This squad found that focusing on team chemistry was a winning solution

When Mike Pahuta was putting together a team for the Caribbean Winter Baseball Tournament, he scouted temperament, as well as talent. He needed utility players, guys who typically played shortstop, but would sprint just as eagerly into left field, or perhaps even pitch an inning. Pahuta needed players who would fit the culture of the New Jersey 40s baseball team.

The tournament was going to be a four-day grind, and Pahuta wanted players as versatile as a Swiss Army knife, so if a muscle got pulled, or an arm got sore, he could plug a hole with confidence. He also wanted players who could quickly become friends and keep their poise. "We had a core of players, and we tried to add some talented players to put together the best team we could for the tournament," said Pahuta, 51, a manager/pitcher/infielder who works for a New Jersey consumer electronics company. "But we also turned down talented guys if we thought they didn't fit. "There were some good players who found out we were going to Puerto Rico, but when they called I said we're full if I didn't think they were right. We needed guys who were willing to move around and play different spots and could handle things."

The 17-man roster Pahuta put together handled things well enough to win the 13th annual tournament, which is typically dominated by local teams with Latin players. The 40s went 4-1 in the round-robin portion of the six-team tournament and then won the semifinal and final to finish with a 6-1 record and snatch the trophy.

They played seven nine-inning games in four days. It wasn't until the final on Feb. 18, in the 7-3 win over the Boston Cardinals, did the 40s, who actually include some players in their 50s, start to show their age. "There were some pulled hamstrings, some guys started breaking down, but we hung in there," said Dave Baril, an outfielder at play, a New Jersey engineer at work.

The championship was good for the soul, as well as the ego. The New Jersey 40s dedicated the title to former teammate Al Lopez, a shortstop who died in a workplace accident two years ago. Pahuta said Lopez was a 57-year old who played like he was 35. It was fitting the tournament was dedicated to him considering the 40s had to act like they were in their 30s to survive the old-age traps of a four-day tournament spread over several fields in several towns.

"I put 850 miles on a van in the four days," Baril said. "We would play one game and then drive an hour, or an hour and a half, to another park for our second game. Nobody went out on the town at night; we were too busy trying to recover physically and get ready for the next day."

The 40s needed their poise even before they got to Puerto Rico. Some of the players sat on tarmacs of snowed-in east coast airports for hours trying to get to the tournament. A catcher's equipment was lost on the flight down and a day late in arriving. The playing fields were typically firstrate, but there was an adjustment to be made because of the artificial turf. Fly balls to the outfield took kangaroo hops and the heat radiated off the field, pushing temps into the 90s.

You don't think chemistry or poise mattered for this baseball tournament? Baril said Pahuta made a key move early in the tournament that could have had a negative impact on morale, as well as winning. The New Jersey 40s' starting shortstop had the yips and did not play well on the carpet in the first game. Pahuta quickly moved him to second base, where he played flawlessly, and inserted a new shortstop who was very solid.

The other key was being able to use 11 pitchers, though it was ironic that the championship was clinched by a complete game from Vinny Pankowski, a 43-yearold left-hander. It was a 45-plus tournament, but each team was allowed to have three players between 40 and 45. The Jersey team hit .325 and committed just 15 errors in the seven games. "We had an understanding that everybody was going to do what it took to win, it was all about winning and everybody was going to contribute," Pahuta said. "We hand-picked some guys and we got contributions from everyone."