Q-Describe your game in one word?

A-F-9 (But I will run it out hard)

Q-What would bother you the most, forgetting your bat(s) or glove at home?

A-My bats are always gets given away to someone else each year and my glove makes it hard for me to fit my camera in my bag. So it doesnt really matter.

Q-Favorite Tournament and why?

A-World Series. First because it puts to bed another great year of police softball and allows me to relax for a month or two. It is also a great feeling seeing the HOF induction and the year end awards presented. Secondly, I have been fortunate to be on the last team standing and it is a special feeling.

Q-Who is the best gamer in cop softball?

A-Bobby Lambert. I have never see him clean. I have never see him go easy. And I have never see him fold under pressure. He is my secret man crush. If I could emulate a player, I would want to play the game like he does.

Q-Who is the best player right now in the East?

A-Alan Westfall from SoFlo. Alan never seems to have a bad game and can do just about anything he wants to on the field. (Except tell Dennis what to do)

Q-Besides your own, what manager would you like to play for and why?

A-Derwin Longmire in the West. Derwin always puts a team on the field that has a shot to win it all and I think he works as hard as he expects his players to. Mike Bracci or Rick Tirelli in the East. I don’t now if there are two classier gentlemen in the game.

Q-You unintentionally nail the pitcher with a line drive. Do you acknowledge him?

A-Of course I do, but if he knows my game, he knows I dont have the bat control to do it on purpose. Like Nuke Laloosh in Bull Durham....I really have no control where they are going. But I totally understand guys like Tolly who realize it is part of the game and do not acknowledge. For me, a head nod is appropriate.

Q-Is the middle open?

A-Yes. And by that, I mean if the 1-6 or 1-4 hole is the widest part of the field, then take a shot at one of those areas. If teams don’t like it, they should squeeze the middle more. Never rely on your opposition to help your team succeed. You need to do that yourself. But I am not into swinging wildly towards the pitcher and hoping it gets by him.

Q-Should pitching masks be mandatory or optional?

A-I never want to see a cop get hit in the face or head with a ball. I would like to see them mandated. It is just a matter of time before we see a cop pitcher get seriously injured.

Q-Whose message board posts do you enjoy the most?

A-Any post that has some thought into it, is respectful and shows someone can look at multiple sides of an issue, I find interesting. I also enjoy posts who offer a solution and not just a problem. Dickie Malek seems to do that the best and I always enjoy his posts. I wish he would post more.

Q-Who is the best player right now in the West?

A-Ryan Coe. I have seen him homer from both sides of the plate and he is a five tool player with a will to win who can play any position. He has also pitched a team to two consecutive World Series wins and he has two consecutive World Series MVPs. The fact that Coe will be at the World Series fields at 0600 helping me set up also makes me point to him. What more can I ask from a player?

Q-Who is the best overall player EVER in the game?

A-Not having too much historical perspective, it is hard to answer. But in terms of length of career, respect and success, I would say Mr. Meyer. He appears to be the gold standard of old guys :) The fact he barehanded a Jeff Blair ground ball and threw him out, only makes me like him that much more for this answer.

Q-What does your current team need to do to improve?

A-Every player just needs to continue trusting the guy behind them to get the job done. If we do that, we will always be a better team.

Q-Based on your team needs, what in state player would you want to trade for right now?

A-Jeff Regino. The guy can play IF and OF, hit for power and average. He would add to our flexibility.

Q-What team gives your team the most problems?

A-It is a crapshoot anytime we play Metro, Jax, Quake, or Hard-Cor.

Q-If you need a base hit, who do you want up on your team?

A-Alfonso Trujillo. That is why I bat him leadoff.

Q-If you need a HR, who do you want up on your team?

A-Ryan Coe

Q-If a defensive play needs to be made on your team, who do you want to have the ball hit to?

A-Nate Baez. In my mind, he is one of the best infielders in the game. He shows me a highlight every tourney that leaves me scratching my head.

