Sordoni Baseball: Looking Into The Eyes Of The American Dream

By: Tony Mussari

Event Photographs By: Kitch Loftus-Mussari

You can observe a lot just by watching. -Yogi Berra

Someone once said: if you want to know what America is all about go to a baseball game. I would add this, if you want to know what the American dream is all ab out go to Sordoni Field in Dallas, PA.

More than a quarter of a century ago a group of youngsters met at this field every Saturday morning during the summer.  There were no adults to supervise what happened there.  There was no schedule. Some of the youngsters rode two miles on their bicycles to get there. Parents never worried about the safety of these kids.  Once there they spent the entire day playing the game.  They played until dark or until they lost all of the tattered baseballs they brought to the field.

In many respects Sordoni Baseball was a field of dreams.  It was a great place to grow up, a great place to make friends, a great place to learn about life, and a great place to make memories that would last a lifetime.

On a beautiful summer day in July 2008, many of the heroes of Sardoni Baseball returned to Dallas for a thirtieth reunion game. What a moment. What an experience. What a story.

They were the kids of the 70’s who idolized players like Mike Schmidt, Tim McCarver and Steve Carleton. If they were lucky, they would get to “The Vet” once or twice a year to experience the excitement of a big league game.

For them, however, Sordoni field was a much more welcoming place. It was a place where they felt at home.  It was a place where they felt affirmed. It was a place where they felt the joy of friendly competition. It was a place where they belonged.

On this day, the Sordoni boys arrived in their adult bodies to relive their childhood dreams.  They were husbands with wives and families talking about their legendary baseball moments. They were businessmen, consultants, educators, and blue-collar workers. Some were creative types and others were men with great technical skill. Everyone had the road rashes life gives all of us.  They hugged, shook hands, snapped pictures, and recorded video. They introduced their children and they exchanged addresses.  They never talked about work or accomplishments. They talked mostly about baseball and how it changed their lives.

When asked why they came their answers were pretty much the same. They came to play baseball.  They came to see old friends.  They came to have fun.  They came to relive special moments. They came to give their children a connection with their past.

Ed Jewell graduated from high school in 1980.  A graduate of Florida Institute of Technology, he is a marine biologist and underwater photographer. He traveled 1,200 miles to relive old memories with his childhood friends. Ed is a tall, robust man with a strong voice and a firm handshake.  He believes that success is doing what you really love to do in life and enjoying every day. His goal was to play the game and not get hurt. On this day he had a very clear picture of what he intended to do: Have fun reliving some of the greatest moments of his life playing the great American game.

Mike Cuba looks like a man 15 years younger than his age. A CFO for a regional health care company, he was, without question, the most physically fit of Sordoni's boys. A man of few words, he reminds you of Roy Hobbs on a good day. Quiet, confident, capable. He capitalized on help from his brother when he told me that spending time with friends and family was the most important thing in life. That’s why he took time off to come and play the game.

Mike’s younger brother, Eric, teaches at the oldest private girl’s school in America, Linden Hall. Before that he was a chemist. For Eric Cuba, life can be busy and crazy, and friends and family make it worthwhile. Recently, he and his wife adopted a child from Russia. In a reflective moment. he told me: The reward that you get from having children is the greatest blessing that anyone can have in life.” He is a 45-year-old father with a 7-year-old daughter. As he looks at his life, he wishes he had started a family sooner.

Mike Kubasti is married with three children.  He brought his wife and children to the baseball reunion because he wanted them to meet and get to know his childhood friends.  A Penn Sate University graduate, Mike has lived the American dream in Boston, Silicon Valley, Nashville, and Seattle. He is a consultant in business engineering and he travels the world helping specialized businesses improve their production techniques. In an interesting way, Mike reminded me of Steve Carleton, competent but not all that comfortable talking about his accomplishments.  Looking at his life he could not think of any mistakes, but he was absolutely certain about the need to keep in touch with the boys from Sordoni Baseball.

Joe Kubasti is married with two children, Andrew and Adam. Both played in the game.  A graduate of Penn State University and San Jose University. he is an accomplished mechanical engineer. He lived in the Silicon Valley for 13 years. There he met the woman who become his wife, Connie.

Joe and his family returned to the East Coast eight years ago.  Like his brother, he is a world traveler. He spends a good deal of time in Europe installing turn-key solar cell factories. He probably knows more about baseball than anyone on the field.  He played organized ball, and he did not like that experience. In a lighthearted moment he told me his goal was to play the game, not get hurt and be able to get up tomorrow morning.  He drove from Massachusetts to relax and have fun.

For Joe Kubasti, the Sordoni years were the best years. There was no pressure and no structure.
He got himself to the games on Saturday mornings because he wanted to play the game with his friends.  He has vivid memories of his childhood years playing the best game and having the best time of his life. On this day he would play the game with his children in a relaxed, lay back way  just to have fun. In a moment of candor he told me he was not happy with some of the minor job decisions he made in life. Looking at his two boys, he told me that parents must take time to play with their kids and raise them.  That’s exactly what he did on this special day. With the enthusiasm of his youth, Joe is quick to point out that he hit the first home run of the day.

Steve Menges is a partner in a small advertising agency in Manhattan. He is a big man with a pleasant disposition.  In many ways he was the Greg Luzinski of Sordoni Baseball. In his first game he hit a triple and three home runs.  It’s a day he will never forget. Recollections of that larger-than-life performance bring a smile to his welcoming face.  When we played Sordoni Baseball on that dirt field everybody left friends, he told me and this day was all about being with friends.

