I know you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Whatever traditions you have and enjoy, I say keep them going forever.
One of my favorite things to do Thanksgiving is go to McDonalds and have an Egg McMuffin. Just kidding. Wanted to see if you were paying attention.It is really playing stickball at 9 am. The annual Joltin-Joe Thanksgiving Stickball Classic was an event that brings joy to many. We had 18 people play this year. Fathers-sons, adults and children.
We had a cast of characters playing . Check out some of these famous people
- North Shore Baseball All-Star Billy “Married with Children” O’Neil.
- 12 Time StatenIsland Baseball All-Star Slugger Dennis” The Bull” Aponte.
- 2 Time LittleLeague All-Star Dennis Aponte, Jr.
- Staten Island Baseball Hall of Famer Carlos” Pedro” Perez.
- 6 Time Staten Island Baseball All-Star JC “Little Pedro” Perez.
- 9 Time Staten Island Baseball All-Star Zenel” Basehit” Dodic.
- 8 Time Staten Island Baseball All-Star Lou” Blazing Speed” Bianchino.
- 3 Time Little League All-Star Alex”A Hit” Bianchino.
- 7 Time Baseball All Star Outfielder and DJ Joe Nose
- 10 Baseball All-Star-Little League through College Brian ” The Basher” Dowd.
- 11 Time Baseball All-Star Outfielder and Hall of Famer Dr. Joe Kasper
- 14 Time Baseball All-Star and 1st Ballot Staten Island Baseball Hall of Famer Phil” El Capiton”Balesca
The event took place in my hometown of Staten Island, New York at IS 27. The field was made of Field Turf. Which means rain or shine, playball…
After setting up the field and batting practice, it was game time. It was the Carlos Perez Mets vs. Dr. Joe Kasper Twins ( they are my 2nd favorite team to the Mets).
In the top of the 1st inning , the Mets did not score. The Twins got things going in their half of the 1st inning as Alex”A Hit” Bianchino, lined a single to centerfied
l. Up stepped Staten Island Baseball 1st Ballot Baseball Hall of Famer Phil “El Capiton” Balseca. Making his first Joltin-Joe Stickball appearance. Phil lined a double into the leftfield corner to score Alex “A Hit” Bianchino and put the Twins on the board. Up next Brian “TheBasher” Dowd” smoked a single to left-center field scoring Phil”El Capiton” Balseca.
End of 1 inning Twins 2 and Mets 0.
In the top of the 2nd inning, The Mets got started with North Shore Baseball All-Star Billy”Married With Children”O’Neil lining a single between shortstop and thirdbase. Next up 12 Time Staten Island Baseball All-Star Slugger Dennis” The Bull” Aponte lined a single to leftfield to put runners on 1st and 2nd. After 2 strikeous in a row, the Twins thought they would get out ofthe Mets rally. But the twins made 2 errors in a row and a run scored Next up 2 time Little League All-Star Dennis Aponte, Jr. singled down the rightfield line to knock in another run. Next up Staten Island Baseball Hall of Famer Carlos”Pedro” Perez lined a single to centerfield to score another run. Another error followed and another run. Whata nightmare of and inning for Dr. Joe’s squad.
End of 2 innings Mets-5 Twins-2.
Inning 3 and 4 no scoring.
In the top of the 5th inning, After a pair of singles,one by Billy “Married With Children” O’Neil. Up stepped 6 time Baseball All-Star JC “Little Pedro” Perez the son of Staten Island Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Carlos’ Pedro” Perez. JC swung andhit a towering drive to dead centerfield that cleared the batters eye and landed across the street off an apartment building. A 3 Run big fly Home Run and now the Mets led the Twins by even more runs
End of 5 innings Mets-8 Twins-2
In the top of the 6th innning, The Mets struck again. With a man on 1st base, Staten Island Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Carlos” Pedro” Perez stepped up to the plate. After watching his son JC blast a Home Run an inning earlier, Carlos said if my son can Homer, so can I. On the next pitch Carlos crushed one down the leftfield line inside the foulpole and over the fence striking a 100 foot high telephone pole for a 2-Run Homer. Next up Billy”Married With Children” O’Neil hit a high fly to leftcenterfield that hit the top of the fence, struck a tree branch on the other side of the fence and landed back on the field. After video replay proved that the ball was a HomeRun, Billy took his Home Run trought to give the Mets another run. Next up was Dennis “The Bull” Aponte who hit a high pop up between shortstop, thirdbase and leftfield. The ball was about to drop in for a basehit but flying in from centerfield was Brian “The Basher” Dowd who dove fully extended to make a fantastic catch and finally end the Mets scoring.
End of 6 innings Mets-11 Twins-2
In the 7th inning, The Mets were at it again. After 2 more Twin errors, Billy “Married With Children” O’Neil rifled a shot to the gap in leftcenter for a 2 -Run Double. Finally Lou”The Blazer” Bianchino came in from the bullpen to close the door on the twins scoring.
