Retiring Mercer County prosecutor Joe Bocchini is an avid supporter of Hamilton Township sports
The venue was Moody Park in Ewing, where Hamilton Post 31 was playing in the New Jersey American Legion Baseball State Tournament.
A Post 31 batter hit a grounder that he beat out—at least according to one fan. When umpire Rob Skorochocki called him out, the Hamilton fan yelled out “Hey Skorochocki, even Ray Charles could see that guy was safe! Why don’t you just put the other team’s uniform on!”
Skorochocki did not mind being yelled at but, like most umps, didn’t like being referred to by name several times in front of a big crowd. He finally declared, “I want him out of here!”
The patron stood his ground until the late Gordon Tantum, then the Mercer County legion commissioner, came down to guide the fan up to the pressbox, telling him there was an article in the legion handbook saying an umpire could not be referred to by name.
The fan argued, claiming he knew his rights, but finally concurred when Tantum growled, ‘You just get your butt upstairs!’”
“Right after that,” Skorochocki recalled, “(Post 31 coach) Rich Giallella came up to me, and said, ‘I just hope you don’t ever get a traffic ticket in Hamilton Township, because if you do, that’s the guy who you have to go before.”
Indeed, Skorochocki had just ejected Hamilton Township judge Joe “Bo” Bocchini, long known as Post 31’s No. 1 fan. Skorochocki laughed off Giallella’s warning, as he apparently was in no danger of getting that traffic ticket.
“He’s the slowest driver ever,” said John’s son, Rob Skorochocki, with a laugh. “So he was good there.”
That was in 2003. Since then, Bocchini climbed the legal ladder and on Aug. 8 will retire at age 70 after 11 years as Mercer County prosecutor. Bocchini still has the energy to fight crime, but wants to start enjoying life with his new bride, whom he married in late June.
As he faces retirement, Bocchini can look back with pride on not only his career in law enforcement, but on his role as one of the greatest supporters of Mercer County athletics, most notably in Hamilton Township.
Once out of the courtroom, Bocchini will have more time to devote to his beloved baseball teams. The incident at Moody merely illustrates the passion Bocchini has for the teams he backs.
Bocchini grew up in the Villa Park section of Trenton during a time when baseball was king and the NFL was just starting to emerge.
He played for the Trenton PAL Little League and moved on to the Cook AA. When he arrived at Trenton High, Bocchini and 175 other young men went out for the baseball team. His three main positions were second base, third base and catcher. He got beat out at each position by guys who made at least All-County. The third baseman who won the job—Earl Lombardo—got drafted by the Chicago Cubs.
“That was kind of the way it went for me in baseball; I ended up on the tennis team,” Bocchini said, quickly adding, “Back then, they were excellent in tennis!”
Baseball remained in his blood, however, and Bocchini eventually played third base for Trenton Junior College. It was a love affair that never withered, even when he got done playing.
In 1976, Bocchini opened his own law firm in Hamilton. As a single practitioner his initial goal was to get out and meet people and circulate his name around town. One of the ways he did that was by sponsoring a baseball team in the Nottingham Little League, as well as a Hamilton Recreation soccer team.
“So what happens?” Bocchini said. “I enjoyed baseball, I started going to the games and my passion for it really grew out of that. What started as something to help me out with my law practice turned into a lot more than that. It became something that just grew into a real passion.”
Nearly 40 years later, Bocchini Esquire still has a team in the Nottingham Little League. Bocchini went to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1992 when the NLL 12-year-old All Stars were in the Little League World Series.
And what he has done for Post 31 has been nothing short of amazing.
Bocchini began following Steinert baseball games closely in the mid-1980s and his interest carried over into the summer with Hamilton.
“The first time I remember him coming around was in 1987 when we won the states, and made regionals and went down to Maryland, and he was there with us,” said Hamilton manager Rick Freeman, who won his 900th career game on July 17. “That’s when I first met him. We got to know him, and he’s been a good friend of ours. He’s been tremendous for many of our kids and for us.
“I have many faults, and one of them is I can’t raise money. I’m not good at it. Fortunately I have someone like him and Joe Gorla do it for us.”
Bocchini said Gorla is in charge of the checkbook. “He keeps tabs on how the money goes out. If we left it up to Rick, he thinks he’s Steinbrenner,” Bocchini cracked.
Bocchini and Gorla have become the dynamic duo of fundraisers thanks to the Post 31 golf outing that draws between 90 to 100 participants each year and raises up to $10,000.
“We really didn’t have anyone fundraising, we had no one to take that on and raise the money that we needed to run things right,” Freeman said. “He actually donated the scoreboard (at Rich Giallella Field) to us and Steinert. We paid him back, but he bought it for us so we could put it in. And the golf tournament has been a tremendous success for us.”
