‘Rookie’ Teams of New York City fostered prospects for Dodgers, Yankees

Written by: Matt Rothenberg

Sometimes the most overlooked prospects can be right under your nose.

At least that is what Branch Rickey Jr., son of Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey, felt after taking over the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm system in 1939.

“You’d be surprised how many local youngsters just wander into Ebbets Field looking for tryouts,” Rickey told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

“Al Moore, who runs the Farmers for us, goes out with me to Ebbets Field when we have a [tryout],” he continued. They “take a quick look and pick out youngsters you can tell at one glance aren’t fitted for major league careers. Either they’re too small, I mean, or they throw [poorly].”

From some of these tryouts in 1940 came a squad known as the “Dodger Rookies.” Developed by Rickey and his assistant, Mickey McConnell, the team – which was sponsored by the Brooklyn club – was to feature high school and collegiate players from the New York City metropolitan area. They would play a schedule of various amateur and semi-professional teams, from throughout the region.

There was much fluidity in the early days, especially with schedules that might change due to conflicts, or home fields that did not pan out. Rosters, too, might not be stable throughout the schedule, which often began sometime in June and lasted into early September. Thorough statistics are difficult to find. The goal for the players was to earn a professional contract with a major league organization, usually the Dodgers but not always, and many did.

Nick Picciuto was a Dodger Rookie for part of the team’s first season. The Newark, N.J., native would go on to attend Michigan State and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. He appeared in 36 games for the Phils in 1945.

The 1941 season would give the Rookies a consistent home field at the Fort Hamilton Army Reservation in Brooklyn, as well as a consistent coach in Art Dede. A Brooklyn native, Dede scouted for the Dodgers and knew the local baseball scene well. He had a very brief major league career, appearing as a catcher in the Dodgers’ penultimate game of the 1916 season and getting one at-bat.

Playing for Dede that season and the following year would be the first breakout product of the Rookie team concept: An outfielder from James Madison High School in Brooklyn named Cal Abrams. He was a power hitter for the Dodger Rookies and later put together a modest major league career, playing for five teams over eight seasons.

One of Abrams’ teammates on the 1942 club was a pitcher from Salem, N.Y., named Frank Wurm. Though his professional career was interrupted by time in the military during World War II, Wurm managed to reach the majors for a single game in 1944. Allowing four runs in one-third of an inning, Wurm’s major league ERA stands at 108.00, making him one of four men to have a triple-digit ERA.

Another 1943 Dodger Rookie, Larry Ciaffone played Triple-A ball for several seasons, breaking through to the big leagues for a five-game stint in 1951.

As the war years rolled on, the Dodger Rookies continued to play all comers from the New York metropolitan area, as well as locales a bit further afield, such as Kingston and Poughkeepsie. One of the changes made to reflect the general baseball manpower shortage of WWII was that the Rookies would be “rookies” in name only – the team was made up of professionals working in war jobs or in the service and stationed in the New York City area.

Many individuals who played for the Dodger Rookies would find spots in the minor league systems of various big league clubs. When the Dodgers moved west to Los Angeles, however, Dede took his services north to the Bronx, becoming a scout for the Yankees. There, he reprised his concept and called the team “Yankee Rookies.”

From 1958 through 1961, Dede and the Yankee Rookies played a schedule stretching roughly from mid-July through the end of August, usually traveling as far north as Plattsburgh, N.Y., or into Quebec. They did not play many teams within New York City, but instead barnstormed around New York State and parts of New England, even appearing in Cooperstown and nearby Oneonta, N.Y., in 1961. By the time Dede arrived with the Yankees, the Rookies team was composed strictly of individuals who had finished high school but had not yet attended college or signed a professional contract.

Like the Dodger Rookie teams, rosters could often be somewhat fluid throughout the schedule, and players sometimes were plucked off their local squad to play for the Yankee Rookies for brief stints. While the teams received news coverage in local newspapers, often leading up to and after games, there remains a sense of incompleteness when it comes to rosters, schedules, and game results.

Just as the Dodger Rookies graduated some prospects to the majors, so did the Yankee Rookies, and similarly, they did not have lengthy big league stays. Steve Dillon pitched three games for the Mets between 1963 and 1964. Dillon’s teammate on the 1961 Yankee Rookies, Sam Parrilla, appeared in 11 games for the Phillies in 1970. Sal Campisi, who was on the 1960 Yankee Rookie team, had a 50-game major league career for the Cardinals and the Twins.

The Yankees discontinued their sponsorship of the Rookie team after the summer of 1961. Yet, for 22 summers across two major league clubs, the concept pioneered by Rickey gave many young ballplayers the chance to earn a spot in the minors and, for a select few, fulfill their big league dreams.

Matt Rothenberg is the manager of the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum