Luis Bayo, a 56-year-old driver from Jersey City, pulled up to the Hampton Inn in Denville, around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 2. His 25-year-old coach bus had Florida license plates smudged with oil, images of the Adirondack Mountains emblazoned across side windows and a broken headlight cover from the two deer he hit.
A sign atop the windshield read: PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL.
The brakes hissed and the front door no longer opened automatically, so Bayo pushed it manually. The passengers the Empire State Greys, who play in the independent Frontier League looked haggard after a 15-hour ride from Chicago on an off day. In the last week, they had lost a game on back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth and another when two relievers allowed three doubles that led to another walk-off defeat. They were 5-61.
Its been a little bit of a rough ride, Bayo said.
The Greys played six days per week every game on the road and were hard to reach. Under Address on the teams website, it read None. The phone number was listed as TBA. When they wore the original set of uniforms, they were the Greys. When they wore alternates, they were the Grays because the tops were hand-me-downs from a defunct team.
The ramshackle itinerary called for them to play as far north as Quebec and as far west as Illinois. Brought in as a last-minute placeholder to balance the Frontier Leagues 16-team, 96-game schedule, the Greys accepted the role as permanent road team. They arrived in New Jersey for a 20-night stay in August with a stuffed penguin for luck, a George Foreman Grill for quick meals and a team ERA above 10.00. The one certainty was that they knew they would never bat in the bottom of the ninth.
The barnstormers were always moving. Once, in the middle of the night, they switched hotels because they felt unsafe with the setting, and another time they noticed inebriated hecklers had lifted jerseys from their lockers on dollar-beer night and were wearing them in the stands. To negotiate visa and vaccine mandates at the northern border, they kept Canadians on call as replacements. So many of the Greys were on professional baseballs fringes that five were listed with question marks on baseball-reference.com, the otherwise omniscient almanac.
The roster was a riddle. Mizuki Akatsuka, a switch pitcher, used a six-finger glove; Willies Estrada, a catcher, refused to wear a protective cup. The youngest player, Dylan Hernandez, 21, slept on the buss floor; the oldest player, Hiroki Itakura, 31, hurt his back running headfirst into a left-field wall. Outfielder Jordan Holloman Scott had played with the Yankees in Single A but was seeking to regain a foothold in the game after a 3-0 fastball broke two toes. Liam McArthur, a 5-foot-7 leadoff hitter from Basking Ridge, looked like a Little Leaguer but had a team-high .327 batting average. Journeyman Jordan Garrs list of past teams read like a group of co-conspirators Bakersfield Train Robbers and Jersey Wiseguys while infielder John Benevolent hailed from Niceville, Fla.
I had been out of the game for a few years, said pitcher Tommy Derer, who was a lifeguard on Washington Avenue in Wildwood Crest the past three summers. This is my first year in pro ball. The owner asked me if I was ready to not have a home field and to just be on the bus. At first I didnt know what he was talking about, but now it all makes sense.
Miles and losses took a toll. It cost $1,200 to fill the bus with diesel gas amid summers inflation, and the full schedule called for travel across 10,400 miles. Players were paid $1,000 per month and received meal money via Venmo. To stay in shape, they purchased day passes for gyms near hotels and walked there to get in their steps. They relished buying 20 McNuggets for $5 and doubled up on free hotel breakfasts for lunch.
To pass time waiting for the team after games, Bayo played Coin Master on his cellular phone. He was always last off the bus after finding a parking space for the night. He was curious about their direction.
Is it true we might have a world record for losses? he said. Somebody told me that.Another road game, another national anthem. The Greys stand at attention before an August contest against the New Jersey Jackals.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Exploring baseballs new Frontier
The Frontier League lost an outpost last fall. It was October, and the Simmons family, which owned the Southern Illinois Miners, announced that it was no longer in the minor-league baseball business. Founded in 1993 to bring independent professional baseball to towns across West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio, the league merged with the Canadian American League in 2020 amid contraction and convulsions in the minor leagues that affected affiliated farms systems and independents. To keep the schedule balanced with 16 teams, officials invited six groups to bid to be a one-year stopgap this season.The owner asked me if I was ready to not have a home field and to just be on the bus. At first I didnt know what he was talking about, but now it all makes sense.Greys pitcher Tommy Derer, a former Jersey Shore lifeguard
Eddie Gonzalez, who was an All Star in the Frontier League in 2008, joined his brother, Jerry, who played in the Anaheim Angels farm system for two seasons, and Matt Joyce, their friend and former major leaguer, in making a bid. Since 2015, they had operated the Empire League, a developmental program that features four teams in upstate New York each summer. The headquarters was located at a municipal field where strong winds blow in off Raquette Pond in Tupper Lake, N.Y., which has a population of 3,000. Frontier League officials were familiar with their pool of talent from previous acquisitions and knew they would have to be on the road because their park would not suffice as a home stadium.
