do that in the games that we lost,” Veto said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Thomas answered with 2 runs in the second, 1 in the third, and 2 in the sixth capping off a stretch of 6 unanswered runs.
Veto’s team would not give up as they scratched across a run in the seventh and two in the eighth with one final chance in the ninth.
The bottom of the order would be due up. Ellefritz led off with an infield pop fly for the first out. Josh Paul then hit a ground ball base hit past short and Jim Wince would step up to the plate.
“Get on base anyway you can!” Veto yelled from the dugout.
Wince cracked a ground ball to short. Coming out of the box, Wince slipped and fell, scraping his leg. The ball was scooped up at short, tossed to second for one, and to first for the World Series ending double-play.
Craig Fyfe, one of the most improved players from the beginning of the season, drained the water cooler on top of Thomas and the 2003 season came to a close with a 6-5 win.
“Veto League Baseball has changed my life,” Thomas said.
One reporter asked, “Casey, you just won the World Series, what’s next?”
“I’m going to the bar!” Thomas replied.
Veto is already looking forward to next season.
“I would have liked to win the first World Series, but I guess that just gives me something to shoot for next year,” Veto said. “I want to make sure every single one of the VLB members know how much I appreciated their participation this year. We have taken a small idea from 5 years ago and have turned it into a legitimate league. All season we have cheered on each other and picked each other up. I hope that Veto League Baseball can continue for years to come. Everybody is welcome.”
With college graduation on the horizon, Veto hopes that everybody will still be available to play next year.
Heckenkamp, Vinny Polito, Ashley Engstrom, and Casey Thomas all took part in the leadership of Heckenkamp’s team.
Casey Thomas, who took over for the final two games of the playoffs, led the team into the World Series where he and Ashley collaborated for a 4-1 series victory over Veto.
“This was an awesome series, man,” Thomas said after the game among the shivers as Craig Fyfe doused him with the water jug.
Thomas led the World Series in batting average hitting .783.
In game one of the Series, Thomas would come away with a 17-4 win as three Thomas players had five hits or more. Lance McCafferty was 5 for 8 with 2 RBI, Thomas was 6 for 8 with 2 RBI and Ashley Engstrom was 5 for 8 with 4 RBI.
However, the biggest story came from the bat of Nathan Linn who was making his VLB debut. Linn brought in six runs on four hits. Three of those hits were home-runs.
“I have a feeling that dropping my first home game is going to come back to hurt me later,” Veto said.
Game two was a marathon adventure that would go on into the night.
Down one run in the ninth, Matt Veto stepped up to the plate with two outs and a runner on third. Veto smacked a hard ground ball to the left side that got through, and the tying run came around to score.
Darkness fell with the game tied at six and it was decided that the 11th inning would be the last. Veto’s team produced. With Veto on third and McCafferty in the box with one out, McCafferty looped a lazy liner to short that was mishandled and the winning run came in. Veto walked away with a 7-6 victory tying the series momentarily.
The tie would be broken when Ashley Engstrom took the captain role for game 3. Assuming that Thomas would have selected Ashley with his first pick, Ashley played captain and led his team to a 7-6 victory. McCafferty provided the biggest blows knocking two home-runs over the left field wall, while bringing in four runs in the game.
“One time I hit the ball to right field,” McCafferty said.
Ashley would keep the captaining role in game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader. Ashley led his team to a 21-15 victory as he went 7 for 11 with a double, 4 home-runs, and 12 RBI. Kiel Engstrom was 8 for 9 with 2 doubles and a home-run bringing in 6 runs on the day. Scott Ellefritz also homered capping off the win.
For Veto, Dave Anderson would have an amazing 8 for 11 day in his first game in almost three weeks. Despite Anderson’s efforts, Veto fell to a 3-1 Series deficit.
In a must-win game 5, Veto had the 4-0 individual World Series record of Ashley Engstrom on his side as Thomas returned to play captain in game 2 of the doubleheader. Game 5 was not without drama.
Veto’s team took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Veto base hit and an Ellefritz sacrifice fly.
“I wanted to get out to an early lead, because we failed to do that in the games that we lost,” Veto said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Thomas answered with 2 runs in the second, 1 in the third, and 2 in the sixth capping off a stretch of 6 unanswered runs.
Veto’s team would not give up as they scratched across a run in the seventh and two in the eighth with one final chance in the ninth.
The bottom of the order would be due up. Ellefritz led off with an infield pop fly for the first out. Josh Paul then hit a ground ball base hit past short and Jim Wince would step up to the plate.
“Get on base anyway you can!” Veto yelled from the dugout.
Wince cracked a ground ball to short. Coming out of the box, Wince slipped and fell, scraping his leg. The ball was scooped up at short, tossed to second for one, and to first for the World Series ending double-play.
Craig Fyfe, one of the most improved players from the beginning of the season, drained the water cooler on top of Thomas and the 2003 season came to a close with a 6-5 win.
“Veto League Baseball has changed my life,” Thomas said.
One reporter asked, “Casey, you just won the World Series, what’s next?”
“I’m going to the bar!” Thomas replied.
Veto is already looking forward to next season.
“I would have liked to win the first World Series, but I guess that just gives me something to shoot for next year,” Veto said. “I want to make sure every single one of the VLB members know how much I appreciated their participation this year. We have taken a small idea from 5 years ago and have turned it into a legitimate league. All season we have cheered on each other and picked each other up. I hope that Veto League Baseball can continue for years to come. Everybody is welcome.”
With college graduation on the horizon, Veto hopes that everybody will still be available to play next year.
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