Why Youth Baseball Is Key To High School Success

Baseball can feel like it’s thriving on highlight reels while quietly shrinking in the neighborhoods that used to feed high school programs every spring. We sit down with Pittsburgh coach Joe Capobianco to talk about what happens when you return to your alma mater and try to rebuild a once-proud program at Penn Hills while participation numbers fall and confidence is hard to find. The big question is simple and urgent: how do you keep kids playing when the cost of youth baseball keeps climbing and the community pipeline is no longer automatic? 

Joe breaks down the real difference between being an assistant coach and being the head coach, from constant communication with parents, boosters, and administrators to setting the tone for the entire culture. We talk practical solutions for a program turnaround, including creating an environment players want to show up for, finding small wins in practice, and removing barriers with team gear, fundraising, and creative support for families who cannot chase expensive travel ball schedules. If you care about high school baseball, youth sports access, and building a resilient team culture, this conversation hits home. 

Then we shift to in-game strategy: why Joe loves small ball, how aggressive baserunning can change an offense that doesn’t get many chances, and how he thinks through high-pressure late-inning defense decisions at the high school level. We also lean into Pittsburgh baseball nostalgia, debate Roberto Clemente versus Dave Parker, talk Primanti Bros, and finish with an unbelievable story about hanging out with Pirates legend Doc Ellis during the “irate” fan walkout. Subscribe, share this with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with your best idea for keeping more kids in the game.

Transcript

What We Cover Today

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Today on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, what it's like to return to your alma mater to turn around a once proud program, the in-game strategy approach, and an unbelievable story about Pittsburgh Pirate legend Doc Ellis. Joe Capo Bianco, next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Sponsor Message Netting Professionals

SPEAKER_00 0:46

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SPEAKER_02 0:51

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Meet Coach Joe Capobianco

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplug. I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. Joining me today from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is Joe Capobianco. Coach, thanks for taking time to join me on Baseball Coaches Unplug.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Thanks for having me, Ken. It's an honor, man. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Well, you've been around baseball for quite a while, and it's, in my opinion, becoming more and more challenging for coaches now more than ever.

Assistant Coach Versus Head Coach

SPEAKER_02 2:13

And uh you've been both an assistant and a head coach. Explain the differences in the two and the challenges of being both.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Well, I think every assistant coach thinks they can be a head coach until they're actually a head coach, and then they realize, wow, there's a lot that goes into this. And I think the number one thing that I realized early on, and I knew this because I'd been an assistant for so long, is that there are things behind the scenes that you're not totally aware of. Whether it's communication with obviously your athletic director, but you know, you're you're talking to parents a lot, you're you're talking to booster people a lot, you're talking to an occasionally a school board member or the superintendent. And like there's certain different, as I learned, there are certain protocols and and ways of going about talking to those people, so you don't sound like you're you're always asking. You know, I felt like I think I'm I I because I when I went into it, I was like, I was like a tornado. I was just, I wanted everything, you know, and because I wanted things to be better. But as I got along, I realized that, you know, the hard-nosed approach probably isn't the way to go about doing it, you know. So I think you could probably, as an assistant, get away with a little bit more because kids are instinctively, they instinctively go to the assistant coach, I think, before the head coach in a lot of ways, because they feel like they can just tell the assistant anything. Because they know that you're you're you're in between from the head coach to them. So they know that if that assistant coach finds something out or if if there's an issue, he goes right to the head coach. And I was finding that out too, you know, and that's why I I as a head coach, I always wanted to be an ultra communicator. I every day I talked to everybody, which I think I learned as as an assistant coach. I didn't want my assistants taking in all kinds of situations. I I wanted to know everything, and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I wanted to I wanted to be on top of things. I didn't want everything to be on our the on the assistant coach. I wanted the players to be comfortable enough to come and talk to me about anything at any time. Because I think some guys are reluctant to do that for whatever reason, and it's understandable. So I think those are the differences between the between the two positions.

