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Sonny Ruberto, San Diego Padres, 68
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David Carson
Mar 30, 2014, 11:00:25 PM3/30/14
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http://www.silive.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2014/03/john_ruberto_68.html
By Staten Island Advance
on March 28, 2014 at 10:15 AM, updated March 28, 2014 at 11:49 AM
John (Sonny) Ruberto, 68, an undersized defense-minded catcher out of West
Brighton’s old Markham Houses, who used a rifle arm and baseball savvy
beyond his years to forge a career that led him from the North Shore’s
rock-strewn fields of the '50s and '60s to the major leagues, died Monday
at a hospice in Ave Maria, Fla.
The cause was cancer, according to family members.
Mr. Ruberto was perhaps the only high school athlete to ever play in four
consecutive New York City PSAL championship baseball games as a star at
Curtis High School. He played from 1960 to ‘63.
A two-sport high school standout at Curtis in baseball and basketball, Mr.
Ruberto would go on to brief stints with the San Diego Padres and the
Cincinnati Reds and become a first-base coach for two seasons for one of
his baseball mentors, Vern Rapp, with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Following his baseball career, Mr. Ruberto spent several decades in the
photography business both in St. Louis, and the New York/New Jersey area.
Mr. Ruberto, who married his high school sweetheart Karen Stahl 50 years
ago, was a minor league manager, and the first person to reach Lou Brock
from his position in the first-base coaching box for a congratulatory
handshake when the Hall of Fame Cardinals' outfielder broke baseball’s
all-time stolen base record in 1979.
Mr. Ruberto once played all nine field positions in a nine-inning game
during his decade-long minor league career.
And he accomplished the unusual feat of being responsible for all three
put-outs in a single inning as a catcher, converting two outs by throwing
out base-runners with his explosive right arm.
In a golden age of schoolboy baseball on Staten Island, Mr. Ruberto played
on Curtis’s Bert Levinson-coached teams that were so good the
big-leaguer-to-be hit down in the batting order below other future major
league players, Frank Fernandez and Terry Crowley, power hitters Pat Marzo
and Danny McDermott, and offensive table setters like infielders Jack
Tracy and Bill Wolfe and outfielder Larry Anderson.
Six of the eight players mentioned above, along with Levinson, have been
inducted into the Staten Island sports Hall of Fame.
Even in high school it was Ruberto’s defensive skills that set him apart
in such a potent group of thumpers.
“When he was a freshman and (Frank) Fernandez was our starting catcher,
Sonny would catch every swing of batting practice,” said Levinson, who
remained close to the player who would help his future wife babysit the
coach’s young children during high school. “As a player, Sonny’s story is
about hard work and using whatever he had to develop his skills and become
the player he was. The bigger story is what a great person he was.”
As a skinny pre-teen Mr. Ruberto’s abilities to play his position already
had drawn the attention of at least one future SI Hall of Famer.
When Stapleton’s sandlot teams of the era couldn’t find a player both
brave and capable enough to catch Danny McDermott’s even-then remarkable
fastball, the big right-hander, who would later go on to be a centerpiece
of those Curtis teams, knew where to look.
“I told our coach that there was a kid in West Brighton named Sonny
Ruberto and that he could catch anyone,” recalled McDermott, who went from
Curtis to the minor leagues before a back injury ended his playing days.
“When he joined that team, we won a state championship. He was so smart
even then that I almost never did anything but throw what he called for.”
How accomplished was Ruberto behind the plate?
He once threw out 22 consecutive would-be base-stealers in a minor league
season.
How good a baseball mind?
At 24, he was the manager of the Lodi Padres in the California League.
“Sonny was a really good player,” said Wolfe, who would go on from Curtis
to become a Hall of Fame shortstop and point guard at Wagner College. “But
what I remember most is that he was a great teammate from a great family.”
Mr. Ruberto lived in Indianapolis, Ind., for 14 years before relocating to
St. Louis, Mo., where he lived for 26 years. He had lived in Ave Maria,
Fla. for three months.
He was a member of the Knight of the Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order
of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, the St. Louis Chapter of Legatus
International and the Legion of 1000 Adorers. He was also a member of the
Association of Professional Ball Players of America, the Major League
Baseball Players Alumni Association, the National Baseball Players Hall of
Fame and Museum, and Lifetouch Alumni Association.
In addition to his wife of 50 years, he is survived by a son, John;
daughter, Robyn
Johnson; sisters Diane Marrocco, Beverly Roberts, Mary Beth Hayes and
Anita Romano, and
four grandchildren.
Arrangements, which include cremation, were handled by Bopp Chapel, St.
