November 18, 2008

     A new feature on the TBBL web site will include monthly interviews with some of our league members.  First up is Rocky Hall of the Kentucky Wildcats.  Rocky is an original owner and currently has the best franchise record in the TBBL (508-302) and one World Championship (2006).  Please enjoy the interview below:

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

Rocky:  Great, just counting the days until December 10^th when the new disk comes out. Checking out the rookies and looking for potential trades.

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?

Rocky: I am 52 years old, been married to the same wonderful woman for 32 years, Freda, the girl next door or rather in my case, the girl out the ridge. I have two great children, Shelly 29 and Joe 27. Shelly is expecting Freda and my first grandchild in February. She is a CT tech living in Fayetteville, North Carolina with his husband, Adam, who is in the Army. Joe lives in Manhattan and is the editor for Sherdog.com, a website for Ultimate Fighting. Joe was an excellent high school baseball player and played on a runner up state champion. In watching him play, I also saw Brandon Webb, Austin Kearns, Joe Blanton, Felipe Lopez.

I live 45 miles outside Columbus, Ohio on 300 acres, wood, woods, and more woods. I am fast becoming an Indians fan since I am just 90 miles form Cleveland. I am the Founder, owner, and Executive Director of Tri-State Youth Academy, a residential treatment facility for sixteen teen age boys.

I grew up in Olive Hill, Kentucky and am proud to be a “Hillbilly”. I have a doctorate degree in Education, Behavioral Studies, from Lael College in St. Louis, Missouri and a BA and MA in Corrections from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. That is the college that Jon Rauch and Phil Sims went to.   

In ten years I will be considering semi-retirement. My business will support my family and myself so I can focus on my wife, grandchildren and baseball. I would like to slow down some and enjoy life. Dave Pittner and I will form our own baseball league, we have talked about it for years. Many more championships will have been won, pennant races survived, teams drafted and build. More of the same I would happily say. And, I will have continued to make lasting friendships thru baseball.

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?

Rocky:  I remember feeling, finally! I had won my division two years in a row before but got knocked out in the playoffs, the first time one round from the World Series, the next time in the first round. That year was a great year for World Series for me, as I won five championships in the 9 leagues I was in. Lucky me!

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

Rocky:  No, not really. I grow real attached to certain players. I have Austin Kearns in all six leagues that I am currently in. I usually try to build a base of guys I like, surround them with good “cards”, and go from there. The WildCats have not had a lot of activity this year but be in the thick of things by the time the season starts.

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?

Rocky:  That is a hard question. I would have to say there were two, both trades. In year #1, Kevin Brown came over in a trade and led the WildCats from a tight race to the World Series. Year #3, I think, I picked up Roger Clemens, who did the same thing, except this time, the WildCats were the CHAMPS.

Not too many lowlights. I do like to win but honestly building and competition is more important. Okay, the answer. The first year of the TBBL I was up 3 games to 2 in the American League Series and my opponent kept disappearing from play when my team won. When I won game my 2^nd game, he disconnected and didn’t contact me for 2-3 hours to say he would finish the next day. Then when I won the next day, he did the same thing. I was on a roll and not only did it break my concentration, it also took all the fun out of it. This really left a bad taste in my mouth. A couple of years later, I did beat him on the way to the World Championship and surprise, he disappeared again. He is no longer in the TBBL and while I don’t wish him bad luck, I do hope he has grown up. J

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?

Rocky:  Okay, okay, okay. It has to be Matt Weiters for Craig Biggio. I was playing the numbers game and trying to reduce my minor league number to ten which was really hard because I had focused my draft on minor leagues while preparing one last run before starting a complete rebuilding effort. Biggio looked like he could play a nice role in my run, (didn’t), and the rest is history. (And probably be will be the worst TBBL trade ever, lol) When you trade as much as I do and build for pennant runs, there is a stiff price. This was one of mine. J

The best trade I made was two, already mentioned, one for Kevin Brown, the other for Roger Clemens. Both won Cy Young awards! I almost never look back on trades, too painful, lol. But, Brown and Clemens both took their teams to the next level in their respective seasons.

TBBL: How did you discover Diamond Mind Baseball?

Rocky: I started playing APBA in 1971, 1970 season when I was 14 years old after seeing an article in a magazine. I joined my first league in 1976 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?

Rocky: Cincinnati Reds. Having grown up as a fan of the Big Red Machine, I have suffered through many discouraging seasons watching them.  The Cleveland Indians are a close 2^nd.  

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

Rocky:  Cleveland in 1980, which was Municipal Stadium, Busch in St. Louis, Riverfront and GABP in Cincinnati, and Jacobs Field, all too many times to count. Then last year I went and saw the Mets in Shea and the Yankees, two days apart, wow. Yankee Stadium was tremendous but I really like GABP.

TBBL: What is your favorite movie of all time?

Rocky:  Again, I have two choices. It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Hoosiers with Gene Hackman. In working with teen age boys to help turn their lives around, I have to believe in people and It’s a Wonderful Life is all about being down and people really caring. Then Hoosiers, which is all about building a team and winning it all, sounds familiar, lol.

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

Rocky:  Golly, another hard question. I would rather trade and build a contender than to win a championship. Winning a championship takes a lot of luck and getting the breaks at the right time. Making the playoffs, while luck helps, really takes planning, trading, and building. Winning is great but getting there is the real feat and challenge. Of course, my real goal is to build a DYNASTY.

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

Rocky: 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.