When the trio was awarded the spot in February, they needed a manager. Baseball had taken Gil Rondon around the world. Growing up on 156th Street in the Bronx, he sneaked past security into Yankee Stadium as a fan and threw a no-hitter for DeWitt Clinton High. He pitched alongside Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela at Triple-A Albuquerque and debuted in the majors against Cincinnatis Big Red Machine. He made 22 more appearances in the majors and eventually transitioned to life as a pitching coach including in 1990 for the Nicaraguan national team, and in 2005 for the Chinese Taipei national team. Twice he coordinated Puerto Ricos bullpen in the World Baseball Classic. But he never managed. At 68, the Greys invited him to throw batting practice, then named him a rookie manager at a Hooters in Fort Myers, Fla.
To me, it was a challenge because I had to pay attention more, Rondon said.
There was no expansion draft, so they exhausted their contacts to procure talent. They found some players at an Atlantic League tryout in Florida and others in a California winter league. Veterans of affiliated teams were dismissive of the road life, so the Greys mined for prospects that no scouts would even go look at, Eddie Gonzalez said. When he gathered the team for workouts, Rondon made known their reasons for being there.
My reason is to develop you, Rondon said. Your reason is to get out of here.
A getaway vehicle was needed. Eddie Gonzalez typed bus for sale into Google and saw prices that were too high. He eventually found a Prevost bus, which was previously owned by a church, for $30,000. Drivers that could fit in their shoestring budget were in short supply, but Bayo responded to a listing online. He had driven an Uber in New York for a decade, but only recently received a commercial drivers license. He had never driven a bus and needed hours and experience with a large vehicle. That made him affordable. On LinkedIn, Eddie Gonzalez wrote that they were the COOLEST Underdog TEAM in Pro Baseball! On Instagram, he posted a sketch of a sleek, modern charter and wrote, Gas up the bus!
At 1 p.m. on May 12, the team departed Tupper Lake for its opener in Sauget, Ill. Five hours later, a rear tire blew, and ayo pulled onto the shoulder after he saw chunks of rubber flying in his rearview mirror. On the side of Interstate 90, players ordered McDonalds via delivery apps and dropped a pin to identify their location. When they got going again, there was no air conditioning for the rest of the trip. They arrived at the hotel around noon the next day. The trip took 23 hours. On the field, they managed one hit and lost, 13-0.
They rebounded with nine runs the next night but allowed 17. They gave up five home runs in a 20-1 loss, committed four errors in a 3-2 defeat and asked position players to chip in with pitching by the end of the fifth game. Their plight gained public interest when the Twitter handle @DidTheGreysWin was created. Each day, the anonymous author tweeted, No, to 399 followers. When they lost consecutive close games, Rondon placed his brim against the clubhouses cinderblock wall and closed his eyes for 60 seconds to decompress. In Quebec City, Scott went for a long, contemplative walk.
Just thinking about life and how I got here, he said.The Greys' 25-year-old bus, bought for $30,000, logged more than 10,000 miles during a 90-loss season.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
One pain was worse than the others. Estrada, who had a penchant for picking off lazy runners at first base, was the starting catcher. Born in Puerto Rico, he earned a Gold Glove in NAIA during the 2018 season and played a summer in Saskatchewan before the Philadelphia Phillies signed him to their Single-A affiliate. He was released amid the pandemic and appeared on a Univision dating show called Enamorndonos (Falling in Love) before becoming a Grey. He referred to himself as La Movie because of his cinematic flourishes and once ran through the Greys third base coachs stop sign while trying to finish an inside-the-park home run only to be thrown out at the plate standing up and smiling. Confident in his capabilities, he did not wear a protective cup behind the plate. On June 8, Quebec led, 1-0, when the batter fouled a pitch that bounced into Estradas left testicle. He fell forward, struggled to his feet and dropped again to a knee. He flew home to Florida, underwent ultrasounds, an MRI and had his sperm counted. He returned after missing 12 games.