Rebuilding Penn Hills And Player Numbers

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Well, you you coached at Penn Hills there in Pittsburgh, and you know that back in the day, you know, state titles were a pot, you know, where something had happened. Your challenge there was to turn things around. And you know, I it just seems like more and more kids are losing interest in the game of baseball.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Yeah, for sure. You know, and I it's it's funny because when I when I was growing up in Penn Hills, it's my alma mater, it's where I went to school. Baseball was was huge. It's a big area east of Pittsburgh. A lot uh the population was was was high. And we all played baseball. All of us. You know, it didn't matter how many sports you played. You played baseball in the summer, you played football in the fall or basketball, and the rec leagues were enormous. You know, we had 25 little league teams, and it was the feeder going to the high school was what it was. You know, our high school coach didn't talk to anybody from the rec league because he knew he was going to get 90 kids to try out every year. And then as the years went on, you know, my brother went to school there, then I became an assistant coach there in the early 2000s. You could start to see that numbers were falling. The population was still high, but the numbers were falling. And that was, I think, the influx of specialized teams, travel ball teams were starting to come into effect. Palomino is bigger then, so now you had kids playing Legion and Palomino. And so it it's but it was a steady decline in Penn Hills over, I'd say, like a 25-year period. And, you know, for whatever reason, the school district just never wanted to add a middle school team. They didn't want, they didn't, they weren't progressive enough in trying to keep kids from playing at that 13, 14-year-old range in middle school where most kids decide to move on to a certain sport. Because when I was growing up, if you were a football player, you were a football player, you played baseball in the summer, but everybody knew towards July and August you weren't going to be at some games or some practices because you had to go to a football camp. So it was more like it wasn't like today where everybody is starting to promote multiple sports. It was singular. And at least in Penn Hills it was. And so, you know, by the time we took over, when we took over two years ago, two and a half years ago, it it had gotten drastically low. And that was very difficult. And a lot of it had to do with the fact that just nobody played in the community anymore.

Cost Barriers Travel Ball And Gear

SPEAKER_02 7:32

So you know, I I talked about this in my last episode, where you know, I think that we're losing players at really good athletes at the younger level. And I think part of it is the the cost to buy a baseball bat, the the equipment, the if you want to be on a travel team, I mean it's it's a huge financial commitment. And do you think that played a role in the the numbers going down?

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, I did. I do. I think it I think it's that way across the board, like you said, nationally. And not so much for the kids who are like, you know, the three, four, or five kids on a team that are like all baseball all the time. You know they want to play in college. I'm more concerned with those kids that are in in the middle where they just they just want to they love baseball, they're fans of the sport, and they just want to play. And they those guys have to make a decision whether or not they're gonna put all their time and effort into something that they may not be as passionate about as others. You know, I can remember guys growing up who were really good athletes, who played all kinds of, you know, sports, depending on the season, whether it was, you know, on the street or you know, on a team somewhere, or an organized team somewhere. They decide, you know what, do I spend, do I have my parents spend $2,500 to play on a travel team when you know I could get my fix in by just you know having a catch on the side or maybe hitting some BP at a at a at a local facility or something if I have my base get my baseball fix in. It's those guys in between that I'm you know I'm concerned with. And a place like Penn Hills where you know things have changed. Demographics have changed. You have a lot of single-parent homes, you have a lot of kids that don't have a lot. So now all of a sudden, you know, parents they have to make a decision. And then most of the time, if they're not in a league that is, you know, like an RBI league where things are already provided, they're not gonna play baseball. They're not, you know, and and I think I don't know if baseball honestly has done a really great job at the major league level in promoting the athletic guys enough. I think that's part of it too. Like I don't like football does an unbelievable job, whether we like the game or not. They've done an unbelievable job in trying to promote the athletes there. And I don't know if baseball has done that. There this this this topic is such a perfect storm type of a topic because if you're talking about a place where like I just coached, where you may not have a father in the home, Ken, so that's where you you originally that's where you originally learn how to play the game. You have a catch in the front front yard with your dad. And if you don't have a father or a mother in some cases that have a passion for the game, then they're not gonna have a passion for it by the time they hit 13 years old or even if they get to that age. So it's such a perfect storm and it it differs in different regions, but I think overall, like you said, I uh the cost and the travel, you know, though no one factors in the hotel rooms, and you have to have a reliable car, you know? Like if you don't have a reliable car, like we're in Pittsburgh, are you gonna drive to say Ohio? Can you drive to Ohio without your car breaking down? Like these are things that people don't really talk about. So I think it's really good for the kids that are the better players on your teams, but is it good for everybody? I don't think it is, you know, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah. Yeah, I I I agree with you so much in that sense. But you know, I mean, I as I was writing that question down, I I looked, I thought back to when I played, and I literally going all the way up through my senior year of high school, I never had a bat. I mean, we yeah, I mean, you you used what was ever in that green bag.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Like an old army bag or whatever.

