‘Team Ohio’ Wins 65-over Gold Medal at 2024 Pan-American Masters Games
Submitted by Mark MarLett
“I currently play in the Ohio MSBL baseball league based out of Canton, Ohio. I recently formed a tournament team made up of mainly MSBL players. We played in the International Pan-American Masters Games baseball tournament in Cleveland and won the 65+ Gold medal! Below is the summary of our Gold Medal run.”
A Canton, Ohio-based, Ohio MSBL Senior Baseball League team recently won the Gold Medal in the 2024 Pan-American Masters Games. Team “Ohio” won the 65+ age baseball tournament Gold Medal championship game by a score of 10 to 1. Team Ohio outsourced their opponents in the final three games by a combined score of 42 to 5 all while playing great defense and only committing three errors for the entire tournament.
Outstanding pitching came from a combination of seven pitchers and three outstanding defensive catchers. Offensively, the team hit throughout the entire line-up averaging 12 hits per game with four doubles, three triples and two home runs. Great team effort!
This was the first ever time the International Pan-American Masters games were held in the United States, which was hosted by the City of Cleveland Sports Commission. The eleven-day Olympic-style event is designed for athletes 30 years of age and older who can compete in (24) twenty-four different sporting competitions. There were (5) five baseball divisions playing for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals. Overall, there were 4,000 athletes representing 47 States and 75 different countries.
The baseball tournament Gold Medal games were all played at the Cleveland “Historic League Park” the former home of the Cleveland Spiders and Cleveland Indians from 1891 thru 1946. The current baseball field dimensions are the same as the original ballpark and the location includes a baseball museum.
Cy Young pitched the first game at League Park, Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run, while Satchel Paige, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Bob Feller all played at League Park. The Indians won the 1920 World Series and the Cleveland Buckeyes won the 1945 Negro League World Series, all at League Park.
Team Ohio players included Tony Angelo, Tom Chaboudy, Brad Cisar, Domenick DeCaprio, Kevin Fowler, Dick Griffin, Ken Klinvex, Mike Krzan, Mark MarLett, Kevin Martin, Sam Pitzulo, Craig Pucci, Bill Reed, Ray Riley, and Dan Quigg.