CAN THE A’S THREE-PEAT?

SPORTS Next month, the best baseball in the Dallas area may not be in Arlington, but at Reverchon Park. Dallas’
best-kept hardball secret, the Crumpton Printing A’s of the Dallas Amateur Baseball Association (DABA) kick off their
quest to win a third consecutive Stan Musial World Series, the national championship for 18-and-over U.S. amateur
leagues.

A three-peat will be no small feat, considering there are more than 1,600 US. teams at the Stan Musial level. In
Dallas, the A’s have built a dynasty under 18-year manager PAUL AUBE, 61. winning the DABA tournament four of
the past six years. They’ve made it to the Amateur World Series five of the past seven years, winning three times
(1988, ’90 and ’91). Aube has kept his teams nationally competitive despite losing players every year to the baseball
draft, college graduation and so on. (Each team has 25 players, made up of top high-school seniors, college players
and as many as five ex-pros.) He hasn’t, however, lost his “old fireman,” his relief pitcher and SON BRIAN AUBE,
31.

As the best of DABA’s 10 teams year-in and year-out, the A’s have also become the league’s selling point. “It’s
getting tougher every year,” says Coach Aube, a pharmaceutical salesman who’s been with the Dallas amateur league for
29 years. “Ev-erybody seems to be gunning for us. But it keeps up the interest.”