"An Umpire, Some Scouts, and a Baseball Card Comes to Life"

                      "An Umpire, Some Scouts and A Baseball Card Comes to Life"

    I met Ria Cortesio in the summer of 1995, not surprisingly, at a baseball game. Ria was born and grew up in the Quad Cities and the Quad Cities River Bandits were the low Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros. I was in my fourth year of scouting and covering the Midwest League for the Astros. 

    My wife and I had recently moved to Davenport, Iowa and I was scouting a three game series at a stadium that was only a mile from our house- a real treat. I sat behind home plate, usually close to the pitchers in street clothes who were charting pitches for the game. I'm not certain, but I think Ria attended all three games also. She was only 18 or 19 that summer and much later I found out she attended Rice University, located in Houston, Texas so it made sense she was an Astros' fan.

    I did not know her true ambition was to become a professional baseball umpire. After attending Jim Evans' five week school for umpires, Ria began her professional umpiring career in the minor leagues in 1999, in the short season Pioneer League.

    She became the fifth female professional umpire in the history of the game and one of her masks is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    I didn't see Ria again until she began umpiring games in the Midwest League. I probably saw her umpire 8-10 games during her Midwest League tenure and if you didn't see her name listed on the pre-game rosters, most fans and even scouts would not even notice a young woman was umpiring the game. Midwest League games have only two umpires on the field so they are forced to cover more territory than the four person crews and she did it smoothly with no mis-steps, 

    I never heard a  manager, coach, player or fan berate her because she was a woman. In fact, post season questions about her work were usually answererd very favorably by everyone whose job it was to watch the game closely. 

    I think that maybe the best tribute you can direct her way is-she was a true professional and went out and did her job as flawlessly as anyone could have done in the games she worked.

    She advanced to the Southern League (Double A), spending five seasons in the league. She worked both the 2006 All-Star Futures Game and the Major League Home Run Derby Contest, Just like players, coaches and even managers, umpires want to advance and climb through the different levels with the goal to reach the big leagues.

    In late March of 2007, she became the first woman umpire to work in a Major League exhibition game since Pam Postema in 1989.

    I mentioned several times in my new book, "Baseball's Test of Spirit," that often a professional career does not end well, often with disappointment and surprise, and Ria fell into that category. She worked five years in the Southern League and at the conclusion of the 2007 season she was released.

    At the beginning of the 2007 season she was listed as the top-ranked umpire in Double A ball. This meant if there had been an injury or retirement she would have been eligible for promotion to AAA.

    That's when Ria's upward course began to take a turn in the wrong dirction and by mid-season she was now listed in the middle of the pack of the Double A rankings. That drop in the rankings soon became a point of contention for Ria and other supporters.

    Minor League baseball had a policy then to fire any umpire not promoted after five seasons, Since the 2007 season was her fifth consecutive year in AA, she was fired after the 2007 season.

    Her release was not received well by many supporters, but the decision to fire her was  not going to be reversed.

    Like the women before her, Ria was a trailblazer, Eight years after Rea's dismissal, Jen Pawoll had the opportunityto umpire during MLB spring training, She is just the seventh woman to work as a professional umpire.

    Ria worked a few college games after her dismissal, then retired from scouting.

                                                      

                                                            Ria Cortesio

                                                           Some Scouts

    I alluded to the fact that most of the time during my early years of scouting I followed the "listen and learn approach." I don't think it was intimidation as much as it was respect for those veteran scouts. I rarely mentioned I came directly from the college ranks because someone told me that the veteran guys didn't like that. (I didn't know why) And I never spoke about beginning my baseball coaching career as a little league coach. (I do know why)

    I slowly built some confidence to the point that I was confident I could compete with opposing scouts. I made some mistakes, but nobody hits on every evaluation. 

    There was always a part of me that looked at some individuals with very high regard and it was a real treat to spend time with them. Many of them were fascinating conversationalists on a list of subjects. They had seen so much in their career and yet they were scouts just like me and it was a true pleasure to hear their baseball tales.  They had great stories.

    I told some of them in my book, but it was just a glancing blow. I felt confident that I could occasionally voice a thought, but it was more fun listening.

    I met Jerry Krausse, the general manager of the Chicago Bulls during their six NBA championships between '91-98. Many people don't realize Jerry was a baseball scout before and after his time with the Bulls.He scouted for several major league clubs in the 70's including the White Sox. After his NBA career, he went back to baseball scouting with the Mets in 2005 and in 2010 he joined the White Sox again.

     I had the opportunity to talk with Jerry during a long rain delay in Columbus, Ohio and later at a round table with four or five other scouts during a break in spring training action and finally during several games at Wrigley. 

    I watched the complete Netfix special on Jordan and the Bulls and what I thought about most of the time was how Jerry treated a younger baseball scout (like me) without ever showing the least bit of boastfulness or bragging. Someone else usually brought up the subject of the Bulls and he never complained or was negative about anyone during our conversations, He spoke only about players he thought may have been overlooked on a team that  had several of the best players in basketball history-all on one team-some that Krausse had made magnificent trades for. I recall he spoke very highly of Bill Cartwright, acquired in a trade and who became the Bulls starting center in three championship years, 1991-1993.

