MEMORY GAMES

The Middle Village Roller Hockey League's Home Service Beer Avalanche in the Mites Division, as photographed 10 years ago. Where are they now? Who remembers the Middle Village Roller Hockey League?

Unfortunately, the league is now gone, but we're certain that the memories will live on.

Recently, we spoke with Eileen Moloney, who headed the MVRHL. She noted that at its peak, the youth league had 300 or 400 participants.

What proved to be the last season of the league, which originally was based in the schoolyard at P.S. 49 before moving to a new rink in Juniper Valley Park, took place about two years ago.

Moloney attributed the decline that ultimately ended league operations to an increasing number of high schools having ice hockey programs. For some students, playing for their school held the additional lure of a possible scholarship.

But regardless of how skilled certain players might be, one thing was true for all: the more youth programs in which they participated, the greater the burden for their parents.

Phil Rizzuto and Mickey Steinmann, former teammates at Richmond Hill High School, were on a barnstorming team, the Minor League All-Stars, that played at Ridgewood's Stahl-Meyer Oval/Stadium (at right), about two months before this photo was taken in 1939. This is a view of Cooper Avenue, looking east from a point about 250 feet east of Irving Avenue. "It becomes very expensive and there's a great deal of running around," Moloney observed.

"It's disappointing, but I understand," she said, regarding the league's demise.

Certainly, many local hockey players grew up with the MVRHL.

Jason Black is one of them. Although injuries later ended his playing days, the Glendale resident has nothing but great memories of his years with the MVRHL.

He went from playing, to instructing younger players to serving as a referee.

"I played until I was thirteen or fourteen, then coached beginners and refereed before I left to attend the University of New Hampshire," he recalled.

"We would go up to the schoolyard and play—to the extent that we had no time to get into trouble," Jason observed.

As for his non-playing involvement, he had found it "very rewarding" to be able to give back to the league by coaching and serving as an official.

"As a referee, I'd see someone whom I had coached when he was a young kid and had trouble just standing on skates," Jason remarked. "Now here he was, skating and playing—and maybe I had something to do with it. That gave me a certain amount of satisfaction."

From our files of previously published sports photos, we have a team picture of the 1999 Home Service Beer Avalanche team in the MVRHL's Mites Division.

Where are they now?

Anyone who spots a familiar face or has some MVRHL memories, consider this an invitation to share them here.

If someone can provide all the names—players and coach—we will run the photo again, with everyone properly identified.

* * *

Over the years, readers have cited some names of ballplayers who were well-known in the area for playing on amateur, semi-pro, minor or—in a very few cases—major league teams.

Back in 2001, George T. Steinmann responded to a story that appeared as an "Our Neighborhood the Way It Was" feature regarding his uncles, who had played with the Lorial Athletic Club.

One of the uncles, Martin "Mickey" Steinmann, had been friends with Phil Rizzuto. The Steinmann family lived in Glendale, across the street from the Rizzutos. Mickey went to Richmond Hill High School, where Phil was his teammate on the baseball team in 1934 and 1935.

Mickey Steinmann was regarded as the best ballplayer in the family. According to George T. Steinmann, he would have gone on to play baseball as a major leaguer with the New York Giants, but developed a stomach condition while serving with the U.S. Army during World War II. As a result, he was never able to pursue his baseball career after the war, according to George T. Steinmann.

He also stated that when Mickey had his tryout with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, "he hit one over the roof."

In response to George T. Steinmann's letter, the columnist who was known as the Old Timer at that time responded. An edited version of his response appears below.

The Old Timer: Suydam Oval was a baseball field on what had been part of the Nicholas Wyckoff farm. The land was rented from the Wyckoff Estate. It was next to the DeKalb Avenue electric trolley car barns. The entrance to the field was on Suydam Street, and the field was bounded by Willoughby Avenue, Onderdonk Avenue, Hart Street and Cypress Avenue.

