By: Alec Johnson, Athletic Communications Intern
Rich Marazzi blazed a unique career path to extensive success.
Marazzi transferred into New Paltz as a junior after earning an associate’s degree from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. Although he was Connecticut born and raised, Marazzi was influenced by a professor at Quinnipiac to test the waters at New Paltz in an attempt to earn a degree in education. After a short visit in the winter of 1962-63, Marazzi was sold and enrolled at New Paltz in the fall of 1963.
Although Marazzi only attended New Paltz for two years, he made friends and had experiences that would last a lifetime. As he put it, “The relationships with your teammates never stop.” Marazzi explains the amazement because he has “reconnected with guys that I went to school with almost 50 years ago.”
In 2012, Marazzi reconnected with his former battery mate, Dan Zipkin, for the first time since 1965. A couple of years earlier he caught up with former teammate Jack Ridolph. Marazzi caught for Zipkin when he pitched an 18-strikeout, record-setting game and vividly remembers the experience, particularly an instance where Zipkin had to strike out four batters to end the inning.
“‘Zip’ threw a pitch in the dirt for strike three,” Marazzi says. “I didn’t realize I had to tag the batter or throw to first base, so I threw to third base, just like it was a strikeout. Our third baseman then fired the ball over the first baseman’s head and the batter ended up on second base. Zipkin got credit for the strikeout, but no out. ‘Zip’ struck out the next three batters so he ended the inning with four strikeouts, unlike any inning I’ve ever seen.
Marazzi is best known for his achievements beyond his time at New Paltz. He stands as an accomplished author of five baseball books and one football book, the most recent titled, A Bowl Full of Memories: 100 Years of Football at the Yale Bowl. He explains that after he got married in 1971, he “started collecting oddities, odd plays that happen in baseball” just as a hobby. Eventually Marazzi became more serious about his new hobby, and in 1980, his first book was published called, “The Rules and Lore of Baseball,” a book that covered virtually every rule in the game of baseball and gave a real life example where the rule would come alive.
He was a long time baseball umpire at various levels and currently occupies the position as a baseball rules consultant for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. He also worked with the Yale University and Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Conn.) baseball teams as a rules consultant. He is the first known rules consultant in major league history and his Ruleball program is the only one of its kind in the country. Marazzi served as the host of “Inside Yankee Baseball,” an AM radio show, for 17 years, and composed over 400 rules columns for Baseball Digest, Yankees Magazine, Referee Magazine, The New England Baseball Journal, USA Today and USA Today Sports Weekly. He also directed and produced a DVD titled Win With Ruleball.
Marazzi came to New Paltz to become a history teacher and a basketball coach. His professional career was spent primarily as a high school social studies teacher and he coached basketball for several years. He subsequently was an Assistant Director in the Connecticut Vocational Technical system where he retired in 1997. While Marazzi claims he was no scholar student—“the kind of guy that had to work hard to get a 2.5”—he took away many invaluable things from New Paltz that helped him get to where he stands today.
“The diversity of the different people and instructors, helped me integrate myself socially,” Marazzi says. “Historically, it was a very interesting time in our country’s history, and we were exposed to many thinkers politically throughout the world. I thought that was invaluable.”
Marazzi, however, cites his biggest takeaway from college being the concept of time management.
“When you’re a student-athlete, you have practice everyday, you have road trips,” Marazzi says. “And around that, you have to work in your class schedule, do your work, papers and reading, so it forces you to organize your time. I think the people who organize time the best are probably the most successful. If I was as organized as I am today, I think I would’ve been a 4.0 student.”
Although a humble Marazzi claims that he does not deserve to be in the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame, his post college career in baseball says otherwise.
“I certainly don’t belong in the New Paltz Hall of Fame for what I did as a baseball player. I was a marginal player; I thought I was a pretty good defensive catcher. I thought I called a good game but I was not a good hitter and I in no way have stats worthy of Hall of Fame caliber. I think the reason why I’m getting this call is what I’ve done in my post college career. “
Marazzi will be inducted into the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014 as a part of the Hall of Fame’s 18th induction class. The New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame was established in October 1982 as a means of recognizing alumni who competed as athletes at New Paltz or those who made a significant contribution to the athletic program at the College and who have distinguished themselves in their professions and their communities. New members have been inducted every few years, with the present number totaling 70 individuals and six teams.
