Morris Tomahawks 12U baseball team sees local history in Cooperstown

The members of the Morris Tomahawks 12U baseball team weren’t alive when Morris native Scott Spiezio hit a three-run homer in the sixth game of the 2002 World Series to help the Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants to tie the series at 3. They then went on to win the World Series in Game 7, with Spiezio tying a postseason record with 19 RBIs.

The Tomahawks recently returned from a 104-team tournament in Cooperstown, New York, the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. During their weeklong stay, the team members got to tour the Hall of Fame. An assistant coach, Rob Martin, reached out to the Hall of Fame and explained that a team from Morris would be in Cooperstown and requested that the team be able to see the bat Spiezio used to hit the historic home run.

The Cooperstown staff honored the request, and the members of the Tomahawks – Tripp Keating, Kaeden Martin, Maverick McKerrow, Colin Ness, Crosby Williamson, Ryder Kein, Eli Smyk, Brayden Walker, Paxton Zweeres, Jack Burke and Henry Symons, along with coaches Joe Zweeres, Rob Martin, Jeremy McKerrow and Jordon Walker – were able to see the bat that Spiezio used to hit the home run as well as touch it while wearing protective gloves.

“It was really cool for the kids,” Joe Zweeres said. “There is so much baseball history at the Hall of Fame. We went there as a team, and they were kind enough to let us see the bat Scott used and even hold it. The kids were really excited about that.”

With good reason, as the team has spent considerable time being coached by Spiezio at his teaching complex in Morris.

“As part of our team’s training leading into the season, we went as a team once a week to work with Scott Spiezio,” Zweeres said. “The boys have really gotten to know him, and he has been a big supporter of the team. After conversations with some of the coaches, Scott was able to put us in contact with someone at the Hall of Fame to set up a special team viewing of the bat that Scott used to hit the home run in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series with the Anaheim Angels that was instrumental in their comeback. They took our team into a special viewing room and let the players hold the bat and take pictures.

“We have been out to Scott’s house and had the team work with him. Half of them would go hit in the cages, and the other half would do drills, then we would switch. A lot of the guys on our team have had individual lessons with Scott, too, so it was really cool for them to see something of his in the Hall of Fame.”

Morris went 3-3 in their time at Cooperstown, but the trip was more about the destination than the results. Still, it was a time they will never forget.

“It’s really old-school there,” Zweeres said. “There is no showboating or excessive celebrations, no wearing hats backwards, no jewelry. They like to keep it traditional. It was fun to go through the museum and see the old types of spikes and gloves that players used in Babe Ruth’s time.

“There was no batting gloves, no sliding gloves, no body armor. Just old-fashioned baseball.”

It wasn’t the first destination trip for this group of Tomahawks. They also visited Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, for a tournament last year. In that tournament, the Tomahawks reached the championship game, which was played on the field that was in the movie.

Zweeres also pointed out that the team had several fundraisers for the Cooperstown trip, and none of the players had to pay a dime to travel.

“The kids did a great job raising funds,” he said. “It’s about $1,400 per kid to go to that tournament, and they raised enough money that nobody had to pay. The only people who paid were the parents if they decided to go out there.

“We all stayed in a one-room dorm with bunk beds. Each team had one where the coaches and players slept, and there was a big tent where everyone ate their meals. It was a great experience, topped off by seeing Scott’s bat.”