Geibel Catholic grad Lonigro still working in baseball
Baseball has always been a part of Greg Lonigro’s life, so much so that it became his life’s work.
Lonigro was a three-sport athlete at Geibel Catholic High School in the 1980s where he played baseball and basketball and was on the golf team.
“My senior year was the first year they had football at Geibel,” Lonigro recalled. “I did not play football my senior year, and it’s probably one of my regrets. I probably should have played football.”
The 5-foot-10, 155-pound Lonigro was part of some competitive basketball teams at Geibel. The Gators were 20-5 in 1981-82 when Lonigro was a sophomore, in limited playing time that season he tallied 15 points. In 1982-83, Geibel went 20-5, made the WPIAL playoffs and beat Braddock St. Thomas, 44-43, and lost to Rochester, 68-60. In the PIAA playoffs, they downed Cochranton, 73-72, and then lost to Johnsonburg, 74-60. Lonigro scored 113 points his junior season.
In 1983-84, the Gators posted a record of 24-7 and Lonigro scored 387 points from his point-guard spot. In the WPIAL playoffs, Geibel beat Dayton, 88-70, St. Joseph, 64-54, Monaca, 57-51, and Clairton, 59-35. They lost to Cornell in the Class A championship game, 68-55.
In the PIAA playoffs, the Gators defeated Penns Manor, 54-46, Frew Mill, 66-57, Venango Christian, 47-38, they ran into Cornell again and lost, 53-46.
“We were good, we made the playoffs every year,” Lonigro stated. “We had a nice run my senior year.”
He had great respect for former Geibel basketball coach Ken Misiak.
“We had a great relationship, my whole family dating back to my brothers,” Lonigro said. “You watch your older brothers play and you kind of want to do what they do. Coach Misiak was there the whole time, he coached all four of the Lonigro boys.”
Geibel had baseball and Lonigro excelled on the diamond.
“We were pretty good,” Lonigro explained. “I’m the worst with memory, but I do know that Bob McGuinness coached me when I was a freshman and a sophomore, and then Bob Renzie coached me my junior and senior years. We were pretty good, I can’t remember playoffs and how that went down.”
Despite Lonigro’s success in baseball, it was not his favorite sport.
“I actually liked basketball,” Lonigro offered. “I really liked basketball and I was going to Penn State Fayette Campus to finish playing hoops. I didn’t know what I was going to do to be honest. I loved all the sports, but basketball I thought was what I was going to do.”
Baseball came back into the picture and everything changed.
“Long story short,” Lonigro said. “A good friend who I went to school with for 12 years, Eddie Opst, went to a tryout in Greensburg for a guy named Kerry Keenan who coached at a small junior college in Tampa, Florida, called Florida College. It was late in the summer and Eddie told me he was going to Florida College to play. I asked if they might take both of us? I went and worked out for Coach Keenan and they invited me back with Eddie and we went to Florida College and we were roommates as freshman.
“I played there my freshman year. I went as a walk-on and I played pretty well, and the next year I got a scholarship. In my sophomore year, all of the sudden my body took off and I grew. My sophomore year in junior college I was probably 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds. I got stronger and I had a good sophomore year, and I committed to the University of South Florida to finish my next two years. I got drafted and that was the last year they had two MLB Drafts in January and June.”
Lonigro was drafted by Toronto in MLB Draft in January in the 11th round and chose not to sign. He was selected by Cincinnati in the secondary draft in June. He was selected as the seventh overall pick in the first round.
Lonigro played for the Charleroi Magicians and had a solid summer season.
“George “Corky” Zuraw, originally from Charleroi was scouting for the Reds,” Lonigro explained. “He was living in Florida and drove up. My parents and I met him at a Burger King in Charleroi. The irony of the story is my mother went to the prom with George Zuraw’s brother, Rich. We talked it over and I made the choice to sign.”
Lonigro spent eight season in the minor leagues, six of those in the Reds organization. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1992 and signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1993. His career batting average was .254 with 31 home runs and 270 RBIs. He played second base shortstop and third base in the minors.
“I was a really good fielder, I could defend,” Lonigro stated. “In 1993 with Iowa, we won the Pacific Coast League championship, my second minor league championship ring, the other championship was in 1988 with Cedar Rapids. No player ever wants to take the uniform off.
“I was 28 and the Cubs invited me back and I decided to retire and we moved to Chattanooga, and then in 1995, a minor league manager for the Marlins Sal Rende asked me if I wanted to be a replacement player during the strike year 1995. They paid me 5,000 for just showing up. They settled the strike the day before I got a chance to play. The Marlins owner came in and gave us $30,000 on top of the 5,000 we were promised.”
After the foray as a replacement player, Lonigro was back in Chattanooga and Don Mitchell called him and offered him a job as a scout with the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I immediately called George Zuraw,” Lonigro said. “Told him the story I asked him to tell me about scouting his words were, ‘It beats working.'”
Lonigro took the job and was able to move back to Connellsville and work from there. He is in his 23rd year with Arizona. He is one of two scouts left from the original scouts in 1995. He was an area scout from 12 years and a cross-checker for the east coast for four years. He is now the National Scouting Supervisor for the Diamondbacks.
“George Zuraw was right,” Lonigro laughed. “It beats working.”
Lonigro, 51, resides in Connellsville with his wife, Shelly. They will be married 28 years this October. They have two children: Hunter, 18, and a daughter, Carlie, 14.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.