Pointes' Pride Instilled by Longtime Leaders
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
May 31, 2017
GROSSE POINTE – Neither Frank Sumbera nor Dan Griesbaum were raised in Grosse Pointe.
But no one, at least at the high school level, has done more to enhance and promote baseball in the Pointes than this long-serving pair.
Sumbera, 69, is in his 45th season as coach at Grosse Pointe North and Griesbaum, 64, is in his 34th season at Grosse Pointe South. In this sport the rivalry that exists between Grosse Pointe’s two public high schools is as good as it gets. Sumbera holds the upper hand in MHSAA Finals titles, 2-1, and Griesbaum has the edge in District titles, 23-14.
This last statistic is notable in a sense that the two programs are often paired in the same District, as they are this season. South will host North in a Division 1 District Semifinal at 10 a.m. Saturday.
This season there is an added twist to the much-anticipated community showdown. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, for the first time, will compete in the Division 1 tournament lined up on the other side of the bracket from North and South. University Liggett will play Detroit East English in the other Semifinal at 11:30 a.m. The winners will play for the title approximately 2 p.m.
University Liggett won four MHSAA Finals titles the past six seasons, two in Division 4 and two in Division 3, including last season in the latter. Coach Dan Cimini, knowing he had a strong team returning, petitioned the MHSAA to opt up to Division 1 for this season and 2018.
So far the Knights have proven they can hang at the Division 1 level. They are ranked No. 2 in the latest poll released by the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association.
And Cimini’s group received a break in the draw as it won’t have to defeat both North and South to win the District title.
This is Cimini’s 14th season as head coach, and he tips his hat to the job Sumbera and Griesbaum have done in laying the groundwork.
“Frank has been there forever,” Cimini said. “Dan has been there a long time. I feel old, and I’m 48. I’ve coached 22 years. No doubt about it, those guys have set the standard.”
Cimini grew up in Grosse Pointe and competed in the city’s strong Little League program. He played for Griesbaum at South and played four years in college, two at Macomb College and two at University of Detroit Mercy. He was part of the 1987 South team that reached the MHSAA Semifinals for the first time in school history.
Cimini said the quality of baseball has remained strong in the community over the years but noted there have been some changes.
“The Little Leagues are phenomenal,” he said. “The Federation ball is phenomenal. But there aren’t as many kids playing. Now there are seven teams playing in the (Little League) majors. Back when I played there were 13 of 14. I miss those days. If I could take myself back, that’s where I’d go.”
At least in the modern era, one must point to Sumbera as the person most responsible for the quality of baseball being played at the high school level.
Sumbera played three sports at Chesaning High – baseball, basketball and football – and then went on to Central Michigan where he played basketball.
Upon graduation Sumbera went looking for a job and received a tip from a college roommate. Sumbera was told that Grosse Pointe High would be splitting into two schools, North and South, and that they needed teachers, and, naturally, coaches. North opened for the 1968-69 school year, and Sumbera was hired as an assistant junior varsity football coach. In 1973 he became the assistant varsity baseball coach, and the next season he took over the baseball program.
“We won the District that year,” he said. “I’ll never forget it. We beat (then Detroit, now Warren) DeLaSalle, 2-1, in the final.”
Sumbera has coached some of the best teams in the state. His 2006 Division 1 championship team was 38-1. His 1980 Class A championship team was probably his best. Five players on that team were selected in the Major League Baseball amateur draft including Bill Babcock, one of the top pitchers on that team. Babcock’s son, Luke, will enter the ninth grade next fall is expected to enroll at North and play for Sumbera.
That’s the way it is in the Pointes. This large community that borders Detroit’s eastside is infectious. It’s common for someone who grew up here to remain in the area and raise his or her own family.
“A lot of the kids I coached in the 80s, I’m coaching their sons,” Sumbera said. “They play a lot of baseball here. As they grow through the ranks to high school, (Griesbaum) and I have to make cuts. You might have 250 at the Little League level, and by the time I get them we have like eight.
“The North-South rivalry is as good as any around. I coach football, and it’s intense every year. In baseball it’s as good a rivalry as there is in the state. It’ll be the fifth time we will have played South (this season). In our last doubleheader we won the first, 12-6, and lost the second, 3-2, in eight innings. That was a crusher. It’s big. The kids know it. The families know it. They all go to church together and play against each other during the summer.”
Griesbaum, a graduate of St. Clair Shores South Lake and Central Michigan, where he played baseball, said the level of competition is remarkable especially when one considers the schools do not have open enrollment. The only way one can play for North or South is to live in the school district.