    Jerry passed in 2017 at the age of 77.

    It was enjoyable to see and talk briefly to Pete Vuckovich, who was a junior when I was a freshman at Clarion University (Pa.). Pete was drafted by the White Sox in 1974 and later won the American League Cy Young Award with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1982.

    Pete is also well known for his role as Yankees slugger Clu Haywood in the baseball film "Major League. 

    Vuckovich held several different scouting roles including; special assistant to the general manager with the Pirates and later with the Mariners, He also was a professional scout with Arizona for several years.

    I was scouting for the Oakland Athletics when I was assigned to cover the White Sox at the end of the season. We were a playoff contender and although Chicago's playoff chances were slim, they were still mathematically in the hunt. I was scheduled to see them play on a Sunday afternoon and if they won, drive back home to catch a flight to Kansas City the next morning and continue covering the White Sox until they were eliminated from playoff contention.

    Scouts are often in a hurry to depart after a game because they often have a long drive or flight to their next game site. Seated in the first row of seats, you often have to weave your way through aisles of people who aren't in the same hurry that you are to get to the concourse and head to the exit. 

    I didn't know Charlie Kerfield that well, but the former pitcher for the Astros proved to be the perfect guy to follow on your way to the stadium exits. Charlie pitched for Houston in the late 80's before becoming a minor league pitching coach and eventually a special assistant with the Phillies. 

    Charlie's large frame allowed me to follow him up the stairs and out the stadium exits several times. He didn't push or shove. He just created space automatically. I just followed his route, like a halfback running behind his pulling guard. He probably never knew it, but he was responsible several times for me making record time out of parking lots after games. I was home for dinner after that particular White Sox game (they won) and the 200 mile drive home. 

    In 1998, I had the opportunity to be the hitting coach for the A's short season club in Medford, Oregon, After the free agent draft, I made the 2,000 mile drive to Medford to begin a 76 game season.

    Greg Sparks was our manager and Gil Lopez and I were his coaches. Each of us were ejected once from separate games during the '98 season. The same umpire tossed each of us at different times. The individual fine for an ejection at that time was 25 dollars, which was almost three days of meal money in the low minors at that time. That stung a little bit.

    I was back to my regular season scouting position to begin the next season. It was opening day back in the Midwest League and I was watching batting practice when I heard my name being yelled, "Jim Pransky." I turned around and it was the same umpire who had bounced me out of the Northwest League game the previous summer. He had advanced a level in his umpire career and there he was again. He was cordial, but neither one of us had forgotten about the incident in Oregon. 

    A scout once told me he attended a big league game and it was the first time he ever saw an inning without the catcher flashing a signal. The Astros were protecting a ninth inning lead and Billy Wagner was sent in to close. He threw nothing but 97-100 mph fastballs and struck out the side on 10 pitches. The catcher knew what was coming. The hitter knew what was coming, but on this day and many other times for the lefty closer, it didn't matter who knew what they were going to see.

    I was working for Tampa Bay and covering a playoff series in Philadelphia with the Phillies hosting Atlanta. The Phils took a big lead early and coasted into the ninth up by five or six runs. They brought Brad Lidge in to close, really just to get in some work. He had an outstanding year and all the scouts had already seen him throw many times that season. He struck out the first 2 hitters and the scouts started up the steps to watch the final hitter on the television screens in the concourse area,

    As we made our way up the steps. the Phillies' fans called us every vile name they could think of and some I had never heard before. 

    "We're scouts." some guys said and that had absolutely no affect on the fans' anger,

    "How can you leave a Phillies' playoff win? You guys aren't Phils' fans. Get out of our stadium!" Those were the mildest questions and instructions. And we had to come back the next day. The Phillies won game two of the series and even a few of the Philadelphia fans tried to beat the traffic. We said nothing and Philadelphia was a happy city with a 2-0 lead.

    They felt ecstatic ten days later when they defeated the Rays in the 2008 World Series.

    There's a section in my book where I listed 30-35 scouts who had a major role in my career and who I considered friends and advisors. They played a large part in my development as a scout during my 25 year career. That list of scouts could have been twice as large. There were several scouts who I didn't know very well, but just watching their professionalism day after day, game after game, set outstanding examples for me to watch and eventually follow.  

                                               A Baseball Card Comes to Life

    Anyone who ever collected baseball cards knows there is usually one player you usually found in your pack of cards almost every time you opened one and it almost definitely was not going to be Koufax, Stargell, Brooks Robinson, Maris, or Mays.

    One of my frequent acquisitions was Minnesota's Tom Brunansky. Tracy Jones of the Reds was another.

    My nephews, Shane and Brett, came down to visit me in central Florida during their spring break in 1987 which coincided with baseball's spring training season. I lived only five minutes away from the Astros' training camp.

     The boys were only 12 and 10 years old, but they already had a healthy collection of cards and, of course, I did also. Many of mine went back to the 50's and 60's. We designed a plan to pull as many cards as possible of players or players turned coaches who we might see at the spring training site.

    Before our initial visit we sat in my living room, brought out all the cards and began to put together our cards of players, like Terry Puhl, Kevin Bass, Billy Doran and other Astros players. Our preparations were running smoothly.

