“I” on Sports
By Ted Menswar Jr.
“WHERE ARE THEY NOW?”
GREG LAROCCA
PART 1
Flashback to this piece about Manchester West High School grad Greg LaRocca, born November 10, 1972. It takes a look at his baseball career, from childhood, including high school and American Legion ball, which led him to a stint in Major League Baseball, originally published in 2007.
If the level of difficulty experienced by Greg Larocca – featured in this week’s MIL “Where Are They Now?” – as he made the transition from playing baseball in the United States to playing in Japan can be compared to the level of difficulty I experienced in finding his Hooksett home, then I have a very good idea of what it was like!
After making the turn into his housing complex, I drove around for 10 minutes and finally came to the conclusion that I was lost. I drove by one guy at least three times. On the fourth pass, I did the unmanly thing; I stopped and asked for directions! The result? More lost!
I kept asking myself, “Am I a moron or what? We’ve got a Garmin! Why didn’t I bring it? …Moron!”
Then I remembered my wife, Karen’s, words as I went out the door. “Take your cell phone because knowing you, you’ll probably get lost.” I’m not sure, but I thought I heard her offer a final word as her voice trailed off. Sounded like “moron”…
Anyway, after Greg literally “talked” me to his door (yes, via the cell phone!), and I entered the Larocca home, that feeling of being lost completely disappeared. In its place I found a new friend, make that friends, plural.
Three and a half hours later, after meeting Greg for the first time, as well as wife, Amanda, and son, Caden, I felt like I had known them for years.
In fact, I can’t remember the last time I felt so comfortable so quickly, so welcome in a home I had never been in before, and so relaxed that it seemed like I was with my own family.
A word that is often found on the doormats at the entrance of many homes was definitely in existence here. And, very appropriately, that’s why I chose to begin his story with that small but impacting word that aptly describes how he and his family made me feel.
“WELCOME”…to the life of Greg Larocca.
YOUTH BASEBALL
His baseball career started with the Bedford Little League as a member of the Indians under Coach O’Meara and continued for a second year under his Dad, Don, before moving on to the Youngsville League in Auburn.
He then headed to the Manchester Babe Ruth League playing for Lemire Construction under the direction of well-known and popular coach, Phil Sapienza. There he joined teammates Steve Hermsdorf and Nate Guilbert.
It was the late Hal Williams, a local coaching legend himself, who first saw the “potential” in Greg.
“I was 13 and he let me play in a legion scrimmage game. I got a couple hits and played well in the field. After the game was done, he came over to me and said, ‘Greg, someday you’re going to play in the Cape Cod League.’ I just looked at him, smiled and nodded ‘OK’ since I had no clue as to what he was talking about. I had never heard of it and was too young to realize that the Cape was where the best players in college ball spent their summers honing their skills; that the Cape was where many pro scouts made critical decisions about the potential careers of the boys of summer.”
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
For those young athletes who experience frustration when trying but failing in their initial attempts to make their high school ball clubs, it should be noted here that Greg was cut as a freshman attempting to make the West High School baseball team. “I weighed 110 pounds at the time and after that happened, I started lifting. By the time I reached 140, I decided that I wasn’t going to let people dictate my life anymore. I guess I just got angry and decided to turn it all around.”
And did he ever…
After the disappointment of not becoming a member of the Blue Knights, he doubled and tripled (adding some baseball terminology to the mix) his efforts to join coach Bob Kerrigan’s nine.
To clear up any possible confusion, it wasn’t Bob who temporarily derailed Greg’s career. That “distinction/trivia question-answer” goes to city athletic director, Dave Gosselin.
To lessen the potential grief he may now take after readers have been made aware of his coaching decision, “Goose” can take heart in knowing that his “cutting” move instead caused the laying of the proverbial “Golden Egg” since it was the key factor in changing the persona of the 110 pound freshman and caused Hal’s “prophecy” to eventually prove true.
“Many people forget that I was also a member of the wrestling team at West and it was under coaches Bob Guest and Bob Leonard that I changed my work ethic and began to develop my ‘win-at-all-cost/never-be-a-quitter’ attitude…but baseball was always MY game.”
It was as a high school athlete that Greg really began to focus on winning. “The teams we played against, the particular players we faced, didn’t matter. I loved the big games. In fact, the bigger the team, the bigger the player, the more important the game, the more I wanted to beat them.”
As a Junior, Greg, along with fellow players Kevin Burke, Ralph Suozzo, Jeff O’Connell, Henry Lemieux, and Craig Johnson, helped lead Bob Kerrigan’s West High ballclub to the 1990 class ‘L’ state baseball title.
