Baseball
Frank Genovese
Frank Genovese, known as Chick, spent 20 years as a minor-league player and manager – once playing 269 consecutive games without an error – before becoming one of baseball’s most renowned scouts. As one of the first scouts to focus on Latin America, where he signed Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, Manny Mota, and the three Alou brothers – Jesus, Matty and Felipe – he helped change the face of the sport.(Read more...)
George Genovese
George Genovese, a slick-fielding minor-league shortstop and manager, made it to the major leagues for three games with the 1950 Washington Senators, before leaving his mark on the game as a scout. In four decades as a scout for the Giants and Dodgers, he signed more than 40 players who made it to the big leagues, including Jack Clark, Bobby Bonds, Matt Williams and two-time National League home run king George Foster.(Read more...)
Sebastian “Sonny” Grasso
Sonny Grasso, a three-sport athlete at Curtis High School, hit .355 and .321 in baseball’s minor leagues, but his baseball career was interrupted by World War Two and cut short by a shoulder injury. Grasso came home to coach at Augustinian Academy, Moore Catholic, the Catholic Youth Organization and the College of Staten Island, where he is the only coach to win CUNY titles in both softball and baseball.(Read more...)
John Hagemann
John Hagemann’s first baseball career, as a relief pitcher in the New York Giant organization, lasted a single season. The second, as a scout for the Expos, Braves and Phillies, lasted most of a lifetime. Hagemann signed a half-dozen major-league regulars including Staten Islander Jason Marquis, who won 124 big-league games, and was instrumental in the trade that brought Hall of Famer John Smoltz to the Braves. He is a member of the Pro Baseball (Read more...)
Jack Hurley
Jack Hurley, a three-time all-city pitcher, threw three high school no-hitters and struck out 46 batters in one three-game city playoff run, and was captain of Port Richmond’s PSAL borough basketball champions. Drafted four times in high school and the University of Michigan before signing as a first-round pick of the Minnesota Twins, Hurley won his first nine minor-league starts in 1970 before suffering a rotator cuff injury, and was out of the game a (Read more...)