I was watching C.N.N a couple of nights ago and there was a story about Major League Baseball wanting a Little League in Chicago to change the names of their teams because of some sort of ‘licensing fee’. Click here for the story via the Herald News.
Because the uniforms didn’t feature official major league team logos, neither the league nor its uniform supplier, SportStation of Tinley Park, had paid a licensing fee for the uniforms.
While watching the story it brought back memories back to the days of playing hardball in the lot on 16th street, in Prospect Park at the ‘Diamonds’, and of course the Parade Grounds.
In case you’re new to the blog or just missed it, click here for my entry on ‘The Lot’, the real field of dreams!
Do people in the neighborhood still call the baseball fields over in Prospect Park ‘The Diamonds’?
The Parade Grounds were the best! Remember trying to battle the guys playing soccer in the outfield? Those guys tore the grass up! They never wanted to leave even if you showed them your permit to use the field.
I often hear kids today claim that baseball is boring. I find that hard to believe. Where did all that start? I loved playing baseball as a youngster. Lacing up your spikes. Grabbing your glove. Pitcher vs. batter. Running the bases hard by going from second to home. Using the hook slide trying to steal second. Drifting in the outfield, getting under a pop fly. Tagging up from third trying to score. Remember when one team would make three outs and while you went out to the field, the guys running in would toss you their gloves?
Those were the days…
I recall pitching for Holy Name’s Bantam ‘B’ team as a 12 year-old.
We were terrible!
St. Savior’s had Gordy on the mound pitching and the guy threw smoke! He threw a two hitter at us one night in the diamonds; John Cain and Joey Mastrion were the only two guys to get hits off of him.
The late Joe Farrell was my coach - he was aces!
Before the games, Cain and I use to take a piece of cork, light a match, watch it burn a bit and then after the flame went out we’d smear the blackened cork under our eyes.
We wanted to look just like our favorite big league players we watched on television.
One of my most memorable moments while attending Holy Name in regards to baseball was watching Mr. Joe Mussa’s teams play and putting the beat-down out-score other schools. The late Albert Plantamura on the mound blowing batters away with that strong left arm. On Friday nights, after our team would lose, we’d walk over to watch Mussa’s team play. I would stand outside the fence along the 3rd base line and listen to Mussa shout out instructions to the batter. He’d go through the signs touching his cap with his finger tips, running his hands down the front of his chest, clap his hands a couple of times and shout out encouragement to the hitter, who had stepped outside the batters box, staring intensely down the line at Mussa getting the signs.
Rich Ferraiolo was an assistant coach under Mussa and along with Albert Plantamura I recall Timmy Hardy, Jimmy Wood, Chris Bullock, Tommy Plantamura, Paulie P., Mike Slavin, Jose Bolano, Gonzalez, Kevin Maloney, Robert Price, Donald Barberri and their first baseman Phil, who went by the nickname ‘Boog’.
(I know I’m missing others, so chime in and let me know if you were a member of that team’ along with your thoughts and comments.)
To conclude, I don’t ever recall hitting a baseball off of a tee nor do I recall a parent pitching to me?
-SF
Hoops135@hotmail.com
What fun coaching those guys. Bunch of hard working never give up ball players.
Coach,
Kevin Maloney, Jodi Staniziewski and myself were also part of that squad as well. Between Rich F. & Joe M. they really worked us hard. Often times I think that the games were easier than the practices.
Practice in Prospect Park was a whole lot of fun. Guys would always try and find a way to get a few extra cuts when it was their turn to hit. I loved the fact that we all met at the 10th avenue entrance and then head over to the field as a team.
No carpools, no minivans, no overbearing parents. If you didn’t start you worked even harder in practice to earn that opportunity. Then when you did get the chance it was sweeter than you ever thought it could be when you got in.
I loved that team! Amazin’, Amazin’, Amazin’!
I find it amusing that you use the term “beat down the other teams” How about the time Finbars, I believe it was, came back a week after a disputed game to put the beat down on the boys….
Thank God for batting helmets or my brother would have had a lot worse than the fractured skull he wound up with
It’s Ok though, he has the dent in his head as a memory and I tell him its what has made him such a sweet and loving character….NOT
oops, maybe a bad choice of words. I can change that (and I will)…
Thanks for pointing that out.
