BY CHRIS BENDER
This year marks the 23rd anniversary of a Long Island team's victory in the Big League World Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a championship marked outside of Hall's Pond Park.
The 1979 team was comprised of kids from Nassau and Suffolk County, but at the team's core were 10 players from West Hempstead. West Hempstead native Chris Steiner, pitcher and center fielder for the team, has his hat and glove on display at the West Hempstead Post Office in tribute to the "best team he has ever played on."
The team could hit, but relied more on pitching, defense and the experienced coaching staff to advance to the world tournament.
As experienced and talented the team was (West Hempstead sent a team to the tournament in 1977), blow-out wins were rare. "It was pitching, pitching, pitching. We didn't win too many games with double digit runs. It was our ability to keep other teams down," Steiner said.
"I'm speaking on behalf of the whole team, but that was one hell of a team. We had some name players but the real MVP was our pitching and our defense. We had any number of guys that could go out at and pitch and win a game on any day."
Bob Jahelka, an outfielder and one of the younger players on the team, thought the pitching was the key to the team's success.
"Steiner was our ace, our fastball pitcher and he could throw heat," Jahelka said. "Charlie Locastro, our lefty, had a curve that fell off the table. The pitching really carried us."
There are few teams that can be successful without a dominating closing pitcher. John Hull, according to Steiner, was the guy who got the ball during the late innings. "He would come in and put the fires out."
As much as the team relied on pitching Jahelka and Steiner both recalled a moment that did not involve striking out the side.
"During one game in Florida. It was a tie score, and it was 20 minutes to midnight; after midnight they call the game and you finish the next day. It was the 5th or the 6th inning and Bruce [Castoria] came up with a man on," Steiner said.
Jahelka recalls the exact moment before Castoria went to the plate, "I'll never forget this. Bobby D'Ambrosio said to him, 'Bruce this is our last up's - we need a home run to win the game,' and Bruce said, 'We need a home run to win? O.K.' And he hit one so far over left field."
"There was a picnic area behind the left field fence, that was at least 100 feet beyond the fence. He hit a ball that they found the next day that was behind the picnic area," Steiner said. "Went up 4-2. They came up and batted but that was it. He had probably had more power than the majority of major league baseball players at that time in terms of hitting a ball for distance."
It was the bottom-of-the-ninth, game-winning home run that players dream of and an ending that could not have been scripted better. That win kept the team in the winner's bracket for the remainder of the tournament and supplied the emotional and physical momentum the team rode to the championship game. That momentum then turned to victory.
According to Steiner, the team defeated the local competition in a series of single elimination games, followed by wins in 2 out of 3 games against Spring Valley to advance to the state championship, where they defeated Rockland County. The next stop was the eastern regionals in Williamsport, Penn. And it wasn't long before the team, representing the east, was on a plane to Florida to hit game-winning home runs.
Steiner himself, who had pitched a no-hitter during the state tournament and won most valuable player honors for the entire world tournament, was quick to dismiss his own achievements. During the no-hitter, he said, "The lights on the field weren't that good. I think that helped me a little."
Rather, he made sure to point out a handful of players from Charlie Locasto, the first baseman and pitcher named to the All-World team along with third baseman Bruce Castoria, to second baseman Joe Aguilera of New Hyde Park, outfielders Bobby Jahelka in left and Gary Brown in right field and catcher Jim Reicker from Oceanside.
"Everybody, whether they only pinch hit or only played defense, every guy we had, we had confidence in. Now that I look back on it, just plug in another guy and he did the job, and if it wasn't one guy one day, it was another guy," Steiner said.
Both Jahelka and Steiner could not give their coaches, Joe Forzano, Bob Bosch and a coach they all referred to as 'Cheesey,' enough credit. According to Steiner, Forzano thought of the team as his baby and because he worked for the Town of Hempstead, he made certain the home playing field at West Hempstead High School stayed in immaculate playing condition.
Forzano's brother-in-law, Cheesey was an ex-minor league catcher and was equipped with an arsenal of insider advice and tricks straight from the professionals. In a game that relies on strategy his tips came in handy.
"He taught you to pick up signals, whether his hand was on his knee or if he called your first name it meant fastball or if he called your last name it was a curve ball," Jahelka said. "We had 3 coaches that had been there (the world tournament) before and it's totally different when you have coaches that know how to win."
A few players from the team were drafted but went no further. Some received baseball scholarships like Steiner did, but 2 years later he would suffer a career ending arm injury. Only John Costello, a pitcher from Oceanside, made it to the major leagues.
"I ran into him at Shea a few years ago while he was pitching for the Expos. He said that was one of the best all round teams for the age we were that he had ever played on," Steiner said.
Today Jahelka works as an accountant and coaches 4th grade lacrosse and football in Garden City. He has a 9-year old son and a 7- year old daughter. Steiner lives in West Hempstead and works as the regional sales manager for EN-CAD, a division of Kodak. He coaches his two sons' little league teams and in an ironic twist coaches Bob Bosch's grandson.
While the entire experience took place a little over two decades ago, both men now with families of their own, fondly looked back on their time in the tournament as one of their greatest achievements.
Steiner said, "At that point you don't have the perspective of hindsight you can't look back, but for most of us I think it was close to the pinnacle or the pinnacle of our sports career."
Pictured above: Rear, l-r Manager Joe Forzano, Chris Steiner, Bruce Castoria, Charlie Locasto, Tom Notaro, Gary Brown, Coach Bob Bosch; Middle, l-r John Hull, Greg Minuer, Bob Jahelka, Tommy Diceglio, John Costello, Joe DiLorenzo; Front, l-r Bob D'Ambrosio, Lou Castoria, Jim Reicker
