February 10, 2009

     An ongoing feature on the TBBL web site will include monthly interviews with some of our league members.  In our third installment, the TBBL recently caught up with Dave Pittner of the Carefree Coyotes.  Dave is coming off his first Thunder Bay League Championship in 2008 and has built a very competitive team.  Please enjoy the interview below:

TBBL: Hello and thanks for taking the time to be interviewed. How are you doing today?

Dave:  Today, Friday February 6^th, I am hanging out at my home in Scottsdale, Arizona, where it is 70 degrees today...beautiful!

TBBL: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Married? Kids?  Where did you grow up, what college did you attend (if you did), and where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Dave: I am 55 years old, and I am in my second marriage. I have been married to Francesca for 13 years. We have 4 children from our 2 marraiges, 3 who are married. We have 8 grandchildren!  One of my sons is named Cal, partly as a shout out to Cal Ripken.

I grew up in Buffalo, New York and I still have season tickets to the Bills! I went to all 4 Super Bowls that Buffalo participated in. I have been a fan since the AFL days in the early 60's (Anyone out there remember Cookie Gilchrist?).

I have worked for the same company for 25 years and I have been in various  General Management, Human Resources and Labor Relations positions. I graduated from the University of Buffalo with degrees in Psych. and Business, plus an MBA.

In 10 years, I will be retired watching a lot of baseball here in Arizona between the D'Backs, Spring training and the Arizona Fall league. LOL!

TBBL: Since you've been a member of the Thunder Bay Baseball League, you have won a Championship.  What is your best memory of your championship season?

Dave:  It was a surprise as my team played better than expected. The most satisfying  aspect was that the team had no real star in the field and only one on the team as a whole (Roy Halladay). My hat is off to all the tough competition around the league that I had to work my way through to get there. A bit of luck involved as well...

TBBL: Do you have any players on the trading block currently?

Dave:  I will listen to any offers but Halladay is not going anywhere soon, but many of these guys can go if there is a good offer. Mark Reynolds is my favorite player right now, so he is staying put as well.

TBBL: What is the defining moment -- the top highlight -- of your franchise these past few years? And what is the absolute worst moment -- the top lowlight?

Dave:  The top: The championship of course, cliché as that is! The lowest point....the “Famed Tulowitski Deal”. I will get more into that in the later parts of this interview on best and worst deals.

TBBL: If there was one trade that you could take back, which trade would that be? And what's the best trade you've made to date?

Dave:  The best trade was picking up Halladay because since his arrival the team has taken on a tougher look. I made that deal with old friend Nite Mahan and it was a value for value deal. In Russ Martin, I think Nite got one of the top catchers n baseball who can do many things and he will be around longer than Roy H.

The worst deal was Luke Scott for Troy Tulo! My thinking at the time was Luke was my favorite player than and I wanted him. I thought Tulo was a few years away and I also thought he might have a few so-so years in the near term. I also thought Scott could have been a 30 Homer guy for a few seasons, so it would have had positive short term impact for me and I got a guy that I really liked, but with Tulo's future the deal will hurt for a while. It eased the pain a bit that I won the championship without Troy's great year.

 The interesting thing about these deals, is that I was close to not making either one if I had executed an earlier deal with Rocky. He had offered Pence in a deal to get Nathan. If I had made that deal, I was thinking of rebuilding around a nucleus of two way players and the starting point would have been Russ Martin, Tulowitski and Hunter Pence...a good start it would have been, but there would have been no championship last year, but who knew? LOL

TBBL: How did you discover Diamond Mind Baseball?

Dave: I started playing APBA in 1965, I joined my first league in 1971 and went on, as leagues changed from one game to the other, to Replay, Diamond Dreams, until finally DMB.  

TBBL: Shifting to the MLB now, who's your favorite team and why?

Dave: Currently, The D'Backs. When I was in Buffalo, The Blue Jays. I have gravitated to the teams in the immediate geographic areas...

 
TBBL: Which baseball stadiums have you visited and which is your favorite?

Dave:  At one time it was a goal to visit all of them and at one point I was 18 for 26. Since then I have probably visited 2 or 3 of the newer built stadiums. My favorite is Chase or Bank One  or whatever it is called today. ...which brings me to a Pet Peeve. I wish stadiums were named like the old days...and not the corporate sellout situations that change by the year. It takes away the sentimental nature that we love about ball parks.

TBBL: What is your favorite movie of all time?

Dave:  I am a movie buff as my TBBL Bio explains....My favorite Sports movie is Coach Carter which is a true story. Sam Jackson is great in it. I just saw Gran Torino and I loved it. Clint being Clint! I just saw The Wrestler too! Micky Rourke is outstanding! Good stuff! Too many favorites to narrow to just one. I am into the actors and again I refer you to my TBBL bio.

TBBL: Tell us something about yourself that may surprise us.

Dave:  Well, this is inside information that I am about to disclose that I have told no one so this is a TBBL exclusive .....here it is....After all these years, I am going to disclose that I have been letting Rocky win...that's right...I have been tanking when I play him.....I have been laying down...playing my “B” game to make him feel good...the fact is he does not have a chance against my “A” game.. I know this will be crushing for Rocky when  he reads this, but the truth needed to come out. “May the Truth set you free, Rocky!”  (AN INQUIRY FROM THE TBBL LEAGUE COMMITTEE HAS BEGUN :)

TBBL: Who do you have the biggest rivalry with in the TBBL and why?

Dave: I think my answer before answers that question.

Here is what Rocky said in his interview:

“Dave Pittner of Carefree and I have been friends and rivals since 1980 when we met through the TML. The first trade he offered me was Doug Decinces for Ozzie Smith. It didn’t happen but our friendship started then and has endured for almost 30 years. There is not a better friend than Dave nor a person with a better knowledge of baseball and its players. We have made a 1000 trades and spend probably as many hours talking baseball, traveling to baseball drafts, seeing ballgames, etc. Dave is a class act and while we constantly insult each other, in fun, I have learned so much about baseball, trading, drafting, researching future talent, etc. from my best friend. Too bad he can’t win the big one. Oh, this year, he did. It is so rare, I forgot. JUST KIDDING. Defeating Dave is almost as good as winning it all.”

I think between his comments and mine...you get the picture of what has been going on for almost 30 years!