{"id":712574,"date":"2026-05-30T07:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/712574\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T07:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:36:35","slug":"criscione-enjoys-another-home-run-moment-news-sports-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/712574\/","title":{"rendered":"Criscione Enjoys Another \u2018Home-Run\u2019 Moment | News, Sports, Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tIn this 2012 photo, Fredonia resident and former Baltimore Orioles catcher Dave Criscione, right, shares a moment with Boog Powell, another former Oriole, at the Ballpark at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tDave Criscione\u2019s Baltimore Orioles jersey from 1977.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tDave Criscione\u2019s Baltimore Orioles uniform pants from 1977.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame
\n\t\t\t\t
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In this 2012 photo, Fredonia resident and former Baltimore Orioles catcher Dave Criscione, right, shares a moment with Boog Powell, another former Oriole, at the Ballpark at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

When Jerry Bass was growing up in Maryland, his parents took him to Memorial Stadium one December for the Baltimore Orioles\u2019 annual holiday sale. Among the items for purchase at the \u201cBirds’\u201d former home ballpark were player uniforms. <\/p>\n

Bass was especially smitten by one that was worn during the 1977 season, so he bought it.<\/p>\n

The name stitched on the back of jersey No. 40 and also on the waistband of the pants was spelled C-R-I-S-C-I-O-N-E.<\/p>\n

Yes, that would be Dave Criscione, the Dunkirk native who is recognized as one of the finest baseball players in Chautauqua County history and who was on the Orioles\u2019 active roster as a catcher 49 summers ago.<\/p>\n

Looking to find a home for the uniform, Bass, who lives in Reisterstown, Maryland, reached out to Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame president Randy Anderson seeking more information about Criscione, a 2010 inductee.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave Criscione’s Baltimore Orioles jersey from 1977.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to either donate Dave Criscione\u2019s home uniform to Dave and his family, or to the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame,\u201d Bass wrote. \u201d \u2026 I\u2019ve had the uniform in storage for almost 50 years. The week Dave had in the big leagues was very inspirational. The home run he hit was one of my all-time favorite moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, the home run.<\/p>\n

In case anyone needs reminding, Criscione was called up to the Orioles in July 1977 to fill the roster spot of injured starting catcher Rick Dempsey. Although he \u2014 Criscione \u2014 would only have a handful of at-bats during his time in Baltimore, one of them resulted in a game-winning, walk-off, 11th-inning home run against Milwaukee reliever Sam Hinds. Criscione took Hinds\u2019 1-2 pitch, a fastball, over the 360-foot mark in left-center, and became Bass\u2019 hero.<\/p>\n

Bass, who ended up working in baseball for 23 years, mostly as a minor league clubhouse manager, including 10 years as the minor league equipment manager for the Colorado Rockies, said he always thought he would have a basement filled with baseball memorabilia and a place to display Criscione\u2019s uniform, but when that didn\u2019t become a reality, he did what he felt was the next best thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps,\u201d he wrote Anderson, \u201cI can find someone who can appreciate what the uniform means as much as it meant to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dave Criscione’s Baltimore Orioles uniform pants from 1977.
\nPhoto courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

Anderson immediately reached out to Criscione, who now lives in Fredonia. <\/p>\n

\u201cI put it out to my three girls (Keri, Casey and Kylee),\u201d Criscione said earlier this week, \u201cand it wasn\u2019t 30 seconds later that (Keri), who was born when I was in the big leagues, said, \u2018I want that uniform.\u2019 \u2026 I told Randy, \u2018I think it has to stay \u2018home.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Bass ultimately mailed the package to Criscione. It arrived Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty years? That was a long time ago,\u201d he mused. \u201cThe memories were there and this just brings them all back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, his game-winning home run tops the list, but the friendships built with teammates, including Hall-of-Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, shortstop Mark Belanger, outfielder Terry Crowley, and pitchers Rudy May, Ross Grimsley, Mike Flanagan and Tippy Martinez are every bit as important.<\/p>\n

And nearly a half-century after he retired, Criscione, now 74, can add another layer \u2014 in the form of a uniform \u2014 to his baseball memories, thanks to the generosity and thoughtfulness of a man he has only spoken to on the phone.<\/p>\n

Talk about a \u201chome-run\u201d moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably something I should have done years ago,\u201d Bass wrote on Facebook. \u201cI hope I get a chance to meet Dave someday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this 2012 photo, Fredonia resident and former Baltimore Orioles catcher Dave Criscione, right, shares a moment with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,89319,3622,4,125],"class_list":["post-712574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-criscione-enjoys-another","tag-latest-news","tag-mlb","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116662382612914032","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}