If you're a New York Yankees fan and are soon headed south for baseball spring training, whether physically or in spirit, something will be very different at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa next week, when the Yankees start playing games. A lot of Oneonta area Yankee fans will probably know what will be different. Jorge Posada, a career catcher wearing New York pinstripes, will be missing, having retired in recent weeks.
Some will recall that Jorge Posada got his start as a Yankee in Oneonta, back in 1991. Unlike most players of the modern era, Posada remained a Yankee from start to finish.
When the Oneonta Yankees arrived in town in June 1991, they already had a bit of pressure on them, as the 1990 squad had won a New York-Penn League championship, the 11th in what was then Oneonta's 24th year in the league.
There was also a dark cloud over the front office of the Oneonta Yankees, as Albert "Sam" Nader and his wife, Alice, were in an auto accident in Atlanta in recent months. Alice died in the accident, but between Sam's longtime friend Sid Levine, brother-in-law Leroy "Sonny" House and Sam's son John and daughters Alice and Suzanne, they convinced Sam to lead this 1991 Oneonta team in defense of Oneonta's championship.
Among some very good players arriving in June was a 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Jorge Posada, who had played mostly as a shortstop at Calhoun Community College in Alabama before being drafted.
The new Oneonta Yankees manager, Jack Gillis, and his coaching staff saw this youngster as a future catcher. Posada was listed among three catchers in the early season roster. However, in the opening games of the season, Posada began at second base.
The Yankees opened the season at Damaschke Field on Monday, June 17, against the Utica Blue Sox.
Posada made a good first impression with the fans in the sixth inning, as Oneonta led, 5-4, and he doubled and was driven in to create a hefty lead, with Oneonta eventually winning the game, 10-5.
The announced attendance was 1,281.
Jorge Posada, when not playing second, was in training to become a catcher. Posada told The Daily Star in early July that it didn't matter to him where he played.
"The future plans are for me to see some catching," Posada said. "I don't care (where I play), I just want to be in the game. Catching is an aggressive position and I'm an aggressive person. They've been teaching me the basic stuff--how to catch, how to handle the ball, how to handle the pitchers."
Coach Jack Gillis said they liked Posada at catcher because, "He's got good hands and arm strength and he's a switch-hitter."
John Nader, former Oneonta mayor and a business manager for the Oneonta Yankees in 1991, recalled Posada going through the training to become a catcher. Nader remembered how Posada was well-liked by his teammates and worked well with Jack Gillis.
Nader also recalled that Andrea Modica, today an award-winning photographer who was then an instructor in photography at the State University College at Oneonta, took many photos of that 1991 team. A Web search can find some of Modica's work, including a photo of Posada, in full catcher's gear, sitting on a Neahwa Park bench.
The 1991 Yankees did well and had a lot of talent, but as a second place contender fell several games behind the Pittsfield Mets in their conference and failed to make the playoffs in early September. Another notable player who arrived during that season and eventually made the big club in New York was a pitcher, Andy Pettitte. Posada and Pettitte were sent to Tampa in September for what was then called the Instructional League.
Posada moved on, playing nearby again in 1993 for the Albany-Colonie Yankees in the Eastern League, before moving up to Columbus and then New York for eight games in 1996, and well beyond.
As for Posada's future, Nader, in speculation said, "He's a very intelligent guy. He's going to wind up doing some other things and be equally successful. I could see Jorge coaching, working with younger players. I could even see him becoming an executive in baseball."
This weekend: 1912 was a year for placing historic markers in Neahwa Park.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Mark Simonson
Jorge Posada trained in Oneonta to become future Yankees catcher
- Mark Simonson
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
It has been just a little over 30 years, 1980 in fact, that Main Street in Oneonta went through a major transformation in appearance. Even now I'll hear mixed comments about the changes, which included antique style lamps, trees, planters and brick trim. Some liked the changes while others liked the wider street with the even-sized sidewalks.
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
100 Years Ago -
Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
A young person of 75 years ago may still recall where they were or what they were doing in the month of May, as two big news events took place. They were the Hindenburg disaster and the passing of billionaire John D. Rockefeller. There were some local connections with both news items.
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Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
It is always good to keep up with current events. However, it is starting to become an unwritten requirement to seek some diversions from staying up to date on news, as for some it can become overwhelming or depressing.
