When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the PIAA to cancel the 2020 spring sports seasons, Bob Johnston took it upon himself to do something about it.
Johnston is a former assistant baseball coach at East Allegheny who has also coached football at several high schools throughout the area. Although his days in the dugout are behind him, something about seeing so many kids miss out on their entire season didn’t sit right with him.
“I had been friends with the coaches from Gateway High School for many years,” Johnston said. “And talking to an individual who is an assistant coach, Mort Cape — he’s 75 years old and a baseball fanatic, and he felt bad for the kids to have their season canceled, so we were trying to think of alternative ways to get these individuals to play some games.”
Once he realized that most of Pennsylvania would be entering the green phase of reopening sometime in June, Johnston came up with the idea to form the Western Pennsylvania Baseball League, a summer baseball league unlike any other.
Forget about a commissioner — coaches run the show. Win-loss records? Nobody’s counting. Pitch counts, mandatory rest days and mercy rules are out the window, too. The league has no roster limits and allows free substitutions, and teams may bat anywhere from nine to 12 players in their starting lineup.
Even players whose high school communities aren’t participating in the league are still free to take part, so long as another team is willing to roster them. The goal, after all, is to allow all high school-age players in the area to salvage their lost season — including those who recently graduated.
“You don’t have to commit to 14 or 15 [players] and play with them for the summer,” Johnston said. “Hey, you know a kid who wants to play baseball, and you need him for your game? Go get him.”
Johnston’s plan quickly evolved into a massive undertaking, but he proved to be up for the challenge — and he didn’t make it happen alone.
Along with Cape, Johnston enlisted help from Gateway head coach Mark Wardzinski and the rest of his staff during the planning stages. He then reached out to Bill Chruscial, the head of an umpires association in the area, and Geno Sedlak, the president of the Allegheny South American Legion post, to help find enough teams and umpires to put together a league from scratch.
Johnston initially hoped to recruit six to eight teams for the league, but as word got out, more and more calls and emails came in from teams looking to join. Once the deadline to enter had passed, the WPBL had a final tally of 53 varsity teams and 10 junior varsity teams for its inaugural season, each representing communities associated with WPIAL high school programs.
“The more the merrier, which means more kids are playing baseball,” Johnston said. “The more we can do for the kids and their exposure and helping them is great.”
Teams were given the flexibility to schedule as few or as many games as they liked during the five-week regular season, with most games taking place Monday-Thursday at the home team’s high school field. Since wins and losses won’t be tracked during this stage, coaches are viewing it as an extended tune-up period for the players after several months away from the game.
Following the regular season, the league will hold a one-week playoff tournament beginning July 27, which every team is eligible to enter. The season will then culminate in a showcase and championship game the first week of August, which Johnston hopes to stage at Wild Things Park, the usual site of the WPIAL championships.
“That’s something I said to Bob at the beginning — I’m fine with not keeping standings, but at the end there has to be a championship or at least an ultimate goal to get to,” said Kiski Area coach Aaron Albert. “That’s definitely something we’re looking forward to.”
Opening day for the WPBL took place June 17, and a clash between players from Gateway and Norwin at Gateway High School served as the evening’s main attraction. Gateway prevailed, 9-4, in front of about 150 spectators and multiple media crews.
Johnston and his fellow organizers laid out strips of red tape six feet apart to encourage social distancing among spectators. Only umpires are required to wear masks, but some coaches have mandated that their players wear them to the field when arriving, though not during the game.
“We had a big turnout in the stands, and it just felt like another high school game. The competitiveness was definitely there,” said Anthony Cammuso, a pitcher/infielder and team captain who recently graduated from Gateway. “I think it has potential to be the closest thing to the WPIAL season you can get.”
The next night, Kiski Area made the trip to Monroeville and knocked off Gateway on its home field in a battle between traditional section rivals, 8-4.
“We’ve been waiting to get some revenge at Gateway for a while, so I think my kids were pretty tuned up to get it,” Albert said. “It’s a healthy respect for those guys.”
Although his mission when forming the league was simply to give players back a share of their season that was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnston said many of the coaches have already expressed a desire to keep the WPBL around for next summer and beyond.
“These coaches just wanted to see their kids play baseball, and they have been so wonderful to work with,” Johnston said. “They see this as not a one-time thing just because of COVID-19 … I give all the credit in the world to the coaches themselves, because they are the ones who embraced the idea.”
Steve Rotstein: srotstein@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SteveRotstein.
First Published: June 26, 2020, 10:30 a.m.
