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Rick Cerone Helped Bring Baseball Back to Newark
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
The call had gone out for all golfers in The Tablet’s 13th annual Bishops’ Celebrity Golf Classic to report to their tee.
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| Former N.Y. Yankees’ catcher Rick Cerone was a guest at The Tablet’s Bishops’ Celebrity Golf Classic. Below, he keeps a watchful eye over a member of his foursome who was attempting to sink a putt near the end of 18 holes. |
Rick Cerone, while anxious to get going at the North Hills Country Club, Manhasset, Aug. 9, was just as anxious to talk baseball.
And with good reason. Make that reasons…18 of them to be exact. That is how many years he spent in the major leagues.
To say nothing of his other experiences.
Cerone, 53, started out with the Cleveland Indians, and then played for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Montreal Expos.
Rick, a 1972 graduate of Essex Catholic H.S., Newark, N.J., went on to Seton Hall University and earned his degree in 1976, a year after signing with the Indians who had made him their No. 1 choice in the 1975 draft.
“Longevity,” laughed Cerone when it came to explaining his stay in the major leagues…and elsewhere.
“I was the first player in that year’s draft to make it to the top and I was the last one to get dropped.”
For the record, Rick was only 21 years old when he broke in with Cleveland on Aug. 17, 1975.
Most of you are more familiar with his years as a Yankee. The Bronx Bombers acquired him for the 1980 season following the death of Thurman Munson, their outstanding catcher, in a horrific plane crash the previous year.
Linda Busetti and Marie Elena Giossi Photos
And that 1980 campaign proved to be Cerone’s best as a major leaguer.
He batted .277 for 147 games, the most he played in one season. There also were other career bests in ’80 as he came to bat 519 times, collected 144 hits, scored 70 runs, and connected for 17 sacrifice flies.
Other career highs during that same schedule included 30 doubles, four triples and 85 RBI.
There was a .302 average in 1990, his third stint with the Yankees, but Rick only played in 49 games and came to bat just 139 times.
Getting back to longevity, Cerone boldly admitted that baseball was not his first love.
“Don’t get me wrong,” was the way he began that explanation. “My father (Aldo) worked in the U.S. Postal System for 37 years, but every Saturday he was there to play catch with myself and my friends.
“When I got to Essex Catholic I was into football and was the quarterback on a team that went undefeated in winning the New Jersey State championship.
“Of course I played baseball and I also competed on the fencing team.
“Seton Hall offered me a baseball scholarship. During the summers I also played in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.”
The latter was a summer league for collegians founded primarily by Jack Kaiser, former athletic director and baseball coach at St. John’s University.
Rick’s 1980 season with the Yankees saw him selected as the team’s MVP. The following year the team reached the World Series.
That was the lone Fall Classic in which he played.
Once his days with the Yankee Stadium team were completed, Cerone brought minor league baseball back to Newark in 1998.
That city had been home to the Newark Bears of the International League.
The talent was so good – do you remember Charlie Keller for example? – that many felt it was stronger than the Yankees themselves.
Yogi Berra also played for the Bears, charter members of the International League since 1902.
“We spent a great deal of money in bringing back Ruppert Stadium (it is now called Bears-Eagles Riverfront Stadium),” related Cerone who also went into broadcasting.
“In 1999 (July 16 to be exact) we opened the gates for the first time. Phil Rizzuto and Yogi took part in an emotional pre-game ceremony.
“We pulled out a 9-8 10-inning victory over the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds.”
As for 1998, Cerone’s first season as owner, Newark played all 100 games on the road while awaiting their new home.
“We only won 35 and lost 65,” said the owner, “and we wound up in last place in the Atlantic League.
“The following season the stadium was near completion but we played the first 24 games at Skylands Park in nearby Augusta
Good Sports Show Up for Tablet Event
A good time was had by all at The Tablet’s Bishops’ Celebrity Golf Classic. Above, at the dinner following the day of golf, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio poses with former major league sports figures, from left; NBA referee Wally Rooney, Dodger and Met Joe Pignatano, the Bishop, Dodger Ralph Branca, NFL official Tony Veteri,
Met Bud Harrelson, and Pittsburgh Pirate Fred Cambria.
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