Above: Participatory journalist Hank Nuwer (left), Current Cincinnati Reds manager and 2-time World Series championTerry Francona (seated second from left),
Photo taken by Max during a spring training game between the Denver Bears vs. West Palm Beach Expos, Daytona Beach, Florida (photo courtesy of Ball State Journalism Alumni Magazine; color added 2026). Click on photo for full size.
The Chance for an Outsider to Play Ball
As a journalist then and now for regional and international magazines, Hank Nuwer played first base in multiple baseball games as a participatory journalist for the Montreal Expos’ Denver Bears’ farm teams (1981), the now defunct Indianapolis Clowns (1986) and the vintage-baseball New York Mutuals (Cooperstown Hall of Fame vs. Ozzie Smith’s team of local athletes), April 25-26, 2005.
Below and Above: Hank Nuwer at first base v. Orlando Twins. Phil Rosenberg (former Univ. of Buffalo Bulls pitcher) pitching for Denver Bears.
A couple teammates from the 1981 Denver Bears (Expos farm) have passed: Norm Angelini of leukemia. Phil Rosenberg (We played one game together) from Univ. of Buffalo died in hospice this spring–super nice man and a super multi-sport athlete.
Coach Larry Goldestsky died 5 years ago in Minnesota from diabetes. He watched my batting swing and gave a tip or two. Larry helped me pick out a uniform. “Us guys with big pipes (arms) gotta show them off,” he joked.
In 1980, the year before playing in the Espos’ organization in spring training, I spent the entite ’80 spring training in Florida with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Phillies and more, and interviewing stars like Steve Garvey, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Jim Kaat, Davey Johnson, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, Tommy Lasorda, and traveling with Garvey, Lasorda and third-base coach Danny Ozark by team bus and plane.
My craziest experience was breaking up a fight between a drunken, older Los Angeles sportswriter and a testy major league umpire at the now-closed iconic Patio Restaurant on 21st street in Vero Beach in 1980. (Although it was not yet St. Patrick’s Day, the umpire wore a plastic green party hat). The two actually rolled over the top of the bar until I could get to them and separate them. The umpire brushed himself off. I later had a beer with Davy Lopes of the Dodgers. (As a freelance writer, I had to watch every dime. I could only afford one beer as I helped myself to the Happy Hour free meatballs and cheese appetizers at the Patio).
The next day at breakfast, the hung-over sportswriter approached Max, a super photographer, and me at the Holiday Inn eating table and called me every name in the book before stomping off. PS I think the ump could have taken him. LOL
I also had a chance to sit with my boyhood hero Ted Williams at a Red Sox exhibition game prior to interviewing Tony Perez for an AARP article. Ted told me how he helped support his struggling family during the Great Depression by selling Saturday Evening Post subscriptions door to door. Ted kept score the whole game and entertained me with stories about Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola and others. I was also supposed to interview Carl Yastremski, but he changed his mind and didn’t meet me as planned. RIP, Ted Williams.
PS. At the Dodgertown clubhouse, I had about an hour’s interview and chitchat with L.A. Coach Danny Ozark who lived as a boy on the corner of my boyhood street (Hedwig Street and Walden Avenue). It turned out to be a great conversation by two hometown guys from the same Cheektowaga, NY neighborhood. We knew some of the same neighbors, and I visited my parents on Hedwig street until my Dad died in 1984. Photo of Coach Ozark below:
As I traveled in ’80 with the Dodgers, that’s when I got the idea to train seriously with a personal trainer much of 1980 and try to play games during spring training 1981 with a pro team. The Expos agreed to let me play. I also tried to play quarterback with the Buffalo Bills football team on an assignment for the Buffalo Courier-Express, but crusty Coach Chuck Knox turned me down, adding a couple four-letter words to his blistering refusal. A few years later, I got along wonderfully with Knox successor, Coach Marv Levy.
Below photo: Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey and Nuwer are playing catch with an orange for a photo session for Saturday Evening Post. Max, the photographer, woke me up at the Dodgertown motel before breakfast to use me as his photo assistant.
Years later, Steve Garvey bought Sport Magazine while I worked for the publication as a contributing writer. Mind-boggling, no?
Above: Hank Nuwer and Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, 1980, Dodgertown training camp, Vero Beach, Florida. I lost 35 pounds (almost 230 pounds in this photo) to play at 192 pounds for the Expos in 1981.
Photo shoot. My interview with “Iron Man” Steve Garvey was in the July/August 1980 Saturday Evening Post (below)
WHERE ARE THE DENVER BEARS TODAY?
Former Denver Bears catcher Jerry Fry (below)and slugger Dan Briggs (super guys and funny!) are still kicking at 70;
Dan Briggs is a volunteer college baseball coach. at Capital University. Below, Coach Briggs
Joe Hesketh from Buffalo is still among us, as is second baseman Mike Gates and 6’5″ inch pitcher Rick Ramos–all three super guys.
Hesketh played 10 years in the big leagues for the Expos, Boston and Atlanta.
