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AUG. 21-27, 2019
Trading places For the second time since he was drafted in 2016, Bishop Eustace Prep alum Zac Gallen was traded last month. But after making his big league debut two months ago, his stock is on the rise. By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor
SARAH SACHS/Arizona Diamondbacks
Life can be hectic for professional baseball players who haven’t made the jump from a minor league world spent traveling on buses all across the country to one riding in team charter planes with multimillionaires in the majors. But it can be a little crazy at the big league level, too, particularly when you have to make quick mental notes to remind yourself what color undershirt to wear underneath your uniform. Zac Gallen, a 2013 Bishop Eustace Preparatory School graduate and a Gibbsboro native who still calls the
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town home in the winter, has lived both of these lives this summer. He made the thankless bus trips during the first part of the baseball season as a rising Miami Marlins pitching prospect, and now he’s in the big leagues as a promising rookie starter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gallen, who was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft, spoke with South Jersey Sports Weekly after making his Diamondbacks debut against his hometown team, the Phillies, a couple of weeks ago. South Jersey Sports Weekly: I saw you nearly made your MLB debut against the Phillies, being called up a day before the Marlins arrived to Citizens Bank Park. But
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www.southjerseysportsweekly.com I guess having it against the Cardinals (on June 20) worked out alright? Zac Gallen: I’m kind of glad it was in St. Louis, because (if it was Philly) it would just have been so much going on, having my debut in Philly. So I think it worked out perfectly. I grew up a Cardinals fan and then got drafted by the Cardinals, I was pretty pumped to make my debut in St. Louis. I thought I’d be wearing a Cardinals jersey but I got there one way or another. It was still cool to make it in Busch Stadium against the Cardinals, kind of a, you know, a look-what-you-couldhave-had kind of deal. I thought it was fun. You kind of have that chip on your shoulder. It’s still the big league (debut) so you have that chip to want to prove you belong, but even more so against a team that traded you. SJSW: And now you have two teams that have created that chip, the Cardinals and Marlins. (The Cardinals traded him in a deal that brought them Marcell Ozuna two winters ago). Gallen: I know, right? [laughs] SJSW: These last two months must have been pretty hectic, getting the big league call-up one month and getting traded the next month. Gallen: This game is ever-changing and you can’t lose sight that it’s a business, these things happen. Teams have different needs so I 100 percent understood both moves. But please see GALLEN, page 3
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SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — AUG. 21-27, 2019
BASEBALL
The timeless game
RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly
Bill Curzie, 84, continues to play in a competitive senior baseball league throughout the spring and summer, along with his buddies Steve Elliott (left) and Tommy Faherty (right). “Every time I go up to the plate,” he said, “I work with my guardian angel.”
By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor
In October of ‘46, an 11-yearold boy in Riverside cozied up next to the family radio and feasted his ears on the program of the night: a World Series game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. He was enthralled with the action. He kept his own makeshift scorecard for the game. “(Red) Schoendienst, (Marty) Marion, (Enos) Slaughter, (Stan) Musial, boom boom boom,” Bill Curzie said. “What a team. And I’m writing them down. And so I stayed with them. A couple of years ago Bob Costas said on TV, whatever team you rooted for at 11 years old is probably the team you’ll stay with.” The Cardinals went on to win
Delran’s Bill Curzie, 84, and his fellow senior citizen friends continue to play in an organized baseball league. They’ll look to defend a national title this fall. their third World Series title in five years that fall. Curzie, now a longtime Delran resident, hasn’t just stuck by the beloved team of his boyhood. The 84-year-old puts on their uniform every Sunday throughout the spring, summer and fall and makes a pilgrimage south to Florida to rub shoulders with guys like Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith during the winter, too. Curzie isn’t just a baseball aficionado. He’s a baseball player.