Louis, Mo. A memorial service on April 9 is planned at 11:00 a.m., at
Sacred Heart R.C. Church, West Brighton.
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com
By Staten Island Advance
on March 28, 2014 at 10:15 AM, updated March 28, 2014 at 11:49 AM
John (Sonny) Ruberto, 68, an undersized defense-minded catcher out of West
Brighton’s old Markham Houses, who used a rifle arm and baseball savvy
beyond his years to forge a career that led him from the North Shore’s
rock-strewn fields of the '50s and '60s to the major leagues, died Monday
at a hospice in Ave Maria, Fla.
The cause was cancer, according to family members.
Mr. Ruberto was perhaps the only high school athlete to ever play in four
consecutive New York City PSAL championship baseball games as a star at
Curtis High School. He played from 1960 to ‘63.
A two-sport high school standout at Curtis in baseball and basketball, Mr.
Ruberto would go on to brief stints with the San Diego Padres and the
Cincinnati Reds and become a first-base coach for two seasons for one of
his baseball mentors, Vern Rapp, with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Following his baseball career, Mr. Ruberto spent several decades in the
photography business both in St. Louis, and the New York/New Jersey area.
Mr. Ruberto, who married his high school sweetheart Karen Stahl 50 years
ago, was a minor league manager, and the first person to reach Lou Brock
from his position in the first-base coaching box for a congratulatory
handshake when the Hall of Fame Cardinals' outfielder broke baseball’s
all-time stolen base record in 1979.
Mr. Ruberto once played all nine field positions in a nine-inning game
during his decade-long minor league career.
And he accomplished the unusual feat of being responsible for all three
put-outs in a single inning as a catcher, converting two outs by throwing
out base-runners with his explosive right arm.
In a golden age of schoolboy baseball on Staten Island, Mr. Ruberto played
on Curtis’s Bert Levinson-coached teams that were so good the
big-leaguer-to-be hit down in the batting order below other future major
league players, Frank Fernandez and Terry Crowley, power hitters Pat Marzo
and Danny McDermott, and offensive table setters like infielders Jack
Tracy and Bill Wolfe and outfielder Larry Anderson.
Six of the eight players mentioned above, along with Levinson, have been
inducted into the Staten Island sports Hall of Fame.
Even in high school it was Ruberto’s defensive skills that set him apart
in such a potent group of thumpers.
“When he was a freshman and (Frank) Fernandez was our starting catcher,
Sonny would catch every swing of batting practice,” said Levinson, who
remained close to the player who would help his future wife babysit the
coach’s young children during high school. “As a player, Sonny’s story is
about hard work and using whatever he had to develop his skills and become
the player he was. The bigger story is what a great person he was.”
As a skinny pre-teen Mr. Ruberto’s abilities to play his position already
had drawn the attention of at least one future SI Hall of Famer.
When Stapleton’s sandlot teams of the era couldn’t find a player both
brave and capable enough to catch Danny McDermott’s even-then remarkable
fastball, the big right-hander, who would later go on to be a centerpiece
of those Curtis teams, knew where to look.
“I told our coach that there was a kid in West Brighton named Sonny
Ruberto and that he could catch anyone,” recalled McDermott, who went from
Curtis to the minor leagues before a back injury ended his playing days.
“When he joined that team, we won a state championship. He was so smart
even then that I almost never did anything but throw what he called for.”
How accomplished was Ruberto behind the plate?
He once threw out 22 consecutive would-be base-stealers in a minor league
season.
How good a baseball mind?
At 24, he was the manager of the Lodi Padres in the California League.
“Sonny was a really good player,” said Wolfe, who would go on from Curtis
to become a Hall of Fame shortstop and point guard at Wagner College. “But
what I remember most is that he was a great teammate from a great family.”
Mr. Ruberto lived in Indianapolis, Ind., for 14 years before relocating to
St. Louis, Mo., where he lived for 26 years. He had lived in Ave Maria,
Fla. for three months.
He was a member of the Knight of the Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order
of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, the St. Louis Chapter of Legatus
International and the Legion of 1000 Adorers. He was also a member of the
Association of Professional Ball Players of America, the Major League
Baseball Players Alumni Association, the National Baseball Players Hall of
Fame and Museum, and Lifetouch Alumni Association.
In addition to his wife of 50 years, he is survived by a son, John;
daughter, Robyn
Johnson; sisters Diane Marrocco, Beverly Roberts, Mary Beth Hayes and
Anita Romano, and
four grandchildren.
Arrangements, which include cremation, were handled by Bopp Chapel, St.
Louis, Mo. A memorial service on April 9 is planned at 11:00 a.m., at
Sacred Heart R.C. Church, West Brighton.
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com
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