Saratoga Central Catholic’s Alphonse “Phonsey” Lambert and Dale Long, Jr. will be inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2013 on Sunday, November 10 at the Hilton Hotel in Troy.
Along with legends like former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca, the “Miracle Mets’” Ed Kranepool, Detroit Tiger-great Lou Whitaker, Houston Astros legend Craig Biggio and the late Pat Simmons of Watervliet, who pitched for the Red Sox in 1928 and once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in consecutive at bats will, the two Spa Catholic baseball coaches will be recognized for their achievements in the sport.
Lambert and Long, Jr. first started coaching together at Spa Catholic in 2005.
“It’s a great honor to be going into this in general,” said Long, Jr., whose father was inducted in the inaugural year of the ceremony. “There are quite a few people I know, who I’ve played with or against who were in the first two classes. Going in with somebody you’ve shared many years and good times with, Phonsey’s one of my best friends.”
Long, Sr. shares the major league record for consecutive games with a home run (eight, with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1956) with Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey, Jr.
Lambert, Spa Catholic’s head coach for 26 years, has 447 career wins, which is good for fourth all-time in Section II, including 10 league titles, five section crowns, three regional championships and one state runner-up.
Local coaches Bob Bogdan (South Glens Falls) and Jay Marra (Queensbury), who are also among the Sections all-time leaders in wins, will also be inducted in what is now the third year of the new tradition.
“I coached American Legion baseball with Bob Bogden for four or five years in the summertime and we played against each other so I have a great amount of respect for him and the team’s he’s had,” Lambert said. “Marra and I are contemporaries. We’ve only scrimmaged against Queensbury, but we’re very good friends.”
Marra and Lambert have been on the Section II committee for over 20 years.
Long, Jr. coached the Saratoga Stampede 19U team to two state championships and the 17U team to one. He also played shortstop at Union College, where he batted in the high .390s and he also played minor league baseball for a year and a half in the New York Yankees’ system before sliding into third base and injuring his Achilles tendon. Before being an assistant on varsity, he also coached modified for the Saints before splitting time as the JV head coach and assistant coaching with Lambert.
“When we’re doing stuff on the field and there’s a crucial situation within the ball game, you can’t have too many voices, so I go to one and I usually go with my chief lieutenant here (Long, Jr.),” Lambert said.
The two Saints coaches were notified of their induction and honored at a Tri-City ValleyCats game earlier this summer.
Tickets are available to the public for $75 at Saratoga Central Catholic.