unknown 12:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah, and that that was your bet. You just said, oh, this one feels pretty good. And you went out, and that was your that was the bat you used. And it may have been a two, three, four-year-old bat, who knows? It's not like nowadays where you drop $4.99 on a new bat every season, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

And then the multiple gloves. You know, and the gloves are expensive, you know. Here's the crazy part is like, you know, I played first base growing up, so I had a first base mid. I didn't I could play outfield, I was athletic enough to do it, but I'll be honest, Ken, like I had a first base mid. If I needed to play outfield, I had to borrow somebody's glove to go play. Hopefully, there was a lefty on the team and I could borrow his glove, or I would just play outfield with my first baseman. Like, that's where, and it didn't really matter. Bats.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

I had, you know, and I I got things as a kid. I wasn't deprived of anything, but like, you know, my dad wasn't gonna buy a bet every year. If I got a bat, it was like two years. He would buy a tad bigger so I could grow into it, so I'd have it for like three years, and it wasn't a big deal. Now it's it's totally different. And there are organizations out there that do a really good job in like giving away used equipment and things of that nature. So I would I think that's a great thing. But I think kid I think parents today feel as if they have to keep up with the Joneses. And that's unfortunate. Yeah. Because like I said, I go back to you know mothers who who who who are are working two or three jobs, literally, and and they're like, you know, I can't afford to buy this my kid a $300 bat. And so I always, you know, getting into that, I always felt like, well, at Penn Hills, we provided those things. We we raised money and and we bought team bats, and we had to buy team issued stuff so kids would have things, you know, and we didn't we didn't have them buy their own helmet, we provided the helmets and that that type of stuff. You have to get creative in order to build a better environment. So but it varies.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

You know, the one thing the one thing that I look back on is I I can remember I my going into my sophomore year, I finally wore a batting glove. And it was just on my left hand, I was right-handed, so I just wore it inside the glove and I wore it to hip with. But my son saw a picture of me, my senior year, and he's like, dude, what's going on with your glove? Batting glove. It had holes in it and everything. And I was like, that was the only glove I got, and it it lasted for three years, you know. And and it just you look back on how how the game has changed when everybody has these oven mitts for sliding and everything that's going on, the elbow yards. But you know, that that's that's how it's supposed to be, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Things change and then there are there are yeah, I I think change is good, change is good for sure. I mean, I change is good. And it's almost like today where you know, if a kid is walking around with a sliding mitt and when he knows he really like, you know, my son wanted a sliding mitt. And I'm like, you you can't take leads in your league, my man. Like, you don't need a sliding mitt. Nobody's stealing bases, but they put it in their back pocket, and there's a positive and a negative to that. It's like, okay, he's really passionate about the game, and look, I'll spend an extra 35 bucks, buy him a sliding mitt, and he'll be able to use it in a couple years, but still, you know, the mothers thought it was cute and everything like that. But it's almost like we're begging. Not that we're begging, but it's like we just want you to keep playing. If it takes you having a sliding mitt or an elbow guard to keep playing, have at it. So, like I've I never wore gloves. I was a pine tar guy. Yeah, I used to love watching Mark Grace because he was a lefty like me and he never wore a batting glove. I can remember actually watching a game in the in the 79 World Series with the Pirates, and I think it was Ed Ott, or it may have been Bill Robinson, and they were wearing a now this is kind of before batting gloves became like in vogue. They were wearing golf gloves to hit with, like a golf glove, like a foot joy glove. So this is like before the advent of you know mass production of baseball equipment. So like it the game evolves and it's awesome today. The equipment's awesome. It's just it's just a lot of money. It's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah, definitely. Well, let me ask you