Terry Francona is still in pro baseball–managing the Cincinnati Reds.
Bears’ manager Felipe Alou was 91 years young last May. In 1963, brothers Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou played in the same game. Felipe, the eldest, is the single living brother as of 2026.
and Coach Don Kessinger is 84–they were both so welcoming to me.
Front office member Bob Gebhard is 83, but then-Montreal manager Jim Fanning is dead now 11 years–they were the men with Montreal who gave me permission to join and play for the team on triple assignments for Denver Magazine, the Buffalo Courier Express Sunday Magazine and ONSAT satellite dish magazine. (I later sold a related essay to Men’s Fitness magazine).
Above: former Montreal Expos pitcher Bob Gebhard and Nuwer. He was a front office exec when I played–he was super helpful and a great guy.
The major leagues went on strike without pay in 1981, but the Denver minor leaguers still cashed paychecks.
Above and Below: Hank Nuwer, age 40, first base (#14), pregame baseball warmup, Indianapolis Clowns vs. Iowa All Stars, Cedar Falls, Iowa, August 1986, Ozark Magazine, It was my 40th birthday day of the game. Iowa beat my Indianaplos Clowns, 1-0. I struck out with a man on third in the 8th inning. The pitcher for Iowa who whiffed me had just signed with the New York Yankees’ organization).
Above: Batting practice, New York Mutuals prior to vintage baseball game against Ozzie Smith’s All Stars, Cooperstown, New York. The entire game was filmed by the Baseball Hall of Fame and excerpts were used for the opening of the Internet program “Discovering Our American Spirit: Finding Common Ground in the National Pastime.” This interactive Internet program, featuring Ozzie Smith, Hank Nuwer, the NY Mutuals and students from San Diego High schools, was filmed live in April 2005 and seen by an estimated 17 million grade school students. Co-sponsored by Ball State University and Professor Roy Weaver who presented Ozzie Smith with BSU award.
Above: Hank Nuwer (red and white vintage cap) and New York Mutuals’ vintage baseball teammates, April 2005, Cooperstown, New York; Nuwer, age 58 1/2. At right is Eric “Express” Miklich, pitcher and baseball historian. We beat Ozzie Smith’s team, and I hit the ball over the trees, stopping at third for a triple with a cramp in one calf. “Sire, you’re a good hitter but you run like you have a piano on your back,” yelled Eric or one of the other teammates. Ugh.
Sadly, at age 58 1/2, I hung up my spikes for the last time in 2005 after the Cooperstown ballgame. I never played again.
The untold story is that I still was recovering from 7 broken ribs, a head injury, and a collapsed lung from a rodeo bullriding accident in October 2004 for a participatory article for Indy Men’s Magazine.
Buffalo SEMI-PRO (1965-1967) Baseball
I enjoyed being captain of my Little League team under Coach Steve Bania, and was captain of Babe Ruth and American Legion teams. But in high school, I was only the backup left fielder for Cheektowaga Central’s Dick Bihr, destined to become a super basketball player and renowned, Hall-of-Fame coach at Buffalo State, my alma mater. I came to Cheektowaga Central as a transfer student midyear after leaving the Diocesan Preparatory Seminary in 1962.
In addition, I played Buffalo (NY) Muny Ball from my college freshman year (1965) until end of my junior year in college. A couple stars were SO much better than most of us (former minor leaguer. Mario Cipriani was one). Cipriani’s brother Frank also played Muny ball in Buffalo. Frank Cipriani previously played for the Kansas City Athletics before moving back to Buffalo. Mario Cipriani was also a business leader who owned the Macaroni Company restaurant.
Other talented Buffalo Muny players were Tim Muhl, Tom Dryja, Roy Macaluso, Benji Bluman, Tom Borschel, Bill Bowdler, Ken Eyermann, Paul Shields, Karl Dickert, Lee Chapman, Pat Cullen, Dan Copeland). All were good sportsmen, and I have stayed in touch with a few of them.
Two other good pitchers I played against in grammar and secondary school were Melvin (Mel) Grubka (he beaned me with a pitch) and Ray Peters (he hit me in the elbow with a pitch). Were they trying to tell me not to dig in at the plate? LOL
Both Grubka and Peters now have passed away.
So has Dan Copeland, a Holland, New York star (from lung cancer) who beat my Kenmore Jays 11-4. He had a shutout much of the game, and I got the first hit–a clean line-drive hit to center, starting a four-run rally and avoiding a shutout).
The best local Buffalo team was the Simon Pures, sponsored by a brewery, and then the Hank Nowaks, an American Legion sponsor. We (Kenmore) won a few games though. See below.
Above, Buffalo State frosh baseball road trip, to play New Paltz State (NY). Teammates Larry Phelps (P), Dave Smolinski (SS), Hank Nuwer (OF) posed at their motel before boarding the bus for a long trip back to Buffalo State.