    We eventually discovered we had 14-15 cards of Eddie Watt, both as a player and as a coach. We had twice as many cards of Eddie than we did anybody else we thought we might see.

    We went to the Houston complex three days in a row, arriving about 8:30 each day for the 9:00 a.m. workout. We'd pull into the parking lot each day and as we walked toward the cloverleaf of practice fields we always saw Eddie sitting alone on a bench outside the clubhouse entrance. 

    He was always one of the first members of the coaching staff outside and the boys would take a couple of his cards and approach him.

    Shane and Brett were always polite and Eddie was always gracious, seemingly a bit surprised that these two youngsters would have some of his cards.

    We did that for three straight days and I think Eddie always enjoyed and may have looked forward to the morning routine each day. I always stayed away from the kids and let the boys spend time with Eddie. I was happy that the boys were happy having a good time with it.  Eddie probably signed hundreds of cards during his career and now we had about 15 of them signed and just as memorable for the boys was they actually had conversations with the Astros' minor league pitching coach pitching every day.

    Shane and Brett began to realize that the player they had never heard of a week earlier was actually a contributing member of some very good Baltimore Oriole teams. Eddie played in the big leagues from 1966-1975. He was not a high profile pitcher, but also was overlooked at times despite playing a prominent role on some championship teams.

    The 5'10 righthander was a member of the Orioles when they won three consecutive American League pennants from 1969-1971 and won the World Series over the Reds in 1970. He also was a member of the Orioles' World Series champion team in 1966. He was 38-36 in his career with a 2.91 ERA and 80 saves.

    As my nephews grew older, every once in a while we would talk about those autograph days and Eddie's name would surface, Brett, who was now a very good writer thought about penning a story about his Florida spring training experience as a ten-year-old. 

    He called Eddie, who lived in Lamoni, Iowa. Eddie spoke pleasantly to him and included some good baseball stories including the time he acquired one of Brooks Robinson's gloves for his grandson.

    As he watched his grandson play in a pickup game, Eddie asked him about Brooks' glove. His grandson replied that the glove was in use-as second base, stepped on, kicked around, but in the eyes of the kids serving a valuable purpose. A Hall of Famer's glove. Maybe the greatest fielding third baseman of all time. Yikes!  

                        Two of my favorite cards, Brooks Robinson and Sandy Koufax

  

    

   

 

     

    

LOST on the STREETS

 

                                                              

                                      LOST on the STREETS

    It seems silly to have a title about streets and a picture without any. Maybe it's just about connections. The bridge connects Iowa to Illinois, the Mississippi River connects to countless locations and the fence connects from one end of a walkway to another. 

    The day was Thursday, August 29th and it started like many of my retirement days do.

I took my morning walk with my only daily change being the direction I take as I leave my driveway.

Either way, it takes me through our neighborhood on the east side of Davenport and regardless what

direction I choose I  always end up walking 26-27 minutes. Often I will repeat the same walk after 

dinner. Some streets have a bit of incline, but after growing up in Pennsylvania it's difficult to call

any place in Iowa a "hill"

     I never imagined that this particular walk would have a lasting effect on my thoughts and make me 

question my own existence, 

    That statement may sound overly-dramatic, but it happened and it came out of nowhere. I was

 only five or six seven minutes from home with only half a block and two left turns away from 

our house as I was finishing the morning's walk.

    There's not a lot of variety in my morning walking regimen or the morning routine of any of the 10-

12 people I see each day at 6:30 a,m. unless somebody starts earlier or later than usual. There's always  

two or three folks walking or running with their dogs, two ladies walking together, a young couple  

walking and talking, each of them drinking a cup of coffee and a several runners/ joggers who are

headed over to the Duck Creek running and bicycle path.

    I was walking on the left side of the street and less than a hundred yards ahead of me I saw a person 

coming toward me. As she approached, I noticed she was carrying a large plastic bag about the size of

 one of those huge book bags that some kids carry to school. The bag was in her right hand and it 

looked half full, of what, I couldn't tell.

    From fifty yards away I could tell that this person, who looked like a frail fifth grader was a mid-30's 

woman. She wore a tank top with shorts and it appeared that her bare shoulders, legs and face were 

sunburned. That became even more evident when she came closer. Her exposed skin was fire engine 

red. 

    For some reason, my mind created a scenario to explain what this woman was doing on this street 

and my first thought was that she was walking to someone's home to babysit. There are no restaurants, 

coffee shops or any businesses less than a mile and a half from the spot where we stood.

    She wore glasses. Her uncombed blond hair was relatively short and the slightly taller than five 

feet woman weighed less than 100 pounds.

    She pleasantly asked me if I knew where River Drive was. River Drive is one of the major streets 

that runs parallel to the railroad tracks and the Mississippi River. 

    Not only was she four miles from River Drive, she was heading in a direction that only took her 

farther away from her destination.

    She spoke clearly, but said, "I'm a little disoriented. I feel okay, but I'm a little mixed up."

    Davenport, Iowa has almost 100,000 residents and is one of the Quad Cities (two in Iowa and two

in Illinois). The four cities, (Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline and Rock, Island) combined total nearly 

a quarter of a million people.