Changing Mindset Through Better Environment

SPEAKER_02 17:03

this. You know, you you you took over a program that you know long-running struggles. How did you attack the whole mindset of the players?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I wanted to go in there, like I told you, maybe it was before we recorded. I went in there just like a tornado. I I'm a very energetic guy. And so I wanted to be myself. And it was all about creating a better environment. And I knew I could do that just through communication and through being excited. I wanted them, I wanted them to be excited about coming to practice. So it was it was always about from the top guy to the to the guy who'd never played before, which we had a lot of those guys. I wanted them to feel like they were part of it. And so whether it was cracking a joke or, you know, pinpointing all the little things they would do well in practice, they could have had a horrible practice, but if they did that one thing well, I wanted to make sure that I saw it, they knew it, and I and I and I taught and I set it in front of the team to give them that more confidence, you know. So it's basically just about being yourself and being enthusiastic and just grinding through that, even though you know probably not gonna win games here. Probably not gonna win games. But everything starts with you at the top, and it filters through the coaching staff. So it's always really important to bring people on that are like you, but maybe not like you, like maybe maybe more stoic to kind of balance things out. But, you know, being proud of the program, you know, bringing guys on who had played there before, which was a big deal for me at that time. I just felt like we needed to have guys who had played there before. And a lot of those guys are guys that I coached, good people, and I just really tried to harp on the person more instead of the ball player all the time. Like we were gonna work baseball and we were gonna teach fundamentals and we were gonna do all that stuff, but it was about the person, you know, because that kid could be going through something. So I never wanted them to go home thinking that they weren't part of it or we didn't care or any of that. We had to love our guys. We had to love our guys, and that's I think that's the one thing about about coaching. You have to love your player. I you I know your players can make you can irritate you sometimes, you know, and things don't don't they don't go perfect, it's not perfect, life's not perfect, but you've got to love your guys, they have to know it. And and it gets there by communication and enthusiasm. Yes, you know? It's just like a family. You know?

unknown 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Your kids might irritate you once in a while, but I mean, they're they're your kids, and they're gonna make mistakes. And I never wanted to be like I I never wanted to be the yelling and screaming type coach on the field. I never wanted to embarrass guys on the field because that's not how we were we were brought up in the game there. And I wanted them to just be to be proud of the fact that they were playing on a team that was that had a history and that produced players before. And I didn't want to feel that feel as if they were left out. You know? I wanted them to feel special, like the football players feel special and the basketball players feel special. Well, I wanted them to feel special too. I thought that was important to do that.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Yeah.

Why Small Ball Still Matters

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Let's uh let's jump into some game strategy stuff here. Are you a small ball guy? And if it's yes or no, why is that?

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I'm yes, I love small ball. My favorite player on the Pirates right now is actually Jake Mangum. And if you don't know who Jake Mangum is, he's a top-of-the-order type guy. He does all the little things well. If you need a play in the outfield and a throw, he makes it. If you need a big stolen base, he makes it. If you need a bunt put down, he makes it. He does, he executes. He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he's got a huge heart. I think the game is starting to come back. It's starting to come back a little bit. But it won't come back full bore until it happens more in the major leagues. I grew up in the in the 80s and and 90s. Small ball was bad. The only team that really was built on the home run were the Oakland A's. Okay, so. There was more AstroTurf. The St. Louis Cardinals were stealing 200 bases a year. So, yeah, I would say I'm more of a small ball guy.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

You know, there's there's a fine line between aggressive base running and running yourself out of an inning. What's your green light criteria for taking that extra base?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

I think it all depends on a lot of things. It depends on the type of team that you have. So when we did get on base, we were taken off a lot of the time. And that, whatever it may have been in any circumstance, whether it was going to be a hit and run or our first and thirds, the goal was to get guys into scoring position. So we really, really harped a lot on base running as far as taking our primaries with righties and lefties. We were aggressive in both. So with a lefty, we may take a nine or ten foot lead with a lefty because we really, really preached a lot on stealing against left-handers. But it for us it was more of an aggressive approach because I knew I wasn't going to get a lot of base runners, and I didn't want to play station to station. We had to make things happen. So if we had a team that was loaded, had a loaded lineup, you know, maybe you play a little more station to station at times. But I knew with the team that I had, I had to be aggressive if I got guys on base. So situations didn't dictate it a lot of the time. If we were losing in a game by a lot of runs, obviously maybe, you know, we don't we don't nearly steal as many bases. But if it's a closer ball game and it's within reach, you know, we were we were aggressive. We were stealing home. We were we were doing a lot of bunting, moving guys over. We were stealing a lot of, we were trying to steal a lot of backs. And it all started with our primary. So we we talked about this daily with our guys. And like I said, if we had a more experienced lineup, maybe things change a little bit. But with the lineup that we had, we had to be ultra aggressive. And we were successful in a lot of those situations. So I think that's probably my take on just the overall mental approach to stealing bases is that the more you think about it, the less successful you're gonna be. You have to be either all in or you're not in. And it all started with our mentality and our approach early on, and our basically our just our offensive philosophy. And so when it came to situations and the bright time to take bags, we were going regardless. It didn't matter the count. Now it mattered without, but it didn't matter much with counts. It was just how I was reading the picture and how they were calling games. And we were we were taking off, man. Because we had we had athletes. We could we could steal some bags. So that's where I always stood with our our running game.

