BY JOHN JOHNSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Joe Hayden has coached the Midland Redskins to seven national championships.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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On a sweltering Sunday in June, Joe Hayden paces in front of the home dugout at Amelia's Midland Field.
Wearing a maize jersey embroidered with his No. 1, he peers past the infield through darkened glasses. He pulls his blue hat off and rubs his bald head, covered with sweat. Then jabs at the dirt with his shoes. Rests hands on hips. Folds his arms.
The body language says something unusual is happening, and he doesn't like it: His Midland Redskins, a perennial powerhouse nationally among amateur teams in the 18-and-under age group, is losing 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning to A. Green Financial Group, a team from Ypsilanti, Mich.
When a Redskin blows a baserunning play, Mr. Hayden jumps on an assistant coach. "What do you mean he didn't understand?" he says in a voice not loud, but incredulous. "We're halfway through the season. Go over it again."
At 68, Mr. Hayden is a half-century older than the teen-agers who play for him. But he possesses a young warrior's will to win. Earlier this week the baseball world focused on Denver, which hosted the Major League All-Star Game. For excellence in the amateur ranks, however, look no further than Amelia, home of Mr. Hayden's Midland Redskins, a summer-league team composed of high school seniors and college freshmen.
"Because of Joe, the Midland organization is as high a quality organization as there is in amateur baseball, especially at the older teen level," says Joe Cooper, president of the Marshall, Mich.-based American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC).
Joe Hayden, center, watches the Redskins along with assistant manager Dale Evans, left, and assistant coach Tim Luginbuhl.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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The Redskins are one of about 1,800 teams nationwide that play in the AABC's Connie Mack Division (for ages 18 and under). Eight teams make it to the Connie Mack World Series, held each August in Farmington, N.M.
Midland's success is legendary. The Redskins have earned trips to the World Series 16 of the last 20 years. Last year the team won its seventh Connie Mack National Championship. Mr. Hayden wears the big gold championship ring on his right hand.
"Sure I want to win," he says, even though he claims to have lost track of the number of victories he's accumulated. (It's well more than 1,000.) "Good Lord, anybody who competes athletically does. We expect to. But there's more to it than that.
"I think the greatest asset the United States has is its youth. Anything you can do to help kids is a plus."
Baseball is how he helps kids.
Through baseball he teaches lessons about hard work, preparation and teamwork, says Jay, the oldest of his four sons. "He believes if you build a winning tradition, whether it be in sports or business or family life, it carries on."
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HAYDEN FILE
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Occupation: Chairman of the executive committee, the Midland Co..
Avocation: Manager of the Midland Redskins baseball team. Born: Oct. 8, 1929, in Cincinnati.
Resides: Anderson Township; Boca Grande, Fla.
Family: Married since 1951 to Lois Hayden. They have four sons: Jay, 45, chairman of Midland Co.; Bill, 44, a lawyer; John, 40, president and CEO of Midland Co.; Tom, 38, employed at Midland Co.; 14 grandchildren.
Education: Withrow High School, class of 1947; Miami University, bachelor's degree in business and pre-law (1951).
Connie Mack National Championships: 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997.
Partial list of former Midland Redskins now playing professional baseball: Barry Larkin, Reds; Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners; Jim Leyritz, Padres; Mark Lewis, Phillies; Mike Matheny, Brewers; David Bell, Indians.
His best team: "I didn't have a best team. I've had a lot of fine ball clubs. You can have great individual talent, but to really win you've got to have chemistry. The '84 team will always have a spot in my heart, because that was the first (Connie Mack National Championship)."
Biggest baseball thrill: "When we won three (Connie Mack National Championships) in a row ('91-'93). Nobody had ever done it."
If I've learned one thing in life, it's: "Be honest with yourself, and be loyal to your family and friends."
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Joe Page Hayden has been successful at all three.
The coach is also chairman of the executive committee of Amelia-based Midland Co., co-founded by his late father 60 years ago. Mr. Hayden was chairman and CEO until April when Jay became chairman and son John was elected president and CEO. The company, which deals primarily in insurance and river transportation, last year earned $17 million on revenues of $375 million.
But for almost 40 years, Mr. Hayden has also devoted time, energy and money to baseball.
"He's putting his time in for us, he wants us to put our time in for him. That's all he wants, for us to try our best," says Tyler Minges, a pitcher and outfielder who played last season and about half this one with the Redskins. (The former Ross High star left the team in June after signing a contract with the Cleveland Indians.)