Everythings all right, functional, good, he said. Thank God.
On June 24, the Greys scored four runs in the eighth to claim a 7-6 lead but gave up a single, a walk and a double to lose in the ninth. They were 0-35. The next night, they scored seven runs in the seventh and Scott scooped a grounder in left field in the bottom of the ninth. A runner tried to score from second base, but Scott threw him out. The Greys won. In the clubhouse, Jerry Gonzalez opened a can of Bud Light and poured it over Rondons head.
Never forget what the feeling is to win, Rondon told his team. Every [bleeping] day we come out, we come out to win. No matter what happens, nobody gives up. We come and we play.An ever-churning roster
The road to Skylands Stadium, home of the Sussex County Miners in Augusta, is lined with rusty silos, weather-worn barns and a wooden sign shaped like a cornstalk that reads: If I were any fresher Id get slapped. A red building with a pitched roof just beyond the fence on the right-field line is where many Miners live on the second floor above the home and visiting clubhouses. When the Greys arrived for a series in early August, they hanged personal laundry items on a fence to dry in 90-degree heat as a shirtless, barefoot Miner walked by in shorts. McArthur was sitting on a chair by the entrance to the clubhouse area when Nick Garland, a catcher for the Miners, inquired about a Grey.
Is Tess on this team? Garland said.
McArthur looked confused.
Chris Tessitore, pitcher, Garland said. Was he?
When was he here? McArthur said.
Youve been here for a while, right? Garland said.
Yeah, McArthur said.
Pardon McArthur. Tessitores time as a Grey was blip. He pitched one inning on June 23, walked a batter, struck out another and left the next day, but McArthur, 26, was a mainstay amid the constant churn of the roster. After sitting on the bench at Seton Hall for two seasons, McArthur transferred to Lock Haven in the NAIA, batted .408 and posted a .972 fielding percentage. He considered his route The Path of Most Resistance and played with the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds in the Empire League last year before being invited to join the Greys.Fearless Willies Estrada, the Greys' catcher, plays without a cup. His sperm count is OK, he said, after taking a foul tip to a testicle.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Kind of just went with it, McArthur said. I didnt think twice about the travel, just the ability to play every day.
McArthur made himself at home in every left-handed batters box. While teammates considered hanging a punching bag in the dugout to release frustrations, McArthur, who was 165 pounds of freckles and red hair, kept swinging his bat to string together a 13-game hitting streak. Rondon dubbed him Super Midget. In the field, McArthur noted the disadvantages of road life: a new ballpark every three days and the need to learn dimensions.
It keeps you on your toes defensively, he said.
Nothing could be taken for granted by the Greys. During the previous week in Chicago, they won two games to claim their first series win and revelers looking for an underdog feted them. Leaving the stadium after the second win, the fans chanted, Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! McArthur and others felt like it was all coming together as they entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead the next day. Before taking his position, Estrada patted Eddie Gonzalez on the shoulder and said, Congratulations on your first sweep.Never again in your life do you get to do this. Certain things have expiration dates.Liam McArthur, 5-foot-7 leadoff hitter from Basking Ridge, N.J.
The Greys got the first out, but the next hitter stroked a double. Then the next hitter drove him in with a double. With the lead down to one, Estrada worried. He looked at the dugout before flashing the sign for a fastball. The batter took it, and Estrada called for the same pitch again. The ball caught a little more of the plate, and the batter hit a two-run home run for a walk-off win.
It bit all of us in the ass, Estrada said.
Through it all, McArthur remained the steadiest presence on the worst team in the minors. On Aug. 12, a Friday night, he went 2-for-4 in a 5-4 loss to the Tri-City Valley Cats. His resilience was rewarded when he was traded to the Ottawa Titans. Overnight, he went from a team that was 5-70 to one that was 44-32. His replacement was Garr, a 28-year-old journeyman who was on his 14th team since 2017. Each offseason, he worked odd jobs construction, roofing and substitute teaching to keep his independent baseball odyssey going.
I was just excited to get some at bats, prove I can hang, he said. You never get this back. Never again in your life do you get to do this. Certain things have expiration dates.
