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Show Time
May 2004 - J.P. Ricciardi is living the dream. As a Little Leaguer trying to blast balls out of Worcester sandlots, he wished with every bone of his small, but powerful body for a career in baseball. After college, he signed with the New York Mets and played for a few years in the team’s farm system. Then he worked for almost 20 years in the sport — among other things as a coach with the New York Yankees and as a much-valued scout for the Oakland Athletics. For the last three years, J.P. has been the high-profile general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. Sports writers in big time baseball cities sometimes talk about the young, talented Jays as a team to watch — the scrappy kids on the corner in the highly competitive American League East, who are just waiting for a chance to blast the big boy Yankees and Red Sox out of the park. These first few years it hasn’t been easy for the Blue Jays to play against teams with huge payrolls; one of J.P.’s biggest claims to fame as the Jay’s GM has been his ability to chop millions off the team’s payroll — and still build a team with spark and promise. In 2003, despite cutting three million off the payroll, the Jays still won 86 games. In 2004, J.P. has backed up the team’s powerful offense by building up the pitching staff behind the team’s ace, 2003 Cy Young winner Ray Halladay. The Jays won their first game of the season against the Red Sox this year — in Fenway Park no less, which must have been a sweet moment for the guy from Wustah especially since the Jays have had a tough time winning since. TV cameramen kept zeroing on J.P. in the stands and commentators like the Red Sox’ Don Orsillo kept saying things like “There’s Worcester native, J.P. Ricciardi who has done so much for the Blue Jays in a very short time...” When we spoke to J.P. recently in Toronto, his professional, GM persona warmed right up when he talked about playing baseball in Worcester’s Lake Park, how happy he is when he can home and eat pizza at Shrewsbury Street’s Wonder Bar and how much he still loves the friends and family in the hometown that helped him hit it big. Tony Scavone (TS): J.P., don’t you think the AL East is looking pretty tough this year? J.P. Ricciardi (J.P.): Oh yes, this is going to be a nuclear division. TS: The overall caliber of baseball in this league is picking up, don’t you think? JP: It’s a lot tougher in our league than in the National League, so you are going to have to earn your keep this year. TS: Let’s start at the beginning ... did you grow up in Worcester? JP: I grew up in Grafton Hill, right in the Ingleside/Plantation Street area ... went to Dartmouth Street School ... and then went to St. Peter-Marian. TS: You had a pretty good baseball career at St. Peter’s, right? JP: Yeah, we had a pretty good group ... for three years we had a really good club — we got beat in the state finals sophmore year; got beat in the district finals junior year and we won the state championship my senior year. We had a good crew ... we were fortunate. In high school I played with Dennis Doyle, he signed, played with Richie Gedman, he signed. I signed, Tommy Zona signed and Rodney Peters. So you’re looking at — 5 guys that played in the three years that I was there that all played professional baseball..it was a pretty good run and plus we had a bunch of guys who went on to play in college. TS: Did you plan on going to St. Peters when you were over in Grafton Hill? JP:Butch Vail was the baseball coach at St. Peters and he had a way of getting pretty good athletes to St. Peters ... that was the main reason I went there because Butch Vail showed some interest and wanted me to go there. TS: When you come back to Worcester, what’s it like for you? JP: One of the nice things about going back home is no one bothers you...you know everybody from the time you were a little kid ... it’s not like you’re going back there as someone who is more than what they are ... that’s the nice thing about going home. TS: Toronto’s nice, huh? JP: Toronto is a good city. There’s a lot going on there. TS: Can I ask you a couple of questions about the Red Sox? JP: You can ask me anything you want. 
