Our Team
Co-Founder/Executive Editor/Podcast Co-Host
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David’s passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home.
Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
Managing Editor/Podcast Co-Host
Brian Koss
Brian is the Managing Editor at Legends on Deck and Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. He’s been writing about baseball at LOD since 2017 and is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association. He’s lives in Horizon West, FL.
You can also reach him at brianmkoss@gmail.com
Associate Editor
Dylan Spaulding
Dylan was born in Tampa, FL, and is the Founder of The FLow Show, a podcast that covers all things baseball in FL. He also is a current Play-By-Play Announcer for PHSC Baseball and works for the Toronto/Dunedin Blue Jays as a Scoreboard and Music Operator for the team. His favorite teams he roots for are the Blue Jays, Phillies, and Rays and his favorite player is Vladmir Gurrero Jr.
Original Co-Founder/Editor
John Ginder
Follow @JohnGinder
John has recently graduated from the University at Albany with a B.A. in History and is currently finishing his Master’s Degree there as well in secondary education. After being away from school for over two decades he decided to go back and work towards his dream of becoming a social studies teacher. John is also one of the original founders of Legends on Deck.
Head Site Photographer
Mathew Carper
Mathew is from Butler, Indiana and grew up listening to the Cleveland Indians on a radio he bought when he was ten at a garage sale. It was the only station he could get on the radio, so he became an avid fan. He wrestled all through high school and most of college. He attended Tri-State University to become a math teacher and graduated with two different degrees. He’s been a mechanic for the last 14 years and is now living his dream as a sports photographer.
Contributing Site Photographer
Alex Walworth
Alex started photography at age 17, and covered events such as the American Athletic Conference Baseball tournament 2019, 2021, 2022. Tampa Bay Rays games for The Scrum Sports in 2019. Worked for the Tampa Bay Titans Basketball team in the developed league called The Basketball League in 2019-20 and 2021-22. Covered the Valspar golf championship, and the NCAA Men’s D1 Frozen Four for Amped Up Sports.
Alex has been full season credentialed for USF Baseball games in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023. He is also an avid fan of Hockey and Baseball.
Contributing Writers
Bankie Bruce
Bankie Bruce initially started writing for ACEProWrestling.com. After a few controversial columns, Bankie struck out on his own blog. In 2021, Bankie debuted on HardwayHQ.com, writing his “Bank Statement”. He has now added his Hot Take to the blog as well. He loves obscure pro wrestling and rare forms of television. And now he ventures to the baseball side of writing. The sky is the limit for Mr. Bruce. #BANKONIT
Jeremy Cerone
Jeremy Cerone is a lifelong baseball fan. As a native Philadelphian, he was born and raised as a Phillies fan. He played second base as a kid, even before Chase Utley made it cool. Later, in college, he adopted the Yankees as his American League team. The Phillies remain securely as his first love in baseball. Sports journalism and commentary have fascinated him since childhood. If Mars fielded a baseball team and played the Atlanta Braves, Jeremy would openly cheer for the Martians.
Jeffrey Francis
Jeffrey was born on April 29th, 1961, in Nassau, Bahamas to Rejoiner Ann Rolle and Jerome James Francis Etienne.
Married to Andrea G. Rolle-Francis, they have two daughters; Janae Latoya Francis, a graduate of Allegany College of Maryland, and Jessica Lee Francis a graduate Potomac State College West Virginia University in Kyser West Virginia.
Jeffrey was coaching the sport of baseball from 1980 at the age of 18 years old because he loved the sport as a kid. He started listening to the game over the radio out of Miami Florida in the late 60s and in the early 70s started playing the game locally in various local leagues right up to the premier senior league; a league where all of the current Bahamian minor leaguers played.
In 1982, Jeffrey had an invite to a three day tryout with the New York Yankees in Hollywood Florida, which was an awesome experience that is lasting a life time memory for him.
Jeffrey has been following the Bahamian baseball players in the minor leagues since 1999 with Angelo Burrows, but found greater interest with the signing of Antoan Richardson in 2005. He also writes a year end review on their play on his Facebook page, Baseball Bahamas, and he has a website with the same name. He has a great following and would love to expose the baseball players to a bigger worldwide audience.
He has a good relationship with all the players because he personally coached most of them.
His favorite MLB Team is the Detroit Tigers from 1969.
Matt Graifer “The Young Professor”
“The Young Professor” Matt Graifer is a Florida-based, award winning professional host who has performed in front of over 400,000 fans over the course of his entertainment career. He is best known for his work as “The Bananannouncer” for The Savannah Bananas and as a Driver Introductions Announcer for the NASCAR Cup Series. He is a passionate public speaker and educator and LOVES keeping the energy high wherever he goes.
The Professor’s name comes from one of his earliest jobs: he became a college professor in the field of exercise science when he was just 25 years old and spent over seven years as a college educator.
In 2015 he started moonlighting as a host of bar trivia games, which was where he began referring to himself as “The Young Professor”. In 2018, he began working as a sports announcer: first as a professional wrestling ring announcer and as an On-Field MC for the Jacksonville Sharks where he spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He then began working as a ring announcer in MMA and boxing and also sat behind the desk as a professional wrestling play-by-play commentator. In 2021, he joined the Daytona Tortugas Minor League Baseball team (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) as their On-Field Host and also became the On-Court Host for the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams.
In 2022, The Young Professor was picked up by The Savannah Bananas to be a part of their record breaking Bananaball World Tour, which is documented in the acclaimed ESPN+ docuseries Bananaland. Later that year, he was recruited by the Daytona International Speedway, The World Center of Racing, to be the first ever on-stage Driver Introductions Announcer for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in August.
The Professor is still an educator at Matanzas High School in the social studies department and has been married to his wife Shanna since 2015. They have 4 children together.
Eddie Kraus
Eddie is a diehard Mets fan who loves writing and talking about sports, especially baseball. He was featured on SNY as the 2022 Mets Kidcaster and is a member of the Hofstra Sports Journalism institute.
Shelley Tamasi
Shelley is from rural Nebraska and has been a baseball fan since she was a child, however a fanatical New York Yankee fan since 1996. She has written for several sports outlets, managed social media sites and enjoys interacting with fans across all MLB teams.
“The passion, pride and knowledge is so incredibly present among baseball fans and it’s amazing to share with others,” she states. She looks forward to doing just that through her articles for Legends on Deck.
A Licensed Practical Nurse, who works in the home care specialty, Shelley is the proud mother of four daughters who are also nurses. She enjoys nature photography and gardening in her spare time.
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