Goss: Rick Ramos, Rick Erwin hit a home run with '70 revisited gathering

Randy Whalen, who covered sports as a freelancer for The Herald-News for years and still covers this area for other outlets, called a week ago with an invitation.

He told me there is a new group that had formed via Facebook – "Baseball of the '70s Revisited." He said the first get-together was happening last Friday night at Thirty Buck, and I should come.

Thanks, Randy. Since you are a member and were there, you know it was a blast.

For the 15-year span from 1968 until 1983, I basically was outside the area – first at the U of I, then working in Springfield. Arter returning home in 1983, I heard myriad stories about the great baseball played here during that era.

The group that gathered at Thirty-Buck – largely Joliet, Lockport and Plainfield players and coaches – provided an opportunity to get to know prime characters of that era better. Some already were longtime friends, others I was meeting for the first time. More than 20 attended.

The event was the brainchild of Rick Ramos, who pitched at Lockport and Lewis before spending five seasons in professional baseball, and Rick Erwin, who caught at Joliet Catholic (which everyone knew as Catholic High in those days), graduating in 1974.

"I got a 'friend' request from Rick Erwin three or four months ago," Ramos said. "I had gotten a chance to join a Facebook page of ex-professional baseball players two or three years ago. It was just the boys, like the conversation in the locker room. It became addictive.

"I'll be sitting at home laughing out loud, and my wife will say, 'You're on there again, aren't you? Can I see?' And I'll say, 'nope.' That got me thinking, wouldn't this be a great thing to do for guys who played here in the '70s? We had really good teams, good competition locally and in college. I even played against [ex-Plainfield standout pitcher] Dave Cassetto in the minors."

"Ramos and I got together," Erwin said. "We said this is something we have never done, but we tried it. We set up a group and started connecting. It's a nice connection to the '70s. There are really as many of us in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral area in Florida as there are here."

He smiled and added, "The next get-together will be down there."

GOOD TURNOUT

This is not a complete list attendees, but Jerry Pius, Jack Shimanski, John Carroll, Dave Cassetto, Tony Lopez, Tom Gullickson (representing his brother Bill, who wanted to attend but could not), Clyde Odle, Gary Ward, Ketih Brill, Don Pesavento, Art Galli, Dave Stengele, Chris Rink, John Randich and Denny House were among those, as Ramos said, "telling lies."

"When Rick [Erwin] and I set this up, we thought, 'Let's throws this out there and see who shows up,' " Ramos said. "It's fun to be here and tell some lies. I'll throw 10 miles per hour faster before this night is over, and Art Galli probably will say he hit 20 homers in a season. But seriously, Galli probably got out of bed hitting .350 against me. He hit me every time I faced him in high school and when he was at St. Francis."

Ramos was among those who expressed the wish Bill Gullickson would have been available. He was the man among so many outstanding area pitchers. He wound up with a 162-136 career record in the major leagues, pitching from 1979 through 1994, but with a two-year hiatus in the late '80s, when he pitched in Japan.

"I was drafted by the Mariners in the 23rd round out of junior college – Jerry Krause was the scout – but didn't sign," Ramos said. "The Expos drafted me out of Lewis in the 17th round and I signed.

"Gully was a year or two ahead of me in pro ball. In my second year, I took his place in the [Double-A] Memphis rotation when he went to Triple-A. I had two or three roomies the next year in Triple-A and every one got called up. I was the good-luck charm."

Erwin recalls catching Gullickson as an underclassman in high school. Mark Parker and Rick Colbert were his catchers in subsequent seasons.

"It was funny," Erwin said. "John Hamerla and I usually pitched for East Side A.C. at Belmont [Little League]. We got to the championship game and had nobody left to pitch. So Bill pitched as a 10-year-old – he had pitched some batting practice only – and he won the game 1-0."

THE '75 STEELMEN

Schimanski, who played at Lewis and enjoyed success as an assistant coach and then head coach at Joliet Catholic, said he felt Pius' 1975 Joliet Central team was as good a high school baseball team as there was in this talent-rich area. The Steelmen finished second in the state that year.

"They did not have a dominant pitcher, but [Phil] Bauer and [Tony] Lopez were great athletes who pitched, and Jerry Pius was a great coach for them," he said. "Everyone on that team could field, run and throw. No dominant pitcher, but It was a great team."

"There were some good players at Central, and there were good players all around here," said Galli, one of those excellent all-around players donning a Steelmen uniform. "Rick Ramos always threw hard with control. Bob Hartman at West was another guy like that. Lewis had Rick Baranak catching. He was from Providence and I think was all-tournament [in the NAIA World Series] all three years Lewis won it.

"Jim Alessio was a great player at Central who played shortstop at Lewis and signed with the Cubs. Augie Juricic was drafted by the Cubs. He was a senior when I was a freshman. And Phil Bauer was drafted by the Sox."

Erwin recalled summer ball where players from local high schools joined forces.

"We went to the Colt League World Series one year and the Connie Mack Series a couple years later," he said. "It was the same guys on both teams, mostly Joliet Central guys, playing for Don Reed and then for Dick James in Connie Mack. What was great about it was we were so competitive but could still be friends."

Ramos made that point and said the fledgling group may want to expand.

"Even fringe teams like Wilmington had Lodi Vercelli and Mike O'Connor," he said. "They were good. Maybe we need to expand beyond Joliet, Lockport and Plainfield and include some others, like the Lincoln-Way area. Everybody could play around here."

And now, they love sharing their stories, embellished though they may be.

• Dick Goss can be reached at dgoss@shamwedia.com.