By: John Garner Jr.
08/12/2015 5:25 PM – Rick Delvecchio has spent virtually his entire lifetime involved in baseball as a player, coach and for the past several years as an umpire. A Braintree, Mass., native and a former baseball and ice hockey player for the University of Connecticut, Delvecchio has been named 12th recipient of the Curly Clement Award as top umpire in the Cape Cod Baseball League for 2015.
“It’s an honor to be recognized with an award named after an umpire like Curly Clement,” Delvecchio said. “All umpires strive to be recognized, especially among your peers.”
Delvecchio is vice president of baseball operations at the South Shore Baseball Club in Hingham and was assistant coach for the East Cobb Baseball program of Marietta, Ga., one of the nation’s premier youth baseball programs.
“Rick is known as the ‘baseball magnet’ for his propensity of getting hit by baseballs behind the plate,” Cape League senior deputy commissioner Sol Yas said. “But he’s a tough guy and never had to leave a game. Confident of his umpiring skills, Rick is in control at all times.”
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He played baseball at UConn and Northwest Oklahoma State, where he was a two-time All-American catcher and is the school’s all-time hit leader. Delvecchio is Braintree High’s ice hockey career scoring leader and was defensive standout and leader on the 1989 state champions. Robert “Curly” Clement worked as a Cape League umpire over a span of four decades and was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2002. He umpired 16 NCAA Division I Baseball Regionals, several Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I Baseball Championships and two NCAA College World Series.
Affectionately known as the “Candy Man” because of his propensity for passing out candy to players, coaches and field managers during disputes, Clement’s final Cape League appearance was spent working home plate at the 2000 CCBL All-Star game. He died in 2006 after a long illness.
Previous Clement Award winners are Bill Fisher (2014), Pat Burns (2013), Joe Caraco (2012), Mark Ottavianelli (2011), Michael Sadowski (2010), John Leeds (2009), Harry Greer (2008), Tim Carey (2007), Peter Hall (2006), the late Jim McNally (2005) and Walter Bentson (2004).
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