Slow- pitch softball manager won six world titles
In the days when slowpitch softball was at the height of its popularity, Billy Caye was King.
“He was a legend,” said Andy Kisty, of Peters, who played on a softball team made up of local ironworkers that was managed by Mr. Caye, one of the winningest skippers in softball, with six world championships.
A former minor- league baseball player who switched to softball in the late 1950s, Mr. Caye managed various local teams during the heyday of the sport, from the 1960s through the 1980s.
“Some of his teams were the best in the world at that time,” said Mr. Caye’s son, Bill Caye II, a lawyer from South Fayette. “But it eventually disappeared. It wasn’t ever like it was in that era.”
Mr. Caye, 88, of Brookline, died July 30 of pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.
He grew up playing baseball and football as a boy in the Uptown section of Pittsburgh.
After graduating from Central Catholic High School, Mr. Caye served in the Army at Fort Knox in Kentucky, where he oversaw sports programming on the base, his son said.
When he returned home in 1955, Mr. Caye tried out for the New York Giants and played briefly as an outfielder on the club’s minorleague team.
Traveling with the team was a once- in- a- lifetime experience for his father, but it had its downside, Mr. Caye II said.
“There was still segregation in places and it always bothered him,” his son said. “He supported his African American teammates and stayed in their lodgings.”
Mr. Caye later served as a bird dog scout for the Baltimore Orioles, and by the late 1950s, he was back in Pittsburgh playing sandlot baseball in the city league.
In 1962, he married Eva Colosimo, a childhood friend.
Around the same time, he joined the Ironworkers Local Union # 3, where he worked with fellow journeyman Mr. Kisty.
“He was like an older brother to me,” Mr. Kisty remembered. “He showed me the ropes and we worked everywhere together,” including the U. S. Steel Building, Three Rivers Stadium and many local bridges and parking garages.
Later, when Mr. Kisty became union president, Mr. Caye was instrumental as an adviser.
“He helped me; he guided me,” Mr. Kisty said. “He was the first guy who you’d hire because his reputation preceded him. Everybody loved Billy and he wasn’t afraid to speak up when something was wrong. It was important to him that things were done right.”
Mr. Caye’s career as an ironworker spanned more than five decades before his retirement.
He began managing in the Greater Pittsburgh Slo- Pitch Softball League in 1963, a year after he played for a local team that won a national title. He led several championship teams, which were then sponsored by local businesses and often changed names, though many shared the same core of players — including some former major league baseball players.
“I think he knew a lot of the guys from playing sandlot ball with them when he was growing up,” his son said.
Mr. Caye II learned much as a batboy for his father’s teams.
“We traveled all over the place, especially when they competed in the world championships,” he said. “I loved it. It was a way of life — every weekend there was a different tournament somewhere. I met a lot of characters.”
By the 1980s, Mr. Caye managed and coached a team of ironworkers, which included his friend Mr. Kisty.
“He coached us for four years and we hardly ever lost,” he recalled. “We won the building trades championship three times and that was the biggest event around. We got some major bragging rights.”
Mr. Caye was recognized in 1964 with the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette Dapper Dan award and went on to become an advisory board member of the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1985.
He also served as an executive regional delegate to the Amateur Softball Association and was elected to its Hall of Fame in 1984.
Some of his son’s favorite memories are the times spent with his father going to several Super Bowls, World Series and football games between Notre Dame and Pitt, Mr. Caye II said.
His father, who supported his decision to go to law school, taught him valuable life lessons as well, he said.
“His goal was to have me give my kids a better life than he gave me,” he said. “I could have had no better role model. I think he learned more from setbacks or adversity, because he always came back and improved and learned to adapt, so those are the philosophies that I live by myself. It’s transcendent to all parts of life.”
Mr. Kisty also said he would never forget his friend.
“He was just a great person and a super, super friend,” he said. “Billy was a class act and I was glad to be part of his life.”
Along with his wife and son, Mr. Caye is survived by another son, Julius, of Bethel Park, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Mary Catherine Petri, Connie Apel and Patsy Andrews.
Funeral services are private at Mr. Caye’s request, but a celebration of life is being planned for a later date.