Co-captain Bill Bowdler, bottom row left; Lee Chapman, top row second from top, Jim Trampert (#17), Nuwer, top row, far right (#46). The photo was taken before the season to meet the school yearbook’s deadline. Some players were added to the roster. Some didn’t make the final cut. Our coach was Mr. George MacDonald. He gave me a job working as gym entrance door check-in security for four years. In summers, I made tuition working in the steel mills even while playing MUNY baseball. With a small American Legion tuition scholarship, I never took out a student loan.
Above: Nuwer and Manager Felipe Alou.
Below, Hank Nuwer, batting practice, Denver Bears, 1981. Full-page photo, Buffalo Courier Express Sunday Magazine.
Above: Hank Nuwer (#2), batting practice, thrown by Felipe Alou, 1981.
Finals – Denver Bears 4 games, Omaha Royals 0
The Denver Bears of the American Association ended the 1981 season with a record of 76 wins and 60 losses, finishing second in the league’s West Division.
The Bears scored 733 runs, best in the league. Denver yielded 666 runs. Dave Hostetler led the squad with 27 home runs, and Dan Briggs walloped 15 or more, too. Dan Briggs drove in 110 runs.
Norm Angelini, Greg Bargar, Dan Briggs, Dave Campbell, Harry Chappas, Hal Dues, Rick Engle, Terry Francona,
Continued…Mike Gates, John Hale, Dave Hostetler, Bob James, Tony Johnson, Wallace Johnson, Skip Lockwood, Brad Mills, Willie Mueller, Dan Norman, Bob Pate, Luis Quintana, Steve Ratzer, Bob Reece, Pat Rooney, Bryn Smith, Chris Smith, John Tamargo, LaRue Washington, Tom Wieghaus and Rich Wortham were all players from the 1981 Denver Bears who played in the Major Leagues during their careers. Felipe Alou served as manager.
Below, Cheektowaga Central High School (NY) varsity baseball.
Above. Hank Nuwer, check-swing. Batting practice, Indpls Clowns.
Indianapolis Clowns–“Nelly” Nelson and “Bobo Small” putting on a comedy act.
Below, Nuwer taking practice swing before at-bat for Indianapolis vs. Iowa All Stars, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 1986
Hank Nuwer and former San Diego pitcher Dave Dravecky
Above. In 2016, Hank’s future wife Gosia from Poland saw her first baseball game. Photo by Emily Metheny.
Nuwer was a keynote NCAA speaker to coaches, athletic directors and university presidents in 2007.
Little League: 1959
Photo by Hank Nuwer: Far far left: Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith; left is New York Mutuals pitching star and vintage baseball historian Eric “Express” Miklich.
New York Mutuals “referee” (umpire) and rooter (female fan). Hank Nuwer photo
Big Tom, Hall of Famer Ozzie (The Wizard) Smith, Speed. Hank Nuwer photo.
Conan O’Brien’s visit to the New York Mutuals is an online classic.
One of my favorite interviews: with participatory journalist/athlete George Plimpton
Orientation evening before the game: Hank Nuwer and Hall of Fame host and staffer, Cooperstown, NY. The staff was amazing and efficient. Our baseball game was shown to millions of school kids by satellite feed.
Mutuals pitching star and vintage baseball historian Eric “Express” Miklich. Eric is a professional speaker and baseball authority.
On the Air: Ozzie Smith and Eric deliver an online lesson. Nuwer photo
Old time referee and Dr. Jeff Arnett, Hall of Fame director of special projects, Hank Nuwer photo.
Hank Nuwer, baseball practice
Hall of Fame ambassador Ozzie Smith and Dr Jeff Arnett, Hall of Fame
Ball State’s Dr. Roy Weaver presents Ozzie Smith an award at post-game banquet. Hank Nuwer photo.
Vintage Baseball at Cooperstown
This video excerpt was part of an ‘Electronic Field Trip,’ sponsored by Ball State University and filmed at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY on April 26, 2005. The event titled, “Discovering Our American Spirit: Finding Common Ground in the National Pastime,” consisted of two one and one half hour segments, broadcast live and hosted by hall of fame player Ozzie Smith. Both programs were viewed by an estimated 17.5 million students in all 50 states and were exclusively dedicated to 19th century baseball. Students were encouraged to call into the live broadcast and ask questions pertaining to 19th century baseball. (excerpt from NY Mutuals Page https://www.19cbaseball.com/legacy-2.html)
Location: Cooper Park in Cooperstown, New York.
Key Participants: Hall of Fame player Ozzie Smith, student Tuyaymya Osuna, and vintage baseball historian Eric Miklich.
Playing right field and covering the game: journalist Hank Nuwer
Program Title: “Discovering Our American Spirit”.
Audience: Reached an estimated 17 million grade school students across North America through live broadcasts.
Demonstrations: Covered the history of the pitcher and how pitching rules and deliveries evolved between 1860 and 1880
The rules of 19th-century vintage base ball
Ball State University uses electronic field trips. Representative was Dr. Roy Weaver
2026: I follow baseball by cheering my grandson Aden who is a starter in varsity baseball and football in Ann Arbor, Michigan.