Curzie founded the South Jersey Men’s Senior Baseball League in 1992, when he was 57 years old. More than a quarter century later, Curzie continues to play for the Delran Cardinals in the 65+ age division in the John A. DeBenedictis League, an eight-team league with games running from late April through early October. Curzie also forms a collection of his pals from across the country for the 75+ Jersey Cardinals team that competes in the Roy Hobbs World Se-
ries in Ft. Myers, Florida, each November. His Cards were crowned champs in 2018 when they beat the New England Red Sox. How the heck does Curzie, who will turn 85 two weeks after Christmas, continue to play? “Like the famous ad they have on baseball now, ‘I just want to play,’” Curzie said of the wooden bat leagues he helped form three decades ago and continues to participate in. “That’s what baseball fans do. ‘I just want to play ball.’ That’s what baseball fans do.” When Curzie joins his fellow Cardinals fans at Fantasy Camp in the winter, he’s greeted by the teams’ greats affectionately as “Jersey Curzie.” “‘Hey Jersey!’” Curzie said, mimicking them. “It’s a lot of fun. When I get down there these guys say, ‘You’re incredible, you’re my hero.’ And I’m like, what do you mean, some of you are Hall of Famers? ‘But you’re 84! Will I still be able to get out here at 80? Can I come out at your age?’ “They’ll ask, ‘What’s your diet, what do you eat?!’ And I say, make sure you have a glass of red wine before you go to bed at night.” Curzie laughed. “I try to stay with a Mediteranian diet mostly,” he said. “Fish 90 percent (of the time). Very little meat. Vegetables. My wife makes salad. But I do have a thing for ice cream, which she’s trying to get me off of. But I say I gotta have my ice cream!” Curzie laughed again. He also tries to go to the gym a couple times a week to stay in shape. Curzie also gets together every Wednesday with players from around the JADBL for a weekly practice, usually held at Delran Community Park. On a recent, steamy August afternoon, longtime friends Tommy Faherty and Steve
Elliott joined Curzie for a midweek baseball workout. Faherty is 75 and Elliott will celebrate his own 75th birthday in September. “The friendships, the guys,” Elliott said of why he still comes out to play. “I’ve been with these guys since the late ‘80s.” “I’ll tell you something about this guy,” Faherty interjected. “He only has one eye, he got his eye shot out by a BB as a kid. And he was my catcher for years. And he went 15for-15 one time. Hitting. I mean, I don’t care where you are, that’s a phenomenal streak. I call him the one-eye cat peeking into the seafood store.” The group let out a collective belly laugh. “I enjoy organizing and running the game,” said Robbinsville resident Faherty, a player-manager for the New Jersey Wonderboys. “But if the Lord says you’re 83 or 84 or whatever and I’m going to allow you to keep playing baseball then you should be thankful. It’s a gift. … Baseball is like life. It teaches you to be able to get through the slumps and the good times. It’s a life lesson.” The Delran Cardinals and New Jersey Wonderboys will meet for the second time this season this coming Sunday (Aug. 25) in Vincentown. Curzie’s Cardinals are unbeaten since July 14. He went 2-for-3 in a game against the Plymouth Braves earlier this month. The league’s playoffs are a little more than a month away, followed by the trip to defend their 75+ championship in Florida after Halloween. Curzie and his pals have no intentions of slowing down. “Every time I go up to the plate, I work with my guardian angel,” Curzie said. “I thank God every day. Probably a few times.” ■
AUG. 21-27, 2019 – SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY was in Miami and (Triple-A) New Orleans for my first eight or nine starts (there). From the first inning of that first game we were on the same page, mixing pitches, being able to throw all of my pitches for strikes. It opened up a lot of different avenues that I may not have had in years prior. I think mixing pitches has been the biggest thing for me. SJSW: I was watching the game vs. the Phillies and your changeup had some serious drop. When did that become a big weapon? Gallen: The funny thing about my changeup, that was my pitch growing up. When I was younger I didn’t have a serviceable breaking ball until my sophomore year (at the University of North Carolina). The tough part in high school was that the changeup was doing a lot of guys favors so I stopped using it as much, (maybe) if I was facing a bigger left-handed hitter that I figured could handle velocity I’d use the changeup, but as I got older I kind of
shied away from it, I didn’t use it as much in college, just a little here and there. And then pro ball, I lost a feel for it. Last year the Marlins pitching coordinator and coaches said we think you should really focus on using your changeup this year. I was getting back into it and something happened that I guess reverted back to when I was younger and it started to click and it felt good. It’s been a huge weapon for me lately. SJSW: Your first two months in the big leagues, despite it being hectic, have been really good: Did you think it’d be that seamless of a transition? Gallen: You don’t know what to expect when you get up here, you just try to carry through what you’ve been doing. It definitely takes a little bit of an adjustment period. I wouldn’t say I’m through that by any means, but I‘ve definitely felt, I don’t want to say uncomfortable, but those first few outings you have to feel your way around and see how it is. The game is the same, but the game speed is different
SJSW: Was your phone flooded with texts and missed calls after five shutout innings against the Phillies (on August 7)? Gallen: [Laughs]. Yeah, I had quite a few people saying their family was mad at them because they were cheering for me instead of the Phillies. There was some divided households it sounded like. [Laughs]. But, no, it was really nice to get some support from back home, staying up late to watch the game. It was pretty cool. SJSW: South Jersey right now is making an imprint on the big leagues, with three of you making your debuts this year (Devin Smeltzer, who plays for the Minnesota Twins and graduated Eustace a year please see GALLEN, page 4
SARAH SACHS/Arizona Diamondbacks
Zac Gallen, a 2013 Bishop Eustace Prep graduate and Gibbsboro resident in the offseason, made his major league debut two months ago and has impressed. The right-hander had a 2.58 ERA after his first nine big league starts.