    Despite being completely lost and miles from her destination, the lady was not crying or upset. She 

only wanted to know how to get to River Drive. She showed me the identification wrist band on her 

 right wrist that she had been given at one of our hospitals, probably three or four miles from where we 

stood. Evidently, someone had taken her to the hospital the night before. I assumed that heat 

prostration was the condition. Sunday had been a sunny, no clouds in the sky,, and mid-90's most of the 

day.

    She mentioned she had stayed in one of the area's parks all day, with little, if any protection from the

sun and it was apparent she had probably lost body fluids and was very weak. The woman only

said that someone had taken her to the hospital and that they checked her vitals, gave her some fluids 

and then discharged her. 

    I first saw her before 7:30 a.m. and she had already walked a minimum of three miles to get to the 

spot where we met. That means she left the hospital at daylight (around 6:00 a.m.). I didn't ask her 

what was in her bag. I think it may have served as her "suitcase" and possibly carried a change of 

clothes.

    I then proceeded to try to give her directions from our current location to River Drive. That was 

an inconsiderate and increasingly shameful act that still bothers me today, I was talking to her as if she 

was a businesswoman who was late for work and the GPS in her 2023 Ford Explorer was not working.

    She politely listened to me explain about the rough sidewalks, traffic, and some sights to look for

to assure she was traveling the correct route. She never questioned my laundry list of directions or 

complained about  another walking journey ahead of her. Her departure from the hospital only

took her farther away from her destination,

     I thought, 'Jim, you are an idiot. What kind of person are you?' I'm not naive or unaware our world  

has con-artists, liars, cheaters, scammers and those characters always in search of creating some kind 

of scheme to take advantage of someone on the internet, telephone or simply a knock on your door. 

    I allowed all those "what ifs" to take complete control of a decision-making process. 'Doing nothing 

is better and much safer than being a good person.' - when did that begin to define my personality? You

can always be observant, alert and apply some sound decision-making skills that can help and not avoid

those clearly in need of some help and some kindness.

    In this instance, my thoughts lasted two or three minutes when I thankfully realized giving long

distance walking directions was not an answer-it was an avoidance.

    We walked up the last street that connects to mine and I asked her to wait five minutes for me on an

island that separates three streets. I ran home, bolted upstairs and told my wife what I was going to do. 

She asked me what I needed and I told her I would grab what I could when I went dowwnstairs. I was

in a hurry because I thought this lady probably had been lied to many times in her life.

    I grabbed a plastic bag and took the fruit off our table, some bottled water, emptied my wallet which 

totaled about a dollar and a half and grabbed the keys to my car.

    She was waiting for me when I stopped to pick her up and drive her to a church downtown that my 

wife and I used to attend. I knew they used to serve breakfast each morning to those who needed a good

meal, many of them homeless. The church accepted donations of food, money, clothing-anything that 

could help many of the people who showed up for breakfast and were without a home.

    We drove for less than ten minutes. I intentionally did not ask many questions. She was somewhat     

familiar with the city, but I never got the feeling she was from Davenport. She talked about sleeping in 

the park(s) like she had spent the night at a Holiday Inn. She never complained. She probably told me,

"I appreciate you," and "I appreciate what you are doing" a half of dozen times on our drive. I only 

wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible and not feel the need to answer a hundred questions.

    The drive to the church parking lot was only ten minutes from my home and as soon as we pulled in 

to a parking space that faced one of the entrances of the church the lady said, "I know her." There were 

several people sitting on the sidewalk including a woman equipped with a large, open umbrella that 

kept her in the shade and she was surrounded by a number of objects that I could only guess were her

possessions. The younger lady in my car said, "I think her name is Sara and I know her."

    She exited my car and walked to Sara and they seemed happy to see each other. I was a bit concerned

that we might be too late for breakfast, but evidently it did not begin until 9:00 a.m. so we were a few 

minutes early. I wanted to find a person in charge or a director of the breakfast program and after asking

my friend of 30 minutes if she would be alright until I came back, she told me she was fine. Sara 

echoed her remarks and before I went around a corner of one of the buildings to find some church

personnel, I asked my friend if she was okay and also to please wait there until I came back.

    "I appreciate you," she smiled and I said I'd be right back as I walked around the corner of the 

building where she sat.

    I approached a long table with seven or eight men sitting in the chairs and looking like they were

preparing for the morning's meal. When I asked, "Is there a person-in-charge nearby,?" almost all of the 

guys pointed to another building and several wanted to walk me over there. They were very anxious to 

help and I then thought maybe one of the reasons could have been that I looked like I could use a good 

meal. I still had my morning walking clothes on; an old shirt and shorts, a baseball cap, some droopy 

socks and probably still showing some signs of the morning's hustle and bustle.

    I found the director, identified myself and briefly told her my reason for being there. The director 

walked with me and there was my new friend sitting on the pavement eating one of the tangerines I had

tossed in the bag. We all talked for a moment and I was assured she would be okay. She said, "I 

appreciate you," and for the first time I noticed her glasses. They fit her well, were in good condition 

and looked somewhat similar to the glasses I was wearing. It made me wonder for a moment how she

might have acquired them, maybe through an organization, a friend-I don't know. There could have 

been a hundred different reasons.

