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ed to Birmingham and the Barons. The promising trio of upand-comers was assigned to the Prince William Cannons in Woodbridge, Virginia, an Advanced (Long Season) Single-A White Sox franchise. I was there in the second row on Opening Day to see Carmine go 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the left-center gap in his debut with Prince William. Just like he had at every stop along the way – Malden High, Rollins College, South Bend – and now in northern Virginia, he looked like a stud hitter. Being assigned to the Single-A was not a step down so much as it was a “stay in place” assignment. Could Cappuccio, Cameron or Hurst have used that possible promotion to Double-A Birmingham as a stepping stone to the bigger and better futures? Of course they could have used it. Cameron actually did get a big league call-up the next season. He was playing for Birmingham in 1995, along with Cappuccio and Hurst, but he got sent back down after an unproductive, 22-game stint. Maybe if Cameron had played with Birmingham that extra year, the added experience would have helped him to stick in the “bigs”? Same for Hurst. His value was high enough after the 1994 season in Birmingham that he was a decent piece in a trade to the Detroit Tigers in the 1995 offseason. He bounced back and forth for a couple of seasons between the majors and the minors, never gaining a niche at the highest. Would that ’94 season at Double-A have made a difference? Sure it would. They even said it on ESPN’s Sports Center! As for Cappuccio? You know it would have made a difference. They even said it on ESPN’s Sports Center! That very night of the news about Jordan, on Sports Center, I recall, vividly, anchorman Dan Patrick stating, “It’s great that Michael Jordan wants to try and play professional baseball. But who is the player that’s going to be held back an extra year in the minors because of this? “Maybe it’s Carmine Cappuccio from Malden, Mass., who led the South Bend White Sox in hitting last year? Or one of the other outfielders from that team like Jimmy Hurst or Mike Cameron?” Patrick said on national television. “Who knows? What we do know is that one of these White Sox prospects is going to miss experience at a higher level because of Michael Jordan.” So there. Dan Patrick said so! I remember sitting on my couch on Jacob Street that night, thinking the same exact thing: “Yeah, Michael Jordan is SINGLE-A PRINCE WILLIAM CANNONS: In 1994, Malden’s Carmine Cappuccio played for the Advanced Single-A Prince William (Virginia) Cannons. It was thought in spring training he might have made the jump to Double-A Birmingham. runs. He walked 51 times, nearly leading the team in that department, when the “Moneyball” era was not even a thought. He did lead the team in strikeouts and was a below average fielder, but stole 30 bases, too. Sports Illustrated bashed him with a cover story screaming “Bag it, Michael!”. But even that writer later retracted part of his vitriol. For someone whose resume only went up to a smattering of varsity baseball games in his junior year of high school and then a 13-year layoff, it was actually pretty commendable MJ could even get up against 90-mph-plus fastballs. a great basketball player and all that, but what’s up with him playing baseball? He’s 31 years old and there’s no way he intends on making this a longterm thing. “He’s playing outfield? That’s what Carmine plays. I hope this really does not hurt his chances,” I thought. Then, lo and behold, MJ goes to Double-A Birmingham and the other three outfielders are off to Virginia with the Cannons. What followed in the 1994 season appears to be further validation of some suspect decision-making in the White Sox organization. Only success for Birmingham was at ticket booth The only success Birmingham had that 1994 season was in the ticket booth. They set an attendance record for the franchise that was never broken as the traveling carnival atmosphere Jordan brought to the team filled the stands all year. Truth be told, Jordan was far from great and shy of good. But it would be a lie to say he was awful. He hit .203 for the season, starting nearly every night for manager Terry Francona (that guy again! future Red Sox icon). He did drive in 51 runs in 127 games and hit three home THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 1, 2024 Of course, after he fashioned a remarkable, to say the least, 27game hitting streak in the early part of the season, the entire rest of the opposing pitchers in the Southern League went all “Not on My Watch” and threw the NBA’s greatest player nothing but the first number of his Bulls’ jersey. Yup. Nothing but deuces. Ever. That’s probably why he walked so many times thereafter. Can’t hit what you can’t see. They threw him so many curveballs, he probably got lucky, too, as not many hooks are in the strike zone. To add insult to injury, the three home runs MJ hit that season led the outfielders who were on the Birmingham Barons roster that season. PopGun City! Did the White Sox purposely have a subpar outfield contingent in Birmingham so as not to draw attention to their shortsightedness with Jordan’s addition? If every outfielder stinks, no one will notice how rough MJ looks. Who knows? What we do know is that no outfielder that year from Birmingham ever made it to the big leagues. What about those guys stuck in Single-A? We wonder what those three guys stuck in Single-A would have done that extra year in Birmingham? How would Malden’s Cappuccio have done? Plenty of people