KV Sports' Chatter

From Joe Bruno, who unfortunately has no pics from those days:

I PLAYED SECOND BASE FOR TRANSFIGURATION CHURCH IN 1960, WHEN WE WON THE TWO BRIDGES LITTLE LEAGUE TITLE BEATING ST. JAMES IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. VINNIE ADIMONDO WAS OUR PITCHER AND RAY WILLIAMS WAS THE PITCHER FOR ST JAMES. I FORGET THE SCORE.
ALSO ON OUR TEAM WAS CATCHER VINCENT MOSCO, THE SON OF FRANK MOSCO, OUR COACH. FRANK WAS ALSO THE UNCLE OF VINNIE ADIMONDO. FRANK'S WIFE AND VINNIE'S MOTHER WERE SISTERS. VINNIE'S UNCLE JUNIOR ADIMONDO, MARRIED MY COUSIN JUDY PALATTO, WHICH MAKES VINNIE AND I COUSINS THROUGH MARRIAGE. VINNIE, AMAZINGLY, IS TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME. BUT HE LOOKED TWO YEARS OLDER.
THAT YEAR, THE TWO BRIDGES ALL STAR TEAM PLAYED AN ALL STAR TEAM FROM NEW JERSEY AT COLEMAN OVAL. VINNIE ADIMONDO, VINCENT MOSCO AND MYSELF REPRESENTED TRANSFIGURATION. ALSO ON THE TEAM WAS TEDDY GRAFF, JOEY EGAN AND OLIVER SHANNON FROM ST. JAMES. LITTLE JOE, BOBBY D, CARL SCARNA JR. AND TOMMY RED REPRESENTED ST. JOSEPH. I FORGET WHO THE REST OF OUR ALL STAR TEAM WAS.
WHAT I DO REMEMBER WAS THAT I STARTED THE GAME AT SECOND BASE AND THEN PLAYED THREE INNINGS IN CENTER FIELD. WE WON THE GAME BIG AND TOMMY RED HIT A COUPLE OF HOMERS. VINNIE ADIMONDO WAS THE WINNING PITCHER.
VINNIE WAS ALSO THE QUARTERBACK ON OUR TOUCH FOOTBALL TEAM THAT PLAYED IN COLUMBUS PARK. IT WAS AN EIGHT MAN SHIFT LEAGUE. CENTER, 2 LINEMAN. TWO ENDS. QUARTERBACK AND TWO HALFBACKS.
THERE WERE EIGHT TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE. THE OTHER SEVEN TEAM'S AVERAGE AGE WAS 25-30.
I WAS 16, VINNIE WAS 14. OUR OLDEST AND BIGGEST PLAYER WAS SKIPPER (ALAN MCCRAY), WHO WAS 18 YEARS OLD AND MAYBE 170 POUNDS. HE CAME FROM THE 4TH WARD BUT PLAYED FOR US.
WHEN WE APPLIED TO ENTER THE LEAGUE, WE WERE TURNED DOWN BECAUSE THEY SAID WE WERE TOO YOUNG AND TOO SMALL.
THERE WERE TWO TEAMS FROM THE 4TH WARD. AN OLDER TEAM FROM COLUMBUS PARK. ONE FROM JAMES CENTER. ONE FROM GRAND STREET NEAR THE FDR. ANOTHER FROM CHRISTIE STREET. AND ANOTHER FROM ST. PATRICK'S NEAR HOUSTON ST.
IN OUR FIRST YEAR (1963, WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP, GOING UNDEFEATED IN 14 GAMES. WE HAD SPEED BURNERS LIKE LOUIS MINGIONE, PETER CAMINITI, LOUIE PACE AND MYSELF. SKIPPER MAY HAVE BEEN OUR FASTER PLAYER AND HE PLAYED LINEMAN, BECAUSE HE WAS OUR HEAVIEST PLAYER.
OUR STRATEGY WAS SIMPLE.
VINNIE ADIMONDO, PLAYING QUATERBACK, WOULD SCRAMBLE UNTIL ONE OF US GOT OPEN. THEN WITH HIS RIFLE ARM, HE WOULD FIRE THE BALL TO EITHER, PETER CAMINITI, LOUIS PACE, LOUIE MINGIONE OR MYSELF. IF NOBODY GOT OPEN, VINNIE WOULD SCRAMBLE FOR A TOUCHDOWN. THE FIELD WAS 50 YARDS LONG, AND VINNIE COULD FIRE THE BALL 50 YARDS WITH A FLICK OF THE WRIST. AND HE WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD.
SOMETIMES, LARRY VENTURATO WOULD PLAY QUARTERBACK, AND VINNIE WOULD PLAY HALFBACK. THE HALFBACK OPTION PASS WAS THEN IN PLAY.
WE WON ALL OUR GAMES BY LARGE MARGINS AND THE BIGGER GUYS ON THE OTHER TEAMS WOULD GET FRUSTRATED AND SOMETIME ROUGH US UP. THAT'S WHEN SKIPPER, OR MY COUSIN JOHNNY PALATTO (A LINEMAN) WOULD STEP IN AS ENFORCERS.
ASK ANYONE WHO PLAYED IN THAT LEAGUE. IT WAS TWO-HAND TOUCH, BUT AS TOUGH AS ANY TACKLE LEAGUE AROUND. AND WE PLAYED ON CONCRETE. LOTS OF BUSTED LIPS AND SKINNED LEGS.
WHAT WERE WE THINKING? WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN KILLED.