Joe "The
Old Pro" Power
Anyone who played in the Brookline
baseball program during the fifties, sixties or seventies knew him. He
was the old man, balding and grandfather-like, who had a special way of
consistently molding groups of fifteen children, aged nine through
twelve, into winners, year-in and year-out.
He may not have looked like much,
but Joe Power was a baseball scholar, a man who had spent his entire
life playing, managing and scouting the sport he loved. In his later
years, the Old Pro dedicated his energies to passing on his years of
baseball knowledge to those of us who were fortunate enough to play under
his care.
Joe Power never advanced past the
Minor Leagues as a pitcher, but his knowledge of the sport kept him
within arms length of the game for most of his seventy-some years. After
retiring from baseball professionally in 1952, he hooked up with the
newly formed Brookline Chamber of Commerce Little League as manager of
the American Legion team.
The following season, after being
reassigned to the Community Center nine, he guided his charges to
the league championship, his first of six titles with the Brookline
program. After a championship series defeat with Community Center
in 1954, he took the reigns of the Kiwanis
Club team and led them to three straight championship series appearances
(five in a row for Power's led teams), taking the top spot in 1955 and 1957.
Personal difficulties forced
Joe Power to sit out the next couple seasons, but he made his
return in 1961. The Kiwanis teams of the early sixties were competitive,
but couldn't seem to break the stranglehold of the American Legion
team, which took the top spot seven of eight years between 1958 and
1965. During that time, Kiwanis changed sponsorship to West
Liberty A.A.
After a promising second half in
1966 that fell one run shy of forcing a playoff, the title drought
ended. In 1967, B.Y.M.C., the successor to West Liberty A.A.,
began a remarkable string of victories. Using the same success formula
that dominated the decade of the fifties, Mr. Power assembled a
talented group of youngsters that went 19-1 for a near-perfect
championship season. A 10-0 start and another title followed in 1968.
The Old Pro was back in business.
B.Y.M.C. lost championship playoff
series' in 1969 and 1970, then rebounded with another title in 1971, which was officially rescinded afterwards
due to a player ineligibility problem. A final title (his sixth and last
official championship) followed in 1974. On opening day, 1976, Joe Power and fellow BLLA
pioneer, Bud Auen,
were honored for their twenty-five years of service and dedication to the
children of Brookline and the league in general. A near
fatal skating accident midway through the 1976 Little League season
forced the Old Pro, by now a legend in the Brookline baseball program, to
end his coaching run.
Any of us players who had the
honor of playing for Mr. Power will always remember him as a fair man
who stressed the fundamentals of the game. We all knew how to bunt and
slide, catch with two hands, steal a base and make contact at the plate.
Discipline and good manners were also held in high regard. Arguing with
an umpire or another player was about the only thing that would cause the
mild-mannered coach to lose his cool, and none of us wanted that out of
respect for the man. Mr. Power had a way of getting the most out of
every boy on his team, from the most talented to the two-inning
rightfielder.
In addition to his ability to
motivate, Joe Power was a great pitching coach. That was the secret of
his success. From the beginning, Power had a succession of talented
pitchers who made building a supporting team an easy task. Charlie
Watterson, Raymond Auen, Danny McGibbeny, Scotty Drummond, Ron
Baumiller, Tom Baginsky, Randy Camarco, Mark Wenger, Clint Burton, Joe
Fundo, Bob Beveridge and Shawn Kelly all learned the skills of the
pitching trade and brought the club one win after another for two
decades.
As one of the above mentioned
pitchers, I can testify firsthand to Mr. Power ability to teach a kid
how to throw a baseball. He taught me how to throw a palmball that to
this day I find the most amazing pitch. It literally made batters look
foolish and was so easy to throw. I was taught how to hurl a nasty
changeup that was not damaging to the arm and after Little League was
instructed how to pitch from the stretch.
Joe Power was the epitome of the
youth baseball coach, teaching us everything we needed to know to prepare
ourselves, mentally and physically, for the opportunity of progressing to
the next level of competition.
I don't remember exactly when Mr.
Power passed away. I believe it was somewhere around 1978 or 1979. The
skating accident that took him from his familiar post on the third base line
also was the beginning of a downward spiral that robbed him of many or his
motor skills. A bout with Parkinson's Disease that he had fought for many
years was accelerated and finally took his life.
The day the Old Pro passed away
was a sad day for the many children and parents of Brookline who had been
influenced by his special touch. Joe Power was in many ways like another
grandfather to us, and we are better people for having known
him.
*
Written by Clint Burton - March, 2000 *
Joe Power (left) and BYMC team at
their trophy presentation in 1974. First row, from left, Mike Morgan, Joe
Fundo, Barry Griffin, Shawn Kelly, Dan Schumacher, Walt Miller, Bill
Toskey. Second row, from left, Joe Power, Coach Nick Rossi, Marty Klos,
Clint Burton, Chuck Haley, Tim Gremba, Chuck Warnecke, League President
Sam Bryen, Rino Primiero, Bob Beveridge, Coach Jerry Burton and Gerard
Loy. |