Does anybody remember a guy named “Birdie” who had a fake ear who coached baseball for the Spartans (I think that was the name)??
birdie had a wax ear
Wow, just reading “the diamonds” brought back so many memories for me. But different from you. I was late 60’s into the 70’s. Lou Shaloub, Bob Diblasi were the coaches. Bklyn 60, the CWV Jets, the Beverly Boys. Lou’s sons Ray & Joey (Ray went on to QB at Bklyn College), Bob’s son Dibby, Donny Morere. These were guys about a year older than me (crap I can’t believe I’m 51) My age, there was Jackie Murphy and then everyone else. Murph was a lefty who could thow a baseball (or an egg or a snowball) though a wall. Ypu didn’t want to catch him or get hit by him, by HS he was throwing in the 90’s for the prep (St. Francis) and went on to play for the Tigers and Cardinals (I think) minor league teams. I think he lives in the Hamptons. I remember Bob DiBlasi coming home and he’d bring the cracked bats from his team (he had stapled together with these huge staples) for the younger kids, 7, 8, 9, to play with. We thought they were gold! Wow I could go on for hours, the memories are just flooding in! Thanks, and thanks also to Lou and Bob for helping me and a lot of other kids get a good start.
Randy
oh Steve don’t change a thing….I really did find it funny….reading this post, my first memory was of the fight, so I thought it was pretty coincidental that those words were used
I loved playing in the Parade Grounds. I pitched for the 72nd PCt an the Bonnies. We had some great teams and players in those leagues. I played against John Franco for years and he threw hard but some of us threw harder..but his ball moved all over the place and he had control. after he filled out more physically, he was ready for th bigs.. I remember seeing Charlie Cummings pitch, and seeing Lee Mazzilli who could fly around the bases .. he used to throw with both hands !!
We had alot of guys that got drafted but only a few that made it.. besides Franco, I remember a guy named Dallas Williams who plyed briefly in the bigs…
But my best memories of Prospect Park and the Parade Grounds were goin there with my Uncle Charlie almost every day and he would hit me flyballs and sometimes pitch to me and on the way home we would grab an ince cream cone,, his treat of course. He had a rule that when I threw the ball into him, it had to be on one or two bounces and within an arm’s lengtrh to his left or right otherwise I woul have to run in and get the ball.. you learned accuracy real fast. One day I was working on my bunting and he threw one high and tight almost beaning me.. he later explained that was to keep me honest….
Randy,
The Beverly Boys and Brooklyn 60 - I recall those teams.
Jimmy,
The Bonnies had a big rep! Some great players passed through the Diamonds and Parade Grounds. I recall watching Shaun Dunston play. The guy was unreal.
Eileen,
That was a bad incident, would hate for anyone to re-live that.
Kenny,
I remember “Birdie”. He used to drive down our block in some beat up cadillac or pontiac and stop and talk to the kids. He used to take Mike Bundrick, Mike Woodworth, and Sean Slater out to eat. I remember Birdie when he would pull up down on Sherman Street. Definitely a weird character especially with that fake plastic ear. I think Woody even pulled that ear off his head once!
Bundrick, Woody, and Slater used to abuse that guy! Birdie took the three of them to the Park House Restaurant. He told them that they can only get an ice cream. Birdie got up and had used the restroom. When Birdie got back all three of them were eating cheesburger deluxes! LOL! Birdie was pissed! He was definitley a strange character that I would not let me child go near in this day and age! He met his match in Bundrick, Woody, and Slater!
The Beverly Boys were good.. but our main rivals were Youth Service and Gil Hodges.. who each had guys drafted When I played for the 72nd , our big rivalry was with St. Thomas Acquanis..
We had a combined team that played in the BABA Tournament at and we beat Gil Hodges tem pretty bad in their park… they were supposed to hand us trophies at the end but would not do it.. we came pretty close to brawling with them…
Youth Service, yes.
Gil Hodges, wow! I recall going to Coney Island on the F-Train and whenever you would pass Ave. X station, we would always stand up and stare out the window at their field.
Daydreaming of course of someday hitting a home run over the fence with all the sponsers’ ads pinned to the wall!
As much as I liked Gil Hodges (especially when he and some Mets appeared at Prospect Park), and every year send agry letters why he and the formerly hated Cub Ron Santo are not in.. The team was arrogant and the coaches especially.. I guess we were jealous of the park.. beating them there was pretty cool..
Jerry thanks for reminding me about missing you and Jody. Old age has come and forget some of the players
Rich,
No biggie, it happens to us all. Sometimes when I do this I claim it as a pre-senior moment.
