Burg Little League Honors 1995

Burg Little League Honors 1995


Chambersburg honors well deserved
Times, The (Trenton, NJ) - Saturday, April 22, 1995
Author: TONY PERSICHILLI, Times Staff Writer

When the Chambersburg Little League opens its 44th season
tomorrow, there will be cause for a little more celebration
than usual.
After the kids parade through the neighborhood surrounding
Columbus Park , they will make their way back to Catherine
Ford Field for ceremonies dedicating the league's new
scoreboard. More importantly, they will pay a long overdue
tribute to three men who, over the years, have meant as much
as anyone (and a lot more than most) to the league and the
kids who play in it.
In front of the impressive new scoreboard, which was donated
by the good folks at Italian Peoples Bakery, there will be a
monument area. In that area tomorrow, busts will be placed of
Mike ''Mister'' Crea, Al ''Parrot'' Nicolai and Anthony ''A.J.''
Frascella, and it can't be said enough: Nobody deserves it more.
MISTER CREA (as one man will always call him) was a favorite
of the kids who grew up in the Benton Street-Tyler Street-Pearl
Street area playing ball next to his sons Mike and Roger
''Kid'' Crea. In 1955, when Graziano's Florist decided to
sponsor a team, Mister Crea became the manager. He stayed at
the end of the Graziano's bench until his death in 1992.
Through those years, he influenced literally thousands of kids,
including one who now has an office on the fifth floor of the
Mercer County Administration Building, in ways that they never
realized _ until they grew up. ''Sure,'' Mercer County Executive,
and former Graziano shortstop, Bob Prunetti said, ''Mister Crea
taught me how to play baseball, but there was so much more to
him than that. ''He always stressed the fundamentals on the field,
but off the field he stressed the importance of being a gentleman.
''He may not have said it quite that way, but he always stressed
being a good sport. He used to tell us not to pout when we lost
and more importantly not to gloat when we won.'' IN ADDITION to
his chores on the bench, Crea served as District 12 assistant
administrator, league president and vice president and oversaw
the operation of the concession stand. Nicolai has been with
the CLL even longer than Crea was. An outfielder for the 1931
Trenton Post 93 Schroths team that won the New Jersey state
championship, ''Parrot'' is a charter member of the CLL.He
managed Pete's Steak House, which was one of the original
clubs in the four- team league, and then, in 1958 took over
for the newly formed Roma Savings and Loan team. You can still
find him on Roma's bench. LIKE NICOLAI, Frascella was around
when the league was formed. He served as a member of the Board
of Trustees, was chairman of the league's Board of Directors
for 12 years, a member of the Executive Board and ran the
concession stand with Mister Crea. What makes the celebration
all the better, and more meaningful, is that all three are
''neighborhood guys'' who devoted a large chunk of their lives
to neighborhood kids. There will be a dinner held in honor of
the trio tonight at Baldassari's Regency on Morris Avenue.
Tickets for the dinner, which begins at 6 o'clock, are $30 a
pop, and you won't spend the money any better. If you played
in the Chambersburg Little League, if you have a kid who
played in the Chambersburg Little League, or even if you're
just a fan of the Chambersburg Little League (or any Little
League in this city), you should make your way over to
Baldassari's tonight or Catherine Ford Field tomorrow.