Thus far this season, the hard-working Redskins have compiled a record of 42-2.
Mr. Hayden knows that many of his players dream of playing pro ball, and Midland's high profile offers them exposure to scouts. Seven of the 20 members of this year's team were drafted last month; three left the club after signing pro contracts.
In the past 30 years, more than 180 Midland players have been drafted by pro teams or have signed professional contracts, including Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and Seattle Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.
But the coach also knows that not everyone can be a Larkin or a Griffey, and many won't make it as a pro. Which is why Mr. Hayden, who has developed close ties with a number of college coaches, prods his players to take college entrance tests.
Troy Blackburn, the Cincinnati Bengals' director of stadium development, was a pitcher on the Redskins' first Connie Mack National Championship team, in 1984.
"On more than one occasion in the two years I played for him, a deserving player who wanted to go to college but didn't have the money would find a scholarship in July," Mr. Blackburn says. "It would just mysteriously appear."
The coach writes job recommendations for former players. He offers advice when players -- present and past -- call him, which is often. He's hired some of them to work for the Midland Co.
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ABOUT THE LEAGUE
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The Midland Redskins, managed by Joe Hayden, are members of the American Amateur Baseball Congress, one of several organizations nationwide that sanction youth baseball.
About 15,000 AABC teams are organized into seven age groups. The Redskins play in the AABC's Connie Mack division for ages 18 and under. Most Connie Mack players are 17 or 18, although on rare occasions a 16-year-old is deemed good enough (as was the case with Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr.).
Most Redskins players are recruited from within a 50-mile radius of Cincinnati; AABC rules say up to 10 other players can be selected from outside that radius.
Midland Field in Amelia will host the AABC Connie Mack East-Central Regional Tournament July 30-Aug. 1 (Aug. 2 is a rain day).
Directions: Interstate 275 to the Ohio 125 (Beechmont - Amelia) exit; east on Ohio 125 for 3.1 miles; left (at a traffic light) onto Bach-Buxton Road; when the road dead-ends, turn right onto Clough Pike; a half-mile ahead is a sign for Midland Field - Brazos Sportswear. All-day admission: $2, $1 ages 13-18, free to 12 and under. (Some games will be played at the University of Cincinnati.) Information: 943-7100, ext. 2593.
The tourney winner will advance to the 34th annual Connie Mack World Series, Aug. 7-14 in Farmington, N.M.
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Mr. Larkin, who played for the Redskins in 1981 and '82, still keeps in touch with the man he affectionately calls "Papa Joe." "He was a father figure," Mr. Larkin says, walking out of the Reds clubhouse for pre-game warm-ups one day last week.
"That was my first time being away from home, going to Connie Mack tournaments here and there. He took care of me, as well as all the other Midland players."
Many of them never forget.
"If you want to see my dad really emotional," John Hayden says, "watch one of those kids show up out of nowhere on a winter morning, and say, "Hey Papa Joe, how are ya? I missed you.' It's what he's in it for."
The loyalty goes both ways.
Tim Luginbuhl was 6 when he began playing for Mr. Hayden. But by age 12, with practice and games eating up much of his free time, he decided to quit.
"We had our banquet," Mr. Luginbuhl says, "and my dad made me go up and tell Mr. Hayden what I wanted to do. And (Mr. Hayden) would not let me quit. He didn't ask me not to, he told me, "You're not going to.' "
So the young catcher stuck with it. He played for Mr. Hayden until he was 18, then got an athletic scholarship to the University of Kentucky and earned a marketing degree.
"If it wasn't for athletics," he says, "I never would have got a college education, I guarantee it. The effect (Mr. Hayden) had on my life, not just as a player, but as a person, has a lot to do with who I am today."
Mr. Luginbuhl coached at UK and the University of Tampa, then scouted for the Baltimore Orioles. He's now a purchasing agent for the Midland Co., and has been a Redskins assistant coach -- a volunteer position -- since 1993.
Although Mr. Hayden's sons have assumed a greater role in the Midland Co.'s day-to-day operations, he's still active in the business, still in the office by 7:30 most mornings.
Same goes for baseball. He's turned over much of the daily coaching duties to his five assistants, but he remains an integral part of the team.
Through the years, when baseball and business commitments collided, "business had to come first. That's the goose that lays the golden eggs. That always took priority."
Well, maybe not always.
