Henry Chadwick's Plaque Is Received At Whalers July 4 Game; HCBL Sends Prospects To Showcase

The Sag Harbor Whalers of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League hosted their annual July 4 game on Monday at Mashashimuet Park against the Shelter Island Bucks, but this year’s pregame ceremony held a little more provenance.

Henry Chadwick, considered by many to be the “father of baseball” for his early writings of the game in prominent newspapers in the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, lived his retirement years in a house in Noyac, not far west of Trout Pond, which still stands. In 2020, Chadwick, who was already inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938, was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, but because of the pandemic, the induction that year was canceled. Making sure the plaque got in good hands, Chris Vaccaro, president of the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, reached out to Tom Gleeson, general manager of the Whalers, and Jack Youngs of the Sag Harbor Historical Society, to put together a little ceremony commemorating Chadwick’s connection to the area on America’s birthday.

Youngs has since recently retired from his post with the historical society, but having been involved from the beginning, helping garner various artifacts from the Chadwick descendants, he was excited for the ceremony late on Monday morning under perfect summer conditions.

“Chadwick basically created the baseball manual, how the game is to be played, the rules, the stats, the scorecard so we can keep track of all the stats. He was basically the original analyst of the game, which are so popular in today’s game,” he explained. “We’re excited. I think it’s great they want to recognize Chadwick. He certainly was instrumental in the early years of baseball.”

As of Sunday, Youngs was unsure where the plaque would be displayed, whether it’s near the ball field at Mashashimuet Park, the office at the park, or the historical society. Julie Greene, Southampton Town Historian, did find a Sag Harbor Express article from 1896 that proves Chadwick did indeed catch at least one ball game at the then Sag Harbor Hamptons Fairgrounds, the precursor to Mashashimuet Park, which wasn’t created until 1908, the year Chadwick died. Youngs also mentioned John Jermain Memorial Library as another viable option, being that there are so many of Chadwick’s items already there. A final decision on where the plaque will reside will come in the coming days after the ceremony, Youngs said.

Some of the top prospects of the HCBL competed in the Southeast Collegiate Prospect Showcase at Worthington Field on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on June 27-28. The Florida Collegiate Summer League, the Sunbelt Baseball League and the Southern Collegiate Baseball League all sent teams as well. The HCBL held its own against some tough competition, defeating Southern Collegiate, based in the Carolinas, and losing to the Florida Collegiate League.

HCBL President Sandi Kruel said competing in the showcase was three years in the making. She had gotten a phone call back then, prepandemic, with an invite from Todd Pratt — the former major league catcher who hit one of the most dramatic home runs in game four of the National League Division Series that sent the New York Mets to the National League Championship in 1999. Pratt is league president of the Sunbelt Baseball League based in Georgia and offered Kruel a spot in the showcase, which couldn’t happen until this year because of the pandemic.

“It was 0-0 going into the sixth inning against that Florida Collegiate team, which was very good, so we held our own, it was exciting,” Kruel said. “There were eight air-conditioned suites where we stayed. Twelve major league teams sent scouts, they had an entire analytics room, a media room, it was just a great experience. And I’m happy to say we have been invited back.”

Thanks to the league’s partnership with the Hampton Jitney, the league sent 30 of its top prospects via bus for the nine-hour trek there and back, spread out over multiple days. The prospects that represented the HCBL included 15 pitchers in Sag Harbor Whalers Brett Borcherding, Ryan Corbett, Nick Mulvey, Tom O’Connor, Southampton Breakers Jordan Falco, Louis Stallone and Andrew Steinhubel, North Fork Ospreys Marko Gibbons and Andrew Neff, Riverhead Tomcat Cole Hansen, Shelter Island Buck Brendan Holland, Liam Pulsipher and John Rizzo of the South Shore Clippers, and Westhampton Aviator Sebastian Kirchner.

The team also included three catchers in Keegan Rodin (Sag Harbor Whalers), Jason Shockley (Riverhead Tomcats) and Asa Wilson (North Fork Ospreys), seven infielders in Evan Cornwell (North Fork Ospreys), A.J. Hansen (Southampton Breakers), Sean Keys (Westhampton Aviators), John Lopez (Sag Harbor Whalers), Beau Root (Southampton Breakers), Blake Salamon (Shelter Island Bucks) and Esai Santos (Southampton Breakers) and five outfielders in Asher Bradd (Riverhead Tomcats), C.J. Dean (Sag Harbor Whalers), Eric Genther (Southampton Breakers), D.J. Perron Jr. (Sag Harbor Whalers) and Tommy Verga (Westhampton Aviators).

