Baseball in Rochester (NY)

by Scott Pitoniak

Few cities can boast of a longer or richer baseball tradition than Rochester, New York. The game's roots in the Flower City can be traced to the early nineteenth century, when a primitive form of baseball was being played on Mumford's Meadow near the Genesee River. Since that time, some of the greatest names in baseball history, including Stan Musial and Cal Ripken Jr., have honed their skills in Rochester. Their exploits, along with those of numerous others, are documented with rare photographs in Baseball in Rochester. Through the years, nineteen people with local ties have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Red Wings have won ten Governors' Cups-more than any other International League team-and Rochester has been designated Baseball City, U.S.A., by Baseball America magazine. Baseball in Rochester chronicles not only the superstars but also the quirky characters and moments that make the minor leagues so appealing.

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2003

About the author

Scott Pitoniak is considered the most decorated sports writer in Rochester media history. He has received over 100 national and regional journalism honors and has been inducted into the Frontier Field Walk of Fame (1999), the Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications Hall of Fame (200), and the Rome Sports Hall of Fame (2009). He served as a torchbearer for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Pitoniak graduated from Syracuse University in 1977. He currently has a column in the Rochester Business Journal and does blogging and occasional on-air work for WROC-TV 8. He previously wrote for the Democrat and Chronicle.

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a baseball guy, but Scott coached my tee-ball team when I was a kid, and he and my dad were friends because of their shared love of baseball.

Although I'm not much of a baseball guy, I do like local Rochester histories, and this is definitely that. Scott uses images from the 1860s up through the late 1990s (the book came out in 2003) to show the continual history of baseball in Rochester. We've always had teams in Rochester, and we've had some pretty famous people play here, whether on Rochester teams like the Red Wings or just come for individual games.
https://youtu.be/nnWeo4R6iBY