Ernie Accorsi
As Giants GM, Accorsi orchestrated a brilliant 2004 draft day trade that delivered two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning to East Rutherford and spent years working in football. But it is baseball he craves.
“Of all the things I miss, that’s the thing I miss the most. I like all sports, but baseball has been my first love. I was 10 in 1951, the golden era of baseball when baseball was by far the biggest sport in the country. I have always loved baseball. It is every day, like a companion,’’ Accorsi, 78, said from his Hershey, Pa. home, after leaving his New York City residence on March 12 because he was at risk for the coronavirus.
“Baseball never disappoints you. It gives you a game every night and there is always something going on. I always loved the regular season more than the postseason because of the pattern and drama of the whole summer and it changes every day. It is a tremendous void. I read a lot, like to read history. But like everyone else, you can’t fill that void. To me it is not just something to watch. It’s my passion. The first thing you did every day was read the box scores and I bought the baseball package when it first came into existence. I planned my day that way. Early in the day I planned what game I was going to watch and when. It is a tremendous void.’’
During his first six years of retirement Accorsi attended spring training and often was spotted at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. And like Calipari, Accorsi considers Cashman a friend.
Like so many other baseball fans, Accorsi’s father introduced him to the pageantry of the game.
“My dad said, ‘Why don’t you sit down with me and listen to this game.’ It was the last game of the ’49 season and the Yanks had to win that game to win the pennant. We got a television in 1950, but [there was] very little baseball [on TV]. There was a guy in town who was the GM of a radio station in Harrisburg and he was a Yankee fan and he contracted for Yankee games,’’ Accorsi said. “There weren’t many night games, so I listened to Mel Allen every day except when they were on the road. I grew up being able to listen to my favorite team. It’s funny, you would scan the dial and picking up you would get the Cubs and the Cardinals and the White Sox. It is kind of what I do now with the baseball package.’’
Accorsi recalls those two colossal 1949 games between the Yankees and Red Sox like they were yesterday.
“They were tied for first and it was a twogame series for some reason. The Yankees won Saturday to force a showdown on Sunday. I think [Vic] Raschi pitched. [Jerry] Coleman had a big hit in that game, I think he had a triple. [Phil] Rizzuto had a hit early and they almost blew the game,’’ Accorsi said. “I just listened to it the other night on the XM channel. Curt Gowdy and Mel Allen. I remember listening to that game with my dad. I didn’t know a lot. I saw my first game in 1951, saw the Yankees, saw [Joe] DiMaggio that year.’’