Jamie Urso, Baseball Family legacies & a Catcher's perspective

• 🏙️ Deep Tampa Roots: Jamie shares his family’s history coming from Sicily and Cuba in the early 1900s and their place in Tampa’s rich cultural and baseball heritage.
• ⚾ A Grandfather’s Impact: Stories of his grandfather Emilio Almeida — a true baseball guru — who taught generations of kids the finer points of the game and inspired a lifelong passion for baseball.
• 🧢 Little League Champion: How Emilio turned a ragtag team of “misfits” with no uniforms into league champions through strategy, fundamentals, and love for the game.
• 📚 Baseball IQ from the Start: Lessons on situational thinking, strategy, and positioning that shaped Jamie’s approach as a catcher from Little League through high school and beyond.
• 🧠 Catcher’s Perspective: Jamie breaks down the mental side of catching — calling pitches, building trust with pitchers, reading hitters, and managing the whole field.
• 📈 From Leto High to College: How Jamie’s baseball instincts and independence on the field set him apart, earning trust to call his own games and lead from behind the plate.
• 🧐 Seeing the Game Differently: Jamie explains how he still watches baseball — looking for tells, strategy, and subtle signs that others miss — and how he passes that knowledge on to younger players.
• 💬 Coaching the Next Generation: His approach to teaching not just mechanics but hitting philosophy, game awareness, and understanding the strike zone.
• FSU Roots & Baseball Memories: 
  • Touring FSU’s baseball locker room and seeing tributes to Buster Posey and Cal Raleigh 
  • Comparing old-school locker rooms to today’s luxury setups
• From the Diamond to the Firehouse - Transitioning from college baseball to a 26-year career with Tampa Fire Rescue
  • Joining the Tampa Fire softball team, winning tournaments, and competing in the World Police & Fire Games
• Family Legacy in Baseball - Growing up in a baseball-rich family with deep Tampa roots 
• Cousin Joe Urso, legendary head coach at the University of Tampa (multiple national championships) 
• Continuing the family’s passion for the game through coaching and mentoring
• Honoring Shu Shu Wirth  -  Remembering Senaida “Shu Shu” Wirth, Jamie’s cousin and AAGPBL All-Star with the South Bend Blue Sox
  • Her incredible speed, arm, and fearless play — leading the league in stolen bases
  • Preserving her story and legacy for future generations
• Passing the Torch - Coaching his daughters in softball and seeing them succeed in other sports 
• Reflecting on intensity as a youth coach and the lasting positive impact on former players
• Baseball Legends & Local Icons
  Remembering Tampa baseball figure Tony Saladino and his lasting community impact
•  Family connections to Hillsborough H.S. star and Dodgers signee Don Corson 
• Meeting Brooklyn Dodgers legend Sandy Amorós thanks to his grandfather
• Cuscaden Park & Tampa’s Cuban Baseball Heritage
  Recalling packed stands for games between Tampa Smokers & Cuban teams 
• Championship Memories
  • Leading a ragtag Little League team to a title through fundamentals, repetition, and strategy 
  • How his grandfather’s teaching turned kids into real ballplayers

Key Themes: Baseball heritage, family legacy, coaching wisdom, Tampa baseball history, honoring women’s baseball pioneers

You can find Mat at @matgermain.bsky.social or reach Mark at  baseballbizondeck@gmail.com, at iHeart Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and at www.baseballbizOnDeck.com 

 Special Thanks to Williams Ross Chernoff's Nomads for the music Makie Elkino

Transcript

Jamie Urso – Catcher, Family, Community

[00:00:11] Mark Corbett: Welcome to Florida BaseballBiz, and today we have Mr. Jamie Urso here. And I had a good fortune to talk with Jamie in the past because if you want to learn more about baseball and how a lot of it's been evolving over the last hundred years in Tampa, Jamie's a good place to start.

[00:00:28] Not that you're a hundred years old.

[00:00:29] Jamie Urso: No, no, not there yet. 

[00:00:31] Mark Corbett: we look back at family, we look back at community , and how things have evolved and, certainly, , your family has had a great history with the game. If you could kinda gimme, , a basis of. How your family came here and, and some of that sports.

[00:00:48] Jamie Urso: Sure, sure. Absolutely. Well, my family came here on my father's side. They were from Sicily, and they came in about 1906. Uh, and they came and settled in Tampa to work just like all the other immigrant families that came [00:01:00] in. And my, , my mother's family's from Cuba, and they came in about 1905, , from Cuba.

[00:01:05] The whole litany of them came at about the same time, 1905 to 1906. And they came here and settled in Tampa to, to work. And they were all, they all worked in the cigar industry and they were all parts of the mutual aid societies. My, you know, grandparents were members of the, of the Cuban Club and my, um, they were members of the Italian club and they were members of the Centro Austuriano

[00:01:24] So there's all totally entrenched in what we know as Tampa is what it is, the melting pot of all the immigrants. I'm, I'm right smack in the middle of all that. So 

[00:01:34] I love that. I mean, 'cause one you're talking, uh, Cuba and you're also talking what. Uh, Spain as well. Spain 

[00:01:40] in Italy. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:01:42] Mark Corbett: LA coming together and it's amazing to me to see how all those groups got together.