Eddie Gonzalez believed McArthur would get a guaranteed contract with the Titans next year, as well. Four nights after McArthur had been traded, Bayo was walking the concourse of Skylands Stadium in socks and sandals during the eighth inning as he awaited the games conclusion. When he realized McArthur was no longer with the team, he laughed.
Thats right. Oh my God. I havent seen him, Bayo said. Man, he got a hit in every game.Starting pitcher Jay Palais throws against the New Jersey Jackals. In their 96-game season, nearly every player pitched eventually.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Too many miles on arms and cars
Ten spectators dotted the stands at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls as the first pitch of a doubleheader was thrown. It was 5 p.m. on a Waggy Wednesday; fans held gloves and walked their dogs on the concourse. The Greys starting pitcher, Keyvan Grenald, gave up a double, hit the next batter, induced a line-out, hit another batter, allowed back-to-back walks and forced run home when he hit a third batter. The Greys fell, 4-1, and their pitching did not improve in the nightcap. Johhson Arias, the teams lone All Star, who throws 96 mph, was called for balks twice in one inning. Each time, Jackals fans applauded and their dogs barked in sync.
Reminders that the Greys were out of their league flashed on the scoreboard. The Jackals closer was Jose Ramirez, a 32-year-old former Yankees, Mariners and Braves pitcher who entered to the music of Timmy Trumpet a la Mets closer Edwin Diaz. The scoreboard flashed flames. His career highlights included being one-third of a combined no-hitter in Triple A and being suspended three games for throwing a fastball over the head of a batter. When the Jackals recorded an out, the trumpeter in the stands played music from The Godfather.
Itakura stepped to the plate.
Come on, Jose! shouted a fan. Blow this guy out of here!
Ramirez struck out the side, but pitching was the area the Greys missed on the most. They underestimated the quality necessary to succeed in the Frontier League and scrambled to adjust. They tried everything, including identical twins, Holden and Locke Betancourt, who worked together until Holdens contract was sold to the Acereros de Moncolva of the Mexican League after he struck out 20 batters in 10.1 innings. The Greys also employed three knuckleballers.
Weve been put in one of the most difficult tasks that ever existed, Eddie Gonzalez said. Were playing against Double-A, Triple-A and even big-league competition every single night with guys who just graduated college in May.
To fill holes in the rotation and bullpen, position players were enlisted. Robbie Carling, a third baseman who last pitched six years ago when he was a senior at San Lorenzo Valley High in Felton, Calif., lobbed strikes. His fastball reached 81 mph; he struck out three batters. Greys pitchers encouraged him to unload a ball as fast as he could throw.
I was like, Dude, I dont know where its going to go, he said.
Three weeks into the season, Trey Woosley, a first baseman from Kentucky who had just finished his senior season at Warner University in Florida, received a call from Jerry Gonzalez around 11:30 p.m. Woosley had signed to play in Tupper Lake, but now the Greys needed him to get on the first available flight to Chicago. Woosley, who has the red seams of a baseball tattooed on his left arm along the scar from his Tommy John surgery, volunteered to absorb innings in blowouts. When he started wildly, Rondon visited the mound.
Mound, meet Woos, he said. Woos, meet mound. Yall work together; youll get out of this.
Reinforcements followed. On July 22, the Greys released seven pitchers including one named Kyle Armsworthy, who had an 8.49 ERA and signed a discarded Jackal they were familiar with from last falls instructional league. Akatsuka, 24, was a natural righty whose father taught him to throw with both his right and left arms when he was 7 years old in Gifu, Japan. As a righty, he threw a slider, curveball and split change. His fastball topped out around 89 mph. As a lefty, he threw two types of sliders, a curveball, a changeup and a two-seam fastball that reached 87 mph. In between starts, he toted an orange foam roller, black yoga mat and metal stretching pole and did splits. He wore shades and sprinted the arc of the warning track from foul pole to pole with a stopwatch in his hands. Always the last to leave workouts, he bowed to the field before heading to the clubhouse.I was like, Dude, I dont know where its going to go.Greys third baseman Robbie Carling on his pitching abilities
His pliability paid dividends. In one game, he faced 30 batters and threw 106 pitches as a switch pitcher. The next time out, he threw right-handed exclusively and third baseman Manny Garcia, who had been laid off by Windy City as a catcher previously, hit a grand slam as the Greys exploded for 18 hits and 10 runs at Yogi Berra Stadium.
