Interview with Steven Reilly

The Fat Lady Never Sings: How a Football Team Found Redemption on the Baseball Diamond
Steve Reilly
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 9780595394678
Reviewed by William E. Cooper for Reader Views (12/06)

Reader Views welcomes Steven M. Reilly, author of the baseball memoir, “The Fat Lady Never Sings: How a Football Team Found Redemption on the Baseball Diamond.” Steven is being interviewed by Juanita Watson, Assistant Editor of Reader Views.

Juanita: Welcome to Reader Views Steven. We are happy to have the chance to talk with you about your new baseball memoir “The Fat Lady Never Sings: How a Football Team Found Redemption on the Baseball Diamond.” Would you tell us about your book.

Steven: The book is about redemption sought by three high school baseball players, their team, their coaches and the City they live in. In 1991, high school football was everything in Derby which is the smallest city in Connecticut. The team had a streak of twenty-eight straight years without having a losing season. The streak ended on Thanksgiving Day, 1991. Three seniors including the quarterback also played on the school’s baseball team. One of the seniors was the Mayor’s son and almost all of the other players on the baseball team played football. The head coach of the baseball team was also an assistant football coach who was also battling his own difficulty.

After blowing the streak, the football players, especially the three seniors, were labeled losers forever in the City. Their last chance at redemption was playing on the baseball team. Two of the Seniors were pitchers. The smallest school in the league, Derby battles for and makes the state tournament and ultimately, as the late North Carolina State basketball coach Jimmy Valvano would say, “survives and advance” to a state championship game.

But the game turns into a nightmare after an early lead disintegrates. We end up down by two runs with two outs in the last inning. With two runners in scoring position, the quarterback comes to the plate and ultimately gets a base hit to tie the game and send it into extras. The excitement builds as each extra inning results in Derby scoring and their adversary tying the game. Complicating matters, a pitching limitation rule forces one of the senior pitchers to return to the mound several innings after being removed. In the eleventh inning (the fourth extra inning) another Derby senior fouls off seven pitches in a row with a three-balls/two-strikes/two-out count until he ultimately drives in the winning runs. In the bottom of the last inning, Derby’s senior pitcher hangs on despite barely being able to pitch.

Juanita: I understand that you are a practicing lawyer, but also were the assistant coach for the Derby, Connecticut high school baseball team. Would you comment on your love for baseball, and how you became the assistant coach of the 1992 Derby Red Raiders?

Steven: It may sound corny, but whenever I think about the game of baseball, I can’t help but rehear the words of James Earl Jones character, Terrance Mann, in the movie Field of Dreams. The game has truly “marked the time” in America.

I became one of the assistant coaches in Derby in 1987 when I was in the process of going back to law school again for an advanced law degree called an LLM. In March of 1987, Derby’s new varsity Coach, John DeFrancisco, called me and asked if I wanted to get involved with coaching his kids in the summer on Derby’s newly created American Legion baseball team. I said yes and John then invited me to his team’s initial meeting to get to know the kids I would be coaching. As a result of witnessing John’s interaction with the kids, I knew I wanted to get involved with the spring high school season and lucky for me, John welcomed me.

Juanita: What inspired you to write this book?

Steven: I felt it was a story that should be told. I think a lot of us have a time in our lives when we say “I should write a book.” Well, after fourteen years, I finally decided to do it.

Juanita: What did football and baseball mean to the people of Derby, Connecticut?

Steven: Football was king in Derby for a long time. Baseball was always a secondary sport as was basketball. For twenty straight years,1963 through 1990, Derby didn’t have a losing season in football. During that time frame, Derby won three overall state championships, had seven undefeated seasons and numerous league championships. After the state went to a divisional format for state championships based on a school’s size in 1976, Derby won two of those championships as well. Derby was a City with about twelve thousand people in it. In some rival games, nearly half the City went to the game.

Juanita: What did the Derby High’s football team’s loss and subsequent end to a 28 year winning streak do to the hearts and minds of the team and fans?

Steven: The loss signified the end of an era in Derby history. Many former football players are still remembered in Derby for the way they played and for the championships they brought. Being a star football player brought a player a lot of respect not only in Derby but in the surrounding towns as well. The lower Naugatuck Valley, where Derby is situated, is a hotbed for high school sports, especially football. For some Derby football players, their high school playing days defined them. The players on the 1991 team knew they didn’t live up to what was expected of them and would be marked as losers forever.
The loss also marked the beginning of the decline of the Derby High football program. Shrinking enrollment at the school prevented it from ever recovering to its former status. For a team that used to play before thousands, Derby’s football teams now play some games before only a couple hundred fans.

Juanita: What was it like for you as a coach, and the rest of your peers to sustain such a disappointing loss?

Steven: I did not coach football at Derby High School, only baseball, but the head baseball coach, John DeFrancisco, was an assistant football coach. The loss was very disappointing to him as well as all the football coaches who wanted to keep the tradition going.

Juanita: How did the young men overcome the mental/emotional defeat of their football loss and wind up in the state championship game? How did the coaches keep the players believing in themselves?