Q-What is your most exciting moment in police softball?

A-Just being part of 2008 World Series final game win against NY Metro that ended 38-37. That game capped a gauntlet for us. To get there, we had to get through LAPD Blue, Michigan, NYPD Blues, Jax (twice), and we had to see NY Metro three times that tourney. It seems like we played an entire season in one tourney. The release of emotions by my players immediately after the game was extremely exciting.

Q-What is your biggest disappointment in police softball?

A-Anytime I take the game to serious and let it take away from my family, I get disappointed in myself. Almost everything we argue regarding softball is relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I enjoy the debates and exchange of ideas but in the end, it is just softball and I need to keep reminding myself of that.

Q-Are you on the social networking site called Facebook?

A-Yes..and so are a lot of other cop softball players. Funny thing, we dont debate on there at all. I guess we know our audience

Q-What is your biggest weakness on the softball field?

A-Defense of any kind.

Q-Provided bat tournaments, yes or no?

A-I think they are a nice idea but in the end, we will play in anything. We will play in three provided bat tourneys this year including one we host. We have never let the provided bat thing influence in any way whether we will attend or not attend a tournament. In a perfect world, I would say yes. But if it were a perfect world, we would not need them.

Q-Which is the best team you have seen?

A-I havent seen a lot of the teams mentioned on here in previous snapshots so it is hard to say. But if I look at individual tourneys, I really like the Jax team that won Dayton is 2006 and the Jax team that rolled through Sterling in 2007. The 2005 Ohio Lawmen and the 2007 Alliance teams that won the World Series are in that group too.

In terms of consistency over a period of time instead of just one tourney, l will be a homer and say the Alliance. Not because of the World Series wins or back to back 5 loss seasons, but because of the consistency the Alliance has shown over a long period of time. More than any one thing, I am most proud of the fact that in the 5 years this website has been around, the Alliance has not finished lower than 5th in a tournament. And that includes 4 World Series, 2 Sterlings, 2 West Palm Beach BB, 1 Dayton and 4 Las Vegas Bacon Balls. Over 40 tournaments in all. I do not think any other team can say that during the same time period.

Q-What team is the next elite team?

A-I think LAPD Blue and DEA is on the rise again but they have been there before. HardCor is already there so I will go with Sac. Police in the West and SoFlo in the East. Sac Police is a very good team and SoFlo has shown flashes of brilliance. Both of these teams have a legit shot to go all the way at a future World Series.

Q-What team is not living up to their potential?

A-NYPD Blues. They are too good not to be in the mix every tourney. But from what I saw in WPB, they will be back in the final mix soon.

Q-Best looking uniforms in the game?

A-I think teams should have some fun with their softball uniforms. That is why I like Nitro2Go and the DEAs. Lots of design and colors.

Q-Worst looking uniforms

A-LAPD Blue. Too plain. Poncy needs some better graphics on his uni to showcase his special skills.

Q-State rule, yes or no?

A-Yes, but I would not mind a state rule with a chip rule to take care of some of the people that may have fallen into the cracks or to take care of teams that are truly made up of players on state lines. But in reality, I think many teams would use the chip rule to bolster already strong teams and not to fill in the cracks.

Q- Who will win the 2009 Police vs. Corrections All Star game?

A-It will be a battle but the police will have more depth and will prevail in the end.

Q-The HOF, too hard to get into, too easy, just about right?

A-Just about right now. If the standards are low, then it will be the “Hall of Good Guys”. I think the gatekeepers (and I am glad I am not a regular one) have a hard job balancing their feelings of friendship with doing the right thing.

Q.-Of the past World Series HR Derby winners, which one is the best HR hitter?

A-I think King George has the most explosive power and I think Jeff Von Lutzow is the most natural HR hitter. I think Jeff could take 5 years away from the game, pick up a bat and jack with the best of them. But from what George did this weekend in 108 degree heat with mush balls is impressive. If I had to pick, I would say King George.

