By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Who says you can’t go home.
Four decades after starting a travel baseball team which spawned the Northeast Collegiate Baseball, the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s precursor, Joe Antonio has returned to a familiar place: the dugout of the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs.
When the NYCBL season opens on Monday June 3rd, the founder of the Jr. Chiefs will get a dugout view of what he began in the early 1970s.
“It’s been a long ride,” Antonio said recently by phone. “It’s been in my blood since the inception of the program in the early 70s.”
Antonio will serve as an assistant to first-year head coach Chris Haynes when the reigning league champions open the 2013 campaign.
“Joe not only brings an extensive knowledge of the game, but a certain compassion for the game and compassion for his players that is really missing today,” stated Jr. Chiefs general manager, Mike DiPaulo.
In the early 70s Antonio coached high school baseball at both Henninger and Central High in Syracuse. He and Walt Baner decided to organize a group of the best high school and college players from Syracuse and go out in search of games.
“He grabbed a group of elite players in the area and just decided to hop in the car and go play elite travel ball when elite travel ball didn’t exist,” DiPaulo added. “He really was a pioneer in the travel programs.”
That team developed players like Kevin Newby and Frank DiPino who went on to a twelve-year career in Major League Baseball.
By 1978, Antonio’s efforts contributed to the formation of the Northeastern Collegiate. That season three other teams, the North Syracuse Merchants, Cortland Apples and Broome Rangers, joined the Jr. Chiefs for the league’s first season.
“It’s a good situation all the way around,” Antonio said of collegiate summer ball. “It gives a lot of young men the opportunity to play and continue their baseball in the off-season from college.”
Antonio eventually left the Jr. Chiefs in the early 80s for the Onondaga Community College program he started. In 23 years under his guidance his Onondaga CC teams won eight Region III titles and advanced to the 1987 Division I Junior College World Series. He won Region III Coach of the Year honors eight times and earned Northeast District honors in 1987. Fifteen of his former have gone on to play in the professional ranks. Onondaga inducted Antonio into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.
Soon after Antonio departed, the Jr. Chiefs folded. That is until DiPaulo, urged on by Antonio, revived the club in 2010.
“At first I had to twist his arm to take over the Jr. Chiefs,” Antonio quipped.
With DiPaulo’s Perfect Practice indoor facility in full operation supporting an expansive youth program, a college team has proven to be a natural extension. Antonio, who coached the under 16 team and served on the program’s Board of Directors, was an easy choice to help continue the Jr. Chiefs continue their winning ways.
“Everyone is going to benefit from his presence for sure,” DiPaulo added.
Antonio brings forty years of coaching experience to the Jr. Chiefs.
“My role is to make suggestions and act as an advisor,” Antonio explained. I don’t think it’s called reinventing the wheel with both pitching and hitting. It’s to help kids keep tuned up for the summer and continue their baseball and be ready for fall baseball when they get back to college.”
Under Antonio’s guidance, the Jr. Chiefs won the league’s first two titles in 1978 and again in 1979. The NYCBL came full circle when the Jr. Chiefs claimed the 2012 title.
The 2012 Jr. Chiefs led the league in team batting (.334), on-base percentage (.439), slugging (.478), hits (493), doubles (88) and, of course, runs (410) and RBI (363).
“You got an opportunity to have these kids bat at an indoor facility before you go to a game and get a good batting practice in,” Antonio stated. “I believe it’s a big plus. It helped the team win that championship last year. They had a helluva hitting team last year.”
Syracuse won 12 straight in the month of June to grab a lead in the East Division they never surrendered. The Jr. Chiefs finished the season with a six-game lead in the division.
Syracuse won six straight in the post-season to claim eliminating cross-town rivals, the Syracuse Salt Cats before knocking off the Geneva Red Wings and Niagara Power for the league’s top spot.
Sherrill visit Alliance Bank Park to take on the reigning champions for an Opening Day doubleheader. A 3 p.m. first pitch is scheduled.
The NYCBL is a summer wood-bat league which provides eligible student-athletes the opportunity to develop skills over the course of two months in Upstate New York. Current major league players Tim Hudson, Hunter Pence and Jason Motte all spent a summer playing in the NYCBL. Twenty-one former NYCBL players heard their names called during the 2012 MLB draft.
I played for the 1982 Jr. Chiefs under Joe Antonio, he was a great coach. My name is Dan Mckendry, I played 2nd base. I would love to hear from Joe if possible ,also send any pictures to my email address from that year.
Hey, Dan! I remember you from the ‘82 season. I was the shortstop and batted third. I stay in touch with Ken Comer, who was our catcher.
I tried getting in touch with Joe, as well as Rich Wurster, but to no avail. I did see Rich at a baseball clinic in Cherry Hill NJ several years after we played.
Jeff T.
Great to see both of your names. Dan I remember you as well. Jeff…it’s about hunting season is it not.