High School Strategy In Tight Games

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Let me put you in this situation: you got a solid defensive team. Base is loaded, one out, and you're up by one in the seventh inning. Do you play for the double play or do you bring your infield in and just try to cut down that runner at home? Because we're talking high school baseball.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Well, hmm. We were just talking about this, my cousin and I, yesterday, when we were watching the Pirate game. Because there was a game, they played the Mets yesterday, and the Mets opted to go for well, the Pirates opted to go for a double play in that situation. With my team, I'm probably going home. I'm trying to keep the game as because when you don't have the experience up the middle, and you might have a first baseman that literally, coach, just started playing baseball like two years prior, or you have a freshman over there, you know, I'm getting the out because I'm trying to keep the game as close as possible in that situation. I just am. So maybe we play, maybe we play even depth up the middle, but we, you know, depending on how the game is going and who's at the plate, we get the corners up. Like, I'm probably getting the play at the plate. Because I figure one throw is a lot easier than making two. That's how I that was my approach with my team. With other teams in the past, if we're solid, we're probably just gonna go for the double play. And and because we know we can score runs. But if we're not scoring runs, I'm trying to keep the game as close as possible. So I'm probably getting I'm trying to get that out at home. That's how I would play that. Hate losing or love winning? I hate losing. The passion. Why is that? When I was a kid, I was a poor loser. Oh, I was the worst. I was such a whiner. And I just think that has to do with my personality. You know, I was just, oh, I hated losing. It did, it didn't matter who it was, you know. It could have been a tiddlywinks game with my sister. Or I always had to win. You know, always. And I think a part of that's still inside of me. I'm just, I'm just not, no, I'd become a better loser as a coach, no question. I had to learn quickly. And, you know, I'm not, you know, 12 years old anymore, but I hate losing. The all the big games I've we've ever won, either as a player, I I don't remember those as much. I remember the ones we lose. Like, you know, one play here, one play there. As a player, whether it was, you know, playing growing up or playing in our adult men's league. Like I remember scenarios where I screwed up, but I I don't remember this the scenarios where we did well. It's always what you don't do. And I think a lot of it has to come with your upbringing. There was there was like there was some pressure growing up to execute. So I hate losing, man. Because it's always that one or two plays that like, and we talked about this before you're recording, before we recorded, about like that one or two plays that man, if that would have gone that way, we things would have changed. But that's life. But I would say, I would say hate, I hate to lose. Hate to lose.

Clemente Or Parker And Why

SPEAKER_02 28:43

All right, you're uh you're a Pittsburgh Pirate fan. You're you're sitting right there in Pittsburgh. You can only have one right fielder on your Pittsburgh Pirates team. You're taking Dave Parker or Roberto Clemente?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I'm taking Roberto. I'm taking Roberto. Why is that? Clementi was uh Clemente could do anything. Clemente was an instant spark. Parker was a great player, but was par Parker wasn't always the greatest. He didn't the people in Pittsburgh related to Clemente because he endeared himself to the people. I don't think Parker did that early on. So I would that's the only reason. I just think Clemente could do it all, man. And he did it for such a long time, and he was straight and narrow. Parker was crazy. And I don't think the people in Pittsburgh, or you know, like Parker, if he's in LA, that can fly. But as you know, like if you're in a Rust Belt city, and I was a young kid when Parker played, I could just remember my dad and uncles talking about Parker. It was like a love-hate relationship with Dave Parker until he became older, and when he got sick, people really they the the team allowed him to come back, and you know, they had the drug trials and all that stuff. And like people in Western PA weren't they couldn't really relate to Dave Parker as much at that time when mills were closing and people tens of thousands of people were losing their jobs. Clemente would come out and say, I love being with the people. When they won the 60 World Series, he went out into the neighborhood of Oakland and celebrated with the fans. Like who does that? They don't do that today, man. He he just won the biggest game of his life and he went out into the crowd and celebrated with the people. And that that puts Clemeny over the top for me. He's you know, forget about the humanitarian stuff, but like what he did here in Pittsburgh with the prior generation and how they talked about him, they loved all the players, but there was something about him that was just different. He did everything different. He was like a magnet. Yeah. He could do anything.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Yeah, and you the the thing that I think about with Clemente is you know, I sometimes think, you know, when you talk about the all-time great outfielders, you know, the Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., those kind of guys, you know, I always felt like Clemente deserves to be mentioned in every one of those conversations because he would he was just that good and his arm was just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Yeah, he uh, like I said, I wasn't alive when he played, but I mean I I learned about Clement Clementi early on as a kid. My dad talked about him all the time. He uh, you know, I like watching old film and I like watching old interviews and things of that nature. And Pittsburgh wasn't on the forefront back then. It was New York, LA, the big markets were always on, you know, I mean, television, it was the game of the week or whatever. But when they won the 71 World Series, Bob Prince was the announcer for the Pirates, and they they used to have the team's announcer work the games, the national games. And when he interviewed Clemeny, he just he flat out introduced Clemeny as the greatest right fielder in the game. And that was like, well, I mean, Hank Aaron's still playing, and Willie Mays was at the end of his career, but like we're talking about a 38-year-old who just tore it up in the World Series, and he basically told the entire nation, this is the greatest right fielder in the game today because he can do it all. I still think he's the only player to have a walk-off inside the park home run in in the history of baseball.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

It happened at Fort Field. And like he no one knew his nobody knew of his prowess out there because he was in a smaller town with only two newspapers, not five, like New York had. And it wasn't until later on where people, I think, when he got on the national stage when people realized that, yeah. And unfortunately, I think his death elevated him more in a lot of ways. People said, wow, this guy was special. I mean, there's only been a few arms like his. Ichi Roe had an arm like his. Parker had a great arm. Jose Guillen, who wasn't a great player, had a tremendous arm. If you remember Jose Guillen from like maybe 25 years ago, that guy had a cannon, too. Yeah. There's only been like Bo Jackson, like, there's only been like 10 guys that had an arm like his. And he did it in bigger ballparts. Yeah, without a doubt.

Primanti Bros Order And Pittsburgh Roots

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Well, I'm gonna throw one at you that if somebody hasn't been to Pittsburgh, they you know that they may not know about it. But if you're going to Permanente Brothers, what are you getting to eat?

SPEAKER_01 33:45

About just the cheese, the cheesesteak that's there. It's not a Philly cheesesteak, it's more like a sirloin steak. But that's probably what I would get. I haven't had permani's in a while. You know, ever since Permanent's like kind of blew up nationally, I haven't gotten it as much. It was such a Pittsburgh thing until it blew up nationally. Now it's like, uh, I would rather get something else now. But yeah, the fries coleslaw with the vinegar on there, but it's it'd be the cheesesteak. That would be my go-to.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

There you go. I just love the fact that they put the fries on the sandwich, which is which is very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Well, they they started doing that because where the original Permanent's is located, which is still there, it was in a district in Pittsburgh called the Strip District. And it was where all the warehousing was. So, like, I think it was in the 30s, they came up with a sandwich for all the truck drivers. So they'd get their full course meal all in one sandwich. You get your salad, you get your meat, your protein, and your carbs all right there. So that's how they basically created something that would keep the uh the truck drivers fed, well fed. That's how that started.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Yeah. Well, I I went to a pirate game one time and I I got it from Manny Brothers there, and it just didn't seem like it was the same as what you'd get down there in the strip district.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Yeah, the strip is where you go. Because now they have like different restaurants around the area. It's not this you have to go to the one in the strip district because it's dirty. The Iron City's on tap. You know, like that's where if you're gonna go to Pittsburgh, you've got to go to that one. Because it just, I don't know, it's nostalgic and it just, I don't know. Just because of that, it probably tastes better too.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Yeah. All

Hanging Out With Doc Ellis

SPEAKER_02 35:36

right. Well, tell to finish up here, tell me one story from either your playing days or as a coach that stands out to you. You know, it can be a one that's funny, memorable one, whatever, whatever works for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

