Altieri Powers A's

By DENNIS C. WAY
Times Herald Staff

LOWER PROVIDENCE —Strange things happen to people who hit age 40.

Some panic, some start planning retirement, some just have to put up with gag gifts at surprise birthday parties.

For Bob Altieri, hitting 40 meant a firm commitment to doing what he has always done well, playing baseball.

For the past few seasons, Altieri has been a part-time player, devoting most of his time to coaching his son Bobby, along with duties as the head coach at Delaware Valley College.

But he realized last summer that he missed being a full-time player.

“Turning 40 really bothered me,” Altieri said, “and watching the playoffs and the finals last year, I really missed it. I wanted to get in some semblance of shape and play again.”

So, the man who first cracked a Perky League lineup at age 18 when he played for Harleysville after winning a batting title with the now-defunct Conshohocken franchise in the Upper Montco Legion League, has returned as an everyday player.

And as Wednesday night’s three-hit performance in Norristown’s 8-4 win over Trooper demonstrated, he’s still a force.

“I can swing, my legs just aren’t holding up too well,” Altieri said. “I can’t hit for power anymore, I don’t think I have an extra-base hit this year, although that has more to do with my legs.”

But as always, he’s a coach on the field, handing out tips and encouragement as freely as a head coach..Which, of course, he is.

In fact, a number of the players on this year’s Agents’ roster, including Sean Meister, Mark Roth, brother Matt Altieri and Frank Panzullo, all played for Altieri at Del-Val.

‘I’m in everybody’s ear, just like I was as their coach,” said Altieri, who was a Del-Val assistant from 1995 to 1999 and just finished his 10th season as the program’s head coach (with better than 200 victories). That makes it enjoyable, playing with these guys who I’ve coached.”

As a part-timer over the past couple of seasons, Altieri was reluctant to show up and taking playing time away from those players who were showing up every day. But the agreement this year was that he would play at least two of three games per week, as a regular.

“I was going to be the DH,” he said. “Instead, due to a player shortage, Altieri has played his fair share of innings in the field, at third, second and mostly at first base.

“I feel pretty good,” Altieri said. “I felt, if I were going to get back into it, I wanted to play. And that’s what I’m doing.”

The notion of coaching, however, has never entered the equation.

“I have no desire to run things,” he said. “I’m happy with just showing up to play and having fun.”

The fun is continuing, with more on the way.

“With everybody catching up on games this week, we’re playing a lot of baseball and people are getting a lot of at-bats,” Altieri said. “That’s going to help going into the playoffs.”

Which is something one would expect an everyday player to say.

As for the game, the Agents got behind on Greg Moyer’s first-inning RBI double, then scored five unanswered runs. Two came in the second in an inning featuring Harry Ley’s solo homer, then three more were plated in the third, with RBI singles coming from Ley and Bob Altieri and D.J. Santoro delivering a sacrifice fly.

Zac Spece, a right-hander from Arcadia College, earned the win for Norristown, allowing just two earned runs in the complete-game stint.

“He’s been successful, no matter what situation we’ve put him in,” Altieri said. “He’s pitched short relief, long relief and has gotten a couple of spot starts.

“And he’s a great kid. He’s here every night whether he’s pitching or not.”

PERK NOTZ: Trooper’s Joe Conaway belted his fifth homer of the year in the seventh, tying him with teammate Victor Evangelist for the team lead with five.

Plymouth 5, Harleysville 4 – Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the host Angels got a two-run single from Nick Bucha and an RBI single from Tom Houseal in the bottom of the eighth to pull out the victory.

Date: July 15, 2009     Time: 6:00pm      Venue: Trooper