Neal Weinhaus

 

Elected : USSSA New York Hall Of Fame in 2014
Inducted : March 2015, Ronkonkoma, NY.

Neal started playing softball more than 20 years ago and still loves the game today. There were so many teams in the beginning until he met up with Bobby Fortier and Tommy Emde. They formed Team Dawg/Worth in 1998 and Neal played with them for years. Neal was one of the reasons why Team Dawg became a top ranked Northeast team that won several NYS Qualifiers, NYS Championships, NIT’s, and had 2 top 10 finishes in the USSSA worlds. Later, he also played for the Steamrollers and Paradise Paint, formed by his close friend and fellow inductee Jude LaRosa. 

During these years, Neal (nicknamed “Automatic” for his high batting average year after year) was named to countless all tournament teams and was named Team Dawg’s player of the decade. Many of the league teams he played on also won numerous championships.

Neal says he is deeply honored to be inducted into the NYS USSSA HOF. What makes this honor even more special is that he’s also being inducted with his teammates on this year’s Team of Distinction, Team Dawg/Worth. Playing and competing with those guys is what made and still makes playing softball truly enjoyable. Neal says those are memories he will never forget. Some of his closest friendships today started way back then and he still plays softball with many of those same friends.

Neal says this accomplishment never could have happened without the support of his wife Shari, who put up with all of the weekends away, missed family functions and too many nights spent on the field. Neal also considers himself very lucky to have two amazing sons, Jason and Alex, who are following in their dad’s footsteps on the field and off.