The Lorial Athletic Club played there from 1923 through 1932. In 1923, they were the amateur baseball champions of New York City and from 1924 through 1932, they were a light semipro team. H. Steinmann and C. Steinmann played for the Lorials. They were older brothers of Martin "Mickey" Steinmann, who played for Richmond Hill High School with Phil Rizzuto. Mickey Steinmann was an excellent hitter who later played minor league ball in the New York Giants farm system and then semi-pro ball.

When the minor league season was over in 1939, some of the players from Glendale and vicinity formed a barnstorming team called the Minor League All-Stars. Some of the players on this team were Mickey Steinmann, Phil Rizzuto, Herb Karpel, Ralph Benzenberg, H. Steinmann and J. Steinmann, etc. On Sunday, Oct. 8, 1939, they played a doubleheader against the Stahl-Browns, a heavy Queens Alliance team, at Stahl-Meyer Oval at Cooper and Wyckoff avenues in Ridgewood.

Mickey Steinman batted cleanup for the All-Stars and in the first game went 4-for-4 with one home run. In the second game he batted 2-for-2.

The following Sunday, on Oct. 15, 1939, the Minor League All- Stars played a doubleheader against the Bushwicks at Dexter Park in Woodhaven. The All-Stars won the first game with Mickey Steinmann driving in the winning run in the 15th inning. The second game was called at the end of the second inning with the All-Stars leading, 4-0.

With reference to Mickey Steinmann hitting a ball over the roof at the Polo Grounds when he was trying out for the New York Giants farm system, about 1938 or 1939, The Sporting News ran a series of articles about who hit the longest home run at each of the major league ball parks. "Shoeless Joe" Jackson was credited with hitting the longest home run at the Polo Grounds with his shot going over the roof.

At the time, Jackson was a member of the Cleveland Indians, facing Russ Ford of the Yankees in a June 1913 game.

According to an account, Jackson "golfed" a pitch which wasn't very far above his ankle. The sweeping swing launched the ball in an arch that sent it soaring over the right-field grandstand.

In later years and probably with a livelier baseball, Joe Adcock and Lou Brock hit home runs into the centerfield bleachers at the Polo Grounds.

From my research on baseball, in my opinion Mickey Steinmann was the finest hitter to come out of Glendale, although Phil Rizzuto eventually reached the ultimate, namely, the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

Accounts of some of the Lorial Athletic Club games were published in the Long Island Daily Press. Microfilm of this newspaper is available for research at the Queens Borough Public Library, 89-11 Merrick Blvd. in Jamaica at their Long Island Room (telephone 1-718-990-0770). See Thursday, August 11, 1932 for a doubleheader between the Lorials and the Rockaway Park American Legion Post with H. Steinmann playing infield and C. Steinmann playing catcher for the Lorials.

Richmond Hill High School played their P.S.A.L. home games at Dexter Park. Accounts of the games were published in the Long Island Daily Press. As previously noted, Mickey Steinmann played for Richmond Hill High in 1934 and 1935, as did Ralph Benzenberg. Phil Rizzuto played for this school in 1934, 1935 and 1936. Herb Karpel played for the school in 1935 and 1936 and possibly also in 1934.

After World War II, Mickey Steinmann played the outfield and batted clean-up for the Union City Reds in 1946. This club was a white semi-pro team and a member of the Metropolitan Baseball Association. They played their home games at Roosevelt Stadium in Union City, N.J. It had a seating capacity of 15,000.

Ralph Benzenberg also played with the Reds. Other members of this association were the Bushwicks in Woodhaven; the Mount Vernon Scarlets in Westchester County; Cedarhurst from Long Island; Springfield Greys from Springfield Gardens; the Queens Club from Woodside; Jim Barton's Night Hawks from New Hyde Park, Long Island and the Freeport Gulls from Freeport, Long Island.

***

To share a local sports-related recollection, send letters to Memory Games, c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 860299, Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386-0299, or via e-mail at b.mitchell@times newsweekly.com.