said they thought they saw major league potential in Jordan, more than that say he wasted his time. After that 1994 season, he never put on a glove or took a swing again. His dalliance peaked before it even evolved. In March of the following year, after long eschewing a return to the White Sox, Jordan flipped the switch and returned to the Bulls, leading them to 24 of 27 wins in the home stretch of the NBA season, on their way to the 1994-95 World Championship. Two more titles followed as a second “Three-Peat” emerged before Jordan retired again, in 1997, only to return for a brief stint with the Washington Wizards. He’s now just your average billionaire NBA owner with the Charlotte Hornets in his home state of North Carolina. That 1994 season for Prince William was a solid one for all three budding White Sox prospects. Cappuccio led the team in hitting at .292 and established a career high in home runs (12) and RBIs (60). Teammates Hurst (25 HRs) and Cameron (18 HRs) also showed off some power. The Cannons’ year was also the first time Cappuccio was on the same team with Pete Rose Jr. Son of “The Hit King” Pete Rose Sr., he became best “baseball friends” with Cappuccio and the two of them ended up bePage 13 ing on the same team, in different levels and leagues, for many of the following years the two of them played. I met Pete Jr. during the opening game for the Cannons, which I attended in ’94, and several years later joined him as a member of Cappuccio’s wedcome back in 1999. With no MLB offers, Cappuccio decided to go the Independent League route and signed with a fledgling team, the New Jersey Jackals. One of his teammates was TRIPLE-A NASHVILLE SOUNDS: Malden’s Carmine Cappuccio played in 1995, 1996 and 1997 at the Triple-A professional baseball level for the Nashville (Tennessee) Sounds. ding party when he married his wife Shannon in St. Joseph’s Church on Salem Street in Malden in 1997. Pete Jr. “The Hit Prince”! What a great guy and a great friend! All three outfielders did finally make it to Birmingham and Double-A the next season, in 1995. Cappuccio shined in Double-A and in midseason, got promoted to Triple-A Nashville, making local history as the first Malden High product to ever make it to that high a level – one step from the big leagues! He hit .278 with four homers in 65 games for Birmingham and .272 with five homers in the same amount of games at Nashville. Cameron got a call-up to the “bigs” and played 22 games in the majors in 1995. Hurst got traded to Detroit after the 1994 season. Cappuccio firstever Malden HS player at Triple-A In 1996, Cappuccio played a full season at Triple-A Nashville and had one of his best pro seasons of all with 10 homers, 61 RBIs and a consistent .273 average. In 1997, Cappuccio ran into something he had avoided in his entire professional career until then: the injury bug. He missed about half the season with back issues, and they accelerated, even with therapy, so that he played just 55 games. He tried to come back and get ready for the 1998 season, but the clock had run out. He was released by the White Sox at the age of 27 and did not go to spring training in 1998. Married and with a new baby at time, a daughter, Tia, Cappuccio opted to take the season off in 1998 and heal up, hoping to Pete Rose Jr. so there was some familiarity. Cappuccio went on a hitting tear the first week of that season that did not end until he was named Independent League “Player of the Year” by Baseball America magazine. He was the Independent League’s version of the Triple Crown winner that year, leading the league in batting average (.349), homers (17) and RBIs (75) in just 80 games. Was there a “Comeback City” story here in the offing? I saw him play quite a few games in person that year, splitting time visiting either him or Kevin McGlinchy either in Atlanta or on the road, with McGlinchy – now with the MLB Atlanta Braves in his fourth year in professional baseball. What a thrill it was to be able to go see two guys I coached at Malden High – the city’s greatest hitter and player, Capuccio, and its greatest and most successful pitcher, McGlinchy, play pro ball in real time at the same time in 1999. Cappuccio’s stellar season with the Jackals earned him an invite to MLB spring training in 2000 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he was assigned to Double-A Reading (Pennsylvania). At 30 and stuck behind some younger Phillies prospects, his playing time was staggered and his hitting numbers suffered. He was released by Reading about halfway through the season and with few options, signed a contract with Yucatan in the Mexican League to finish their season. That detour lasted 14 games and 62 at bats before he returned home to Florida to contemplate his future. Now with two children, his son C.J. now “on the roster,” the Cappuccios decided to give it another shot, this time headed out of the country once again, this time to Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada, to play for the Winnipeg Goldeyes, in the 2001 season, once again in the Independent League. Cappuccio’s final pro season in Canada in 2001 In Winnipeg, Cappuccio quickly became a bit of a folk hero. As he did in New Jersey, he went ballistic at the plate and set franchise and league records, including a 45-game hitting streak that still stands. He played in all 90 games, hit 9 homers and drove in 80 runs while hitting .359. His season there was so legendary, and so earth-shattering that the Goldeyes had a BASEBALL | SEE PAGE 21

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