|
|
1965-198925 years of excellence(This page will take a couple minutes to load, please be patient)
In a nutshell, Al's Cold Cuts evolved from their original Bridgeport team along with Holy Saviour, Crosstowne, Meadowbrook Tavern, Advance Stamp, Dante's Restaurant, Rugusa Hauling and Huey's Blue Ribbon Bar. Holy Savior became Crosstowne, which became Hueys. Meadowbrook became Ragusa. Advance Stamp became Dante's. The best players from Huey's, Ragusa and Dante's eventually made their way over to Al's Cold Cuts. Al's actually had two separate groups of players. The ones from the 1970's and when a lot of them retired, they went out and recruited and a newer, younger Al's emerged for the 1980's. Of course, a couple of these players played with both groups. Thats what made them so good, they always had the veteran leadership on the team to fall back on. The team started out way back in 1965 in the Bridgeport Slow Pitch League. Charlie (Greasy) and Mike (Skinny) Giambrone first asked Al Bertucci to sponsor their team. These two guys along with Rick and Nanny Falcone were the cornerstones of the team. They also had Pete Colucci and Vince Buckley and some other good players. Al's made the Bridgeport league finals 4 straight years and won three titles in a row from 1965-1967. By the way, the starting catcher in those early years was none other than Al Bertucci himself. In 1969, the team jumped over to the newer Norristown Civic League which became play the year earlier in 1968. John Carpani and Bruce Undercuffler joined the team by then. They found defensive wiz Tom Brady. From their initial arrival in 1969 through the 1972 season, they were always in contention but never won the league. They even tried to play in two leagues in 1970 as they joined the Conshohocken league as well as still playing in Norristown and that was tough on the young squad as they finished in 4th place in Conshy and lost in the first round of the 1970 playoffs to Ray's Diner. Back then the league powerhouses were Crosstowne Tavern/Huey's and Meadowbrook Tavern/Ragusa's. Meadowbrook had Jim Booz, Erv Dean, Dick and Carl Daddona and the immortal Pete Scheetz. Crosstown, which evolved from the old fast pitch powerhouse of Holy Saviour was loaded with talent which included George Schools, Charlie Dinolfi, Art 'Tootie' Andrey, Diamond Dick Tancini and Jim 'Legs' Beatty. Crosstowne won the title from 1969-1971. In 1972, they became Huey's Blue Ribbon Bar and picked up power hitter Rich Bellam from Foreman's Ranch House. Also during this team, the Meadowbrook team changed sponsorships to Ragusa Hauling. The Ragusa team picked up young talent like John Cresswell and Dale Hood. From 1969-1970, Advanced Stamp had a team that included the likes of Buddy Shank, Gary Delbuono, Tim Fiss, Franny Mack, Anthony "AC" Clementi and The Vandergrift brothers, Jack and Fran. This team became Dante's Restaurant in 1971 and they lost to Crosstowne in the league title series. 1972 came around and Al's was starting to build itself into a league powerhouse, by now, they picked up Sandy Reagan and Tony Pergine. Dante's folded after the 1971 season and the team split up into two groups. Some went to Charlie's Pizzeria and others like Fiss, Delbuono, Shank, AC (Clementi), Jack Beatrice and Mack went over to play with Al's. The team to beat was still Huey's (Crosstowne), but Al's staged a great playoff run and upset the three time defending champ and made it to the final series versus Ragusa Hauling. This is where the ride ended as legendary Pete Scheetz and his Ragusa mate defeated Al's in two straight to claim the 1972 League title. After the 1972 season, they lost Rick Falcone to rival Triple S Club, but the last of the Crosstowne team left on Huey's folded and the Al's picked up the services of Dinolfi, Tancini and Schools. John Cresswell and Dale Hood soon came over from Ragusa. Al's and Ragusa made it to the championship series once again, only this time Al's was not to be denied as they prevailed over Ragusa 2 games to 1 to claim the 1973 title and the string of championships had begun. Jim Booz came over from Ragusa in 1974 to join the now growing dynasty of Al's Cold Cuts. The 1974 team was arguably the greatest team of this area. At this point, they had enough talent and commitments that they re-joined the Conshohocken league and played two leagues (Norristown and Conshy). They went 90-5 for the season. By 1975, the team had most of its mainstays from the 1970's. Dinolfi, Tancini, Bellam, Booz, Delbuono, Fiss, Buckley, Shank, Reagan, Cresswell and Hood just to name a few. They also had picked up Chuck Capparo and Joe Guardino to round out the now perennial Norristown and Conshohocken league champions. Later in the decade, Al's picked up great players like Bruce Carr from Tony Rich and Chuck DiNolfi from Norristown Sporting Goods. Franco Pellegrin and Kevin Maloney soon came over from Sporting Goods also. Butch Martin even played for them for a year after he left Tony Rich. Moo Moyer and Don Sobeck came over from Triple S Club. Then in 1980, the unthinkable happed, Al's did not win the league. They had won 7 straight titles from 1973-1979. 