    I drove away thinking about her and what had transpired in less than an hour. When I arrived home I

 told my wife what had taken place and I said that I thought I would like to stop by the next day to see if

she was there or more likely, moved on to another location. She had mentioned without any details 

about two cities, Muscatine-about 30 miles from Davenport and Burlington was slightly more than 80 

miles.

    It's been exactly three weeks now and I've never been back to the church. I'll never see the lady I met 

or probably any of the other folks who were there for breakfast that day again. I've thought about that 

day several times and sometimes wonder why I have a degree in counseling when all some people are 

searching for is someone who will listen and I can do that.

    The lady who talked to me on the sidewalk and rode with me to the church never asked me for 

anything except directions. I didn't do anything special. I think I just did what I'm supposed to do. I'm 

glad I'm still thinking about it and I hope in some way it will make me a better person.

      

  

  

    

    

    

                           

Reviews of Baseball's Test of Spirit- A Man's Unlikely Odyssey into the Scouting World.

Reviews of Baseball's Test of Spirit: A Man's Unlikely Odyssey into the Scouting World for Sale now on Amazon.

"Jim Pransky was my coach at St. Bonaventure University in the early 80s. "Nice guys finish last," was a famous line by manager Leo Durocher. Jim has proven this adage wrong. For anyone who loves baseball, this is a behind the scenes look of baseball's less glamorous side of being a baseball lifer. In a world of dysfunction, his story is one of function - a solid youth, loving parents, overcoming injury, and a wife he adores. It's a life of gratitude, hard work, many nights at the Holiday Inn, and countless baseball games. His memoir is an engaging read. Baseball may have tested Jim's spirit, but he is not someone to be underestimated."

-Tom Lagasse

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"Baseball’s Test of Spirit is a book of two themes. The first theme is one of perseverence and determination in chasing one’s dreams. It is the unlikely story of how one person essentially gave up on his dream after suffering an injury, then rebounded to build a successful career in college and Major League Baseball. The second theme gives an inside look at professional baseball and scouting in particular. Anyone who likes a “feel good” comeback story or enjoys baseball will enjoy this book."

-Mark Frick

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“Jim Pransky has written a sterling account of his improbable climb in professional baseball. He has proven over the course of his long scouting and collegiate coaching career that there is more than one way to observe and evaluate a baseball game. He is a true baseball man. His commitment to the game and the people in it has made an indelible mark on the players he has drafted and coached.” Shawn Pender, Senior advisor to the president and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Formerly, vice-president of player development of the Cincinnati Reds.

- Shawn Pender, Senior advisor to the president and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Formerly, vice-president of player development of the Cincinnati Reds.

✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻ ✻

“Jim is a patient teacher and an excellent evaluator. He’s been a positive influence
for baseball players at all levels.”

- Arnie Chavera, former catcher in the Astros organization. Presently, Athletic Director at Black Hawk College.

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"The book, available in Kindle and paperback versions on Amazon offers a behind- the-scenes look into the life of a full-time baseball scout, a close-knit fraternity that has dwindled to 1,000 or fewer today.  It provides intriguing baseball stories, scouting reports on players who made it big and those who didn't, as well as life lessons Pransky learned from four decades of coaching and scouting. Baseball junkies will love it,"
         

-Don Crim, Senior Columnist, Muddy River News. 

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 "Jim Pransky went from the baseball fields in McKean County to a 25-year career in Major League Baseball. Even Pransky admits it was an unlikely trek." 'I never thought  I'd end up working in professional baseball, Really. for me, it was very unlikely that I would ever become a big league scout.First, it's hard to do anyway, but I just a kid who grew up in Eldred. I played  baseball, loved baseball, but we never played in front of a scout. I had never even met a scout until I started college coaching, I never thought that was possible."

 

    - Sara Furlong, Managing Editor, Bradford Era.

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    "I just finished this wonderful book. As a baseball fan I enjoyed the anecdotes about the various players and baseball personnel. And I really liked learning about scouting and all it entails. But the book is about much more than perseverance, following your passion and work/life balance. Kudos to Jim Pransky for this well written book about his life's journey through the prism of baseball."

     - Herb Niles

                                                                  * * * * * 

Jim's true life story of his career as a baseball scout is truly an odyssey as the title indicates. The twists and turns of a scout workingin MLB where there is only 30 MLB teams is quite revealing of how baseball works and of how challenging it is to find and develop MLB players. Jim's participation in the first Money Ball draft was one of many compelling stories Jim shares with his readers.

      -Tom Wagner

                                * * * * * *

"This book is an excellent insight into the game of baseball. My passion for the game began in 1957 when I began playing at the age of ten. I continued playing to the age of 25 when I became an area umpire. Thirty years later and after umpiring 3 New York State Championships and Division 1 baseball (St. Bonaventure games including the plate assignment for the first Atlantic 10 series were memorable."                

     -Mike "Whitey" Welch.