"I can't tell you how many times we've had business meetings, and if one of those (players) calls, he's gonna take that call," John Hayden says.
The coach had to miss games because of business, but not often. "Many, many times he'd be getting off a plane in his business suit, and changing in the car to get ready for a 6 o'clock game," says George Graff, who coached with Mr. Hayden for many years and is now the Redskins' business manager.
Having a ball field near the office helps.
One minute he can be chomping on a stogie in the gray granite Midland Co. headquarters on rural acreage a half-mile north of Ohio 125, and moments later he can be on Midland Field's green grass, relighting the same cigar.
The field is deserted this weekday, except for a worker on a riding mower. Mr. Hayden walks into the press box, past more than two dozen gleaming trophies and autographed photos of former Redskins. To "Papa Joe,' Thanks for all the help and support. Sincerely your fan, Barry Larkin.
If he were here now, Mr. Larkin might smile. In the coaches' office, Mr. Hayden is lighting a $4 Don Diego cigar.
Mr. Larkin remembers riding in the front seat of Mr. Hayden's Cadillac, heading to a Nashville tournament. The shortstop never liked cigar smoke until day, he says, sneaking a grin, "because I had no choice."
Mr. Hayden picked up the habit from his late father, J. Page Hayden Sr., who went to work with only a ninth-grade education. He and partner H.R. LaBar founded Midland in 1938 as an automobile finance company. The late Mr. Hayden, an avid sports fan, never saw Midland Field but no doubt would have been impressed. The state-of-the-art complex, (which includes an indoor pitcher's mound and batting cages) was completed in 1993; two years later Midland Co. moved its offices to adjoining property.
Besides a playing field, Redskins players are provided with uniforms and equipment except for a ball glove and shoes. On road trips, their transportation, hotel and meals are paid for them. Mr. Hayden is a plain-talking, likable fellow who will discuss baseball until his next business meeting. But ask him how much money Midland spends on the Redskins -- not to mention the two dozen other youth ball teams the company sponsors -- and he shakes his head. He's not telling.
"(The money) comes from different places -- out of my pocket, out of Midland's pocket. The field came out of the foundation." The Hayden Foundation is a charitable organization founded by his father; the field is on foundation property.
Joe Hayden and his wife Lois
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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The field, the championship trophies, the team -- perhaps none of it would exist if not for this: Lois and Joe Hayden, who married in 1951, were blessed with four boys. When the two oldest, Jay and Bill, began playing baseball about age 6, their father had no time to work with them. Or so he thought.
In the late '50s Mr. Hayden was traveling 40-plus weeks a year for Midland; his annual car mileage topped 50,000. He'd just returned from a business trip one Friday when Lois said, "The boys are playing down at Mount Washington School. You want to go watch?"
"Not really. I'm tired."
"Let's go down," she said.
It was a miserable game. Playing poorly, the Hayden boys' team was getting trounced.
"How do you like it so far?" Lois asked.
"This is terrible," Joe said. "If I just coached them on the weekend, I could do better."
"That's great," she said, "because the coach is being transferred to St. Louis, and I told him you'd take over the team tomorrow morning." They finished the season with as many losses as wins. And that was as close as any Joe Hayden-coached team ever came to having a losing record.
The younger Haydens, John and Tom, also played on Midland-sponsored teams. Joe coached all his boys.
A catcher when he attended Withrow High School, Mr. Hayden professes that he "wasn't very good." But he was excellent at teaching skills to others, and at surrounding himself with knowledgeable people. He recruited high school coaches and fathers with baseball experience to help.
"Those (fathers) would come to him and say, "My young boy is going to start playing next year. Any chance you'd sponsor his team?' " John Hayden recalls. "Dad didn't know how to say no."
Midland's sponsorships peaked at about 50 teams; today the company sponsors about 25 teams for youths ages 6-18. Mr. Hayden's sons coach some of them; but Papa Joe is directly involved with only one team, the Redskins.
Some adults, he found, were unwilling to work with teens, because of their attitude.
"But I kind of thought kids that age, if they had respect for you, were kind of fun," Mr. Hayden says. "If you could teach them dedication, and teach them through a sport to be responsible citizens, you were doing more for the community than if you bought a new ape for the zoo or a new flute for the symphony."
He chose the nickname "Redskins" because of Miami University, his alma mater. (Last year, the school changed its nickname to RedHawks, but don't look for Mr. Hayden to follow suit. "There is no such thing as a RedHawk," he scowls.)