JC
we had some of the best games in the lot …………our parents never had ato worry ……….my mother would say to me after a day of school …where you going Joey?
to lot Mom going to play baseball we have a big game today
seems as everytime we played in the lot it was always a big game……..robert lanigan,danny mills,rich dixon,michael reed as well as the stanesweski’s and of course my brother john, robert ventrice,tom heaney, just to name a few…..
we always played there some guys had a tough time climbing over the fence
but there was a place where the pavement sunk and we could pull up the fence to help the ones who couldn’t get over..but there had to be 2 or 3 of us holding up the fence….and Mr. Pesh would always tell ur one of you guys is going to get hurt be careful…but he didnt mind us playing in there as long as we didnt throw the ball against his housse…….and his mother Mary would always give us water ,she would come and ask us if we were thirsty……..
Man the good old days
Hello to all.
I remeber that game when red was attacked. In fact we all took a beating that day, but Red Slavintook the worst hit. It was some of the kids that we played the night before, but it was mostly 17 & 18yrs olds. I remember they clubbed the umpire and Joe Mussa, then they came after us and trapped us in the dugout. We were the away team so there were really no other adults around. We heard the police sirens in the distance, but they could not get there in time before they started swinging the bats over our heads. All I remember after that was waking up in Victory memorial Hospital. What a horrible day that was. Thank God Red and the rest of us came out of it ok.
Kevin,
Thanks for the highlights of the horrific event. You see, not to make light of it, but things really haven’t changed that much. You still have fights today that we had 25 years ago.
You had a great arm by the way!
Thanks Steve,
We had such a great time playing. Brings back a lot of memories.
Thanks for the website. It was a great Idea.
Joey,
Glad to see you found the blog!
I can remember getting up at 6AM to head over to Prospect Park to get the field ready for practice. We were so into playing baseball that we would rake the field. Joe Mussa and Richie F wouldn’t be to far behind us. Then we would break for lunch and a few guys would always stay so we wouldn’t lose the “diamond.” We had great times playing. When we won which was pretty much all the time J Mussa would buy us pizza. The highlight after everygame would be who got the game ball for that particular game. I still have one : Holy Name 6 St Francis Xavier 5 May 1975.
It is right next to Jeter,Jackson, Steinbrenner and Berra !
The other thing is Kevin Maloney was the best player on our team year in and out.
Chris Bullock
Chris,
I remember the phrase, ‘Hold or keep the diamond’…You always kept someone there so know one else would take it.
If you have a digital camera, take a pic of that game ball and send it to me!
It’s good to see some of my other ball players here. Mr Maloney and Mr Bullock. We might not have been the most talented team in the league but no one played harder. It was indeed a pleasure to coach you guys
Hello Rich,
How have you been? I hope all is well. Yes they were tough practices that you and Joe (Brother Joe) put us through, but it was certainly worth it. Joe and Rich taught us good fundametal and situational baseball. They made you think what were you going to do if the ball was hit to you. It really prepared me for High School and College ball.
Thank you and Joe Mussa for the time and effort and knowledge that you gave us. It was a lot of fun. Hello to Chris and Jerry and all the guys from the old team. I hope everyone is well.
Amen Kevin. We always had good coaches at HN. Rich & Joe worked us hard and showed us the right way to play the game. Baseball was a blast and those practices in Prospect park were amazing. Remember running out your last swing in BP? How many times did we take 3-4-5 extra pitches at the end until we got one that looked fat just so that we could try for the homer. Some days I thought we’d wear Joe & Rich out during those BP sessions but they kept on going like the Energizer Bunny. LOL! I hope that all is well with you and the family.
Chris, getting the game ball was definitely a highlight. That is definitely a treasured piece of memorabilia. I had one from a game against Chris Logan and St. Saviour’s but I believe that it was lost when we were cleaning out my parents home on Windsor. Best to you and the family.
Rich, thanks again for those endless hours of BP!
I remember my brother Drew playing on the Intermediate or Tyro team back in the late 70’s. He wasn’t a very good baseball player for he played hockey but was friends with Al Lopez so he joined the team. Down at the Parade Grounds HN was down three runs in the last inning with the bases loaded with my brother pinch hitting and one out. Chris Logan aka “Tiffer” was pitching for Saint Saviour’s when my brother hit a comebacker to the mound. Logan tried to turn a double play and threw the ball wide of second base into the outfield going past the two outfielders. My brother ran around the bases as HN scored 4 runs on an error and won the game. My brother got mobbed at the plate. I felt really good for him that day! He was happy and surprised all in one!