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Joe Gregula had a more-than-perfect career in baseball

By John Sacco for The 10 min read
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Hours of standing in front of the porch leading into the family home in Mather, throwing a rubber ball into the cement steps led to a discovery that changed Joe Gregula’s baseball career.

While the fruits of that labor did not pay off until years later, when he finally joined the baseball team at California State College in 1969, the time spent in endless practice was time well spent.

The commitment to a pitch that he threw even in Little League led Gregula to pitching glory at California.

His path was full of turns. Life can throw one some curves.

Gregula started throwing his own curves — beautiful 12-to-6 filth as they call nasty pitches today — that by almost all accounts were close to perfect and really tough to hit.

The practice of throwing the rubber ball off the steps was an everyday event.

“I noticed the way I was throwing it, off my fingers, that the ball was dropping straight down,” Gregula said. He eventually mastered the pitch.

His pitching coach at California, Ron Forsythe, taught him to set up the curveball with his fastball, especially against right-handed hitters.

It was the winning strategy.

One particular day — May 12, 1970 — to be exact, Gregula’s curves were perfect in every way.

That day, Gregula, a 1964 graduate of Jefferson-Morgan High School, threw the only perfect game in the history of the Vulcans’ baseball program, at Gannon. The feat is not mentioned on California’s athletic or baseball website. It was not reported in any local newspaper the following day.

Twenty-one up. Twenty-one down. Only one defensive play was considered difficult in the game, the first out of the seventh inning. Gregula made that play, too.

His curveball and fastball, working in sync, sliced through Gannon’s lineup. According to game accounts, with seven major-league scouts in attendance, Gregula breezed. He knocked right-handed batters off the plate with his fastball and retired them as the ball curved away from them.

Gregula retired 18 straight batters through six innings, six strikeouts, five fly outs and six groundball outs.

The Vulcans led 7-0. In addition to his masterful pitching gem, Gregula had two singles and scored after drawing a walk.

The first out of the seventh inning proved to be the only perfect game-ending threat. Gannon’s batter hit a popup between Gregula and catcher Joe Branagan. As the ball approached the ground, Gregula — at the last second — swiped at the ball and snared it to preserve the perfect game. The following batter bounced back to Gregula, who threw to first base for the out and, fittingly, he struck out the final batter of the game.

“It was a typical day for Joe,” said Denny Brown, the Vulcans’ shortstop and a member of the Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame. “He was always a real good pitcher. When his curveball was at its best, he was a great pitcher.

“Early in the game, you could tell he had his best stuff and that it was going to be tough for Gannon. Almost all of the plays were routine. When you have stuff that Joe had, sometimes the fielders don’t get much action. That was the first perfect game I was involved with and the last. You’re fortunate to play in one or witness one. Joe’s stuff was on and it was easy to see.”

In the 150 years of Major League Baseball history, there have been 23 official perfect games. No one has ever thrown more than one.

A perfect game is the ultimate single-game achievement for a pitcher, requiring them to retire all batters without any reaching base. That means no hits, walks, hit batsmen, or errors. All batters retired consecutively in a complete game.

In NCAA Division I baseball, there have been 30 perfect games since 1959 — 12 of those came in seven-inning games, and one came in a five-inning game.

“It didn’t hit me right away,” Gregula said. “Then, going home on the bus, I started to realize what I accomplished. I couldn’t wait to tell my mom and dad. I had been pitching a long time, since I was a boy.

“(Forsythe) told someone I dealt with that it was like just another game. I’ve always been a modest guy. It was an accomplishment and I felt good about it. I wasn’t jumping around after the game. My teammates were excited. But I knew I had another game to pitch in a couple more days. It is a special thing to me.”

Self-taught

Gregula was a longtime teacher in Canon-McMillan School District and retired as a fifth-grade teacher at Muse Elementary. He currently resides in Bethel Park.

He vividly remembers the practice it took to become a good pitcher.

“I’d throw that rubber ball all the time,” Gregula explained. “I don’t know how many screens I destroyed at home. I marched off the Little League distance and just kept working.”

The only time he stopped, it seemed, was to walk to the local dairy bar, where they sold the white rubber balls he was so fond of, to replenish his supply.

“My curveball just rolled off my fingers,” he said. “Then I would throw it from three-quarters and sidearm.”

Gregula admits he was “just a little above average” at Jefferson-Morgan. But he grew after high school, another two inches, thinned out and got stronger.

“I trained by myself,” he said. “I put in a lot of time.”

In his first start for Cal, Gregula worked six innings, allowing three hits and striking out nine in a victory over Fayetteville on the Vulcans’ southern trip. He was special. Two weeks later, he threw his first of two no-hitters at Cal, winning 13-0 over Alliance in seven innings.