1980 saw Norristown Sporting Goods defeat them in the semi-finals and go on to beat Organski Masonary for the championship. In 1981, Al's made it back to the final series only to lose to Charlie G's. Charlie G's had Mike Gouck, Tom Mulvahill, Bucky Priest and a bunch of other superstars. Changes were on the horizon for Al's. To be competitive anymore, they need an influx of young talent. By this time most of the old legends who carried Al's throughout the 1970's were slowly leaving the game go on with their own personal commitments. Buddy Shank, Dick Tancini, Richie Bellam, Gary Delbuono, Joe Guardino, Vince Buckley and even the greatest legend of all, Charlie Dinolfi were gone. Dinolfi actually played for the Philadelphia A's in the old Pro softball league for 5 years (1978-1982). When 1982 rolled around, Al's was starting to take on a whole new look. They picked up the biggest steal in league history when they found a skinny outfielder who led Bake Meister to the regular season championship in the C-Division in 1981. Clarke Farrell came aboard in 1982 and started the onslaught of young talent to come over to play with Al's. By this time, Jim Booz was the manager and Tim Fiss, Tom Brady, Dale Hood and John Cresswell were now the old veterans of the team. Al's also picked up Danny Fisher from J&L Towing and Alvin Curcio from Tony Rich. The following year when Tony Rich folded, Buddy Tolson, Don Cippolini and John Seiple came over from Tony Rich. Brian Becker left Marchese to come over the soon after along with Bob Donnely. Ken Shemonski arrived from DSI, Steve Doyle from Triple S and Joe Mosteller from Woodstream. Great players like Paul Ludwig, Joe 'JoJo' Brugnoli, Wiener Wazena, Meetch Mysawka, Beefy Maniscalco and Steve Falcone even played for awhile. And After Al's defeated The Little Pub in the 1988 final series on Brian Becker's home run in the bottom of the 7th inning of the 5th and deciding game, Al's celebrated their sixth title of the decade (5 straight from 1982-1986 and then 1988). They also won a couple ASA of PA Class-A State Championships (1984 & 1986) and travelled to the Class-A Nationals to compete. Nobody knew it at this time, but that 1988 championship was Al's last Norristown A-Division championship. Most of the guys agreed to disband the team before 1989 came around. They never quite could come up with the new generation of young players that could buy into their winning plans. Most young player wanted to stay with the buddies and didn't really care about moving onto to better teams. The game had changed by the late 1980's and the magical ride was almost over. Dale Hood had other ideas, he wanted to put together one last team for the 25th anniversary of Al's Cold Cuts. It was a great idea, but turned out to be a disaster, thogu no fault of Dale as he just wanted to show his appreciation for his close friend Al Bertucci and basically, guys who committed to him left him hanging and it was a wonderful gesture for Dale Hood to do that, but I know Dale, and he considers it one of his most embarrassing things in his illustrious softball career ... all that know him know his intentions were sincere.. The 25th and final year of Al's turned out to be their first losing season ever. The highlight of the year was when Dale brought former NY Jet Joe Klecko down to Wierman Field to play ball. Klecko responded by bombing out three homers to lead Al's to one of their two wins on the year. Thus the story of Al's Cold s which started out in 1965 and ended in 1989 was over. Much of the credit to these teams goes to Al Bertucci himself and the managers he has had over the years. Guys like Nanny Falcone, Nick Romano, George Schools, Sandy Reagan, Jim Booz, Al Curcio and last but not least Dale Hood. Its not hard to see that when somebody tries to put together an all century team for Norristown Softball or even a hall of fame, that many of the players involved were all players of Al Bertucci. All in all, they won 13 Norristown league titles, 8 Conshohocken league titles and 7 Bridgeport league titles. To show how dominant they really were, They played in the Norristown league from 1969-1989. That's 21 years and 15 of those years they made it to the finals, losing only in 1972 & 1981 (They made the playoffs every single year they played in Norristown except the ill-fated 1989 year). They played in Conshohocken in 1971 and then from 1974-1982 and made it to the playoffs every year including the finals every single year from 1974 to 1982. They lost only in 1979. They played in the Bridgeport league from 1965-1968 and then again from 1983-1988. They made the playoffs every single year and played in every final series in that league except 1984 and 1988, losing only in the 1968 final. In retrospect, they captured Norristown titles 13 of 21 years, Conshohocken 8 of 10 years and Bridgeport 7 of 10 years. That's a total of 28 league titles (not including the five other times that they made it to the finals, only to lose) in 41 leagues they entered from 1965-1989. That record may never be matched again in this area. Consider they played in the Norristown Slow Pitch League for 21 years and not counting the last year when they went 2-19 and forfeited out of the league, they played 20 seasons (not counting the 1989 season) and had a regular season record of 350 wins versus only 56 losses, they finished 1st 13 times, 2nd place 3 times, 3rd place twice and 4th place twice. They never finished below 4th place and made