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Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
Oftentimes, in the distant past, the place you worked for became a social nucleus in the village or town. Employees at large companies such as Endicott-Johnson Shoe Co. or IBM in the Binghamton area took part in activities after work such as sports, music and theater, both in and out of town, to represent their company.
- Monday, May 7, 2012
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Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
As a youngster growing up in the area and having a fascination with radio broadcasting, I used to consider it a part-time hobby to put the earphone into my transistor radio and go exploring what was out there to listen to, up and down the dial. It was indeed a long-distance journey at night when listening to AM radio, as you could hear live and locally staffed stations from Chicago, Windsor/Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans, to name a few cities. I never spent a lot of time listening to FM radio 40 years ago, simply because there wasn't the same "excitement" of the long-distance journey. Little did I realize, things were changing locally on that "other" band of radio frequencies that included decimal points.
- Saturday, May 5, 2012
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Congressman Fairchild added downtown growth in 1912
Another case of wandering imagination struck this historian recently, while learning about the building at 244-248 Main St. in Oneonta, storefronts for the Autumn Café and Razzle Dazzle. This structure is known as the Fairchild block, and it turns 100 this year.
- Monday, April 30, 2012
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From no TV to saving eagles, it was life in April 1982
No television. No place to pay the phone bill. No more Spaulding's baked goods. Possibly no more Center Street School. While these were some of the noes in the news of our area in April 1982, there were some yeses as well, including a new structure at Corning Inc. of Oneonta and help to save bald eagles.
- Saturday, April 28, 2012
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A daily newspaper for Oneonta was an achievement in 1887
Depending on the electronic device you have these days, accessing news can be made nearly as soon as something happens. Oneontans of 125 years ago got their news on a weekly basis, courtesy of The Oneonta Herald.
- Monday, April 23, 2012
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Area saw Hollywood stars up close in April 1952
It has been a mighty long time since Greer Garson, Victor Jory, Don Taylor and Audrey Totter drew big numbers of people at the box office of our local movie theaters. Make it 60 years, in fact. Now generations removed from popularity, some are still able to remember the names of these four movie stars who paid a visit to our area in late April 1952.
- Saturday, April 21, 2012
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Spring tree plantings were numerous in 1927
None of my calendars at home or at my other workplaces show that April 27 of this year is Arbor Day.
- Monday, April 16, 2012
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Nuclear weapon debates were plentiful in April 1982
Plan for a nuclear war -- or seek a nuclear weapons freeze. That was a frequent debate going on in our region during the month of April 1982.
- Saturday, April 14, 2012
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A Titanic survivor stopped in Oneonta days after disaster
Edward Bean was one amongst the lucky one-third of the passengers aboard the Titanic who lived to tell about the disaster of the ill-fated ship that sank after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912. Only about a week after the disaster, Bean was in Oneonta, on his way home to Cincinnati.
- Monday, April 9, 2012
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Simonson: April 1952 brought educational developments in Oneonta
There were some interesting new developments in education in Oneonta during the month of April 1952. These took place in the public and private schools, as well as on the Hartwick College campus.
- Saturday, April 7, 2012
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Oneonta's first automobile exhibition took place in April 1917
An automobile show as large as those in Albany or Utica. That was the heady claim of the organizers of Oneonta's first such show, set for early April 1917.
- Monday, April 2, 2012
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Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek
I had just started my evening music shift at a Binghamton radio station on Sunday evening, April 5, 1987, with a network newscast at the top of the hour.
- Saturday, March 31, 2012
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Oneonta responded to declaration of World War I
"President Asks For War."
- Monday, March 26, 2012
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Devastating fire, loss in sports status, education made major area news in March 1982
A fire destroyed a foundry in Morris, Hartwick College basketball dropped a division level, two schools considered a merger, and a local Odyssey of the Mind was born. These news items and more made for a busy month in March 1982.
- Saturday, March 24, 2012
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Useful advice for farmers came to the area in 1912
It is practically a rite of autumn for high school students, or college students looking to transfer to a different college.
- Monday, March 19, 2012
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St. Mary's Church of Oneonta dedicated 55 years ago
"With solemn, historic pageantry, the Most Rev. William A. Scully, bishop of Albany, yesterday dedicated the new St. Mary's Church."
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
