Baseball

=Baseball=

By: Alex Runzo and Jake Arehart

Summary
The baseball team was originally the Baseball Club. In the Baseball Club, the members watched videos about baseball and listened to speakers from the area. Soon after this, the group started to actually play baseball. The first competitive season was in the spring of 1939. Since the founding of the baseball team at Belleville West, the team has won two state championships.

History
The BTHS’s first season of baseball began in the spring of 1939. The Maroons were coached by F.J. Friedi and completed their season with 12 wins and 6 losses. Despite their lack of experience, the Maroons would go on and win the State Championship Title in only their second year of having a baseball team. From 1941-1945,the BTHS baseball team won their regional tournament but then went on to lose in the sectional tournament each year. The team decided it was time for a change. Friedi was fired after 6 fairly successful seasons and E.G. Gunderson was hired to coach the Maroons. In Gunderson’s first season as head coach in 1946, the Maroons went 18-4 and made it to the State Tournament, where the team from Belleville won the State Championship for the second time in school history. In their following season, the Maroons again won the regional title but lost in the sectional tournament. Sadly, Coach Gunderson resigned after two seasons and BTHS hired Al “Boots” Budde to coach the Maroons. Budde would lead the Maroons from 1948-1965. In those years, the Maroons won two more State Championships in 1949 and 1954. The BTHS baseball program won their regional tournament every year with Coach Budde at the helm. The Maroons made it to the State Tournament in 1959 but lost in the championship game. Budde would coach the Maroons for four more seasons until BTHS split into East and West. In 1966, Belleville Township High School West hired Chuck Hasenstab to coach the baseball program. Hasenstab would coach the Maroons for 35 years from 1966-2001. In his coaching career at West, Hasenstab would compile 647 total wins and lead the Maroons to twelve regional championships, five sectional championships, and five quarterfinal appearances. Coach Hasenstab was forced to resign in 2001 due to illness. Belleville West then hired Lee Meyer to coach the baseball program in 2002. Meyer is still the coach today and has a record of 176 wins and 74 losses. Meyer led the Maroons to two regional championships in 2005 and 2007.

Here is a link to the records of all the Belleville West Baseball Teams:

Coach Hasenstab
Charles “Chuck” Hasenstab Jr. was born on March 10, 1941, in Belleville Illinois. Hasenstab attended Cathedral High School in Belleville. He was signed by the Milwaukee Braves for $25,000 in 1959. Hasenstab spent five years in the minor leagues until he returned to school to pursue a teaching career. Hasenstab later became an English teacher at Belleville West. In 1966, Hasenstab was hired as the baseball coach at Belleville West. He coached the Maroons for 35 seasons and only had two losing seasons. In those 35 seasons as head coach, Hasenstab won a total 647 wins, which is the fifth highest total in state history. Hasenstab is also a member of the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Belleville Hilgards American Legion Hall of Fame. Hasenstab led the Maroons to two second place finishes in the State Tournament and three other appearances. Hasenstab coached the only professional baseball player to ever come out of Belleville West, Brian Daubach, and has coach numerous other players that went on to play in college. Hasenstab retired in 2001 after he found out he had cancer. Chuck Hasenstab died on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at the age of 65 due to a lengthy battle with cancer.

Professional Athletes
Belleville West has produced several college and minor league baseball players but has had only one player reach the major leagues. Brian Daubach was the only MLB player that attended Belleville West. This is the story of Daubach's playing career:

"Daubach was selected by the Mets in the 17th round of the 1990 amateur draft. He toiled for seven years in the Mets' minor league system without breaking through to the majors before being granted free agency. In [|1997], he signed with the [|Florida Marlins]organization and made his major league debut in 1998. Later he played for the [|Boston Red Sox] ([|1999]-[|2002], [|2004]) and [|Chicago White Sox] ([|2003]).

He started [|2005] with the [|Norfolk Tides], a Triple-A affiliate of the Mets in the [|International League]. On June 16, 2005, he finally made his debut with the club that drafted him fifteen years earlier. He played for the [|Memphis Redbirds], the AAA-affiliate of the [|St. Louis Cardinals] in 2006.

Daubach's best seasons were with the Red Sox; he averaged 21 homers and 75 RBI per year, and gained a reputation as a " [|Dirt Dog]" for his style of play. He later received a World Series Championship ring as a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. In his seven-season major league career, he compiled a .259 [|batting average] with 93 [|home runs] and 333 [|RBI] in 661 [|games].

On April 8, 2008 Daubach represented the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox during the ring ceremony for their 2007 Championship season."

Today, Brian Daubach is a current minor league baseball manager.