Published: June 15, 2008 12:01 am            

MIKE MASTOVICH | Cambria Co. hall of famer’s grandson carries the legacy

On this Father’s Day, Rose Marie Oravetz has no doubt that at least one proud grandfather figuratively is observing the College World Series from “above.”

Rose’s late husband, Ernie Oravetz, started his inspiring baseball career on the sandlot fields in Johnstown. He played at Johnstown high and in the AAABA Tournament.

A 5-foot-4 outfielder, Ernie deceptively could hit for power all the way up to the major league level. His smaller stature earned him fame as the shortest player to wear a Washington Senators uniform in the majors.

The son of a coal miner, Oravetz played 188 games for the American League Senators, posting a .263 average in 1955 and 1956. His career might have been longer had his service during the Korean War not interrupted a successful start in the minors during the early 1950s.

At the time of his death in December 2006, Ernie Oravetz’s name still was among the first recalled when those in the know on the local baseball scene paused to list the best Johnstown ballplayers who went onto success in the majors: Vuckovich; Pentz; Holtz; Hillegas; Vitko; Williams; Kostro; and Yewcic.

Even though he played decades before most of those Johnstown standouts, Ernie still was remembered as one of the best to roam the Point Stadium outfield.

So what does all of this have to do with the College World Series?

“Ernie has the best seat in the house up there, and he has all of his friends who are up there with him,” Rose Oravetz said during an emotional telephone interview in which she frequently struggled to hold back tears. “Ernie, Ernie’s dad – a coal miner – and my dad, they’re all up there. And all of Ernie’s friends from his playing days are too – Butch Smajda, Buddy Urban, Gene Schultz, the guys from the PNA team, and even Steve Semen.”

The latest Oravetz to star on the baseball field is Tommy, a junior second baseman-DH on the Florida State Seminoles team that opened the College World Series with a loss to Stanford on Saturday in Omaha, Neb. Tommy is Ernie and Rose’s grandson.

The Seminoles (54-13) will try to stay alive Monday against top-seeded Miami (52-10), which lost to Georgia 7-4.

Like his granddad, Tommy Oravetz is productive on the baseball diamond. He entered Saturday’s game batting .387 in the NCAA Tournament, including a .421 average in the Tallahassee Regional and a .333 mark in the Tallahassee Super Regional.

Tommy belted a three-run double to left-center field in an win over Wichita State that secured the Seminoles’ spot in Omaha.

Not bad considering Oravetz, who stands 5-10 and weighs 183, usually hits in the No. 8 or No. 9 spots. He frequently served as the DH until a teammate’s injury forced him to move to second base.

“When Ernie played for the Washington Senators, one of the writers picked Ernie as his ‘Clutch Hitter,’ ” Rose Oravetz said from her Tampa, Fla., home. “I told Tommy now he’s a clutch hitter.”

Tommy’s father, Randy, is the director of sports medicine at Florida State. Rose is proud that her son and grandson both are part of the College World Series.

Maybe it’s only fitting that the cycle continues. Ernie’s father, John, instilled a love of baseball in his son.

“Ernie’s dad got Ernie a uniform when he was a young boy, and that was before they had Little League uniforms like today,” Rose recalled fondly. “When they lived in New York, Ernie’s dad took him to a game at Yankee Stadium.

“Years later, he even saw Ernie play at Yankee Stadium. He saw Mickey Mantle cussing Ernie the whole way back to the dugout after Ernie caught his ball.”

Maybe, on Saturday in Omaha, Ernie was watching too.

Rose is sure he was.



Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.

        

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