The question is still asked today by followers of the College of
Wooster baseball program.
How is it possible that Rick Sforzo went undrafted and unnoticed
by Major League Baseball?
And no one can come up with an answer.
ÒI wish I knew,Ó said long-time Wooster mentor Tim
Pettorini, who has coached six Wooster players that have been
either drafted or signed professional contracts. ÒIf I did,
I would have gotten it fixed. I really wonder what he could have
done, had they taken him.Ó
Sforzo, who came to Wooster in 1983 from Holy Name High School in
Parma Heights, Ohio, where he remains the only Ò10Ó
varsity letterman in school history, began his career modestly. He
batted .309 with four homers and 21 runs batted in, while starting
in the outfield and at first base on a team that went 20-19.
After hitting a humble .279 on the spring trip of his sophomore
season, Sforzo’s game heated up and it never cooled down for
the rest of his career. That year, he finished with a .446 average,
four more home runs, and 46 RBI en route to running away with the
first of his three-straight North Coast Athletic Conference
Player-of-the-Year awards and receiving third-team All-American
honors at third base.
Sforzo followed that up with even more impressive numbers his
final two springs, blasting his way to a mind-boggling .468
average, 16 round-trippers, and 77 RBI as a junior, and a .403
average, 16 more homers, and 54 RBI during his senior campaign,
while being placed on the All-America First Team each season.
Overall, Sforzo, who moved to shortstop as a senior to help better
the Scots’ chances at their goal of a trip to the Small
College World Series, remains as their only three-time
All-American. He graduated with seven single-season records and
nine career records and still maintains Wooster-bests for a career
in hits (263), doubles (66), RBI (198), and total bases (461).
ÒBaseball is a numbers-oriented kind of game and
Rick’s statistics speak for themselves,Ó Pettorini
explained. ÒIn the 20 years that I’ve been here, Rick
is the best player I’ve coached and the best I’ve seen
at the Division III level. He is the measuring stick of this
program.Ó
Despite those numbers and that kind of praise, the star infielder
never got the opportunity to play baseball following
graduation.
Instead of moping about it, though, Sforzo refocused and used his
bachelor’s degree from Wooster in business economics to start
a successful career in the competitive corporate world.
For the past decade and one-half, he has worked his way up the
ladder and was recently promoted to assistant vice president of the
Lancer Insurance Company, becoming an officer of the firm that is
the nation’s largest specialty insurer of passenger
transportation vehicles.
Sforzo’s only remaining connection with baseball is in
coaching his three children ´ Paige (11), Zachary (8), and
Madison (5). He and his wife, Suzanne, also help out with their
other sporting interests ´ football, soccer, and track
´ and are involved in raising funds for their school and
church.
