Paul Ferrante
Episode 305
2 DEC 2024
He went from playing Little League baseball to 25-plus years of men’s league softball to playing into his 50s with two years of vintage baseball. Meanwhile, he had also played Pop Warner football and then continued in the sport in high school and college, including being the placekicker on the undefeated 1977 team that is enshrined in the Iona College Sports Hall of Fame. He also spent a combined total of 15 seasons coaching high school and college football. He has been a columnist for Sports Collectors Digest magazine since 1993, specializing in Baseball Ballpark History. He is currently co-authoring his first nonfiction book, about the 1970s Oakland A’s baseball team, to be published in 2025. And, having written other books, he says that his adult baseball novel “The Rovers: A Tale of Fenway” has the most overtly religious themes.
Notable guest quotes:
“We were really a very seriously Catholic household. We were all baptized, partook of all the sacraments and I went to Immaculate Conception elementary school for grades K and one in the Bronx and then we moved to Pelham in New York, and I attended St. Catherine’s elementary from grades two through eight.”
“My uncle … was actually a really good pitcher and he pitched for NYU back in the late 40s and ended up actually being a practice pitcher for the Yankees.”
“My parents met through sports and between my uncle and my dad they kind of got me interested in baseball and then football came along later on.”
“I always played intramural basketball … church league basketball while I was in high school. I played for Huguenot Church in Pelham Manor in New York.”
“We would have a pre-game Mass where we would come together and – especially if we were going up against a superior opponent on that given occasion – it was always a comforting thing for us to all be there together sharing our apprehension, if you will, or our fear, if you will. But it made us stronger, and I think the bonds that we forged … really was something special.”
“At Iona College and growing up – lessons imparted by my parents – I came to understand the value of just certain tenets of life that I lived by that I wanted to adopt as my own: the power of love and faith, the need for understanding and empathy, the acceptance of people of all races and creeds, the value of being true to oneself, and looking for the best in others.”
“The (life) lessons that you impart to your players, I think, are just as important as any x’s and o’s you can teach them. Whether I was at Cardinal Spellman or Iona College or Iona Prep or Mount Vernon High School, which is where I finished my coaching career, you realize that you become a part of their lives and these kids look to you for guidance.”
“A pair of seats from Sportsman Park in St. Louis ended up in a church in downtown St. Louis for many years.”
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