Richard Aldo Cerone from Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...

 is a former Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 player from 1975 to 1992 for the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

, Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....

, New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

, Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....

, Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

, Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

, New York Mets

New York Mets

The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

, and Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos

The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...

. Cerone was primarily a catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

.

Cerone played high school baseball and football at Essex Catholic High School

Essex Catholic High School

Essex Catholic High School was a four-year Catholic high school located in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey. Essex Catholic High School opened in 1957...

.

The Yankees acquired Cerone for the 1980 season, following the death of catcher Thurman Munson

Thurman Munson

Thurman Lee Munson was an American Major League Baseball catcher. He played his entire 11-year career for the New York Yankees...

 the year before. Cerone had his best season in 1980 when he batted .277 with 70 runs scored and 30 doubles. Cerone's productivity declined in the subsequent seasons. In 1982 and 1983, he shared catching duties with Butch Wynegar

Butch Wynegar

Harold Delano "Butch" Wynegar, Jr. is a former professional baseball player and is the current hitting coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Triple A affiliate of the New York Yankees...

, whom the Yankees acquired during the 1982 season. In 1984, Cerone served as Wynegar's backup. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves after the 1984 season.

In 1998, Cerone founded the Newark Bears

Newark Bears

The Newark Bears are an American professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are a member of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 1999 season, the Bears have played their home games at Bears &...

, a minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 ball club in the independent Atlantic League

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball

The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball is a professional, independent baseball organization located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, especially the greater metropolitan areas of the Northeast megalopolis. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League...

. He sold the team in 2003.

Cerone lived in Cresskill, New Jersey

Cresskill, New Jersey

Cresskill is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,573. The town got its name from the watercress that grew in its streams, or "kills"....

 in the 1990s. and later in Woodland Park, New Jersey. He has three daughters: Jessica, Carly and Nikki and commutes between homes in Woodland Park and Long Branch, New Jersey

Long Branch, New Jersey

Long Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...

 to be with his daughters.

A Long Run Home

In 1981, Cerone recorded a song, "A Long Run Home," released on a 7" single on the Reel Dreams label. The song, written by Carl Henry and Bill Hudak, and recorded in Newington, Connecticut

Newington, Connecticut

Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 29,306. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington....

, is sung from the point of view of a Newark baseball player visiting a New York Stadium during a snowstorm. The record sleeve notes that "Rick Cerone's royalties will be donated to the Italian Earthquake

1980 Irpinia earthquake

The 1980 Irpinia earthquake took place in the Irpinia region in Southern Italy on Sunday, November 23, 1980. Measuring 6.89 on the Richter Scale, the quake, centered on the village of Conza, killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000 and left 300,000 homeless. It is known in Italy as Terremoto...

Victims Fund." The single failed to chart in the US.

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