With the Twins now down 13-2, it did not look good.I heard someone say lets not embarass ourselves. I told the guys, we have not scored for 5 innings. It is time to rally. After Phil”El Capiton” Balseca reached on a Met error, up stepped Staten Island baseball Hall of Famer Dr. Joe Kasper who drove the next pitch to deep leftcenterfield and as he started his Home Run trot, he noticed that the ball struck something. After a brief discussion, the video replay showed that the ball hit the top spike on the 30 foot wall. Dr. Joe settled for a Triple and the twins scored for the first time since the first inning. After a couple of Met errors and a single by Lou”The Blazer” Bianchino, the Twins scored 4 times.
End of 7 innings Mets-13 Twins-6.
As we began the 8th inning, I knew we had a chance. Lou”The Blazer” Bianchino shut down the Mets from scoring. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Dr. Joe Kasper and Brian”The Basher” Dowd reached on Met errors. Up stepped 7 time Baseball All-Star DJ Joe Nose who doubled off the centerfield wall to drive in a run. Next up Lou”The Blazer” Bianchino lined a double on a hop off the wall in leftcenterfield wall to knock in 2 runs.
End of 8 innings Mets-13 Twins-9
In the top of the 9th inning, once again the Mets did not score. Thank you, Lou for keeping us in the game.
In the bottom of the 9th, it was last licks for Dr. Joe Kasper’s Twins. However, Carlos “Pedro” Perez who is in the Staten Island Baseball Hall of Fame for his great pitching came in to close out the Twins in the 9th inning.
Up stepped Staten Island 1st ballot Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Balseca who lined a sharp single to leftfield. Up stepped Dr. Joe Kasper who always believes in comebacks. After fouling off a few pitches he hit the next pitch to deep leftcenterfield and out of the park for a 2 Run-Home Run and was mobbed by his teammates as he stepped on home plate. With the bases loaded thanks to singles by Brian ” The Basher” Dowd, DJ Joe Nose and Alex “A Hit” Bianchino. The Twins had the bases loaded with 2 outs and chance to have a miracle comeback. However Hall of Famer Carlos”Pedro” Perez proved why he is a Hall of Fame Pitcher and closed the door to save the game for the Mets.
Final score
The Carlos Perez Mets-13 Dr. Joe Kasper Twins-11
What a game!!!
Next up was the best Home Run Derby in Joltin-Joe Stickball History.
In the Home Run Derby, Billy “Married With Children” O’Neil hit 2 long balls as did Dr. Joe Kasper
The real show started with Carlos” Pedro” Perez who is not known for his hitting. Carlos proceeded to tie a Joltin-Joe Stickball record with 7 Home Runs (even clubbing hitting 4 in a row).
We all thought the Derby was over. 10 swings and 7 Home Runs. Here is your award Carlos, but wait just a moment.
Next up was Brian”The Basher” Dowd who is a former College 1st team All-Star Baseball player. Brian also tied the record with 7 Home-Runs (Dr. Joe Kasper-summer 2008 and Stan Stankovich- summer 2011).Brian’s last Home Run was historical. He hit an opposite field shot to right that cleared a 40 foot fence over 2 barriers and landed up against a Deli. One of the longest shots ever hit in Joltin-Joe Stickball HomeRun Derby history.
Last batter was DJ Joe Nose who arrived at the ball park in a limo. He had no sleep, his legs and back were in a lot of pain and his first few swings looked awful. I felt for him. In fact the pitcher gave him a tee to hit off of as a joke.All of a sudden the 7 time Staten Island Baseball All-Star did the impossible. He became Kirk Gibson-remember the Home Run to win game 1 of the 1988 World Series when he could hardly get around the bases.Joe Nose hit 7 in a row and set a new Joltin-Joe Stickball record of 12 Home Runs. All I can say is Winning by a nose…
What an event, what a day. fun, fun and more fun.
Awards are aways given-Trophies
*Most Valuable Player Billy “Married With Children” O’Neil- 4 Hits, Double, Home Run, 3 Runs, 3 RBI
*Hitting Award Dr. Joe Kasper-3 Hits, Triple, Home Run, 3 Runs, 3 RBI
*Frozen Rope Award
JC “Little Pedro” Perez, Monster 3 Run Home Run
*Cy Young Pitching Award Lou “The Blazer” Bianchino pitching 3 shutout innings
*Rolaids Relief Pitching Award Carlos”Pedro” Perez for closing out the Twins in the 9th inning
*Gold Glove- Best Overall Fielder-Brian”The Basher” Dowd
*Web Gem- Great Diving Catch in leftcenterfield-Brian”The Basher” Dowd
Home Run Derby Champion A new Joltin-Joe Stickball Record-12 Home Runs- DJ Joe Nose
I thank you for reading and if you would ever like to join us, just reach out to me. We play about 5 times a year.
Yours in Great Health,
Dr. Joe Kasper
Ps-You can watch clips from Joltin-Joe Stickball on You Tube. Just type in Joltin-Joe Stickball
PPs-A special Thank you to all the players. We had 12 Adults and 6 Children participate.