Griesbaum got his start as an assistant under Sumbera (1980-83) before going to South in 1984.
“There’s nothing like a North-South game,” he said. “Our rivalry is one of the best. It’s a baseball community. My 6-year-old grandson plays T-ball. You look at what North and South have accomplished. There’s the (Grosse Pointe) Farms and City (Little League) teams. Then there’s the success of the Redbirds that (former Detroit Tiger) Dave Bergman ran. We run a (Christmas) Holiday hitting camp. We have 75 kids the first day and 75 more the next. It’s for the second through the sixth grades. We want to expose baseball at an early age.”
Some have expressed displeasure that all three Grosse Pointe schools are in the same district. Cimini scoffs at that thought. He said there are many districts throughout the state that have more than their share of quality teams.
The last two seasons North and South were in separate Districts, and they won their respective Districts both years. In 2015, they met in a Division 1 Quarterfinal, and South won. It was the Blue Devils’ seventh trip to the Semifinals, a record (tied with Saline and Grand Ledge) for a public school in Division 1/Class A.
Cimini said he’s looking forward to seeing what his team can do against the established powers.
“I can’t wait,” Sumbera said. “The whole thing is, come June 3 you have to be ready to play.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grosse Pointe South's Dan Griesbaum, left, and North's Frank Sumbera both have led their respective programs for more than three decades (Sumbera for more than four). (Middle) University Liggett coach Dan Cimini played for Griesbaum at South and has built a top program in the community as well. (Photos courtesy of the Griesbaum family, C&G Newspapers and the University Liggett baseball program.
Saugatuck's Dunn Makes MLB Debut, OLSM's Mooney Continues Impressive Climb
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
August 5, 2024
Blake Dunn has realized his dream while Alex Mooney's chance may be right around the corner.
The careers of the two former Michigan high school baseball stars have taken major steps forward this summer, with Dunn, a Saugatuck graduate native, earning two stints with the Cincinnati Reds, and Mooney, from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, tearing up the High-Class A Midwest League with Lake County, just northeast of Cleveland.
Both credit modest upbringings for their continuing baseball success. Dunn said his senior class included around 85 students.
"It was definitely hard because a lot of guys have played against a high level of competition from bigger schools," said Dunn, who earned 16 varsity letters across four high school sports at Saugatuck. "But a lot of good athletes come from smaller schools, and we have kind of a chip on our shoulders. That's no knock on smaller schools or their communities; we just work that much harder to make things happen.
"You can't just sit back and go with the flow. You work hard, set your mind on what you need to do and just go for it. I definitely take pride in where I come from and represent Saugatuck to the best of my ability or when I'm out in public."
Mooney, who was part of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s winning three MHSAA Finals titles over six years, said he traces much of his success to being part of an outstanding prep baseball program, regardless of the school's size. St. Mary's was an all-boys school during his time there, with just under 600 students.
"Playing in the Catholic League was huge for me," he said. "It's the best league in the state, and playing there just made me better. I learned early how to win, and that's carried over (to the pros)."
Dunn was one of the great all-around athletes of his generation at Saugatuck. He had more than 1,500 career points in basketball, was a four-time hurdles Finals champion in track and a member of the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Dream Team, and still finds himself all over the MHSAA football record book. His 113 career touchdowns are fourth all-time while his 2,748 rushing yards in 2015 are 12th best. Dunn's 827 points in 41 career games is second all-time to 924 points by East Grand Rapids' Kevin Grady in 51 games from 2001-04. Dunn's 6,954 rushing yards remains eighth all-time.
Dunn, who also had 26 consecutive 100-yard rushing games, said it seemed natural to him to play multiple sports in high school.
"I think it's the right thing for guys to test their ability to do a lot of things," he said. "It comes down to task management. You don't get a lot of free time because it's always go-go. So you need a good work ethic to stay on top of things."
Dunn and Mooney are in the midst of notable summers. Slowed by the injury bug dating all the way back to high school and then Western Michigan, Dunn developed into a bona fide prospect in the Reds system a year ago when he hit .312 with 23 homers and 79 RBIs at Double-A Chattanooga and Low-A Dayton.
Statistically, Dunn is batting .226 with six homers and 28 RBIs in Triple-A this season, but earned a 10-day stint with the Reds from June 4-13 and then again from July 3-10. He collected his first major league hit against the Cubs on June 7.