Q-Who was/is your police softball mentor?

A-I try to learn from anyone who appears to be doing something right. If I had to name a sole mentor, I would be Scott Spalding. When Scott came on to my team, he taught me to look at things differently. To me, he brought a winning mindset to our team. If there was a turning point on the Alliance from mid level to upper level police team, it was when Scott Spalding came on.

Q-Biggest problem with cop softball

A-The way we badmouth each other behind each others backs is pretty bad at times but that happens in all aspects of police work. Financing is always tough, especially in this economy. I think the biggest issue is it seems less and less cops grew up with baseball as one of their loves so the softball gene pool is shrinking.

Q-Which team has the hottest girls?

A-I always love seeing the Miami Metro Red ladies.

Q-Which team parties the most east/west

A-Bluegrass in the East and Nitro2Go in the West.

Q-What team you wouldn't want to fight after the game? (biggest bruisers)

A-Minnesota. If a fight breaks out, I am squaring off against Mike Dahlstrom. He has reach on me but I think I could ground and pound with him.

Q-Best wheels on the circuit?

A-I do not know who would win a race among cop ballers but as a whole, I am impressed with the speed of Sin City’s outfield.

Q-Who has more overall talent, East Coast or West Coast?

A-The East coast is numerous states while the West coast is basically Cali. With that said, I would put Cali’s top 4-5 teams against any of the top teams in the nation. Beyond that number, the talent level diverges between the East states and Cali and the East takes the lead.

Q-What team do you root against even when you are not playing them?

A-Jax because if someone else beats them, that means my team doesnt have to. For my money, Jax has been one of the most explosive teams in cop ball over the last few years. But honestly, I enjoy it when any top team gets taken out.

Q-What player plays much better than they look?

A-Hard-Cor’s Tolly

Q-Who should be in the Hall of Fame that isn’t?

A-Scott Spalding. You would never know it to look at him because he keeps himself in such good shape, but he is age eligible for the HOF. After two decades playing this game, Scott is still playing shortstop at a high level. He is one of my team’s best players and the person I point to for our success.

Q-What is your pet peeve in police softball

A-Negative people who take away or expect more in return than they give to the game. We all know them. The guys who will bitch about everything but never offer to do the work or offer a better solution. These are the guys who also view things with a narrow mindset and never realize that there are issues and concerns beyond their myopic viewpoint.

Q-Who has the best arm in Police Softball?

A-Double D. Hands down in my mind. He made a throw in WPB last year that people still talk about.

Q-What is up with the picture you used for this snapshot?

A-That is a young and trim, 19 year old Del Pickney playing in the Marine Corps base championship game at Yuma Arizona in 1985. I love the the photo because that year was my first exposure to softball and the way it was played on the base was just pure softball. No uniforms, no cleats, 80s short shorts, wife beater t-shirts, 110 degrees, and loving every minute of it. Ironically I was playing against the military base police officers in that game. The only prize for winning was bragging rights and we did rub it in to military police every chance we got.

Q-Your team wins a tournament. What do you want the prize to be?

A-Winning and accomplishing a goal with your friends is the prize but with that said, Dan Rose passed out 50.00 gift certificates to Outback Steakhouse last tourney to every member on the winning team. I loved that. Trophies make me feel like a 10 year old so I am ok not getting trophies...(Unless they are made out of solid marble in the shape of an obelisk)

Q-Do ranking points matter?

A-Winning matters and the ranking points are pretty reflective of being successful, so I say yes they do. When I look at the rankings, I would rather see my team near the top than near the bottom.

Q-If you are king of police softball, what do you do?

A-Make every tournament have a Rocco’s Tacos and Dr. Feelgoods nearby and give every team money to travel. I also want to put Andy Wurm across my lap and spank him just for the photo opportunity. I could post that photo every time Andy and I get into a long winded debate.

Q-Any last words?

A-Matthew 5:9