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Alston, Nyveen Share Owner of the Year Award
December 2, 2002
by Corky (Long Island)

Two very different paths led to a shared Owner of the Year award for South Beach's Ty Alston and Compton's Jeff Nyveen.

Alston's Gambinos had been a doormat in previous seasons, and battled the .500 mark during the first half of 2002. However, a huge turnaround in the pitching staff led to a 45-36 record in the second half and the Gambinos first playoff spot in their history. They later won their first playoff series by defeating Pittsburgh, and took Seattle to seven games before losing in the division series.

Nyveen's Crips had been a perennial division winner in seasons past, but had never won the big one. That changed in 2002, as Compton got past Great Lakes in 7 games in the division series, beat Long Island in 6 for the American League pennant, and crushed Boro Park in 5 to win the World Series.

Nyveen had this to say about winning the award: "I'm glad to see that all my number-crunching paid off. It's nice knowing that all those hours in front of my computer led to a championship. Congratulations to all the other owners out there who put so much of their own time and effort into this league."

Alston was not so complimentary toward his co-winner: "Jeff who? His family must have voted for him."

"Seriously though, I'm honored to receive this award. I owe it all to the players who played excellent baseball throughout the year. It's also a great honor to share this award with Jeff. He's a great guy, and his team had an awesome year."

While the voting did not end in an exact tie (Alston received 36 votes, while Nyveen received 35), the league office decided that, given the closeness of the vote and the success by both franchises, both owners deserved to share the award.

COMPLETE OWNER OF THE YEAR VOTING
Ty Alston, South Beach (36)
Jeff Nyveen, Compton (35)
(tie) Josh Sinnett, Seattle (15)
(tie) Corky Williams, Long Beach (15)
Tom Provenzano, Boro Park (6)
Bob Wheaton, Port Robinson (1)

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