The ninth HCBL All-Star Game was played Wednesday at Cochran Park in Peconic, preceded by the annual Home Run Derby. Results of the game, and derby, occurred too late to appear in this week’s issue of The Press, but can be found in next week’s issue.

The game featured the Gold Team All-Stars made up of the Sag Harbor Whalers, Shelter Island Bucks, North Fork Ospreys and South Shore Clippers against the Red Team All-Stars made up of the Southampton Breakers, Riverhead Tomcats and Westhampton Aviators.

Jacob Tobin, who has led the Sag Harbor Whalers to the team’s best record through the first half of the season, managed the Gold Team. Players included pitcher Ryan Corbett (Sag Harbor/Southwestern), Vincent Corso (Sag Harbor/Richmond), Danny Gargano (South Shore/Queens), Marko Gibbons (North Fork/Marist), Anthony Leak (North Fork/Dominican), Nick Mulvey (Sag Harbor/Bucknell), Will Pacheco (Sag Harbor/Assumption), Liam Pulsipher (South Shore/Queens), John Rizzo (South Shore/Adelphi) and Marco Siracusa (Shelter Island/Pace). Catchers Nic Adamo (North Fork/Bucknell), T.J. Keefe (Shelter Island/Pace) and Asa Wilson (North Fork/Pennsylvania) were named to the team as were infielders A.J. Anzai (North Fork/Chapman), Evan Cornwell (North Fork/Pace), Billy Kender (Sag Harbor/Bucknell), Aidan Larkin (South Shore/Hofstra), John Lopez (Sag Harbor/St. Catharine), Matt Pelcher (South Shore/Hofstra), Alex Roessner (Sag Harbor/Northwestern) and Blake Salamon (Shelter Island/Northwood) and outfielders Johnny Catuosco (South Shore/Adelphi), Conor Kiely (Shelter Island/Stonehill), James Myler (South Shore/Bryant), Mike Prisco (North Fork/Albany), Cam Santeere (Sag Harbor/Rhode Island) and Matt Shuhet (North Fork/Iona). And designated hitters Sam Haney (Sag Harbor/St. Peters) and Jackson Sattinger (Sag Harbor/Hamilton).

The Red Team All-Stars were managed by Rob Cafiero, whose Southampton Breakers hold the second best record in the league through the first half of the season. The Red Team roster included pitchers Branden Chun-Ming (Westhampton/Hope International), Cole Hansen (Riverhead/Undecided), Atley Jacome (Westhampton/Pima CC), Zach Karson (Southampton/Florida Southern), Jared Restmeyer (Riverhead/St. Rose), Andrew Steinhubel (Southampton/UMass Dartmouth), Louis Stallone (Southampton/High Point), Will Tobin (Riverhead/Pennsylvania), Teo Torrado (Westhampton/Gettysburg), and Jacob Young (Southampton/Brown). Catchers included Eric Genther (Southampton/Rhode Island), Jason Shockey (Riverhead/Rutgers) and Mason Wolf (Westhampton/Monmouth). Infielders selected included Anthony Brienza (Riverhead/St. Johns), Dante D’Amore (Riverhead/Sacred Heart), Freddy Forgione (Southampton/SUNY Maritime), Jack Halloran (Westhampton/Emory), A.J. Hansen (Southampton/Villanova), Sam Hill (Westhampton/UMass), Nicholas Papageorge (Riverhead/Brookdale CC) and Esai Santos (Southampton/Holy Names). Asher Bradd (Riverhead/Illinois Springfield), Nathan Brasher (Southampton/Brown), Sean Flaherty (Southampton/Hofstra), Ty Orologio (Riverhead/Ulster CC), Andrew Smith (Southampton/Queens) and Tommy Verga (Westhampton/Fairleigh Dickinson) lead the outfielders for the Red Team and designated hitters include Sean Keys (Westhampton/Bucknell) and Tyler Smith (Westhampton/St. Peters).

Participating in this year’s Home Run Derby was A.J. Anzai (North Fork/Chapman), Dante D’Amore (Riverhead/Sacred Heart), Freddy Forgione (Southampton/SUNY Maritime), Tom O’Connor (Sag Harbor/Cincinnati), Blake Salamon (Shelter Island/Northwood), Matthew Tempone (South Shore/UMass Dartmouth) and Tyler Smith (Westhampton/St. Peters).