He outfitted the team in maize and blue -- University of Michigan colors -- because of former UM football coach Bo Schembechler, a longtime friend and former classmate at Miami.
And he coached them to success, first on a city-wide level, then at the state and national levels.
Today, Redskin coaches recruit players from a 50-mile radius around Cincinnati; AABC rules say the 20-member team can have up to 10 players from outside that radius (the '98 team has six), provided they have a residence in the area by June 15.
Mr. Cooper, the AABC president, says there's more to the Redskins than a winning tradition. Its players, he says, exhibit "old-fashioned manners and respect."
Off the field, he says, they don't wear their hats in restaurants or hotels. They say please and thank you. On the field, they show respect for competitors and their coaches. They don't throw bats or helmets.
The team reflects the values held by Mr. Hayden, whose cardinal rule is: "Be good or be gone."
More than 20 years ago, he says, a player on a road trip was misbehaving. Mr. Hayden booted him from the team and put him on a bus. "You can't send me home," the young man said. "I'm your star. I'm batting fourth."
"I don't have any stars," the coach responded. "You used to bat fourth."
Years later, at a wedding reception, the former player approached his old coach. Mr. Hayden remembered him and asked how he'd fared. "When I got off that bus, my old man knocked me flat on my (rear)," he said. "It changed my life."
The former player, whom Mr. Hayden won't name for fear of embarrassing him, is now a judge.
"We've never not been invited back to a hotel," Mr. Hayden says. "We've never not been invited back to a tournament. Because I tell them, "When you leave that hotel room, it better be as clean as you found it. When we leave somebody's dugout, it better be at least as neat.' "
It's a small price to pay to play for Mr. Hayden and the Redskins, says Steve Kelly, a pitcher in his second season with the team.
"The only thing I can say about him is, he's probably the greatest guy I've ever met," the 1998 Fairfield High graduate says. "He does things for kids just because he loves the game, and he loves kids."
Ask Joe Hayden what's been most fulfilling, baseball or business, and he doesn't hesitate.
"Family," he says.
Lois and Joe still live in the stone and brick Anderson Township home where they raised their four boys. Few baseball trappings are evident, until you head downstairs to the finished basement. "It starts here," Mrs. Hayden says, leading the way past framed newspaper articles and team photos, then into a well-stocked trophy room.
Mrs. Hayden, who loses her husband to baseball for much of each summer, says she doesn't regret encouraging him to start coaching almost 40 years ago.
"No, it's been a big part of his life. He was talking eight years or so ago about giving it up. I don't know what else he would do that he was so good at and enjoyed so much."
Mr. Hayden says he considered quitting because he thought that's what his wife wanted.
"I wouldn't have a family if I didn't have Lois," he says. "She's the one that made it all happen. She gave me the latitude to do this. She's the person who had to give the most. And I'm forever grateful for that."
Lois didn't want him to give up baseball, only to cut back so he wouldn't be exhausted every night. His back aches these days, and the Redskins' 80-game schedule and frequent weekend doubleheaders don't help.
So a few years ago Mr. Hayden expanded his coaching staff from two to five, which allows him to do less. But he has no plans to give up baseball, he says, because it keeps him young.
Dave Evans, who also coaches at Loveland High School, is his main man in the dugout, assisted by Mark Hopkins, Joe Renner, Ralph Smith and Mr. Luginbuhl, to whom Mr. Hayden turned over his third-base coaching duties.
Says Mr. Hayden: "I still reserve the right to tell him, "That's the dumbest thing I ever saw you do.' "
The coaches, all volunteers, risk Mr. Hayden's wrath when the team doesn't perform well, such as those first 3 1/2 innings against A. Green Financial Group from Ypsilanti.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, though, Midland's bats come alive, and the home team scores seven runs. The Redskins hold on for an 8-6 victory.
After the game, the Michigan team's manager, Stan Eldridge, recalls meeting Mr. Hayden 13 years ago at the World Series in Farmington. He says the Midland coach took time to offer tips on how to run a successful program.
"He is the standard by which every other (amateur) program measures itself," Mr. Eldridge says. "Not only by the quality of the players, but by the character of the people involved.
"Hopefully, Cincinnati appreciates what he does for this area, because no other community has this."
Meanwhile, the Redskins have gathered in the infield. Mr. Hayden is talking about an upcoming road trip to Toronto. He has a reminder for his players:
Don't wear hats in the hotel.