                                                               * * * * * *

    "Baseball's Test of Spirit"- A Man's Unlikely Odyssey into the Scouting World is a fascinating glimpse into a baseball life. The structure itself of the book is interesting,

alternating life-on-the road with a personal memoir with scouting reports about memorable players along the way. The author, Jim Pransky, scouted Albert Pujols when he was a husky shortstop playing on the road at a JUCO in southeast Iowa, and Jim was just so-so on Albert's hit for power tool. He was not the only one to miss on Pujols. Only one or two scouts in major league baseball saw the first-ballot Hall-of-Famer for what he would become, and the peek behind the curtain for scouting on that 13th rounder is one of the many stories that illustrate the strange brew of art, science, conventional wisdom, and analytic precognition that make up modern baseball. Pransky shares the gritty and mundane details of scouting flyover country which enriched my understanding of the great game and stories and unknown people who form the tapestry of the most American of sports. I highly recommend this baseball book for fans who enjoy a good yarn. Five out of five stars.

    -Andy Lorentzen

                                                        * * * * * * * 

    

Note: This post includes Amazon affiliate links.
                                 

Some Olean Sport's Memories- Karuch, Anastasia, and others

    Some Olean Sport's Memories- Karuch, Anastasia and others

    My first memory of Olean area sports is reading about the teams and athletes as an Eldred (Pa.) kid growing up in the mid-60's. The Olean Times Herald covered high school sports so thoroughly with their game coverage and photos that I felt I actually knew many of the athletes before I ever saw them play.

      I didn't actually witness any Olean area games until my brother played basketball vs. Bishop Walsh in 1964-65. A year or two later I was introduced to MUNY League fast-pitch softball followed closely by watching my cousins play football vs. Portville in the late 60's. 

Olean High School basketball captains, 1976-77- Dan Sweeney and Jeff Anastasia. Jon Baker was the head coach of the team. 

     Even when I began to compete as a high school sophomore against some New York State schools in the early 70's, our opponents (Portville, Allegany, Cuba, etc.) were still a bit of a mystery. Despite the fact that Portville and Olean were closer in driving distance than some of the towns we played in little league (ages 9-12) and/or Babe Ruth baseball (ages 13-15) (Coudersport, Shinglehouse, Roulette, Austin and several other Pa. teams) we never actually saw most of our NYS opponents until we were 14 years old or older.

     I chose John Karuch and Jeff Anastasia to highlight the Olean area as two of the hundreds of quality athletes who played during my time as a fan, player, coach and then back to a player, coach and fan again- a period covering a 25 years.

     Along with John and Jeff, I tried to include as many Olean area players in this writing as possible, realizing it would take multiple blog stories to create a completely fair representation of all the top flight athletes.  

     As always, I don't make comparisons re: what player or team was the best during a certain period of time or in a particular school's history. Those can be good barbershop debates or lively discussions over a cup of coffee and a donut. I'm sure that has already occurred a time or two.

        

      Below: John Karuch was a three-sport athlete at Olean Bishop Walsh (1967-1970)- basketball, track and baseball. He was a three-year starter for Ed McGuire's basketball team and had the Big 30's best 100 yard dash time, ten flat.           

Karuch joins Mike Hart as co-captains of the basketball team.

Some of the Olean area best track and field stars: Tony Salmonson (Allegany)-high hurdles,  Marty Torrey (Bolivar) 100 yard dash,  Brian Hart (Bradford)- 440, Larry Decker (Emporium)- 440, Jerry Scutt (Portville) 220 and others are listed above and below.

Photo- John Butler of Randolph (two mile run)

Karuch and Bishop Walsh teammate, John Turek are named to John McCarthy's camp all-star team

Olean defeats Wellsville, 46-40 and Karuch scores 29 and Neal Meacham tallies 23 in Bishop Walsh win over Lackawanna Baker, 80-57. (1970)

Notes on "The Nation's Top 500 HS stars" John Karuch and Neal Meacham of Bishop Walsh are included. Two other area basketball stars, John Oszustowicz (Otto-Eldred) and Paul Stiles (Bradford) are mentioned. Power Memorial HS (Walsh opponent) had three outstanding players- future University of Maryland's All-American Len Elmore, Ed Searcy and Japeth Trimble.

Above and below: John Karuch breaks the Bishop Walsh scoring record with a 42 point effort in league win over St. Mary's of Buffalo. Karuch was 18-26 from the floor and broke his own school of 36 points.

Bishop Walsh baseball team. Henry Bzdak was also an outstanding running back and we also played together on the Allegany Alle-Catt baseball team with Henry's two brothers, Dick and Paul. 

Before his 42 point game, Karuch scored 36 points as Bishop Walsh broke the 100 point mark using their famed full court press to completely dominate the final quarter. Karuch's 36 points broke Tom Heenan's of 33 from the '63-64 season.

Three years ago I wrote a blog story about the 68-69 Hinsdale team led by Don Hurlburt. Tom Oakley and Coach Carl Saglimben. Hinsdale went 8-0 behind Oakley's 28 points and Hurlburt's 22 in 78-54 win over Cattaraugus.

   The complete story of that season was one of the interesting I have ever written, because it was a basketball season that featured a skilled small school basketball team and the emotions and tragedy they faced midway through the year  and how they continued to move forward despite the loss of a friend and teammate. Don is still coaching high school basketball in Georgia and I've been fortunate to stay in touch with him on occasion.