He followed that up by helping lead the 1990 Bedford Legion team, Stevens-Buswell Post 54, to its first title. Then, because Bedford discontinued its legion affiliation, he joined Jutras Post under its most sccessful mentor, Tom French.
ON TO THE PROS
After graduating from West in ’91, he headed for the University of Massachussetts at Amherst. It was as a member of manager Mike Stone’s club (and playing alongside soon-to-be major leaguer Ron Vallone) that Greg was somewhat “startled” to find that the “big boys” were interested in him, too, with the Cleveland Indians drafting him in 1994.
“I have no doubt that it was because of Ron that my playing ability got more exposure and resulted in my being drafted. Though I didn’t sign and instead waited until the next year when I was selected by the San Diego Padres, the offer from Cleveland made me realize that I could play professionally.”
“According to Peter Gammons, I had been projected to go as high as the second round, but after being injured, I dropped to the tenth.”
“Rene Mons (long-time scouting icon and now Northeast Scouting Director) signed me and present Padres GM, Levin Lowers, was the ‘cross-checker’ who made it official.”
As he prepared to join the ranks of professional ballplayers, “prophet” Hal Williams’ crystal ball appeared again, this time showing Greg playing with Nomar Garciappara and Aaron Boone at – you guessed it – the Cape!
Three years into his professional career, however, Greg hurt his arm. “I broke a bone near a ligament and a cyst grew beside it. Strangely enough, the cyst made the ligament stronger, but it wouldn’t stretch and I always felt pain.”
Playing through it, he persevered.
In 2000, Greg made his MLB debut with the San Diego Padres and spent the next two years with Cleveland. Over that period, he hit .261 with an OBP of .337.
FROM THE USA TO JAPAN
In 2004, he opted to play in Japan as a member of the Nippon Professional Baseball League’s Pacific League and that switch took him from a “nobody” to a “super-star.”
During his first year with the Hiroshima Carp, this “big fish in a small pond” tore up the league, hitting .328 with 40 home runs, a .677 OBP, and 101 RBIs.
In four seasons, the first two with the Carp, the third with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and the last with the Orix Buffalos, he had amassed a .300 BA with an OBP of .584 while hitting 103 home runs.
“I had a monster season with Orix in ’07 (27 HR, .286 BA, .505 SLP) and they offered me a one year ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ deal…then I blew out my elbow.” His surgeon, Alabama Dr. James Andrews, performed “Tommy John” surgery, saying that he had never seen an injury like Greg’s before. A bone chip was found “trapped” in the middle of the elbow ligament.
“Doc said that he was amazed that I had been able to play so long with it. To repair the damage, he had to take a ligament from my leg that’s four to five times as big as the one that’s usually taken from the wrist to be used in this type of operation.”
Dr. Andrews had already contacted Orix (twice) to inform them that the operation was a complete success and that the second baseman was “good to go.” According to Greg, a contract is in the offing and, fortunately, it appears that he’ll get the chance to play at least one more season.
HIS MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS (and he, understandably, has several) in order of significance.
MEMORABLE MOMENT #3
“Beating Sweeney Post during the 1990 American Legion Tournament in Keene.”
That one brings back so many painful memories (I was a member of the Sweeney coaching staff) that I wouldn’t discuss it or allow him to “gloat” any longer than the time it took to get it said.
MEMORABLE MOMENT #2
“My first year in Japan, my Dad, my Mom, Rita. and sister, Denise, came to watch me play. They were there for 10 days and I hit seven home runs in seven days.”
“On their way from the airport to Tokyo, they listened to game one in which I hit a home run.”
“They watched game two at the stadium and I got two hits. They were there for game three and I hit another homer. Present for game four, I connected for three home runs and flew out to deep center on my 4th attempt. In game five, they saw me hit two dingers in one inning.”
“The coaching staff wanted to know what my mother had been feeding me!”
MEMORABLE MOMENT #1
“I had spent my entire baseball life trying to ‘prove’ myself to my Dad. He was always fair to me, but it was equally tough to meet his expectations. At one point in Japan I had hit ten home runs in ten days. As happy as I was with that accomplishment, my dad wasn’t…telling me that I had struck out too much.”
“However, at age 33, after watching me play in a game, my Dad walked up to me, put out his hand, and congratulated me saying simply, but sincerely, ‘I’m proud of you.’.”
“Only four words, but they carried a life-time of meaning for me. After he said them I knew I had accomplished the goals that he had set for me and everything else didn’t matter.”
“To this day, that is my best baseball memory.”
Coming tomorrow: Part 2
Ted Menswar Jr. is a life-long resident of the Queen City and a retired member of the English Department of Memorial High School who has been involved in local sports for 70 years as a player, a coach, a mentor and a fan. He can be reached at tedmenswar@outlook.com