Steven: As coaches, we felt that baseball was a game that was played in large part from the neck up and therefore John and the other coaches, including myself, spent about a half hour before and after every game talking to the players. Many times, the players dreaded the talks, but eventually they got the points we stressed over and over about team play.

We knew that since we played in a tough league with much larger schools than us that if we got into the post season tournament, we could make a run at a championship.

Juanita: The final championship game was where the Derby Red Raiders had their chance at redemption. This game was dramatic to say the least. Would you recall some of the highlights?

Steven: The top of the seventh and eleventh innings were probably the most dramatic. In the seventh, we were trailing by two runs and hadn’t scored a run since the first inning. After Mike Massie got on base, Joey Guion hit into what could have been a double play ground ball but fortunately he beat the throw to first. When our ninth batter, Gino Dimauro, got up, he was facing a three ball and no strike count. The next pitch was a called strike. Al hell broke loose as John charged his way to the plate to argue the call. It resulted in a convergence of coaches and umpires at home plate and inflamed the capacity crowd. After the dust cleared, Gino hit a high fly ball above the lights to right centerfield. Like a base hit from heaven, neither the centerfielder or the rightfielder caught it and we had two men on base.

Our opponent, Terryville, then tried to pick Gino off first base, but it backfired as their pitcher was called for a balk moving both runners into scoring position. The scene erupted again as Terryville’s coach vehemently argued the balk call to no avail. After Pete Chrzanowski flied out to shallow right field, Ben Bartone, also our football team’s quarterback, came to bat. With two outs, Ben lofted a base hit just over the shortstop’s head. Both our runners scored as the team mobbed them at the plate and the game was tied.

In the top of the eleventh, the game was tied up again. We had Joe Lizza on second base and Dave Anroman on first with two outs. Joey Guion was up and the count was no balls and two strikes. Joey had already struck out three times in the game. After Joey worked the count to three balls and two strikes, he then proceeded to foul off seven pitches in a row. With each pitch, our runners on first and second sped off for the next base. Our runners getting exhausted, Coach DeFrancisco told Joey Guion to either “get a hit or strike out.” On the next pitch “the fourteenth of his at “Joey proceeded to double over the leftfielder’s head driving in the go ahead runs.

Juanita: What will the tenacity, endurance and determination of these young baseball players convey to readers?

Steven: That life really is all about effort.

Juanita: Steven, do you think readers have to be sports fans to enjoy your book?

Steven: Not at all. To never quit is not just an adage that applies to sports, but to life. The game of baseball has many times been said to be a microcosm of the game of life. After reading this book, readers will know why.

Readers will most certainly enjoy the many interactions between the players and the coaches. Readers will especially enjoy reading about my good friend, John DeFrancisco, who missed his calling. John should have been an entertainer in addition to being a high school English teacher.

Juanita: What do you think the players learned from this experience that they will reflect back on throughout their lives?

Steven: I think the players learned quite a bit. I think they have already reflected back and realized that the adage of never giving up has benefited them in all aspects of their lives. They also learned that teamwork and the camaraderie that comes along with it are the most rewarding aspects of sports.

Juanita: Since this story took place in 1992, have any of the former players, coaches, or fans read your book? What do they think about your vivid account?

Steven: Nearly all of the players and coaches have told me they read the book. At least one player’s wife has told me I am responsible for the inability of her husband to get his head through their front door. The players and fellow coaches who have talked to me about it have all been very pleased; knowing that is reward enough for me. Many fans as well as former players (football and baseball) of Derby High have approached or called me to tell me how much they enjoyed the book.

Juanita: Are you still coaching?  What keeps your passion still alive for the sport?

Steven: I've been coaching high school baseball continuously since that 1992 season. In 1996, I coached at a local technical school and for the last ten years have coached at Seymour High School--a formal rival of Derby's but now in a different league. For the last two years, I have also been coaching high school baseball players in Derby in a summer Senior Babe Ruth League as well as a fall league.
My passion is kept alive by the sport itself, the great coaches who I have been lucky enough to assist and the kids who I have had the chance to teach the game. Even though I've coached baseball now for some thirty years, each and every game is different and presents its own new challenges.

Juanita: Steven, how can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Steven: They can find about the book and read the first three chapters for free at the book’s website: www.TheFatLadyNeverSings.com. They can also read reviews of the book, listen to podcast interviews, see current photographs of some of the players and the coaches at book events, and learn about the current lives of the book’s characters. Soon I will be posting video highlights of championship game for viewers to enjoy and learn about this remarkable group of players I had the good fortune to coach.

Juanita:  Steven, thanks for joining us today.  We have enjoyed hearing about your new book, and the real-life events surrounding this remarkable story.  Do you have any last thoughts you’d like to share today?

Steven: I’d just like to say that if you want to read a story about young men persevering and redeeming themselves against the odds, or if you just want to laugh and be entertained, then I think the book will appeal to you, whether you are an athlete, fan, parent or a coach. I’d also like to thank you Juanita for this opportunity and wish everyone at Reader Views the best.

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