Major League Baseball has a rich history of father-son duos. Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. once hit back-to-back home runs in an All-Star Game. Bobby Bonds was a star himself long before his son Barry reached his current notoriety. Cal Ripken Sr. coached Cal Ripken Jr. for part of his venerable career. West Windsor has its own father-son diamond duo, with Adam Charnin-Aker, the 12-year-old Little League’s own MVP, hoping to follow his father, Jack Aker, into a life in baseball.
Like many 12-year-old boys, Adam wants nothing more than to become a professional baseball player. Like many fathers, Jack Aker thinks his son has what it takes to get there. What sets this family apart is that Jack Aker has first hand experience spotting the talent it takes to be a ball player. And he knows how to nurture that talent to make it happen.
“He has the ability,” says Jack of his son. “He also knows it will take more than that to get there.”
Aker spent 30 years in the pros. He pitched for seven teams over the course of 11 years, then managed for another 10 years in the minor leagues. He was a pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians in 1986-’87, and likely would have become a big-league manager, but he gave that life up for his wife and children. Now he’s helping children, his own and others, to improve enough to be big leaguers themselves.
“Baseball is a kid’s game,” says Aker, “Everyone who is playing the game at the major league level still has some kid in him.”
Jack Aker Baseball is an instructional system developed for summer camps and private lessons. He started the company after he stopped managing in 1985. A former athlete teaching children was a novel idea at the time, and he remains one of very few major leaguers who devote their lives to teaching children the game.
West Windsor’s kids this summer reaped the benefits of Jack’s knowledge and instruction. Aker, who won the 1966 AL Fireman of the Year award, given annually to the league’s most impressive relief pitcher, helped the town’s 12-year-old all-star team during practices. He then watched from the stands as Adam put the team on his back and carried it to the District 12 championship. It’s the first time the town has won the District championship in 15 years.
To do so, West Windsor beat perennial powerhouse Nottingham in the championship game, 4-3. Said Jack, “It was a great game. It made it even sweeter that we beat the guys that always win.”
Adam says it didn’t matter much to the team that it happened in the same year that their female counterparts also won the District 12 championship, nor were they impressed by accomplishing the feat in West Windsor Little League’s 50th Anniversary season. “It didn’t really make a difference to us, except that it was written on our shirts.”
He says the team’s trademark saying became, “What took us so long?,” referring to the fact that the last time West Windsor won the districts was 15 years prior, before any of the current team members were born. The team got help from a number of unlikely sources, said Aker. “There were some players that hadn’t had great regular seasons, but just got hot during the tournament.”
Adam was the lone team member who was also on last year’s 12-year-old all-star team. He hit four home runs during the district tournament, and added more during the sectional tournament. West Windsor advanced to the final game of that tournament, but fell to South Wall, 5-1.
That ended the season for the West Windsor All-Stars, but Adam wasn’t close to finished. It seems he never will be. He’ll be able to start playing baseball for Grover Middle School this year, but before that, he’ll take the field for the Jack Aker Yankees, a team started in conjunction with Aker’s instructional program. It’s a traveling squad that follows the age level of its star player, who takes the field wearing number 22, the same number his father wore from 1969-72 with the New York Yankees.
Sons of major leaguers are immersed in the game from an early age. Having grown up with the game, Adam has an innate sense of baseball developed through growing up on a baseball diamond, listening to his father teach the game. His pedigree is apparent when he plays. He doesn’t get nervous at the plate, even in pressure situations. He makes difficult fielding plays look easy, at many positions in the field. During the District championship game, he thrived on big-game pressure and hit two home runs, including the eventual game-winner.
For Adam, this was just one more moment on the highlight reel. For the Jack Aker Yankees, he once hit three home runs in a game, and on more than one occasion, has pitched a perfect game.
He did not pitch in the District 12 tournament this year because of an arm injury. Says his mother, Jane: “He’s been putting strain on that arm his whole life. Not just pitching, but shooting hoops in the driveway, or swimming. By having him stop at the first sign of trouble we were able to avoid serious permanent damage.”
The family awaits results from an MRI to determine if he is fully healed. He has no more pain, but will not take the mound again until he receives medical clearance.
Though he couldn’t pitch, Adam found other ways to help his team win. The versatility he displayed is similar to his father, who started his career as an outfielder, in 1959 in the Kansas City Athletics’ organization, as a minor leaguer. He was converted to a pitcher the following year, and in his second pro start threw a one-hit shutout. He says he played in a time when pitchers relied more on smarts and less on speed. He has pitching boiled down to a simple equation: “Pitching is all about throwing strikes that look like they’re going to be balls, and throwing balls that look like they’re going to be strikes.”
