MVN - Most Valuable Network

Former RedHawk catcher John Marzano dead at 45…

I’m sad to report that former RedHawks catcher and Red Sox great John Marzano died today at the age of 45.  The cause of death is unknown but it is believed to be caused by a fall down his stairs as a result of his having a heart attack.  Warning, below is going to be my ramblings and memories about John.

 As you know if you have read this blog for any length of time, I’m a Red Sox fan.  Growing up in New England, it was my duty to know all the up and coming minor leaguers who I’d get to watch as Paw Sox.  I still remember being so excited when the Red Sox drafted John in the first round in 1984, the same year he played for the Olympic team.  As he came up through the system and became a Paw Sox, he quickly became one of my favorite Paw Sox because of his scrappy style of play.  I followed him after he left the Sox, but I was in school at the time so couldn’t spend as much time watching baseball as I would have liked so I kind of lost track of him.

I still remember my surprise when I went to my first RedHawks game in 1999 and John Marzano was on the roster.  I had just moved back to OKC the previous August after 3 years in D.C. and didn’t really follow the Hawks (they were the Rangers farm team after all).  I was so excited when he was announced that I jumped out of my seat and started to hoot and holler like I did when he was in the Red Sox organization.  I embarrassed my friend Lisa so much she won’t come to a game with me to this day.  I also immediately went out and bought season tickets to the RedHawks.  As I told my friend Julie who came to the games with me, if one of my all-time favorite Red Sox was playing here, I had to go.  It was probably June or July the first time I got to talk to him.  I watched for him to come to the side wall to sign autographs and ran over to get him.  My parents had never let me get autographs when I was a kid so I had no clue you could call a player over (bet the current RedHawks wish I was still like that! LOL)  Anyways, John was very nice to me as I babbled over him and told him I used to watch him as a Paw Sox and Red Sox.  He signed my cards and “History of the PawSox” book and gave me a ball.  It was all I talked about for a week.  I was in Omaha the last game of the 1999 season when John got to play all 9 positions in a single game.  He had asked manager Greg Biagini if he could do that if the game didn’t mean anything (we clinched the division the day before) and Biagini agreed.  John retired after that season so I had the distinction of watching him play in his first professional season and in his last.

I guess I need to end now before I get to sappy.  All I have to say is thanks for all the great memories John, and thanks for turning me into a RedHawks fan!

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.