His pitching continued to take hold as he pitched a hitless inning of relief against West Liberty and extended his hitless streak to 92/3 innings with a three-hit shutout of Edinboro.

In his first season at Cal, Gregula had a 4-1 record with a 1.18 ERA. That first season foreshadowed what was to come in 1970, when Gregula was 5-1 with a 2.18 ERA.

He was named to the NAIA District 18 second team. Gregula was an honorable mention selection to the Pennsylvania Conference All-Star team. He was named to the South team for the North-South All-Star game at Forbes Field, sponsored by the Tri-State College Baseball Coaches Association.

Gregula was the starting pitcher in that game and faced George “Doc” Medich, who went on to pitch in the major leagues.

Before the game, Pirates pitcher Bob Purkey invited Gregula to Forbes Fields for a little pregame preparation.

“I was grateful he took me there,” Gregula said. “We get out there and (Pirates reliever) Dave Giusti is throwing in the bullpen. Bob told me to watch Giusti’s curveball. We stood in right field and I went up on the mound. It was a great opportunity.”

Gregula pitched in an all-star game the next year at Three Rivers Stadium. He hoped the exposure might help him get a shot at playing professional baseball.

“The scouts were there, the bird dog was there,” Gregula said. “I just asked him to give me a shot. He was impressed but the guy didn’t want to take a chance on a 24-year-old. I told him I’d pay my own way.”

Even with Point Park coach and former Pirates player Frankie Gustine in his corner, “he always complimented me and my pitching,” Gregula said, but the professional opportunity never materialized.

“I wasn’t a typical college student,” Gregula said. “I was in the reserves. I was called up four times. My thoughts were on my grades and baseball.

“There weren’t a lot of Friday, Saturday nights. Weekends are important for most college students. I kind of had a different perspective than most. I was older. I wanted to do my best in the classroom and in baseball. I loved it.”

In his first two seasons at Cal, Gregula had 46 strikeouts in 40 innings, yielding 29 hits and walking just 14. He had a 2.18 ERA. He averaged striking out 8.05 batters per seven innings.

All in the family

Gregula’s baseball prowess was passed on to his sons, Joey and Justin, both of whom played at Washington High School.

In fact, father and sons hold a unique distinction.

The Gregulas — as a father and sons combination — played at Forbes Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Heinz Field and PNC Park.

In addition to Joe Gregula pitching in all-star games at Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium, Joey Gregula was part of Wash High’s football team in 1995 that played for the WPIAL Class AA championship at Three Rivers Stadium and he returned there in 1998 to help the Little Prexies win the WPIAL Class AA baseball title.

Justin Gregula played in the 1998 WPIAL Class AA championship football game at Three Rivers Stadium, kicking a field goal in a Prexies’ loss to Waynesburg. He then led Wash High (as the quarterback and placekicker) to the 2001 WPIAL Class AA football championship over Beaver Falls at Heinz Field. He is one of only a few kickers to make field goals at Three Rivers Stadium and Heinz Field.

Finally, Justin Gregula played in and helped the Prexies to the WPIAL Class AA baseball title in 2002 in a win over South Park at PNC Park.

All three Gregulas played baseball in college. In addition to Joe at Cal, Joey played at West Virginia Wesleyan and Justin at Old Dominion and briefly for the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League.

For good measure, Joe Gregula was the manager of Washington’s entry in the 1998 Pony League World Series. Joey and Justin Gregula played in the Pony World Series, 1994 and 1998, respectively. Justin Gregula compiled a 3-1 record in the ’98 Series, tying a record with three pitching wins. He did not allow an earned run in 19 innings.

“I never thought about it from that perspective,” Joe Gregula said. “As a father, I’m happy to be part of that and to have two fine young men as sons.”

Gregula’s coaching prowess also is not lost on those he mentored and taught on the baseball field. In six seasons, from 1993-1998 in Washington Youth Baseball, Gregula led teams to three city championships. He guided all-star teams to a pair of East Zone titles (1994 in Mustang League and in 1997 with the 13-year-old Pony All-Stars, which went 13-0 and advanced as far as a team could at that time). His 1994 team played in the Mustang World Series in Richmond, Va., finishing as runner-up, and the 1998 Pony All-Star team finished as a division champion and World Series runner-up.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is his charisma,” said Nick Cataldo, who started playing for Gregula in Mustang League in 1994. “He was honest. … When you’re getting all-star teams together, some coaches aren’t always up front. Joe was always up front. He wasn’t shy about telling you how it was and how it was going to be.

“His knowledge of the game was obvious, and I learned so much from him, playing for him so many years. As a coach myself now, I use so much of what he taught both on and off the field. Joe didn’t try to change anyone. He worked with who you were as a player and what you had to give.

“Off the field, he was always happy and friendly. His character shown through in every situation.”

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