Pete Puricelli goes the distance
Book debuts has #1 best seller
The Front Page
Morning Update
Saturday, August 21, 2021
By Ken Tingley
For Pete Puricelli, the two constants over the past two decades have been baseball and orthopedics. One he loves, the other not so much.
If you followed the sports scene locally - especially basketball - then you have probably crossed paths with Pete at one time or another.
He took the Fort Edward high school boys team to the state tournament at the Civic Center in back-to-back years in the 1990s, but he’s been active in plenty of other programs - big and small - and a fixture among the volunteers at the state basketball tournament each year. He coached the modified boys basketball team in Lake George last year and has just been hired to coach the modified girls this coming season.
What I didn’t know about Pete was that he is a big, big baseball fan.
Much bigger than me, which is saying something.
Pete grew up in Cincinnati and his first ballpark was Crosley Field with the sloping incline that outfielders had to run up to track down deep fly balls. Crosley is one of those old-time relics I wish I had gotten to see.
Pete remembers his Dad taking him there when he was little. He remembers the bleachers in right field were called the “Sun Deck” for day games and the “Moon deck” for night games. He was a Frank Robinson fan and when the Reds traded Robby to Baltimore, it broke his heart.
“After that, I hated the Reds,” Pete said.
But here is what stuck with him, what he eventually figured out over the years, and honestly, I’m not sure if I have ever heard anyone explain it better about the hold baseball can have on a person.
“Baseball was the first thing that I loved,” Pete said. “Since then, occasionally the people in the game let you down; players, owners sometimes they let you down, but the game itself has never let me down. Good baseball looks the same as it did 50 years ago to me.”
That’s Pete Puricelli, philosopher.
Pete’s dad worked for General Electric. From Cincinnati, he moved the family to Louisville for a year, then on to Hudson Falls in the mid 1960s. But my guess is that those visits to Crosley Park as a boy stayed with Pete more than he realizes.
Those first ballparks. Those father and son moments usually do.
In 2003, hobbled by a bad hip and maybe starting to feel his age, Pete started thinking about undertaking a cross country expedition to see every major league ballpark.
“I always wanted to do it,” Pete said. “I wasn’t sure what lay ahead with the physical challenges.”
So in 2003, Pete embarked on a Midwest road trip at the age of 47 to see seven big-league ballparks in seven days.
“That jump-started it,” Pete said. “Then I said I have to keep going.”
And he did, despite being hobbled by joint problems.
Pete has had four hip replacements over the years and had both knees replaced at the same time in 2007.
In 2012, he did a trip to the west coast with his 12-year-old grandson to see all five ballparks over 16 days and a Neil Diamond concert. It rained all the day before the game at Dodger Stadium, but the game went on as scheduled.
Pete is quick to point out you can find plenty of people who have duplicated his feat. In fact, many have written books and articles about doing them all 30 in one summer.
But you have to wonder how many did it with Pete’s orthopedic history.
This past week he posted on Facebook a photo of Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas with an announcement he had completed his journey with his 30th and final big-league park.
When I told Pete I had visited 24 big-leagues parks, but several didn’t exist anymore, Pete quickly upped his number to 38.
HIs favorite park?
PNC Park in Pittsburgh, one of the new retro major league parks.
Pete is 65 now, so the question is what’s next?
Some have suggested minor league ballparks, but Pete is not sure. Fifteen years ago, his sone bought you the Major League ticket for his TV so he could see any game he wanted at any time.
Baseball is like that.
It gets inside you and off the couch and keeps you going during rehab when life can seem like hell.
It might be time for a return trip to the Midwest.
No. 1 best seller
My first book “The Last America Editor” went up on amazon.com and Kindle this past week. It quickly established itself as a “#1 best seller” and “#1 new release.”
It was an encouraging development.
I’m hoping to hold some book signings and possibly other events in September. For those that have preordered, the book should be shipping in the next week or so.
For those interested, there is a print version and a Kindle version on amazon.com.
I remember Pete going way back to our late teen years, played goalie at Derby Park in Hudson Falls always using the Phase " This is the BZ Hockey Network!" Pete being at the time a big Boston Bruins fan,( BZ coming from the fact Bruins games could be heard on WBZ Boston, am radio we could get here at night ) a bunch of us used to call Pete " Flapper" Over the years I did see Pete had become quite the Basketball Coach no doubt being a positive influence on many! Great story on Pete seeing all these MLB parks! ( A wish I can only dream of ) How about Pete go back to his " This is the BZ Hockey Network days" and take in the NHL league arenas?
Thank you. Beautiful tribute to my husband. One correction, not Hudson Falls, Lake George.