{"id":184111,"date":"2026-03-09T13:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/184111\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T13:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:06:09","slug":"monday-memory-of-orlando-juice-baseball-team-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/184111\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Memory of Orlando Juice baseball team \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the Orlando Sentinel\u2019s 150th birthday, we\u2019re looking back at stories we\u2019ve published over the years. Today we revisit the story of the Orlando Juice, a team in the Senior Professional Baseball Association.<\/p>\n

Back in 1989, following the popularity of the Senior PGA Tour, the idea for a league of former big-league and minor-league players was born. Orlando\u2019s team was named the Juice and coached by Gates Brown and Dyar Miller.<\/p>\n

The Juice finished with a 37-35 record in \u201989, just missing the playoffs. The team folded after its only season, and the league ceased operations halfway through its second season. Here\u2019s part of Sentinel sports reporter Russ White\u2019s story about the start of the Orlando Juice from Aug. 9, 1989.<\/p>\n

Ike Blessitt is going to get a second chance to shine.<\/p>\n

When he was 23 he went 0-for-5 at bat in four games with the 1972 Detroit Tigers. At 40, Blessitt will play in the outfield for the Orlando Juice in the Senior Professional Baseball Association.<\/p>\n

Blessitt is one of owner Phil Breen\u2019s first 15 Orlando Juice players named Tuesday after being chosen from 600 former major-leaguers who say they want to play in the new eight-team senior league based in Florida. Each man will earn from $2,000 to $15,000 a month and play a 72-game schedule beginning Nov. 1 and ending in mid-February.<\/p>\n

Breen and five other team owners cooed at their exclusive membership in the association during a press conference Tuesday at the Orlando Airport Holiday Inn. One likened it to a real-life Rotisserie League, costing him a mere $1 million entry fee. Breen raved about how good Ike Blessitt will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cForget his 0-for-5 in \u201972,\u201d he said. \u201cThis guy is really in shape and ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

League founder Jim Morley, 32, of Colorado Springs promised the league would be viable immediately. Morley, who will operate a franchise in St. Petersburg, said the league has the ingredients for success because it had solid owners, popular former players and a 3-year television contract.<\/p>\n

The 15-man protected list rosters of the teams included some great and not-so-great players of recent major-league summers.<\/p>\n

Potential Hall of Famers who will play include Rollie Fingers (St. Lucie), Tony Perez (Miami), Ferguson Jenkins (Winter Haven) and Bobby Bonds (Daytona Beach.) The not-so-great include Blessitt and Roy Branch of Orlando.<\/p>\n

Branch didn\u2019t play a minute in the big leagues but was recommended by Blessitt.<\/p>\n

\"OrlandoOrlando Sentinel file photo from the announcement of the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989.<\/p>\n

Breen, a 42-year-old mortgage banker from Southfield, Mich., said he became acquainted with Blessitt at a Detroit Tigers Fantasy Camp several years ago.<\/p>\n

Breen also is high on J.R. Richard, the former right-hander for the Houston Astros whose career was cut short because of a stroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cJ.R. told me he has been throwing 60 pitches a day and has clocked his fast one at 93 mph,\u201d Breen said. \u201cThat sounds pretty good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently,\u00a0 the St. Lucie team has similar hopes for left-hander Don Gullett, who had a heart attack a few years ago after an early retirement because of arm trouble.<\/p>\n

Others who\u2019ll try the senior league include Mark \u201cBird\u201d Fidrych and Bill \u201cSpaceman\u201d Lee (Winter Haven), Tug McGraw (St. Petersburg) and Al Hrabosky (West Palm Beach).<\/p>\n

Two of the senior players are current major-leaguers \u2013 Joel Youngblood, who\u2019ll leave the Cincinnati Reds in October to join Fort Myers, and Doug Bair, who\u2019ll go directly from Pittsburgh to St. Petersburg. Winter Haven owner Mitchell Maxwell purposely stacked his 15- man roster with former Boston Red Sox players.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Orlando Juice logo, worn on the players’ baseball caps. (Orlando Sentinel file)<\/p>\n

\u201cWinter Haven is filled with Red Sox fans, people who have moved down here from New England,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Orlando Juice have secured a lease to play at Tinker Field for $600 per night game and $500 per day game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also may have a few of our games at Boardwalk and Baseball,\u201d Breen said. \u201cWe\u2019d like to play Lakeland there once or twice.\u201d Breen said.<\/p>\n

Wynn Dillard, a business colleague, will be the general manager for the Juice and arrange contracts for a 24-man roster that will include 10 or 11 pitchers. Contracts can\u2019t exceed $550,000 for the team.<\/p>\n

In addition to the 15-man protected list, Breen said Orlando residents Al Williams and Jack Billingham have been offered pitching spots with the Juice. Gates Brown is the non-playing manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of the Orlando Sentinel\u2019s 150th birthday, we\u2019re looking back at stories we\u2019ve published over the years.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[53370,114,266,115,139,141,140,53371,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-184111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-flashbacks","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-orlando-sentinel-150","16":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}