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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdCJ4S38IbM] Aside from Carl Yastrzemski, the most notable baseball player to come from Long Island is Craig Biggio. The Kings Park graduate debuted in the big leagues in 1988 with the Houston Astros at age-22. Unlike many players of that generation, Biggio was able to play the duration of his 20-year career with those same Astros up until 2007. He originally broke into the big leagues as a catcher, but was shifted to second base where he became a Gold Glove defensive player–winning the award from 1994-’97. Offensively, Biggio may have never compiled the power numbers of A-Rod or Jeff Kent as middle infielders, but he was the model of consistency and the prototypical No. 2 hitter. He averaged 175 hits, 105 runs, 17 homers, 38 doubles,  24...

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Welcome to our first edition of our newest segment. This will be a collaboration of the best emails we received of the week in regards to players, teams, and anything else connected to Long Island baseball. We hope you enjoy… Why do you hate Nassau County high school baseball? It’s ridiculous how much attention you showed the Suffolk Teams and almost nothing in regards to their counterparts.Nate, Locust ValleyAge-16Well, Nate thanks for the email but let me first say this: we do not hate Nassau County high school baseball and we’re sorry you feel that way. For starters, 2015 was the first year that Baseball on the Island transitioned to game coverage. Although we did have a good group of reporters, most of them lived in Suffolk County and it wa...

Photo Credit: Mike Norkin San Diego‘s 2012 1st-round pick, Travis Jankowski is one step closer to fulfilling his dream and becoming the fourth former Sea Wolve to appear in the MLB this season. After dominating Double-A to the tune of a .316/.395/.401 triple slash line with 23 stolen bases, the Pennsylvania native was promoted to Triple-A El Paso by the San Diego Padres front office. He has made it impossible to ignore his production. Just two weeks ago, Jankowski displayed his talents during the Double-A All Star Game in which he homered and tripled in his first two at bats. Last week, he had a hit and scored the game-winning run in the Pan Am game against Cuba. Earlier this year, his former teammate, Nick Tropeano, started a game for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim against the Oa...

Photo Credit: Christine Heeren All he remembers is lying on the ground, holding his knee while he was in the most pain of his life. “I was on third base and there was a play at the plate and I went to stop short and get in a rundown when my whole knee buckled,” said the Sachem North grad. Despite the tremendous pain, Dowling‘s second baseman was still holding out hope that it wasn’t serious. After all, the Golden Lions could certainly use his bat in the lineup. His bat had compiled a .339 average, second only behind catcher Daniel Parisi for tops on the team. He had gotten on base at a .414 clip and scored 14 runs in 18 games. “Later that week I couldn’t put any pressure on my knee so I went and got an MRI. Later that day I got my results back and found ...

We will be beginning a new weekly segment on Baseball on the Island, and it will be a mailbag. You can feel free to send questions regarding anything related to players, teams, coaches, favorite moments of the year, etc. Email baseballontheisland@gmail.com for a chance to be featured in the first edition. Depending on the volume of emails, we may switch to a live podcast in the later weeks.

(This piece originally ran on July 14, 2014 but it will be republished periodically) “It’s a little worse than we anticipated,” he said. “We’re going to shut you down for a while.” That’s when you go from optimistic to something similar to getting punched in the gut. From experience, that’s when you throw away all the preconceived timetables you originally had when you could get back on the mound or in the batter’s box.  Now it’s in somebody’s else’s hands. That person holds your short-term future in his hands. That person in the white coat may or may not have ever played baseball in his life but he is about to decide when you do.  The most important thing, according to Steve Tria, owner of Team 13 Fitness, is to trust...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyjnQhXUvG4] Do you love playing baseball? If you do and you are between the ages of 7-18 make sure to be a part of Hofstra’s Summer Baseball Clinic! The clinic was rated as “one of the top five in the country” by Baseball America–widely regarded as the premier amateur baseball publication in the country. The instructors are top notch–including current Team USA and St. John’s University coach Ed Blankmeyer, former pro player and Mineola Head Coach Helms Bohringer, among many others. There are 6 different one-week sessions running from July 6 through August 14. Players will get to take advantage of their state-of-the-art facilities including their turf baseball field, indoor practice bubble and Olympic sized pool! C...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GXpr2tJhLM]Early on it looked like it would be a slug fest in the Hamptons All Star Game. The South All Stars took the lead in the third inning on a solo shot to right center field by Kyle Colletta of Northern Kentucky. That was quickly erased when Eddie Haus of St. Mary’s smacked a long two-run HR to left center field to give the North All Stars a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third that was nearly robbed, but the ball came out of the glove of the left fielder.The pitchers turned it on after that, with both teams failing to scrape another run across the board. The pitching and defense on both sides were tremendous, notably the shortstop play of Matt McCann and Bobby Honeyman.This was the third consecutive victory by the North in the annual Al...

Much like the story of the Weissheier brothers, the Going brothers never intended to play at the same school. In fact, it wasn’t even clear which sport was their best. R.J., the elder of the two, actually began his college career playing baseball at the rival Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire in 2012. After transferring to Suffolk Community College, he decided he really wanted to go away again. “But Cap (Coach Tom Caputo) made Dowling seem like the perfect fit,” he said. “I knew that the year coming in would be a big one–which it was, we won 37 games that year,” he said. R.J. had a tremendous season–he compiled 62 hits, .368 OBP, batted .302, smacked three HR, scored 37 runs, drove in 39 and swiped 25 bases while also contributing tremend...

Work hard, play hard. A video posted by Marcus Stroman (@mstrooo6) on Jul 12, 2015 at 1:58pm PDT When Marcus Stroman tore his ACL during a Spring Training drill on March 10, every headline the following day included the words “out for 2015”. Just four months later and the Pat-Med grad has other plans. His father told me that he is prepared to return to the major leagues at “some point in August”. That is almost unfathomable when considering that the recovery time is generally closer to one calendar year and that would be only five months. Stroman is a freak athlete, there is no denying that. He has uploaded videos videos to his Instagram account and it is clear he has responded well to the surgery. The only concern is whether he is pushing himself too hard, too soon...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyjnQhXUvG4] Do you love playing baseball? If you do and you are between the ages of 7-18 make sure to be a part of Hofstra’s Summer Baseball Clinic! The clinic was rated as “one of the top five in the country” by Baseball America–widely regarded as the premier amateur baseball publication in the country. The instructors are top notch–including current Team USA and St. John’s University coach Ed Blankmeyer, former pro player and Mineola Head Coach Helms Bohringer, among many others. There are 6 different one-week sessions running from July 6 through August 14. Players will get to take advantage of their state-of-the-art facilities including their turf baseball field, indoor practice bubble and Olympic sized pool! C...