No one was more grateful for Akatsuka than Bayo. Akatsuka kept his silver Prius Hybrid in the area during August because there were so many games in close proximity. After he drove to the stadium each day, he left the keys for Bayo, who, after driving the rest of the team on the bus, would drive away in the Prius before first pitch. Bayo could relax at the hotel or elsewhere and return by games end.
Mizuki is my savior, Bayo said.
Not all personal cars survived the swing through New Jersey. Shortly after his rough outing against the Jackals, Grenald was released by the Greys. He asked Rondon for a ride to the nearby hotel where he kept a car, and Rondon abided. When they were on Interstate 80 East, a driver rear-ended Rondons 2011 Toyota Avalon, which had over 180,000 miles on it. Insurance totaled it. When he showed up before a game the next week with a 2012 Avalon that had 80,000 miles on it, he told Jerry Gonzalez his monthly payments only increased two dollars.
Thats a win, man, Jerry said. Thats a win.Jordan Holloman Scott (left) and John Benevolent walk out onto the field for the Empire State Greys before a game against the New Jersey Jackals in Little Falls, N.J.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Mercifully, an end to a merciless season
Wanna Get Lucky? read a black T-shirt Eddie Gonzalez wore two hours before a game against the Miners. They had lost the previous night when two Greys failed to catch a pop-up in foul territory, the third baseman threw wide of first and the next batter broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homer. They were 50 games out of first place.
The Gonzalez brothers worked on the lineup.
Is Garr suspended or not? Jerry said.
No, hes not suspended, Eddie said. Were fine.
Boy, weve got a tossup in right field, Jerry said.
Of the 25 Greys who were on the initial roster, 10 remained. Scotts arm was sore; Ikatura was visiting a doctor about his back.
We need to check on Mondy, Jerry said.
Is he hurt, too? Eddie said.
I think so, Jerry said. Hes not even out for BP. End of the season, hes beat up.
Hes trying to save his bullets, Eddie said.
They had already clinched the record for the most losses in Frontier League history, but league officials, who allowed that there was a possibility that the Greys could return next season if a fixed market isnt found, had not yet figured how to acknowledge such futility in the future.
Theyre playing a Frontier League schedule, but theyre not a traditional Frontier League team, said Steve Tahsler, a deputy commissioner. We havent really looked into how we would address that with our overall records and how to reference them moving forward.
Let the record show: 39 players took at least one at-bat and 50 players threw at least one pitch for the Greys. They were shut out 18 times and once won with a walk-off despite never being the home team due to new sudden death rules that were implemented this year. On the last day of the season, Rondon started Garcia at catcher before rotating him to all nine positions inning by inning. To strike out the last batter of the eighth, Garcia threw sidearm. At the plate, he added a single, double and a homer.Mound, meet Woos. Woos, meet mound. Yall work together; youll get out of this.Greys manager Gil Rondon's pep talk to his pitcher
Still, they fell, 10-5, and having lost 30 of their final 31 games, finished 6-90. Estrada was the only one with immediate options as they dispersed. He had been talking with a television producer about another dating show, this time in Turkey, but while in Canada, he met a woman. She intrigued him.
On his left arm was a tattoo in progress. A father with a glove on his left hand walked with his son and wrapped his right arm around his shoulder. In front of them was home plate, two batters boxes, a mound and outfield fence replete with stands and a scoreboard that reflected a game that was tied at 4-4 after nine innings. Estrada planned to add an upper deck, video screens and flags. He wanted to ink 0-35 next to it and the date of the Greys first win.
This whole process has been insane,he said.
Following the final out, some Greys departed immediately. Others stayed up until 4 a.m. and drove teammates to the airport for early morning flights. Woosley caught a ride with Benevolent to Virginia, hopped on a flight to Florida in Raleigh, N.C. and waited out a two-hour storm delay. Once in Orlando, he packed up his apartment at Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla. The last leg of his journey called for driving his pickup truck 18 hours to Austin, Texas. He told his girlfriend that if she wanted to go anywhere farther than 30 minutes away in the foreseeable future, she would have to go it alone.
Listen here, babe, he said, I need some time to just sit and not be moving.Hiroki Itakura, a 32-year-old outfielder from Togichi City, Japan, puts on his cleats before a game. Earlier in the season, he was injured running headfirst into an outfield wall.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
