Pirates’ Manager Has Special Memories of Otsego County City

Derek Shelton manages the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his baseball career traces back to Oneonta, New York.

In recent years, MLB managers have seen the number of coaches assigned to their staff grow to a number resembling that of a  professional football team.  With the Pirates heading into their third week of spring training in Bradenton, Florida, Shelton has 13 members of his staff spread out at their Pirate City complex, and also LECOM Park.  Lots of players going through hitting, running, and fielding drills need to be coordinated.

When reviewing pages in last season's media guide there's one fact that Shelton and two of his coaches share.  Not by design but coincidence, all three began their playing time in the minor leagues in the same city - Oneonta.

Ironically, bench coach Don Kelly and third base coach Mike Rabelo were teammates during their rookie season of 2001. The Detroit Tigers were the parent club providing players to their affiliates. The Oneonta Tigers in 2001 were members of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League.  For the Pittsburgh skipper, in 1992, when he signed with the New York Yankees as a catcher coming out of Southern Illinois University, starting his career in southern Otsego County couldn't have gone better.

During a recent post-workout media conference, Shelton didn't mix his words on his introduction to professional baseball.

"(Oneonta) was such a cool, small town to come to," Shelton said of the first of his two seasons as a player  "The atmosphere was great to learn in."

More than 30 years have passed since he played NCAA-1 baseball for four seasons at Southern Illinois. The past 19 years Shelton has either managed or coached on the MLB level.  There have been positions served with the Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, and Tampa Bay Rays for Shelton. Without question, the Pirates' manager is a baseball lifer.  And a good one, at that.

During his chats with the baseball media, Shelton's answers are direct, well thought out, and detailed.  He offers details and no double-talk; a rarity in pro sports. So, when the last question was answered on the second official day or camp, and Shelton began walking back into the clubhouse area, the question surrounding his time spent in Oneonta should have caused him to pause - to collect his thoughts.

The total opposite occurred.

One deep breath, and Shelton's brain reached way back to the early 1990s, and his memories mirrored that of opening a file and reading the printed contents.

His opening remarks were about Damaschke Field over on  James Georgeson Avenue in Neahwa Park.  Of all the new stadiums that have popped up over the decades that Shelton was honing his craft as a baseball educator, and the classics as Chicago's Wrigley Field and Boston's Fenway Park, how Shelton was able to, without warning, start rattling off details about Damaschke Field is nothing short of amazing.

Labeling the home of the former Oneonta Yankees and Tigers as a "classic park", Shelton knew that several of the greats of the game made stops at Damaschke Field for exhibition games.  Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby are the two names Shelton remembers hearing about of having played on the same field as he did.

The 1992 Oneonta Yankees played in the second annual regular-season New York-Penn League game at Cooperstown's Doubleday Field. This  was another important box checked off by the Pirates' skipper.  Getting to start his baseball career in a "small park", in a small town, was the perfect recipe for the 21-year-old from Carbondale, Illinois.  Shelton states the atmosphere in the city located in the Catskill Mountains offered little by way of distractions from what his manager Jack Gillis was attempting to teach the aspiring catcher.

The two-plus months that Shelton got to know the ins and outs of Oneonta, and the 14,000 citizens that made the city special, 50,500  baseball fans made their way through the turnstiles to see the Yankees play.

Shelton's introduction to pro ball in Oneonta remains special because it was his first season. Whatever the topic, few people forget their first experience. Shelton is proof of this theory.

Don Laible is a freelance sportswriter from the Mohawk Valley, now living in Florida. He has reported on professional baseball and hockey for print, radio, and on the web since the 1980's. His columns are featured weekly at WIBX950.com. Don can be contacted via email at Don@icechipsdiamonddust.com.