Steve’s life is a road map of the east coast; ten years in Washington, DC, five years in New York with a stop in Pittsburgh in between. He shares his opinion about home with candor and sincerity: “No matter where you go in life, where you travel, what you do for a living, having lived all around the north east, it all comes back to Dallas, PA, and all that comes with that.

In a moment of deep thought he told me his list of mistakes in life was long, but the one he regrets the most is not embracing change as much as he could have earlier in his life. “I had some opportunities to take some risks in life early on and I didn’t”

There were no mistakes on this day because he was here in heart, mind and soul to be with his friends. He played the game with gusto. Maintaining his reputation as s Sordoni slugger, he hit the ball higher and farther than anyone on the field.

His brother Dan was not a member of the original team. He heard about the reunion, and he decided to attend.  He knew the names of the guys on the team from his elementary school buss route. It was an opportunity to play the game with his brother, and he was hoping he could hold his own.

Dan is an engaging person who graduated from Shippensburg University with a degree in business.  He worked in retail, construction and he developed a specialization in computers and software.  On this day, somewhere in the vicinity of first base, he told me he is looking for the next chapter in his life. He is a much wiser man today because he learned the value of being flexible. “I’m still struggling with it.  It’s critical managing expectations. Managing your own expectations is key.”

Mike Todd is a tall man.  His hands and face show the scars of a life of manual labor.  He came to enjoy his friends and to have a lot of laughs. He believes that “you must keep plugging because tomorrow is another day.” In many ways, he might be considered the Crash Davis of Sordoni Baseball.

When Mike Todd looks at his life the muscles in his smiling face tighten, and he becomes very intense. “My biggest mistake was not listening to my mother and father.  They told me to go to school and get a good education and a good job.  I went to college, but I dropped out. If I had listened to my parents, I would be sitting at a desk instead of breaking my hump every day to make a living."

Al Cuba, the third members of a select group called the "Cuba Boys" came to the game hoping to survive.  For 15 years he operated a pizza place and bar called Shorties Pizza.  Recently he lost the business because he did not own the building, and he could not afford to pay the increased rent. Al has an infectious smile and a very pleasant way.  In my mind he is the Phil Rizzuto of the group. When you first look at him you think about Casey Stengle’s famous quote: "Kid, you're too small. You ought to go out and shine shoes."

Casey was wrong about Rizzuto, and anyone who thought that about Al Cuba would be mistaken. He loves to play the infield, and he plays it well.

When he thinks about the years since Sordoni Baseball, he smiles and shares this: We all should “slow down a little and stop and enjoy life. 30 years went by awful quick.”

Joe Wateski left Dallas shortly after graduation, and he is happy he made that decision. He came to the reunion “to see some of the guys since I used to run fast.” He didn’t talk about baseball as much as the others, but what he shared was memorable and profound. He was interested in relationships. This is what he said: Find a good woman and hold on to her like death…be happy to be alive and don’t worry too much because it ain’t gonna help.”

Joe was the only player to tell me he was glad he left the area: “I’m blessed to be where I am at, I’ve made a lot of mistakes.  None of them have killed me.”

I liked Joe’s earth honesty.  As he talked, I thought to myself, Joe is the Hank Bower of the team.

Tom Alexander movie aficionado, writer, entertainer was the man of the hour. Known affectionately as “Albuddy,” Tom did the heavy lifting to make this reunion happen.  I’ve known Tom since his college days. We met at a pivotal time in his life. I had the opportunity to offer a helping hand when his world was shattered by the unexpected death of his father. It is one of the best memories of my teaching career.

After that we became fast friends working together on location shoots, in editing sessions and just hanging out in his home or mine. He wife, Gwyn, is one the nicest people Kitch and I know, and his son, Peter, is a treasure.  Just like his father, you can see the goodness in his eyes.

When I asked Tom how the day was going, he answered in his characteristically humorous fashion: ”No one’s required first aid yet. You can’t beat it!”

Tom Alexander, the son of the owner of the Forty Fort Theater and the Dallas Drive In Theater was standing in center field in the shadow of the old Dallas High School thinking to himself and sharing it with whomever would listen:” No one thought it would be possible.  It’s just great to have everyone here. These are the guys from my youth. We wanted to recreate a little of that magic. It’s been pretty special.”

So there they were eleven men who were not young, but not yet old, not fast, but not yet slow, not as good as they once were in the Sordoni days, but not that bad for their age. They came to play a game that taught them how to live their lives. They came to reach back for yesterday while they talked to me about their next chapters, the life lesions they learned and the mistakes they made that build character.

There they were standing under a brilliant sun filled sky and for a few hours the world was theirs again. They played the game of their dreams with their wives and parents looking on and their children filling in the empty positions on the field. They were there to reconstruct the past, but in my mind’s eye the story they told was about the American Dream. They survived. In some cases they thrived.  In ever case they were wiser and stronger because every man on that field was a graduate of Sordoni Baseball and their degree read: “This is what really is important in life family, friends, relationships, risk, flexibility, change, humor, laughter, discipline, initiative, good will and determination.”

It doesn’t get any better than that.

Jacques Barzun was right. Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn Baseball.

(Copyright Mussari-Loftus Associates, LTD, 2008, All rights reserved)