After You Agree to Answer the Call - It’s All About the Team

It was exactly 30 years ago when Coach Jack Venezia assembled his Caldwell Post 185 American Legion Baseball Team for one last time. We were a group of very diverse individuals with equally diverse backgrounds covering seven different towns and two high school systems. The typical baseball nicknames like “Mo”, “Mac”, “Greta” and “Turtle” were commonplace for us as we came together for that one last run together as seniors. Little did we know what was in store for this team as the 1978 season began.

To make a long story very short, we progressed through the regular season and did very well, enjoying our share of winning and actually qualifying again for the New Jersey American Legion Championship Tournament. This was where we wanted to be all along and it was the goal we set together the prior year. However, as we moved through the double elimination tournament we ran into a huge round block with the team from the big city of Trenton. Frankly they were physically bigger than we were, stronger, had better pitching and more hitting and were simply the stud team of the tournament. We did all we could that first night we played them but ended up getting totally spanked 7-0. This one loss then dropped us into the loser’s bracket which meant if we were to move forward it was going to be via the hard road.

Well, after several more exciting tight wins we found ourselves in the incredible position of playing in the State finals! We had somehow managed to eliminate every other team in the loser’s bracket! However, what that meant was that we needed to play – and defeat twice in the same day – the exact same Trenton team that buried us earlier in the tournament. This was certainly not an enviable position to be in even though we were extremely happy to be still be alive at this point in the tournament.

I will never forget that day as it was one of those typical hot, sticky August afternoons in New Jersey. Though it was 30 years ago, when I close my eyes it seems like yesterday. The fact that our opponents came with their Virginia hotel rooms and travel plans already booked for the National Regional Tournament only added some extra fuel that burned within Post 185. And on that day, we sent our star pitcher Glen “Skid” Roe to the mound to try to shut down this overwhelming foe.

What then followed was really beyond words. Glen proceeded to almost single-handedly win this first game on his own when he went out and pitched a complete nine inning gem that steamy afternoon, shutting out Trenton out 1-0. An unbelievable accomplishment! But now the only issue in front of us was there was one more game we needed to win in order to advance. And we were in real trouble as our second pitcher had only six innings of eligibility left that day. We were certainly in a tough spot to say the least….

At that point Coach Jack brought his players together and we discussed the pitching problem we were facing for this second game. Though we were one win away from playing in a Regional United States Championship we were in desperate need for someone to step up and pitch three innings to start game the second game. To our amazement, Glen, that same guy who had just pitched nine scoreless innings a few minutes ago, stepped forward to say he would also start game two that night. The adrenaline rush I felt was unequaled. How could a teammate be so strong after what he had just done! Coach Jack jumped into action, “Glen, don’t shower or do anything to tighten up. You’ve got to stay loose. The rest of you guys go home and jump in a pool, shower and rest. Glen, we need you to stay warm for a few more hours to start this next game”.

What then transpired I will never ever forget. We came back to Lyndhurst that night with no real reason to hope for winning against what appeared to be a much better group of individual players. But we were going to compete as a TEAM and would function as such – win or lose. Glen then took the mound feeling appropriately very stiff after nine full innings of work earlier that afternoon. I can remember the Trenton guys saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me. This guy can’t have anything left”. And then that fist pitch was thrown and the ball just exploded as it hit the catchers mitt! He had somehow found the strength to start the game and we all fed off his strength. And what a game it was!!

Glen somehow struggled through his three innings that night making it twelve total innings for the day so we could get to “Rudy” to fight through the last six innings. And we somehow ended up winning this second game 5-3 and the NJ State Championship. But not only that, this team then went on to win the Regional United States Championship the following week in Virginia and then finish 3^rd in the nation after competing in the National Championship played in Yakima, Washington!

What I will always carry with me from this experience is that one selfless act by my good friend Glen. It may have been a full 30 years ago but I have continued to use this example when I coach and in my professional work. It has become my own personal benchmark for real teamwork when someone will do whatever it takes for the team to be successful. Are you willing to give all you can for your team? Will you give all you can for your organization’s success? Can you take that one additional step, lead by example and raise your level of play just one more notch this year from where it is today?

As we approach the summer of 2008 I am confident that the NJSAE team will do all this and more for each other. We are heading into an uncertain and unsettled time as we begin our search for a new Executive Director as Marcie Horowitz transitions to a new point of her life. However, the full NJSAE Board has already answered the call and has agreed to fully support each other, do what is in the absolute best interests of NJSAE and work together so this pending transition will be as seamless as possible. In the interim I am confident someone somewhere this year will stand up and step forward to lead this great organization in the years to come!

Though I was pretty young all those years ago when I witnessed this great example of teamwork on a baseball diamond I have also seen the same type of teamwork with NJSAE over the course of my volunteerism as well. After all, at the end of the day, it really is all about the team.