January 22 - Mike Wallace, a veteran of five Major League Baseball seasons and a state championship game hero during his prep career at Vienna’s Madison High School, will serve as the keynote speaker while Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier of 106.7 The Fan’s ‘Grant & Danny Show’ emcee the Awards & Hall of Fame Banquet co-hosted by the magazine and the Home Plate Club during First Pitch Weekend in early March.
The banquet will highlight the two-day event that will kickoff the baseball season in Northern Virginia, with the weekend also including a coaches clinic, trade show, ‘Meet the Pro’s’ session, and the Northern Virginia Baseball Media Day. The First Pitch Weekend will take place at the Holiday Inn Dulles in Sterling on March 4-5.
Wallace was a fourth round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969 and pitched for five seasons in the big leagues with four teams - the Phillies, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers - before retiring from professional baseball in 1979. Now a baseball analyst for MASN-TV, where he pairs with Phil Wood to break down the Washington Nationals on 'Nats Talk' and on the 'Mid-Atlantic Sports Report', Wallace compiled a 3.91 earned run average in 117 games in the Major League.
A native of Vienna, Wallace led the Warhawks to back-to-back state championship games in 1968-69, tossing a complete game in Madison’s 1968 state final win over Highland Springs. He finished his prep career with a school-record 28 victories, recording 347 strikeouts with a 0.97 ERA over his final two seasons at Madison.
Paulsen and Rouhier, meanwhile, have become one of the Washington, D.C. area’s top sports talk tandems since joining forces on the station three years ago. The two host 106.7’s mid-day show during the week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., talking local sports, interviewing local and nationals guests, and taking calls from listeners. Paulsen started his career as a beat reporter covering the Washington Redskins, and Rouhier continues to work as a stand-up comedian in addition to his work on the show.
Rouhier’s local baseball roots date back to his days in the McLean Little League, and he later played at St. Albans School in D.C., collegiately at George Washington University, and during the summer months while in the Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League.
Wallace, Paulsen and Rouhier will headline a night that will also include the induction of the Home Plate Club’s three newest members, the presentation of the HPC’s Jake Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bob Menefee Man of the Year Award, and the Ron Tugwell NOVA Nine Coach of the Year Award. Other awards presented during the banquet will include the NOVA Nine Player of the Year, the Collegiate Player of the Year, the magazine’s eight 2016 Teams of the Year, and others who will be honored for outstanding achievements on and off the field in 2016.
Cost for the banquet is $75 per person, or $650 for a table of 10. For more information on the banquet, click here, and individuals wishing to purchase tickets, please click here. Groups interested in purchasing tickets for a table should contact Joey Kamide at jkamide@novabaseballmagazine.com. Seating for the banquet is limited to 230 tickets.