GALLEN
continued from page 1 both were shocking because I had no idea. But this game, it’s ever-changing and you always have to be on your toes. But it’s definitely been a hectic last two months. Hopefully I’ve found somewhere where I can stick and be for the long term. SJSW: And another way to look at it is these other teams wanted you. Gallen: It’s always nice to be wanted, that’s for sure, that’s what I’ve learned now. And you know, I don’t know many people that can put on their resume
“traded twice before (age) 24” but I look at it as a positive. The Marlins wanted me first and now the Diamondbacks wanted me, so I won’t look at it in a negative light. SJSW: I remember seeing in June you led all Triple-A starters in ERA and you’re off to a good start in the big leagues (2.58 ERA through first nine games). What’s been working well from the mound? Gallen: I mean a couple things clicked mechanically, on the simplified level, from spring training. But once I got into the season I had catchers calling great games. Bryan Holaday
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at the same time. So I think I’m just starting to feel more comfortable with my stuff, slight mechanical adjustments now I think are paying off. I just try to build off each outing, whether it’s negative or positive.
RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly
Caroline Tone and Lindsay Valilla of Moorestown High School battle for possession during the first week of soccer practice. The fall prep season is right around the corner and South Jersey Sports Weekly has you covered: be sure to check out the two-part Fall Sports Preview Issue in these pages in the next two weeks.
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SOUTH JERSEY SPORTS WEEKLY — AUG. 21-27, 2019
GALLEN
continued from page 3 after Gallen, and Gloucester Catholic’s Mike Shawaryn of the Boston Red Sox) then you have Sean Doolittle (Medford/ Washington Nationals), Ryan Buchter (Blackwood/Oakland A’s), and obviously (Mike) Trout (Millville/Los Angeles Angels). What does this say about South Jersey baseball? Gallen: Yeah, it says a lot. Trout obviously put South Jersey on the map in terms of the talent. Any time you get South Jersey guys up to the big leagues it just proves that South Jersey kids, the ones with the chips on their shoulder, they can show everyone. There is good baseball in South Jersey and I’ve believed that ever since. I used to tell guys in college, come to New Jersey, specifically South Jersey, there’s good baseball. So when guys reach the big leagues it proves that point even more. I’m pumped for those fellow guys, especially Smeltzer and Shawaryn, the guys I know pretty well person-
ally. So anytime you see a fellow South Jersey guy it’s easy to root for them because you know what they went through. SJSW: I imagine you and Smeltzer (Minnesota Twins) are texting buddies? Gallen: We text every couple of weeks. … When I was in Miami and we played the Twins (last month) the pitching schedule first looked like we’d pitch against each other, but they wound up sending him down, we talked about that. We tried to grab dinner, but have talked frequently for last couple of months. SJSW: Two Eustace grads squaring off in the big leagues. That would have been fun. Gallen: It would have been pretty cool and it would have been funny because he normally doesn’t have to hit and the Twins were in Miami, so it would have been fun to see him in the box. I don’t know how well we would have kept it together, a couple of laughs during that first at-bat. ■