“I think the golf outing was mostly a group idea,” Bocchini said. “But after our first event I just sort of said ‘Wait a second, we’ve gotta improve this,’ and I volunteered, so to speak, to take over the running of it. Since that time it’s pretty much been me and Joe Gorla.”
Giallella said Bocchini’s efforts go beyond monetary donations.
“He used to come to our Steinert banquet, he was always supporting us when we were in the tournaments,” the former Spartan coach said. “He had a better schedule back then, where he could do that stuff before he became the prosecutor.
“I remember him giving money for graduation to seniors on the team as gifts for their accomplishments. He would just do things. When we started going to Binghamton, he would pay our $900 fee and not ask for anything.
“He’s just great at getting us sponsors for the golf tournament. He just goes out and strong arms people. He enjoys doing that.”
He strong arms them, but not to the point of threatening them with jail.
“No, not that,” Bocchini said with a laugh. “You build relationships. People are used to it over the years. You just say ‘By the way, are you a sponsor again this year? Send me a check for a hundred dollars,’ and some years are better than others. And a lot of it is, people ask me to help with their events, so when it comes time to reciprocate, they help me out.”
His reach goes beyond Post 31 at times. When the North Trenton Little League’s 12-year-old All-Stars beat his beloved Nottingham team in 1991 and got to the state tournament, Bocchini shelled out money for a shuttle bus to take the Trenton fans to and from Spring Lake to watch the state games.
He has also donated to Hamilton’s biggest rival, Broad Street Park Post 313. In fact, of the six former legion players who work in the prosecutor’s office, four are from BSP and just two from Post 31.
“I don’t know how I got more 313 guys,” Bocchini said. “But yeah I contribute to them every year. Who wants to listen to (BSP General Manager) Chuck Giambelluca yelling at you at Fred and Pete’s every morning? And with North Trenton, I had guys like Johnny Stale (John Stellitano, Chambersburg Little League president) saying to me ‘C’mon Joe, do the right thing.’”
Bocchini laughs when he talks about his friends pressuring him but, in actuality, Bocchini said he feels it truly is the right thing to do. It makes him feel good.
“It absolutely does,” he said. “We’ve been such a baseball-minded community. It’s sort of imbedded in me to be a baseball guy. And now I just enjoy it, I truly enjoy it. I do it for nothing more than the joy of hopefully helping these kids become better players.
“It’s more of a time thing for me than the actual money out of my pocket. Even though I’ve put out some nice bucks over the years, they need people to help. The coaches can’t raise the money and run the team at the same time. They need some help.”
Like most folks of his generation, Bocchini is sad to see how travel baseball has chipped away at the numbers and the talent of hometown Little League, Babe Ruth and American Legion teams.
“It’s unfortunate the way I’ve seen this all evolve, the temperament of the game today with the kids today,” he said. “You have all these traveling teams, families are putting out three, four, five thousand dollars for kids to play on traveling team.
“Legion baseball was always king. Everyone played it, everyone scouted it. I’m not trying to take money out of the hands of the guys who want to run these traveling squads. But it just seems the desire to play the way we used to play, it’s just not there.
“Every day when I was at Junior Two, I would be playing pepper against the fence after school. We all played pick-up games, and we all got better just playing with each other.”
And while the numbers have dwindled in legion—from a high of just over 300 teams in New Jersey to today’s number of just over 100—Bocchini feels Post 31 is still fortunate to have two men running the show who truly love the game.
“People like Freeman and Giallella and all the other guys who have coached with them, they’re great people,” he said. “Their heart is in the game and their concern about helping these guys improve is obvious.”
Bocchini has that same heart and concern, which is why, now that he’s retiring, Giallella said jokingly, “Maybe we’ll make him a coach.”
When informed of that, Bocchini’s reply was instant.
“No thanks,” he said. “They let me sit in the dugout once. I sat next to Freeman. Sitting next to Freeman in the dugout was like sitting next to somebody at a wake. He doesn’t talk, he’s so focused on the game. I’d rather go watch paint dry.
“You want to talk about the Odd Couple. Freeman and Giallella are like Jekyll and Hyde or something like that. But they’re not quite Abbott and Costello.”
Bocchini should know, as he has watched them both closely over the years. He has traveled to see Post 31 in Maryland, Delaware and Long Island. He has made the annual July 4 pilgrimages to Binghamton, New York, when Post 31 plays in the Hall of Fame Classic. In fact, he got thrown out of a game there once.
“I’ve gotten thrown out of a few places,” Bocchini said. “But that umpire up there was just horrible. I told him he went to the Stevie Wonder School of Umpiring, and he threw me out. Isn’t razzing the umpire supposed to be part of the game?”
Whether it is or it isn’t, don’t expect Bocchini to stop. When he gets behind a team, he gets behind it all the way.
And a lot of teams have been very fortunate because of that.
Bocchini,