A shortstop, Mooney has hit wherever he's been. He batted .444 as a sophomore and .460 with nine homers and 57 RBIs as a senior at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, then hit .305 with 113 runs, 30 doubles, 11 homers and 33 stolen bases (in 39 attempts) in 117 career games at Duke. With the Lake County Captains this season, Mooney is tops in the Midwest League in runs (65), third in stolen bases (34), tied for 14th in home runs (10) and tied for 16th in RBIs (46).
Mooney said hitting has always been his calling card.
"I feel like I've been able to hit since I was around 8 years old," he said. "My dad coached me when I was young, and I still talk to him about it when I go home. Hitting gets significantly harder, but your mindset is that you learn to flush a bad day. I learned at Orchard Lake St. Mary that you're still a good hitter if you go 0-for-4. You just get on with it."
Mooney, the state's Mr. Baseball Award winner in 2021 and two-time MHSBCA Dream Team member, was ranked among the top five shortstops nationally out of high school by Perfect Game and Under Armour. He went on to become all-Atlantic Coast Conference at Duke before being drafted in the seventh round by Cleveland in 2021.
Among the lessons he's learned in the professional ranks is that baseball is a business.
"It's a job. A darn good one, but a job," he said. "But I also know that the worst day you could have in baseball is better than the best day in another field. Baseball is a grind, though."
Dunn has battled his share of the grind since becoming a 15th-round draft choice by the Reds in 2021. He hit .333 with 11 homers, 50 stolen bases and 78 RBIs in135 games at Western Michigan. Injuries plagued him as a Bronco, then limited him to just 48 games in his first two years in the Reds system. This year he missed time with facial lacerations after getting hit with a pitch.
No matter the difficulties, Dunn said he always believed he could become a major leaguer. The size of high schools and subsequent level of competition was never a consideration.
"I've never considered myself an underachiever, and in my mind it doesn't matter where I've been,” he said. "I know I have talent, and I've worked hard. I feel like I have a lot of years left in baseball."
Dunn and Mooney are just two of several former Michigan high school ballplayers making a mark in the minor leagues, including two members of arguably the best-ever MHSBCA Dream Team pitching staff in 2016. Tommy Henry (Portage Northern) and Karl Kauffman (Brother Rice) have combined to pitch in 46 MLB games with Arizona and Colorado, respectively, the last two seasons. Henry is 2-3 in nine games with the Diamondbacks this season. The other members of the 2016 Dream Team pitchers were Jack Weisenburger (Rockford) and Mike Mokma (Holland Christian), both of whom pitched professionally, and John Baker (Hartland), who went on to become a two-time all-Mid-American Conference pitcher at Ball State and a 29th-round pick of the Marlins in 2019.
Baker outdueled Henry in the 2016 Division 1 Final.
Another former Michigan high school baseball star has been a godsend to a depleted Atlanta Braves pitching staff. Spencer Schwellenbach (Saginaw Heritage), has gone 4-5 with a 4.04 ERA in 11 starts with the Braves. He was the 2018 Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year who went 18-6 with a 0.73 ERA at Nebraska before being taken by the Braves in the second round of the 2021 draft.
Among the other former prep stars busy in the minors are Sam Weatherly (Howell) and Brock Porter (Orchard Lake St. Mary). Weatherly is 3-1 with a 2.85 ERA in 30 games with the High-A Fresno Grizzlies. He was a 27th-round pick by the Rockies in 2020 after going 4-0 with 106 strikeouts over 72 innings in three years at Clemson.
Porter, the state's Mr. Baseball in 2022, is 0-4 with a 6.98 ERA in 19 1/3 combined innings in Rookie League and High-A. A fourth-round pick by the Rangers in 2022, Porter started 21 games with 95 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings during his first pro season a year ago at the Rookie League level.
Other Michigan natives in the minors include Luke Russo (Howell), who is 5-3 with a 4.81 ERA at High-A Jersey Shore, and Andrew Taylor (Caledonia), who is 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA at High-A Asheville.
PHOTOS (Top) From left, former Orchard Lake St. Mary’s star Alex Mooney and Saugatuck standout Blake Dunn are succeeding in minor league baseball as they pursue Major League careers. (Middle) Dunn stands in for a pitch playing for the Louisville Bats this season. (Below) Mooney prepares to field a grounder for the Lake County Captains. (Photos courtesy of the Lake County Captains and Louisville Bats; top Dunn photo by Cam Anderson and middle by Anna Rouch.)