Jordan's Larca lets loose on state board

NEW ULM -- When the Jordan Brewers come to Fairfax to meet the New Ulm Kaiserhoff in the semifinals of the Class B State Amateur Baseball Tournament, you know two things.

One is that Jordan is a solid baseball team.

The other is that their manager, Charlie Larca, is never at a loss for words, especially when it involves the amateur program in Minnesota and the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Board.

It did not take long for the veteran manager Larca to vent some frustration over not only the way the state tournament is run but also about the men who run it and oversee the amateur program.

"The way that they have the state tournament set up is not very bright," he said in an interview Monday in regards to his team's upcoming game with the Kaiserhoff. "First of all, there should be two separate brackets (in the state Class B tournament) like they have in the College World Series. Now, as you start playing these games, especially in the loser's bracket, you could play one game in Sleepy Eye in the afternoon and then drive to Fairfax in another game. What the state board should do, but of course in requires too much intelligence, is bracket things up like the College World Series. You have eight regions which you bring in 16 teams, You take four winners and four losers and put them in one bracket. And you put four winners and four losers in another bracket and they stay in those brackets. They play down in those brackets. So the first week, bracket 'A' would play all of their games in Sleepy Eye and bracket 'B' would play all of their games in Fairfax. This way, fans don't have to drive back and forth.

"The next weekend, you reverse the sites where 'B' would play at Sleepy Eye and 'A' would play at Fairfax but that is too easy. Then you would not have those two games at the end for the (state) championship.

"This is amateur ball and to pile all of those games in like they do is ridiculous," said Larca. "When 'B' (baseball class) started, it was supposed to be the Cadillac of the state tournament. You get punished to go into 'B'.

"Take your section (4B). Nothing personal, but it stunk. It was terrible. You got four teams in your section. we have six teams in our sections ; there is no consistency there. To take a team like Green Isle, and nothing personal against Green Isle and Victoria, and to put them Class 'B' is ridiculous."

Larca said that the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Board, which makes the rules, sets up the sections and the state tournament is "a bunch of old men on that thing that, other than a few of them, that have not been in touch with the game. The only board member that I have seen at a (regular season) baseball game is Fred Roufs of Mankato. I am not saying that that is good or bad, but at least when he can formulate opinions when he makes a vote.

"Number two, why is being a member of the state board a life-time membership?" Larca asked. "To get new ideas and to get things better instead of worse, you don't keep the same people on the board all of the time. That (state board term) should be a two- or three-term thing and then you are done. It is not fair that one person can stay on the (state board) for as long as he wants; that is not right. Where do they (state board) get off voting for somebody. Let's face it, eight or nine of them get in a room (to vote) and the 'old buddy' system still lives on. They get all the votes; the votes all go the same way.

"A guy like me should be on the state board. I have got 550 wins as a manager; I have been in this for 20 years and have more state tournament wins that anyone else. I have been umpiring major college (D-I University of Minnesota and Big Ten) for 29 years. Not once have they (state board) come over and asked us, who are in the trenches day in and day out, what should we do."

Larca also was not happy with the umpiring set-up that the state board has for the tournament, nor the quality of some of the men in blue.

"They had made some strides to get a little bit better in umpiring; they had sent out some forms and this and that," Larca said. "But I don't know what you have seen as far as umpiring in the state tournament. Then you get some of the umpires that we had at Sleepy Eye, it was pathetic. There is no reason for that especially when the state board charges every host an extra $2,000 for umpires in their bid. Where does that money go? They (umpires) aren't getting paid that much more money."

Larca said the state board "has never come to me, not bragging but I am one of the better umpires to come out of Minnesota. but do they come to me to ask me or some other people to help them with umpiring? No because they think that they know what they are doing. How can you know what you are doing if you don't go to watch any games?"

Larca said that one of his biggest concerns is that the right people are not getting the vote when it comes to who is a state board member. "The people who should vote are the coaches, the region commission and the league officers. Once you are taken in the state board, who have two terms and then you are done. If you want to make a waiting period to get back, fine. I have seen one member get in because of politics; he is a jerk. They say 'come to our meeting.' Heck, they control their meetings."

He was also irritated about the bid process for the state tournament. "For me, if Jordan never gets another state amateur tournament; that is fine for me. It will be a long day in May when a town like Jordan with one of the top five programs in the state amateur-wise; why do we have to go there and kiss their butt."

Larca said that there are "too many teams in the state tournament now. If they want to keep this 'B' and 'C' thing, here should be 16 'B' teams and eight 'C' teams. The tournament runs 11 days over three weekends. The state board has to realize that the reason that the parks are packed or not is because of the fans, not them. The way that the state board treats the people of the towns (hosting) is ridiculous.

"How can you call this a square tournament when I have played two games? I have won two games. What have I earned? If you have one good pitcher like Dundas last year (Dana Kiecker), you can run through it. Every team should have to play two games each weekend. It is terribly-run tournament."

TWO PITCHERS, SAME RESULTS: Two pitchers from New Ulm amateur baseball teams have combined to set some impressive totals this season. Chris Rupert of the Kaiserhoff is 13-0 while Jeremy Wieland of the Brewers is 12-2 for a 25-2 combined mark. In two state tournament games each, they have combined to fan 38 batters in 34 innings (Wieland 20 and Rupert 18). Rupert's ERA is 2.25 while Wieland's ERA is 0.50.

As a team, the Brewers are hitting .421 in the state tournament while the "K" is at .269. The Brewers have some awesome batting averages in their three state tournament wins led by Corey Schaefer, who is hitting .600 (6-for-10). Tony Burt is at .583 with Brad Weber at .500. Three other players (Scott Schaefer, Chris Peters and Dan O'Brien) are over .400.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer