Axcess Baseball is excited to announce that Bob Hirschfield is the 2024 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency.
Hirschfield is a legendary figure within the Long Island baseball community and his impact is still felt. While most baseball fans are familiar with his name, some might not be aware just how deep his roots in the game of baseball are.
Hirschfield played at St. John’s University from 1966-1970 as a pitcher and outfielder. He was a part of the 1968 team which played in the Division-I College World Series. During his career at St. John’s, he also played for the Cotuit Ketleers in the Cape Cod League and was a member of the USA College All Star team for legendary Miami head coach Ron Fraser.
Hirschfield also served in the United States Marine Corp Reserves from 1970-1976 where he reached the ranking of a Sergeant.
Upon graduation, he became a teacher in the Freeport School District in 1971. He began his coaching career around that time as well. He was a pitching coach for the Brooklyn Queens Dodgers from 1971-1974. His first head coaching job was with St. Agnes Cathedral HS in 1972 and he remained in that role until 1978. His next stop was becoming the pitching coach for NYIT in 1978, which was the school he became synonymous with. In 1981, Hirschfield became head coach of NYIT where he had an illustrious 30-year run building the program into one of the best in the northeast. Over his tenure, he won 668 games, had 5 Division-I All-Americans and 3 MLB players. They had 58 players either drafted or signed to play pro ball. The team achieved 15 conference playoff selections and won 4 championships. He was indicted into New York Tech’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. After his retirement, he helped out as Chaminade’s pitching coach until 2018. That is his son’s alma mater, and his college teammate was assistant coach, Jack Lyons. He also was the color analyst for St. John’s home baseball games from 2012-21. Additionally, he performed the same role for New York Tech during the 2019 season in which they reached the Division-II College World Series.
While Hirschfield’s coaching career was certainly exceptional, he had just as much of an impact on Long Island baseball – if not more – through the creation of the New York Baseball Academy. It was created in 1973 with his wife, Rita, and it was ranked as a top 5 baseball academy in the nation by the New York Times. He eventually sold it to Hofstra University and stayed on as Director from 2014-2017. The camp was instrumental in building Long Island’s brand of baseball.
Hirschfield is still employed a Director for the NYBA’s original satellite program in both Rockville Center and Port Washington.
He has been recognized by various institutions and received several distinguished accolades:
Adelphi University’s 1st Annual Woodruff Award (1998)
New York Tech’s Hank Jacobson Award (2006)
St. John’s Athletic Department’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2013)
Inducted into the New York Tech Athletic Hall of Fame (2016)
Named N.Y. Tech’s Head Baseball Coach Emeritus (2018) Uniform number retired
Coach Jack Kaiser SJU Baseball Advocate Award (2019)
Hirschfield will receive his award on Saturday, November 9 at the Axcess Baseball Awards Banquet. If you’d like to purchase tickets, please use the link below.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-axcess-baseball-awards-banquet-tickets-1005819602507?aff=oddtdtcreator
