(Galena,IL)--The Galena Hamters drove into Galena today as champions.
Galena beat the Washington Sea Dogs in 5 games to become world series
champions. Several thousand fans (thought to be almost the entire Galena
population) were waiting at the stadium for the Hamster player and coaches
to drive up. Some of the Hamster players gave speeches in a press release
at Hamster stadium, and then everybody retired to the casino at Hamster
stadium for fun and relaxation.
"Yeah, we beat 'em in 5, but it wasn't a massacre," noted first
baseman Brant Brown, "Most of our wins came by 1 run. Our biggest margin
of victory was 3 runs! It was a lot closer than it looked."
Center fielder Kenny Lofton didn't care about the closeness of the
games, "We won. That's all that matters. We could have beat 'em by 50 runs
or 1 run, but the important thing is the 'W' showing up next to our name."
The 1998 Galena Hamsters will be remembered as one of the finest
teams ever assembled in the PVBA. Their mark of 109 wins is a record not
only in PVBL, but in the entire PVBA. Getting the world series trophy is
icing on the cake to a magnificant season that proved to the world that
the best team is the Galena Hamsters.
Galena might be singing it's last song for awhile though. Owner
Matthew Peck has hinted that the team will be developing their younger
players in 1999, and may trade some of the pricey vetern players. This may
mean that the Hamsters won't be able to defend their title, but you may
not want to count them out yet. The Hamsters have an excellent young
nucleus of talent, including Brant Brown, Andruw Jones, Johnny Butler,
Luis Castillo, Kevin Stocker, Jeremi Gonzalez, and Tennessee Jones. If
these players improve upon their 1998 campaigns, 1999 could indeed be a
very happy year in Galena once again.
