Runnin’ down a dream.
Former Staten Island baseball star Joe Venturino was chasing down fly balls and a shot at the Big Leagues back in 2016. The Monsignor Farrell product had MLB dreams and he was living them out in real time after he was drafted in the 36th round by the Seattle Mariners that year.
Venturino, a middle infielder by trade, shined at Ramapo College, where he set the school’s all-time hits and stolen base records and was named a Division-III All-American as a senior for the second time. Just 21-years-old, he trekked across the country to Everett, Wash., where he’d play out two seasons in the Minors with the Single-A Everett AquaSox.
Most Division-III baseball players go undrafted. Most late round picks never sniff the Majors.
Those that were lucky enough to hear their names called on draft day likely didn’t also have to go through the same ordeal that plagued the Venturino family.
The deck was stacked against Joe on the diamond from the start, but his family was fighting an even greater battle at home. While Joe was clawing for a roster spot on the other side of the map, his mom was battling a terminal cancer.
Roseanne Venturino was an author, fitness instructor, and mother of three, who fought relentlessly against the deadly disease for two years. All the while, she routinely sent messages of support and guidance to Joe, cheering him on from afar.
She was first diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2015, during Joe’s junior year at Ramapo. She was unable to board a plane because of her illness but embarked on a 15-hour road trip to Wisconsin - on the same day she was released from the hospital - to see her son play in the D3 College World Series that year.
Roseanne wouldn’t miss it. Needless to say, she never missed a 10 p.m. AquaSox radio broadcast either, often staying up well past midnight on the East Coast to listen to Joe’s final at-bat of the night.
ON THE ROAD
Life for a Minor League ballplayer is rigid, routine, tiring and stressful enough as it is, without outside factors playing a role. Despite that, Joe had a strong first season for Everett, hitting .298.
“It was a grind, but it’s what I always dreamed of. It’s early mornings and late nights, no days off,” said Venturino. “Being on the West Coast and having no idea who anybody is. It’s a culture shock. You’re playing with guys from all over the world. Coming from a small school, it was a big adjustment.”
“I loved being an underdog,” he added. “It was hard, but I adapted. It was a place to play. I got comfortable quick. My parents would text me every day.”
But his numbers dipped in year two and he was clinging to a roster spot. At home, Roseanne’s condition took a turn for the worse.
While baseball provided a distraction, the long bus rides up and down the coast gave ample time to thought.
Many of those thoughts were with mom.
“There was a lot going on. I proved that I could play at that level,” said Venturino. “Those long bus rides get to you. It’s difficult. It was a tough time. My mom was great, she acted like she always did. You’d never know anything ever happened. She was positive about everything.”
“My dad was trying to keep my head straight and keep me positive,” he added. “He could tell (my numbers) were going down and he was trying to do his best from afar. Overall, just a very tough year.”
IN HONOR OF MOM
Though Roseanne put on a brave face for her son, Joe knew better.
“My dad did a good job of keeping me focused on baseball,” said Joe. “My mom was a fitness trainer, in great shape. When I came home, she was very skinny. They wanted to protect me and keep me focused. I didn’t know everything.”
“My mom was beautiful inside and out. She was the nicest woman that people ever met,” he added. “She was telling me she was doing great, but I could tell she wasn’t. She would find the positives in everything though.”
On July 8, 2017 Roseanne’s fight came to an end. She was just 52-years-old. Joe was in Washington, just hours from playing in a professional baseball game.
His father, Phil, delivered the dreaded phone call that morning.
“(My wife) was so proud of him. We all listened that night on the radio,” said Phil, a Farrell baseball coach who also played in the Minors. “We wanted him to go and do what he loved...I couldn’t be more proud of him. It was a tough journey.”
“It was the toughest call I ever made,” he added. “That night, I just told him I’m proud of him and picked him up at the airport the next morning. It was tough on everybody, especially him.”
Joe instantly shut down and mostly kept the news to himself. He looked to baseball for solace that day.
“My dad called me, it woke me up,” he remembers. “I told him I was 100% going to play the game in honor of her because that’s what she would do. She was a tough woman. She didn’t shy away from anything and I got that from her.”
“I didn’t say a word to anyone,” he added. “I didn’t really know how to say it.”
He headed to the ballpark a few hours later for warmups. Ironically, it was “Pink in the Park” night for breast cancer awareness at Funko Field. The team shared a tribute for Roseanne prior to the playing of the National Anthem.
Teammates offered hugs, opponents tipped their caps.
A teary-eyed Joe drew the start in left field and had arguably his best game of the season. He roped three hits in his first three at-bats and finished the day 3-for-5.
“I felt very strong that night, I really remember that,” he said. “I had a really good game, one of my better games. I felt like she was with me, I really did.”
“It was surreal. It was a blur,” he continued. “There was so much attention on me, but it was almost like I didn’t feel any of it. I didn’t even care.”
He was on a plane to New York that night. He spent all of three days on Staten Island for the services before flying back out to meet the team in Oregon for a road series.
“She was my rock. She was always on my mind. I wish it didn’t happen,” said Joe. “Then I flew right back to a game. Like nothing happened. It was tough.”
He slumped most of that season, but never made any excuses, even to this day. Perhaps, it was something he picked up from his mother, who never let her illness influence her outlook.
“He wasn’t the same player anymore,” said Phil. “The game is tough enough. A lot of guys don’t make it. To go through what he went through, there was no words. I just tried to give him support and be there for him.”
Joe was unceremoniously released by the Mariners the following year. Though he had other opportunities to continue playing, he elected to hang up his spikes.
“I wanted to start my life at that point. I gave it my all,” he said. “I came up short, but I have no regrets and I’m very proud of myself. I did what I wanted to do. It was a 1% chance to get to where I was and 1% of that (to get to the Majors). It was time to turn the page.”
“That was my dream and I came as close as I could get,” he added. “It’s something every kid wants, to play professional baseball. I worked very hard for that.”
While Mother’s Day without mom is especially tough, he looks back on fond memories. Not just on Mother’s Day, but all days, he says.
Last Sunday, however, his three-hit game in her honor was especially on his mind.
“When you look back on it, what are the odds of that?” asked Joe. “I didn’t even know we had that (cancer awareness) night. It’s insane to look back at. I was 22, I’m close to 30 now. I can’t believe any of it actually happened.”
“I keep her with me still. She’s on my mind all the time. I keep her book next to me,” he said in closing. “It’s still sad to me, but she’s always with me.”
Stories by Nick Regina
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