the playoffs for 20 straight years. Their playoff record is just as impressive as they played in 25 actual playoff series and won 20 of them (remember some playoffs were all series and others were double elimination formats until the finals) and their total playoff record was 90-28. Their combined Regular Season/Playoff in this 20 year period was 440 and 84. That is a winning percentage of 84%. From 1969 through 1984, the Norristown League Playoffs consisted of having teams compete for their sectional or divisional playoff separately. These aren't even counted in their total playoff titles, but if they are counted, Al's Cold Cuts won the Borough Division playoff title in 1972, they won the Division-2 playoff title in 1973 and the Division-1 playoff title in 1974, they won the American West Division playoffs and the American Conference playoffs in 1975, they won the American West Division Playoffs and the Gold Conference Playoffs in 1976. They the Gold Conference playoffs in 1977, 1979 and from 1981-83 (finishing second in 1980). They also won the Blue Conference playoffs in 1978. So that is actually 13 more playoff titles they won. If you also count the regular season championships (first place in their respective division or league) they have accumulated over the years, their overall dominance is mind-boggling. They finished in first place in Norristown regular season Section/Division/League 13 times, including streaks of 1973-1976 and 1984-1988. They finished first place in Conshohocken regular season 9 times in a row (1974-82) and they finished in first place in Bridgeport regular season 8 times, including a streak of 1983-1988. Not even counted in any of this is the 1992 team which was totally unassociated with any former Al's player. Harvey Pickel put together a team in the Norristown Rec Division and gathered some young guys like Brian Fields, Tony Boffa and the Iorio Family to play. In true Al's Cold Cuts fashion, the team finished in first place and won the playoff championship over Sleep n Snooz. That was Al Bertucci's last softball title. One more thing Al Bertucci did was to help organize the Al's Cold Cuts vs Steele's Sports softball games in 1987 and 1988. The "Men of Steele" were the #1 ranked Super-Major Softball team in the nation and were in the midst of their nationwide barnstorming tours across he Unites States in thos two years and they made it a point to stop in Norristown both years to play Al's and then went to the Bertucci house and have a big cookout hosted by Al. By the way, Al's lost to Steels by the scores of 31-6 and 25-7 in thos years, whihc was pretty damn good, considering they were beating home town all-star teams on the average of 65-5. The only other dynasty that even is worth considering was the Crosstown Tavern/Huey's Blue Ribbon Bar team from 1968-1972 which had a regular season mark of 94-4 with 2 undefeated seasons. Counting their playoff record of 18-6, their combined winning percentage was 91% (112-10 record), as they won 3 of the 5 years they were in the league. No disrespect to Al's Cold Cuts, but Crosstown's record is still the greatest of all time, but what Al's did over the long haul is the stuff that legends are made of. Other dynasties in Norristown History include TNT Sports Club's 5 titles in a 7 year stretch from 1993-1999. Their overall Regular season and playoff mark is 129-45 (74%). American Collision won 2 titles in 4 years from 1990-1993 with an overall record of 68-24 (74%). Mel's Pub won 2 titles in 5 years from 2001-2005 with an overall record of 96-38 (72%). Cannon Roofing from 1996-2003 won 5 titles in 8 years with an overall record of 147-64 (70). Mosteller's Seafood/Woodstream from 1987-1992 won 2 titles in 6 years with an overall record of 105-47 (69%). These teams had seasons of glory over periods of 5-8 years, but to do it consistently for 20 years is remarkable.
Yearly Statistical Highlights:1971 - Vince Buckley - 8 HRs League and Tournament Highlights:Norristown Softball League Results (separate league champions
were crowned for the Borough [A], Central [B] and Rec [C] divisions since 1982) Conshohocken Softball League Results (separate league champions
were crowned for the National [A] and American [B] divisions starting in 1977) Bridgeport Softball League Results (separate league champions
were crowned for the A, B and C divisions starting in 1981) Burr Robbins Tournament Finals - Allenwood Field Norristown Officials Tournament Finals Norristown Borough Open Classic Finals Triple S Tournament Finals - Bridgeport Zinn's Open Invitational Tournament Finals - Denver Montgomery County ASA Softball Championship Tournament Finals 4th of July White Rose Tournament Finals - York Conshohocken Open Tournament Finals Swedesburg Fire Co. Open Tournament Finals Norristown Sporting Goods Early Bird Finals - Bridgeport Lowenbrau Tournament Finals - Linfield Southwest Del Val Umpires Tournament Finals - Marcus Hook TNT Sports Club Tournament Finals - Norristown Burr Robbins Open 1-Pitch Tournament Finals - Norristown Hans Taylor Open Tournament Finals, Atlantic City, NJ Reading Open Tournament Finals Pottstown Tournament Finals Alabama Booster Club Tournament Finals - Bridgeport Norristown Civic League All-Star Game
©1998 Steve Dimitry, all rights reserved. Email: sdimitry@verizon.net
|
