Joe Garey sets up behind the plate during a 4-2 North Hamilton win against Allentown June 30, 2015 at Nottingham High. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
As the winds changed from day to day for the North Hamilton baseball team this American Legion season—blowing fortunes every which way for both the team and individuals—there was one rock who proved to be immobile.
First-year manager Fred York said the 8-16 squad showed a lot of day-to-day inconsistencies, but one player helped keep it together.
“The consistent thing has been Joe Garey,” he said. “We have a saying here where we talk about punching a clock. We have a punch clock we bring out and when it’s game time between the white lines you put your pants on, do your job and do what you’re supposed to do. That’s what Joe Garey does every day.”
And Garey did it while still learning the intricacies of being a full-time catcher. Ever since he was in little league, he had spent bits and pieces of time at the position. The reason he started there was a familiar tale—his coaches needed someone to fill the role, so they threw some gear on him and had him set up behind the plate.
When he got to Nottingham High, Garey was the full-time catcher on the freshman team. But when shortstop Ahmed Tahoun got pulled up to varsity, Garey took his place. The versatile infielder played third base for varsity as a sophomore.
Some days he missed putting on the gear, other days he didn’t.
“I like catching, I’ve always liked catching because you’re in on every play,” he said. “When I was in the infield, sometimes I missed it…but during the really long innings I didn’t really miss it.”
Garey became the fulltime varsity catcher this spring when Jim Maher took over the Northstars program.
“It was pretty rough at first,” Garey said. “You’ve got to get your body in front of everything. You’ve got to make a nice strong throw down to second all the time. You’ve got to get your mechanics down.”
But Garey was fortunate enough to have a strong tutor in Northstars’ assistant Tom Carr, a former McCorristin High (now Trenton Catholic) and William Paterson catcher, who is a master of the craft. The two worked a lot on blocking balls and perfecting Garey’s footwork.
Despite the fact Garey had caught previously, he was still considered a relative newcomer due to the load he was asked to carry.
“Joe being athletic made a very good adjustment,” Carr said. “He received the ball very well, he just was long on this throwing motion for a catcher when we started with him. So we tried to cut down his exchange time and shorten his throwing motion to speed up his exchange.”
While learning the trade, Garey also served as one of the leaders on a young Nottingham team. He carried that role over to the summer with an equally young North Hamilton team.
“He’s a little bit of a character, but he’s got a lot of character,” York said with a laugh. “And he’s a great kid. He’s a man of few words, but he leads by example. When you’re losing a lot, you get frustrated, but I’ve only seen him punch his glove once on a passed ball that let a run score.”
And when he displayed that rare emotion, he did so subtly, which York appreciated.
“He never showed his frustrations to anyone else,” the skipper said. “He kept himself in the game and that shows the quality of a good leader—emotional self control and trying to set a good example. He’s done a fantastic job. I’m proud to be his coach.”
After taking lessons with Carr, Garey said he felt more comfortable behind the dish once legion season started. He continued to work with the pitchers, most of who he handled in high school.
“Usually coach [Tom] Moffatt calls the pitches, but I felt like I had a handle on them as the season went on,” Garey said. “I knew what pitches they were comfortable with, how to handle them. I talked to coach Moffatt about that, to try to see what we can throw.”
York noticed definite progress in Garey’s catching, from when he first saw him in the fall Legion season. He felt Garey’s already-strong arm developed a quicker release due to the footwork he learned under Carr. And he estimates that “of all the pitches he’s received, I’ve seen maybe five passed balls. He’s a good blocker, and he’s learned to frame pitches better, too.”
York added that Garey worked as hard at his hitting as he did on his catching and, after a slow start, lifted his average into the .290’s by season’s end. Carr is impressed with the way Garey has handled the workload over two consecutive seasons.
“Joe worked all year on his catching and made adjustments to his throwing to cut down runners and really helped us,” Carr said. “Catching wears on you, especially if you’re not used to playing the position for a full season. It can not only affect your catching but also your hitting, and Joe had to make adjustments all year to both, which he did. And he continued to do it in legion, which is a good sign that he can handle it.”
The one thing that was tough to handle this summer was all the losing, but Garey said, “You have to stay positive for all the games. We’re all going to be on the team next year except for two guys. We’re all going to get better.”
Carr feels Garey definitely has the potential to get better, wherever he plays.
“Joe is athletic so he can play a number of positions, and catcher could be one of them in the future,” he said. “If he continues to build his strength and continues to work on his catching fundamentals, catching could definitely be an option if he wanted to play in college.”
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