Sports

Old school meets new school at Blue Collar Baseball

As a player at McKee/Staten Island Tech in the late 1990s, Kevin Hughes forged a reputation on Staten Island.

“I loved the way he played,” said St. Peter’s coach John Eberlein, who at the time was the head coach at Curtis. “He was old school, he had intensity, hated to lose.”

It’s those same attributes Hughes is utilizing as a rising coach and the founder of Blue Collar Baseball, a Staten Island-based training program for serious-minded baseball players.

Hughes been an assistant coach at St. Peter’s under Eberlein and is also an assistant coach of the Staten Island Tide in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.

“He relates to the kids well, he can still go out there and show the kids what to do,” said Eberlein, who also coached Hughes on the MSIT basketball team. “That goes a long way. He’s a great assistant coach and I think he’d make a great head coach. I’d hate to lose him, but I would never hold anybody back. I think he’s ready for that.”

Hughes was an infielder/pitcher at MSIT from 1996-2000 under legendary coach Bob Steele, who even back then saw some of the attributes that would make Hughes a quality coach.

“He was always looking to learn, he never missed anything that was said and always paid attention,” Steele said. “Kids gravitated toward him, younger kids, and he would start working with them”

Hughes accepted a scholarship to play at St. John’s, but his collegiate career lasted all of one year. He suffered a tear in his right elbow and had Tommy John surgery. Following 15 months of painful rehabilitation, Hughes went under the knife again to remove scar tissue. He never played collegiately again.

“I was crushed. All my hopes and dreams died,” Hughes said. “Coach [Ed] Blankmeyer kept me on the staff, thinking I’d be a good coach one day, but I didn’t think the same at the time. Baseball was my life and what I worked hardest at. I swore off baseball, couldn’t watch a game for about four years.”

Back on Staten Island, Hughes eventually pulled himself out of his depression and realized the beauty of the game when watching Little League games. He realized he did want to teach kids the game and had the opportunity at St. Peter’s.

The concept behind Blue Collar Baseball, Hughes said, is to teach today’s baseball players the way he learned the game. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways out.

“I still believe there are kids out there who want to work hard and learn the game the old school way,” he said. “I think there are youngsters out there who aren’t wrapped up in the hottest video games or internet trends. It’s for those likeminded kids that Blue Collar Baseball exists.”

It started simply enough for Hughes, working with two of his players at St. Peters – Rob Bernardo and John Ziznewski. Bernardo was the Staten Island batting champion as a junior and Ziznewski was the borough’s player of the year as a senior. Hughes has also worked with Moore Catholic’s Chris Ahearn and Johnny Ray, who died in a car crash last fall.

“When people ask me why they were doing so good, I’d point to Kevin,” Eberlein said. “He deserves all the credit for those two guys. They were good to begin with, but he’s made them that much better.”

While Hughes’ approach is old school, some of his methods are not. He utilized video analysis both as a recruiting tool and as a chance for hitters to see their own flaws. Blue Collar has a YouTube channel so players can review their tape whenever they want.

Hughes doesn’t do it alone. He has assembled a strong supporting cast, which includes former St. John’s players Anthony Varvaro and Ray Downs, as well as St. Joseph by the Sea assistant Tommy Laino.

Varvaro, a 12th-round pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, is enjoying a stellar season with the Double-A West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. The former Curtis star has a 1-2 record with eight saves and a 2.57 earned run average. He was named to the Southern League all-star game.

“He’s a little old school, but that’s what worked for us back in the day,” Varvaro said. “Both him and I didn’t have the privileges a lot of these kids nowadays have so we’re teaching them how we learned it. He knows what he’s talking about. I work out with him in the offseason, he catches my bullpens and I sit in on some of his lessons and he does a great job.”

But Varvaro is quick to point out that Blue Collar Baseball isn’t for everybody.

“I think you have to be a certain type of player to really be involved with Blue Collar Baseball,” Varvaro said. “I also think it makes you tougher in life and all around.”