2025 MSBL/MABL Player Profile: Jeff Daniels, Arizona MSBL
2025 MSBL/MABL Player Profile: Jeff Daniels, Arizona MSBL
By Steve LaMontia-Carlentini, Director of Communications
Jeff Daniels is a fortunate 65-year-old, as he gets to play on the beautiful fields cumulatively known as the Arizona MSBL, located in Phoenix and surrounding areas, and home to the MSBL World Series every fall.
We recently asked league presidents to supply us with the names of people within their leagues who are real difference makers and would be someone we would enjoy spotlighting for our MSBL members.
Joe O’Brien is the League President of the Arizona MSBL, and was quick to respond. Joe’s recommendation is displayed below.
“Jeff Daniels has been a staple in the league for many years. His Mudcat team is a solid contender every year. Jeff is the no BS type of leader and player. He does everything right, his payments are never an issue, the rosters are on time, and he always supplies the correct stats and scores.
Jeff knows the rules and understands what the AZMSBL brand is. He knows we play on the best fields in the country. He respects that and he drives his players to adhere to that, too. Jeff is also a great competitor who knows and understands the game.
He elevates our league. If I could generate a model player and manager, Jeff would be my first-round draft pick.” Joe O’Brien
We were able to catch up with Jeff to discuss his amazing attention to detail and his prowess in leading the successful Mudcats.
“My older brother Kevin brought me into the league with the Silver Bullets around 15 years ago; that team became the Mudcats of today somewhere around 2011,” explained Jeff. “I took the usual route of softball after college, but Kevin and others kept working on me to get back to the real game. He eventually wore me down, and I came out and haven’t left the field since.” They began in the 35-over division, aged up to the 45s, and currently reside in the competitive 55+ National division. (6-1, as of May 27th)
Jeff didn’t take over the Mudcats’ leadership role until the last five years. It isn’t something that was in his crosshairs, but circumstances played a role.
“I took over the last five years because Kevin was involved in a serious auto accident in 2020, and missed nearly two years away from the game . I learned a lot about managing the club from Kevin and others over the years, while leveraging some of my experience in managing successful teams in business.”
We have been extremely fortunate to have found success fielding teams with such great guys, it makes managing so much easier and gratifying. Our team chemistry has and continues to be off the charts.”
Our guys like one another and support each other as ‘Mudcat Brothers’ on and off the field. I believe that is one of, if not the primary reason for our success over the past several years, including three championships, and six championship series
Jeff characterizes himself as a ‘utility’ player.
“I will still play a little infield or outfield, depending on who shows up in the parking lot! An emergency fill-in” he joked.
Jeff and Kevin’s roots take them back to Illinois, living just south of Chicago, where there was plenty of whiffle ball, rubber ball, and sandlot games played until the family moved to Arizona in the 70’s. “We found out what a great place Arizona is-we could play baseball and other sports year-round.”
The Arizona MSBL sports two sessions annually, appropriately named the Spring and Summer leagues.
“Our Spring session is usually from March into mid-April and involves 10 to 12 games. It is sort of a tune-up for the Summer League. We generally have night games in the summer for obvious heat-related reasons, but in the Spring, teams can get away with some daytime Sunday games.”
Since Jeff literally lives and plays at the site of the MSBL World Series, does he participate?
“I tried playing in the Series once, but it didn’t work out for me. I was still working at that time and found it difficult to make the time commitment that the Series warrants. Some of our guys get picked up by other teams or have put together teams and they love playing in the Series. Maybe I’ll be fortunate to give it another try someday.
Jeff is now retired from a career that included the State of Arizona courts system, i working with state and national associations of alternative sentencing,. He was also involved in the rapidly-growing hotel technology field, which was booming in the 90s.
“In the 90s, people were still filling out a paper cards when registering at a hotel, so our company invested in operational the automation of hotels, initially involving about 6,500 locations. 
We hired IBM and other technology partners, providing all of the hotel front desk hardware and training. We were able to automate all of the reporting and make running a hotel smoother and more efficient. This also improved the experience for hotel guest. Later, I was able to work with teams to further automate internet distribution for hotels; When you punch up a Trivago or one of those sites to book hotels, I’m proud to say our teams had hand in putting that all together..”
We asked Jeff about the hardest part of managing a successful team and what keeps them together for the long run.
“As a ‘skipper, it’s not as simple as just filling out a lineup card, you have multiple roles. Besides being an on field manager, you are also a ‘GM ‘- handling all administrative stuff, including player movement/transition. You’re a traveling secretary, making sure everyone gets to the right field, on the right date, and at the right time.
You are a clubhouse manager (a “clubbie”), making sure we have water, gum, first aid supplies for injuries, etc. It’s a lot of work, but I’m sure every manager would tell you the same thing-it’s all part of the support of the ballclub and they are happy to do it.
As for our club, we aren’t a win-at-all-costs team. We want to be competitive, but our primary goal is to have fun-on and off the field. We hold post game ‘press conference’ after every game–We have a Kangaroo court and post season events (a golf invitational tournament and an annual bat burning ceremony each year to close out the season). Given the way we approach the game and our relationships we have guys who want to come play with us. We have benefited greatly from the influx of new and experienced players over the years. . Even guys who may be injured or can’t go full speed, they still want to come out and hang with the guys and help out where they can. We also respect each other, our opponents and the game itself. That’s a huge benefit for us.”
We then asked Jeff if there is a special ‘Mudcat’ moment that sticks out in all of the years of the team’s history. I anticipated what he would say, and Jeff was right on cue as expected.
“There isn’t really one moment. Our team’s accomplishments are my favorite moments, not a single event. Some players are way into their stats to look good for potential World Series teams that come courting. And that’s okay; that works for them. But we’ve found success with the approach of team first. Everybody contributes and everybody wins.
I also appreciate that our team recognizes that there are no scouts waiting in the parking lot harvesting talent. We play because we love the game. And we are blessed to play on terrific facilities.
Like many others, our age makes us more appreciative to be able to play a game that we have loved since we were kids.” The Arizona MSBL has served us well in that we are very fortunate to be able to still get out and play this game we loved since we were kids.”