The Hoboken Board of Education didn’t waste any time in finding a fine replacement for Buddy Matthews as the head baseball coach at Hoboken High.
Jack Baker, who has spent the last 10 years as an assistant coach on the collegiate level, first at William Paterson, then later at St. Peter’s College, was appointed by the Board of Education last week to replace the retired Matthews as the head coach of the Red Wings.
Baker, who has been a teacher in the Hoboken district for several years, was a wise choice by the Hoboken powers-that-be. He has a great baseball background, first as a player at St. Peter’s Prep, then William Paterson and then as a coach, working his way through the ranks. He started as an assistant to Joe Urbanovich at Grand and Warren several years ago, then went to William Paterson.
Baker has developed so many quality pitchers over the years, so he will definitely be able to do the same with the Red Wings. And as a present, Baker gets to inherit two of the best returning pitchers in the county, namely left-handers Kenny Roder, the Hudson Reporter Pitcher of the Year for 2011 and also the Most Valuable Player, and Abe Groomes. Not a bad way to start a head coaching career, having two sensational pitchers to work with.
Baker was an excellent hire and he will do a sensational job, picking up where Matthews left off.
Baker also comes from famous stock. His uncle is Mike O’Koren, the former Hudson Catholic great who played at North Carolina and in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets and has been a long-time assistant coach in the league…
As for the aforementioned Groomes, it’s a shame that he has been he’s been excluded to play in the Jersey City RBI League because of some informality about games played, some ridiculous rule regulation that shouldn’t have applied, because the team he played for folded.
But a league official contacted the Major League Baseball RBI headquarters in New York to inform them of Groomes’ apparent ineligibility.
What would have hurt if Groomes was allowed to play? All he wanted was a chance to play baseball this summer and it gets denied over some minor infraction. That’s downright criminal. We can only hope that the person who brought this incident to light to the RBI offices in New York can look in the mirror, because he played judge and jury in making this kid ineligible to play summer baseball…
While Hoboken has named its new head baseball coach, it appears as if St. Peter’s Prep is very close to naming the new head man with the Marauders. And if rumors are correct (like most are in Hudson County), then the choice to replace Kevin Wendolowski will be a very familiar coach, a very respected and esteemed coach, who will certainly lead the Marauders to a higher level. Stay tuned…
Bayonne High School has a new football coach, who is actually their old coach. The Board of Education appointed former Bees head grid coach Rick Rodriguez as the new head coach, replacing Frank Blunda, who resigned after last season.
Rodriguez was the head coach at Bayonne for several seasons and guided the Bees to their lone NJSIAA Group IV state championship in 2002. He has remained as a teacher at the school and now returns as head coach…
The boxing card originally scheduled for Paterson July 16 will now be held July 30, because the floor at Paterson Kennedy High School is being refinished.
The three Peruvian natives, who all now call North Bergen home, namely Jonathan Maicelo, who owns a 15-0 professional boxing record, Carlos Zambrano, who has a 13-0 pro mark, and Juan Zegarra, who has a 7-0 record, will all fight that night.
They are all trained by Hoboken native Butch Sanchez. If anyone wants tickets to the card in Paterson, please contact Sanchez at (201) 320-6479….
The seventh annual Weehawken Open Benefit golf outing will take place Aug. 11 at the Crystal Springs Golf Resort in Hardyston in Sussex County. Golf and dinner afterwards costs $150. The tourney benefits the Weehawken Volunteer First Aid Squad. For more information call (201) 773-7614 or the First Aid Squad at (201) 863-6611…- Jim Hague
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