Brothers at Bat: Longtime friends J.P. Ricciardi and Billy Beane, now general manager of the Oakland Athletics, were teammates in the New York Mets minor league system. TS: The Pedro situation ... did you hear what he did he when he finished his first game — not his best outing — and then he went into the locker room, showered and went home. Is that a common practice in the bigs? JP: Ahh ... no ... usually that’s not common practice for us. I can just speak for us. I mean maybe the Red Sox have some kind of understanding where their pitchers can do that ... for us, we don’t practice that. So I can’t say what Pedro did was wrong ... it may be a rule for them. But from our end that’s not something that we practice. TS: Do you think that the money these guys are pulling in is going to their heads? That they think they’re better than anyone else? JP: I don’t think so. I think the good players are the good players ... they have a lot of ability. If money is the one thing that changes you — well, that tells a lot about the person ... the great ones know that they’ve made their money and there’s a little bit of personal pride in knowing they are the best player they can possibly be. So I think they’re all motivated by certain things, but you still have to have some personal pride at the end of the day ... to be best player you can possibly be. TS: Definitely. So do you think Curt Schilling is a threat to Pedro — now they bring in another stud? I mean that’s what you want for a baseball team — you want the best team you can put out there. Do you think they will push each other? JP: I don’t think they will have to push each other... . I think they’re both very good pitchers that go out there and do their job. Their ultimate goal is to win and that’s going to enable them to win with two guys like that going to the mound every fifth day TS: Do you think your philosophy about team work was instilled as someone who grew up in the Northeast where sports are big? JP: I think the big thing with each individual is how they are raised. I think your family values have a lot to do with how you go about your business ... people that understand the meaning of teamwork ... that’s instilled in you at an early age, your work habits are instilled in you at an early age..and I think your passion and your love for things are instilled at an early age. Anybody who goes to work and doesn’t like their job, they’re doing themselves a disservice. I think that’s the nice thing about my situation — I wake up everyday and I love — I haven’t had a job that I didn’t love — it just happens to be that all my jobs have been in baseball or in sports. TS: Growing up, did you have any coaches or people that really influenced you? JP: I played for a lot of guys — I wouldn’t say they were the greatest baseball coaches in the world, but they were good people. And I think when you’re playing in Little League and you’re playing in Babe Ruth, it’s a little bit of a pipe dream to think that you’re going to have your best coach as far as knowing the game and understanding the game at that level. For me, my father was always the best teacher of the game because he played professional baseball and was able to teach me the game one on one from the standpoint of seeing the big picture. I always thought I was one step ahead so far as understanding the game, what should happen and where you should be on certain plays and how you should see certain things ... so my father had the greatest influence on me when I was really, really young. I had a lot of good coaches, but I think you learn more about the game when you play the game, you learn what to do and what not to do. When you play higher up ... my college coach was very good. He was Jack Gillis, a Worcester guy, an excellent coach and excellent teacher and he taught me a whole different end of the game. I was always a very competitive, driven person..he actually tapped into that and allowed me to really push the button and drive myself even more..he was a very good baseball guy. TS: You were very fundamentally sound as a player. Didn’t you play the middle infield? JP: I played short and second. I really started playing short stop more when I got to college — and when I played pro ball. Jack Gillis allowed me to really go out there and make myself a better player by pushing me. TS: You have children right? JP: Yes, I have two boys.