This is just one nugget of wisdom that Aker passed on to the all-star team. Aker didn’t coach the all-star team, his duties with Jack Aker Baseball precluded him from taking a more active role with the team. That may be for the best. After a lifetime of listening to his father’s instruction, having a new coach probably did Adam some good. He says, “I probably listen to [All Star Coach Dave Campbell] more than I listen to my dad.”
For the sake of his future in the game, Adam might want to consider continuing to pay attention. Listening to Jack Aker has helped many gain enough knowledge of the game to become managers themselves. Aker coached five players who eventually went on to become managers. Ron Gardenhire (Twins), Bruce Bochy (Padres), Sam Perlazzo (Orioles), and Lee Mazzilli (Yankees bench coach), all learned in the dugout playing for Aker. Aker grew up playing against four-time Manager of the Year Bobby Cox (Braves), and worked under two-time manager of the year Joe Torre (Yankees) when both were managing in the Mets organization.
Jane says Adam hasn’t learned the sport of baseball as much as he’s absorbed it. “He’s learned not from us teaching it to him, but from observing his father instruct, and from watching — on TV and in person — major league games. He’s a very keen observer, and knows and understands the game about as well as any youngster you’ll meet,” says the former sports writer.
The road to the major leagues seems a logical path for this child to take, considering his parents met in the clubhouse of a baseball stadium. Jack and Jane met when she was a sports reporter and he was managing the Tidewater Tides, a AAA Mets affiliate. Says Jane, who covered the Mets for CBS radio and Sportsphone: “I was one of only three women who were regularly on the field and in the clubhouse in New York in the early 1980s. We weren’t treated well by some of the players and the Mets PR people, but Joe Torre, who was then managing the Mets, always defended our right to be there and treated us with great respect.”
While the Aker family tree has Mets’ roots, it’s grown into a Yankee household. Both Jack and Adam say Derek Jeter is their favorite player, and when he talks about his goals, Adam doesn’t just say he wants to be a major leaguer. He says he wants to play for the Yankees.
A 12-year-old phenom, however great his talent or genetic makeup, faces the slimmest of chances to make it to the big leagues. His parents point out that though the odds are long, the playing field is level. “The first step is to become a strong high school player, then a strong college player, and if one can achieve that one has the chance to be drafted. Adam knows it’s a process, and feels he has the same chances as other talented players to make pro ball,” says Jane.
Adam doesn’t feel pressure, whether he’s at the plate in a big situation or thinking about his future in the game. Jack and Jane make a point of not placing any parental pressure on him to reach the same level his father did. “We don’t push him, he pulls us. He tells us where and how much he wants to play, and he always wants to play more. What we do is support his choices, clean his uniform, and drive him to games.”
The Akers have raised not only a budding baseball talent, but also a swimmer who is ranked nationally at the age of 16. Joshua Aker, a student at Peddie, recently competed in Nationals against Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, and was the youngest competitor in many of the events he entered. He is being recruited by Princeton and Stanford, as well as other colleges with top-ranked swim programs. The family plans to move to stay close to Joshua, so Adam will only have to make the decision between High School North and private high school if Joshua becomes a Tiger.
For parents of other budding athletes, Jane offers the following advice. “Introduce the child to as many sports as you can and let them decide which ones they want to focus on. As they get older and choose one or two, it’s the parents’ job to make sure they’re getting the right coaching. Doing the research into people and programs pays off in the form of happy, well-adjusted young athletes.”
It’s clear that Adam is well-adjusted. He’s serious about the game, but still all smiles when he discusses playing. He jokes with his father about baseball, about overbearing parents of his teammates, and about another sport in which he may have already surpassed Jack’s ability. Says Jack: “Baseball players all love golf. When I go golfing, I see a lot of the woods.”
“You mean Tiger?” says Adam quickly.
Adam finished as high as fourth in the Futures junior golf tournament held at various area courses. Jack and Adam teamed up at a celebrity golf tournament at in Scarborough, NY. In the best-ball event, Jane reports, “Adam and Jack’s team finished third out of about 20 teams, defeating foes such as Ron Darling, Gene Michael, Phil Linz, and TV stars from shows such as ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Adam didn’t curb his, he had several best balls, and shot a great round.”
Throughout his time as a player in the major leagues, Jack Aker stood next to history. He was an Oakland A when teammate Catfish Hunter threw his perfect game. Aker was called to warm up in the bullpen in the late innings, drawing boos by the home crowd. He was in the bullpen in Atlanta when Hank Aaron launched his record-breaking 715th home run, which touched ground feet from where Aker stood. He was the last man to throw a pitch against the Washington Senators at home before the franchise was moved to Texas in 1969.
Aker has now devoted his life to helping others realize their future in the game. And the one player whose future matters the most to him is keeping him close to the game. At 66, he’s able to see the game through young eyes, and impart a world of wisdom to those who live for their next time up at bat. After all, it’s a kid’s game.