    The piece on this Hinsdale team is still located on my blog site, dankoandmanuel.blogspot.com. along with several other essays on individual players and teams throughout the years of local sports.

 

   Senior Don Hurlburt led all scorers in the Olean area averaging over 33 points per game. Hurlburt went to Canisius College.

   Pre-season notes as Karuch and Rushford transfer, Neal Meacham  are set to be big contributors for the Eagles.

   Bishop Walsh opens the season with two key injuries. 6-6 center John Turek is out for the season (auto accident) and 6-3 junior starting forward Jack Amphlett is out indefinitely with two broken fingers. Karuch will team up with Bernie Gunther in the backcourt. Forwards will be Lee Schafer and Jim Sczudlo will be the squad's forwards.

   Bradford High School with coach Hal Hansen (former coach at Otto-Eldred HS) with Paul Stiles and Jon Poling are 1969-70 is picked to be one of the best in the Big 30 area.

   Karuch and Bradford's Paul Stiles are repeat independent all-stars and Walsh frontline player, Neal Meacham was an Allegany County All-Star the previous season. Dick Glady (Bradford), Bill Potter (Allegany) and Doug Wright of Olean High round out the team. Walsh is 17-1 and Bradford 21-1 at the time of these all-star selections.

February 1970- Steve Cook (Richburg, N.Y), Tom Ripple (Austin), John Oszustowicz (O-E), Karuch, and Ray Hatch (Limestone, N.Y.) are the area's top five scorers at the two-thirds mark of the season.

Independent All-Stars- Front Row (L-R)- Meacham, Glady, and Wright. Top Row (L-R)- Potter, Stiles and Karuch

Bishop Neumann knocks Walsh out of a chance to repeat as Manhattan Cup champion, 69-66. Walsh trailed at halftime by 12, but came back to close the gap, but foul trouble hurt the Eagles with Meachum and Karuch fouling out. Karuch scored 20 and became the all time scoring leader in Monseignor Martin League history topping the record previously held by former St. Bonaventure player, Paul Grys.

   John Karuch signs at Niagara University. Karuch scored 1,278 points in his three-year high school career and Bishop Walsh won 52 of 60 games during his career.

   February 1973- (above)- Senior Jeff Grandusky breaks John Karuch's and Jack Amphlett's's single game scoring mark of 42. Grandusky hits for 47 in 95-70 win over Midzenty

   1974- I first saw John playing fast-pitch softball. He was a leadoff hitter, a left-handed hitter and if he got a bunt down or hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield it had a better than average chance of being a base hit. Tremendous speed and if he lined a ball in the outfield gaps it was likely to be a triple or an inside the park homer. John was a couple of years older than me, but I must have seen him play 15-20 games. I'm quite sure we met a few times on the softball field. Fast pitch was huge at the time in the western NY area. A great game to play. Coaching at Bonas I had some summer opportunities to play in the MUNY League and loved it. Rick Rosenswie, Tom Wilson and Henry Bzdak along with pitcher Wayne Dornsife (one of the top pitchers in the area for many seasons) were excellent players

    1975-Displaying individual player or team records is always frustrating because so many good players are omitted-there were so many. The Times Herald would publish the hitting stats once a week or so- easy to keep track of your favorite players.

   Karuch, second from left on the bottom row, with a slo-pitch tournament championship

   June 1975- Terry Rider was one of the top pitchers among many in Olean. Here's Terry with a shutout win over Salamanca with a no-hitter and a shutout in the Mayor's Conference. Rider was 6-1 with the victory with a 1.40 ERA and 5-0 in the conference.

   1975 with Fillmore ace, Denny Thomas ready to pitch in the Finals of a Class C tourney. The Mayor's Conference 14-man all-star squad was dominated by five players from Salamanca and three each from Olean and Allegany. Pitching selections were Rider and Harry Nelson (Salamanca), Catchers were Mike Calabro (Salamanca) and Tom Verbanic (Olean). Infielder Ray Auman, a sophomore was Portville's lone representative. Ron Dolecki, Matt Kubic and Ron Dolecki rounded out the Salamanca contingent. Brad Weitzel (Salamanca} was an infield selection. Weitzel later went on to be a Division 1 baseball coach and also a professional baseball scout. Allegany's representatives were Dan McCaffrey, John Potter and Ed Grove. 

   Tom Hull was an infield selection (Olean)

   Mike Retchless (Salamanca), Karl Weidt (Olean), Frank Petruzzi (Allegany), Ken Woodruff (Portville) and Bob Mountain (Wellsville) were the league coaches.

   1976- All-Tournament team- left to right, Portville's Tom Yanetsko, Jeff Nix, Tim Yanetsko and Jeff Anastasia (Olean), Jerry Devito (Allegany) and Doug Hallock (Pioneer)

   Portville defeats Pioneer in championship game. The Yanetsko brothers and Jeff Nix score 57 of Portville's 75 points. Olean wins the consolation game over Allegany.

    

   Portville wins three Holiday tournaments collecting six wins in one week. Portville improved their overall mark to 9-0

   Below: Anastasia hits for 28 points in win over Fredonia. 1976

   Area scoring leaders at the halfway mark of the season.

   Fillmore's Thomas leads the way at 25.1. Bolivar's Jeff Scott is in the #2 spot at 23.6. Anastasia is at 18.8 ppg.