There a lot of guys come on here and they there are so many little like inside jokes and things that go on when you're a player. There are so many of them. Whether it's nicknames and things of that nature that guys have for each other. There are certain things that go on. Like when I played baseball as an adult in these adult leagues, you know, there'd be somebody in the stands that maybe, you know, you you would you would see somebody in the stands or whatever, and you'd you'd have a little inside jokes. And they're hard to remember those things, but I just remember laughing about those certain things. My greatest baseball moment, though, wasn't as a player or as a coach. So this is interesting. Mine was as a fan. Okay. In 2007, the fans at Pittsburgh were frustrated. And they had a thing called the walkout. They called it the irate. Not pirate. They took irate out of pirate. It was the irate fans. These frustrated people. So naturally, now this is when I was single, by the way. I was not married when this was coming on because that probably wouldn't have flown. But I was part of this walkout. There were about 10,000 of us. And we wore green shirts, signifying money, because we thought that the pirate ownership was just money hungry, and they weren't putting any money into the team. So it's kind of silly, but it was fun. We went down to the game, and I went down there with my uncle and my cousin. And so I'm standing there, and we were all waiting for Doc Ellis to talk to the fans. He was one of the people that were gonna talk to the fans outside of the stadium at at PC Park. So there's like thousands of people. And I'm standing there, and Doc Ellis pulls up. Comes late. And if anybody knows Doc Ellis, he was crazy, he was nuts, man. He's the guy on LSD who threw a no-hitter and all that stuff. So he comes out.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

And the fans in Pittsburgh love Doc Ellis because he was just so genuine and just crazy. He comes out of his car. Somebody drove him there from the airport. He comes out of the car in the backseat. And I had met him one other time as a kid in the 94 All-Star game. The bat boy for the 71 Pirates was lived in my neighborhood. So when he gets out of the car, I walked up to him and I told him that I knew the bat boy for the 71 Pirates. And the guy's nickname was Boots. And nobody else would know that but Doc Ellis, a player on the team. So I went up to Doc Ellis and I go, Doc, my name's Joe Capabianco. I said, I grew up with a guy who lived in my neighborhood who was your bat boy. His name was Boots. And he goes, Boots. I know Boots. He goes, come with me. So Doc Ellis kind says, Come with me. So I go over to Doc Ellis. I leave the people I'm with. They're like, go, go, go. He goes, I need somebody just to walk with me. These people, he goes, the fans are crazy here. Just I was like, in essence, kind of like his bodyguard. I don't know. I walked around with Doc Ellis and he bought me a couple of drinks and he told me, if anybody comes up and wants an autograph, bring them over here. I'll give them an autograph. But just make sure people aren't hanging around and aren't badgering me and this and that. He goes, because I want to go up here and make my point up at the mic, because they had a stage and everything. And then I just, I just want somebody that I can see so when I get off stage, you can kind of get me over to where I need to be. So I hung out with Doc Ellis for like an hour and a half. And he talked about he talked about stories about the teams that he was on. He talked about his roommate was Willie Stargil. They talked, he had stories about him. He had stories about when he was playing for the Yankees and Yogi Berra. And he just, it was so awesome. He talked about Danny Murtaugh, how he loved Danny Murtaugh, who was the former manager of the Pirates back then. And it was just, and then former players were coming over and they were talking, and he wouldn't let me go. Like I didn't I couldn't even go in the game. We were just hanging outside. So to my greatest baseball moment was hanging out with Doc Ellis, the late Doc Ellis, at the walkout, and just him talking about all those former pirate teams and the people and the stories. I mean, that was sweet, man. I mean, there's a YouTube out somebody had a YouTube channel of act, and I'm in the background. And he was being interviewed by one of the local TV stations. So there's evidence of this, but that was my bet, that was the coolest moment ever because my dad talked about Doc Ellis. So I would say that was my coolest moment. Funniest moment, too, because he's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Yeah.

Thanks Sponsor And Weekly Schedule

SPEAKER_02 40:44

That's a great story to finish up on. Was Joe Capo Bianco. Coach, thanks for taking time to join me here on Baseball CoachesUg.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Thanks, Coach. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Baseball Coaches Unplugged Podcast is proud to be partnered with the Netting Professionals Improved Programs, one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at www.neticprose.com. That's all for today. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check us out every Wednesday as I sit down with some of the best coaches from across the country. As always, I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.