JP: They play hockey and baseball. TS: Do you push them? JP: No I don’t push them ... my sons actually took to hockey because when they were up in Canada — all the kids in the neighborhood skated and roller bladed and they took to that. They skate really well, they took to the ice easily. And baseball — well they’ve been around baseball all their lives...they are in big league club houses and around big league players all the time...and they get in the cages and hit on the field...they got a pretty good gig. But I think the thing with them is that they like to play. If they told me tomorrow they didn’t like to play, that would be fine too. TS: It’s still just a game. JP: Yeah, I know. Trust me, I’ve been in this business for 25 years ... I coached, I managed, I scouted — I know what the game is all about. I know the pluses, the minuses and the hardships and all the stuff that the average person doesn’t know, so if my sons decide they want to get into it, they’re going to know all the facts about it. And if they don’t, that’s fine too — I just want them to be good kids. Sports in general ... I think the greatest thing about sports is it allows you to meet a lot of people, to make a lot of friends and wherever it goes from there, your ability is going to take you so far. I look back now and some of my life-long friends are kids I played with .... TS: Talking about hockey... are you paying close attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Boston Bruins? JP: My boys root for the Leafs and the Bruins.. TS: Toronto picked up some key guys this season. JP: They’ve got a lot of money in Toronto...it’s a hockey town! TS: Yeah — It would be nice if they threw a little of it over to baseball, huh? JP: It’s not the same in baseball. TS: What would you say was the single best acquisition you did over the off-season to help the Blue Jays this year? JP: I don’t know if there’s one — it’s the combination of our pitching, it was not very good last year and we knew we had to take a step forward and we did ... so we went out and got some starting pitching and some relievers. I think overall we think our pitching is going to be better and that will allow us to compete a little better. TS: Worcester is always throwing around the idea that a minor league baseball team could find its home here. Do you think it would do well? JP: I think minor league baseball would be good for Worcester. Worcester has that, and I don’t mean to say this in the wrong way — it has that minor league charm ... I don’t think the people in Worcester ... they are not Bostonians, they’re not from Philadelphia ... they enjoy certain things and I think minor league baseball would be something they would really embrace. I think they would really take to it. There is a great history of baseball here. TS: Should it go on Shrewsbury Street? With all your old friends? JP: That’s a tough one. I don’t know if Shrewsbury Street is the ideal spot in the sense that you get a lot of traffic going down there. But I think there are enough spots in Worcester and Worcester County that would allow a nice baseball stadium. And if you’re going to build a baseball stadium, you’ve got to build one that’s easy to get into and get out of and that’s spacious enough so people can really come and enjoy themselves. TS: You’ve played a lot of innings in Worcester. What’s your favorite baseball field in the city? JP: Well, when I was growing up, I played Little League at the Jack Barry League, I always loved that park. I grew up at Holmes Field, which I think they call Manzello’s Diamond...I don’t even know. But Holmes Field was always fun for me because I played so much baseball there and I always loved Lake Park. It was the old Lake Park and it wasn’t like it is today — there were certain things with it — you played under the lights and I thought that was pretty neat. And I like the old Logan Field too, it was a good hitter’s park and...I ended probably playing at every park in the city. 
J.P. Ricciardi, center, with his family. TS: JP, were you ever offered a job with the Red Sox? JP: I’ll leave it at this ... if I really wanted to work for the Red Sox, I would have had the opportunity. But I made a commitment to the people here in Toronto and we were well into our rebuilding and trying to get the organization going into a different direction ... and I gave my word to these people, and it wasn’t the right thing for me to do ... and I’m very happy with my decision. And who knows ... maybe someday down the road I might work for the Red Sox. TS: I think that would be great — a hometown kid comes back home. TS: Can you give us any big predictions for the AL East this season? JP: I think the Red Sox and the Yankees are definitely the cream of the crop and those are the teams to beat and I think justifiably — they are two very good clubs. I think they’re going to make life difficult for everybody ... but that’s why we play the game. It will be interesting to see how it plays out ... we’re anxious to play those teams. TS: JP, would you say you have still have a Worcester accent? JP: Oh I definitely do .... it’s funny — when you go places, a lot of people will say, are you from New York? And I say no, from Massachusetts, from Wustah. The Canadians, the way they talk too, is pretty funny ... they get a kick out of us.
TS: Thanks JP, for talking to us. We just wanted to do this story on a hometown boy who goes big time. JP: Believe me, when you come back to Worcester, you’re not big time. They have a way of bringing you right back to earth ... it doesn’t take much to keep you humble. And baseball is a humbling game ... and I’m just grateful that I can make my living in it. I would say one last thing, without my wife and kids, without their support — they guide me through a lot of things. Especially my wife, we’ve been married 20 years this June. I wouldn’t be here without her. |
Toronto Blue Jays General Manager J.P. Ricciardi talks about growing up in Worcester, shares some insider baseball know-how and makes a few predictions for the 2004 season.
TS: Are they playing sports?