   1976- Olean drops a close one to Pittsburgh's Peabody HS in Meadville Elks Tournament.

   Anastasia leads the Huskies with 25 vs, Peabody and 21 in a loss in the first game of the tourney.

   Allegany's Craig Rieman reaches over Jeff Anastasia (#25)

   Jeff Anastasia attempts a jumper in game vs. Pioneer. Anastasia hit for 26 points

   Section VI all-stars in the Expressway Conference include Dick Heidrick (Salamanca), Anastasia and Mike Carr of Olean and Jim Cooney of Allegany.

Cattaraugus County CC all-star team includes four players from Portville (Tim and Tom Yanetsko, Jeff Nix and Fred Caya.

   Olean Times Herald Big 30 Basketball Banquet- left to right: Ray Deland (Portville) coach of the year,  Jeff Nix (Portville) Cattaraugue County Class CC MVP, Jeff Anastasia (Olean) Expressway Conference Class C MVP and Bruce Crandall of West Valley Cattaraugus County Class C MVP.

   1980- Olean always put together a strong recreation league made up of former HS area players. Anastasia leads the way in this game with 36 points.

   1984-Rec League trophy winners representing their respective teams-Steve Mountain, Jim Wright, Joe Sgro- a team sponsor, Bob Hannon and Anastasia.

   1988- Salamanca vs. Olean pre-game notes. Jeff Anastasia was now the head coach of the Huskies, Olean starts five seniors- Matt Threehouse, John Wolfgang, Kevin Klingbell, Joe Gunther and Jeff Sherman. Olean comes into the game at 8-3.

   2016 (below)Inductees into the Western NY Sports Hall of Fame. The list includes: Jeff Anastasia (coach), Dave Hollins- former major league third baseman and Warren Spahn- MLB Hall of Famer-lefty pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves. 

   Below: Three new members elected to Big 30 Basketball Hall of Fame- Second from the left, Scott Crist accepting for his father, Chuck Crist. Middle- Jeff Anastasia and second from the right, Margie Holland.

   Margie Holland was an outstanding women's HS basketball coach at Bradford HS. She coached there for 16 years, with her teams winning 80 percent of their games, nine district titles and going 18-0 in the 1975 regular season.

   Anastasia's HOF bio: Jeff coached at Olean HS (his alma mater) for 32 years. He had 602 wins, 21 league titles, 14 sectional titles, 12 regional trips, seven state final four appearances and two Class B state championships.

   Jeff is a member of the NYS Basketball HOF and is the winningest coach in Western New York basketball history. He retired from coaching after the 2018-2019 season. His varsity basketball coaching career began in 1987. He graduated from Olean HS in 1977.

   Chuck Crist HOF bio: Crist, a Salamanca HS graduate, was a four-sport, dominating HS player (football, basketball, baseball and track and field). He was awarded an athletic scholarship to Penn State and primarily focused on basketball at PSU. He was the Nittany Lion's team captain during his senior season, averaging over 10 points a game and leading Penn State to a 17-8 record, the best in school history at the time. He was the team MVP in both his junior and senior seasons.

   After his college career, he signed with the New York Giants as a free agent to play defensive back. He played in the NFL for seven seasons and recorded 20 interceptions in his career.

Crist is a member of several Hall of Fames including: Cattaraugus County HOF, Chautauqua Sports HOF and the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

   Alle-Catt baseball was a long-time staple of amateur baseball in the western New York and western Pennsylvania area. Their were some team changes throughout the years, but Olean Bradners and the Crosby Mudhens were the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants of the league year after year.  Another team(s) might step up as a challenger each year, but they almost always would have to get past Crosby or Olean to advance in the western NY playoffs.

   Here's a clip of Olean and Crosby near the halfway mark of the season at 1-2 in the South Division. Doug Dallas was the key player for Franklinville years before as they won five straight western NY titles. He joined the Olean club this season and in his first game went 2-4 as Olean won their seventh straight game. Lefty Jim Thomas picks up another win for Crosby vs. Fillmore.

   Olean and Crosby always had excellent pitching through the years and just a few names to toss about were Olean's Tim Brewer, Gary Witter, Mike Carr, Mike Martello (also a VG all-around performer). Crosby was led by lefty area legend Jim Thomas, Ed Faes and Jeff Schultz. Again, these guys represent only a portion of the fine pitchers those two clubs had. It seemed the league teams always had at least one guy who was difficult to face on Sundays. 

    I'm not sure when Alle-Catt baseball and MUNY fast-pitch shut down their leagues, but even not living in the area since 1985- I felt the loss, Great memories of playing and just watching all the teams, tournaments and players through the years.

Olean's Tim Brewer is mentioned as a pitcher (one year after his high school career)  one of the "hardest throwers" in the league. Having faced Tim a few times, I would have to agree. 

March 1971-   

Cattaraugus BB All-Stars- left to right, Pete Weishan (Cattaraugus), John Ames (Franklinville), Jeff Hunter (Franklinville) and Jeff Stark of Ellicottville

Paul Dorman averaged 24.3 ppg.

Below photo- Portville stars- Jim Schott and Paul Dorman