A short history of The Gotham Athletics 

Founded by Robert L. Perea during the winter of 2003, this was a team of friends that was formed to compete in the now defunct Zone Baseball League. The first year of competition, consisted of a 15 game season and for the Gotham A’s, no uniforms.Some players showed up in shorts for every game. Perhaps it was the rag-tag look of the team or the fact that many of these friends had played together in little league and high school, but the A’s did not lose one game all year.A 15-0 regular season was followed by a 3-0 postseason.For manager Robert Perea and Assistant Coach James Agro, two men who have been playing together since T-Ball, it was a sweet moment. They had made it to the championship game together 3 times as they grew up, and were never able to surpass that final obstacle.Finally, in charge of their own team they were able to experience glory.

The following year, 2005, the A’s went into the season with high hopes and uniforms! An anonymous sponsor funded the team and 13 uniforms were purchased with someone’s generosity.The A’s, now, not only played well but also looked good doing it. At least they looked good for the first half of the season.The A’s were still playing quality ball but injuries were starting to hit the roster.A roster of about 16 guys, with injuries hitting hard was reduced to 10 by the time playoffs arrived.Of those ten, only 8 managed to show for their first playoff game, and yet these 8 players pulled together to win.The following game however, was a different story.Only 6 healthy players were available. Hence 2 injured players were asked to sacrifice their bodies for the good of the team. Even with a valiant effort, the A’s could not play baseball with 6 guys on the field and two other’s who could not run beyond a jog.The A’s lost their playoff match-up and were done for the 2005 season.

2006 was a year of change, not only for the A’s but for the league they played in.The league was about to collapse and three men from another team decided to take up the reigns, re-name the league and develop plan for an ever-expanding, more competitive league, named the NYCMBL. The A’s, of course jumped at the chance to continue playing baseball. 2006 also brought about a slight overhaul of the roster. Through some scouting and the addition of friends the A’s were able to not only maintain, but also expand on a team that had for two years been the cream of the crop of the Zone league, and looked to do the same in the NYCMBL. The new faces helped ease the transition of a more competitive type of baseball. The A’s once again played well during the season. Baseball is the one sport where teams can be the best with a winning percentage of just .600. The A’s achieved that for the third year in a row. In the playoffs they were able to easily dispatch their first round foe, and after a gutsy performance in round two (losing game 1 and then winning games 2 and 3), they found themselves in familiar territory- playing for the championship! Their foe was the same team that had been instrumental in creating the NYCMBL. A best of five series made it all the way to game 5. The A’s were without their best pitcher, and one of the top pitchers in the league, for the whole series, and yet they played the series to a deciding fifth game. In that fifth game, the A’s #2 starter, Brendan Thomas (who pitched a beauty 9 inning 2-0 performance in game 3)started off shaky and ended in the 3rd inning by being ejected. Other pitchers were brought in to try and keep the bleeding to a minimum, but before anyone could comprehend what had happened, the A’s were down by 12 runs. With 3 innings left the A’s began another gutsy performance. They brought their game back from the dead and started hitting, and fielding and pitching. By the time the 9th inning rolled around a 12 run lead was now a 3-run lead. The final inning saw another 1-2-3 inning by a hodgepodge of A’s pitching. The opponent had their ace (who had pitched the full game the day before to take the series to a fifth game), in to try and close out the victory and championship. He gave up a few hits and got a few outs. Finally with 2 outs and men on 2nd and 3rd, David Trager, one of the newest members on the team and perhaps the fastest guy in the league, came up to the plate. He laced a line drive into right center field.There was a chance for an inside the park HR. The right fielder running  toward center field dove and caught the screamer. The game was over, the A’s 2006 season was over.

2007 brought even more expansion into this startup league and about a 35 game season. The ace of the staff pitched game 1 of the year, lost 2-1, and could not throw another pitch all season. The starting centerfielder started the year on the DL and when he came back in mid-summer could not swing the bat from his natural side, and was forced to become a switch hitter. One of the top hitters on the team could not swing a bat or throw a ball due to the recovery of off-season shoulder surgery. A new player, fast becoming a star on the team, injured his back after 4 games and needed to take the year off with back surgery and recovery. He was about to be slotted into the 3rd spot in the lineup. Other minor injuries, and LONG travel arrangements by some players who were smacking the ball, further weakened the team. BY time most of the dust had settles, and only 3 weeks remained in the season, the A’s found themselves, many games under .500 and many games out of the playoffs. To even have a chance to make the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, a streak not matched by any other team from the Zone and NYCMBL leagues, the A’s needed a miracle.The A’s won 7 out of their remaining 8 games and got help from other team’s losses. Backing into the playoffs may not have been how the A’s planned it, but the playoffs were once again a reality and now a whole new season began. Round 1 of the playoffs had the last seeded A’s facing the # 3 team in the league. The best of 3 series didn’t need a third game as the A’s, revitalized by the late season play, and the return of some injured players, swept their way to round 2 where their challenge would be that of a David vs. Goliath.The Latin Flavor were 28-3 for the year and were primed to make their playoff run an undefeated affair.The A’s knew they had a chance and showed their grit and the quality of their # 2 started by taking game one by a score of 5-3.The #3 starter, who had been pitching like an ace during the final month and a half of the season, was given the daunting task of facing an opposing pitcher who just finished playing Division 1 baseball.For 4 innings, Argenis Rosado all but matched the lefty out of Yale,ending the frame losing 1-0.It was time for the lights to come on as the sun had gone down.Although losing the game the A’s felt they could break through and pull off the upset of the year.The lights did not go on for about an hour and by the time the game was re-started Rosado was cold,his breaking pitches ceased to move and the A’s had lost their momentum and in the end they lost the game.Game three featured the A’s # 4 starter,who for the first half of the year pitched like a #1,but towards the latter stages of the season had lost his stuff.He, sadly, did not regain it in time for this decisive third game.The game was over after the 2nd inning and the A’s season was at an end.The Latin Flavor, for their part went on to win the whole championship without losing another game all year. Their final postseason record was 7-1, that one loss coming to the A’s who actually finished the 2007 postseason with a record of 3-2.

2008 is about to begin and with it comes some more new faces and the loss of some of the regulars.The A’s will look slightly different as they face a brand new challenge.Division AA.The upper echelon of teams make up this ‘superdivision’.The A’s and 11 other teams will vie to become the champion of the best of the best.Old foes return- teams they have met in the playoffs during the past few years, and new foes will be met.This is the first year in their history that the A’s come into a season as absolute underdogs.The A’s are a gutsy team, and have managed to win before when everyone picked against them.They have overcome adversity and seem to be completely healthy for the first time in 3 years.Their ace,Gary Gaskin, has plans to throw his first balls off a mound in a year as he looks to rebound, and regain the form that made him a cy young contender during the first two years of Gotham A’s baseball.While everyone will be picking against the A’s once again, they are out to show that while they may not be loaded with division 1 players and may not have scouted and lured the best players from other teams in the league, the A’s have a plan of action, have the heart and have the Players to get it done this year and for years to come.