[00:01:48] They worked together. You had inner social needs for baseball. Absolutely. And I mean, you had that richness surrounded by that from, from, uh, your forefathers who were coming here. Right. When, when you look [00:02:00] back to some of the, the grandparents you knew or those before mm-hmm. What did you see as far as their involvement besides just the work?

[00:02:07] , With community or with sports? 

[00:02:09] Jamie Urso: Oh, community and sports. Well, it all comes down to what we're here to talk about a little bit is baseball. And my grandfather, my Cuban grandfather, Emilio Almeida, was just the baseball guy. He was like a, in our family, the baseball guru. , He knew baseball. He was a super duper baseball man as far, not as far as, uh, in his playing prowess.

[00:02:32] But he knew the game and he knew the specifics of the game, and he knew how to teach the game. And lots of us benefited , from his instruction as young kids. And, uh, of course, he had a son, , that was born Daniel Almeida, who was , a star athlete at Jefferson High School. And he ended up signing outta high school with the Phillies and had a nice little, , career in the minor leagues with the Phillies and the Indians.

[00:02:55] , And, , it was in our house. It was baseball, baseball, baseball. [00:03:00] Baseball, baseball, baseball. And it was one of those things, if I spent some time in Ybor City with my grandparents. If I was with my grandfather, we were talking baseball and we could sit there and have a meal and outta the clear blue, he would just drop out, Hey man, on first and second, one out ball, ground ball a third, what you doing?

[00:03:17] And I'd have to answer immediately. And it was just one of those things, you just knew what to do. And it was all the little, little bits and pieces of baseball that, that a lot of kids didn't see growing up because you knows stick in a ball in a glove. But there was little intricacies of the game that my grandfather knew and helped me out a lot and helped numerous kids that he coached out for years and years and years.

[00:03:41] So it was always baseball. Always baseball for us. So 

[00:03:45] Mark Corbett: , We spoke before. I think you mentioned as far as Little League. Mm-hmm. You did have quite the expert coach. 

[00:03:52] Jamie Urso: Oh, I had 'em. Uh, it was funny, I started out playing little League course. Uh, they start much younger now. I was maybe seven. I think I was in first grade or [00:04:00] sixth or seven or first grade.

[00:04:01] And I played, um, at Town and Country Little League. , And, , we had, , played in the Peewee Leagues and then the minor leagues. Well, when I was 10, uh, my. Parents didn't sign me up in time, so it was like a la late comer. So I missed tryouts and missed everything. So I got put on this team of, of all the, the kids that didn't try out, or the, the misfits.

[00:04:23] And, uh, my grandfather said, you know what? I'm gonna, I'll coach that team. I'll take it. So my grandfather along with , a man named Jack Zeller was the manager. His son played on the team as well. He was my best friend, uh, David Zeller. And we. My grandfather took the team and he taught us how to play baseball.

[00:04:44] Of course, I, I've always had him as a grandfather, so it was, he was the guy that taught, but uh, to the other kids, he became a lot of 'em. They called him Abuelo because that's what I call my grandfather as a Spanish for a grandfather. So, uh, fond memories of that. He showed a lot of kids how [00:05:00] to play ball.

[00:05:00] Well, make a long story short, he took that team a ragtag, didn't even have matching uniforms. He had a T-shirt and a hat. The teams had baseball pants. We had nothing. And we won the championship. We won the league championship and we just totally destroyed everybody every week because he had these kids.

[00:05:18] He taught 'em how to do it, how to, he was 60 years old and he was teaching us how to slide. He actually wore, wore an old pair of pants one day. I said, why are you wearing it? 'cause I'm gonna teach you how to slide today. Oh my God. So here he was sliding around at 60 years old and, and um, and he taught us.

[00:05:36] Strategy. Uh, it wasn't, okay, go play guys. It was strategy. He taught the first baseman how to use their footwork at first base to to play the bag correctly. He taught, um, pitchers what you know, , what to throw in different counts , and how to hold the baseball, how to, how to field the ground ball, how to track down a fly ball.

[00:05:56] He, he showed us all that. And the, the thing is, it's one of those [00:06:00] things that you're a little kid, you don't see what really transpired. But later on in life, I was 40, 50 years old and I had kids that I played ball with, said, I still remember your grandfather. He showed me how to play first base. Correctly.

[00:06:15] He showed me how to throw a curve ball. He showed me the how, the correct way to grip a fast ball. He showed me what to do and they, they have fond memories of my grandfather because of what he taught them, because it was always just about, about the baseball. And he would follow it in the newspaper. He had a different hats and , he of course, he was a fans of all the Tampa guys that, you know, your Lou Pinella's and your Tony La Russa's and what have you.

[00:06:36] But you start hearing , the names of guys that came before them, . I played in the leagues, and I remember him talking about Charlie, the curve ball that Charlie Cuellar had who played for the Tampa Smokers. And he said his curve ball , was ridiculous. He would say he just had a lot of bite to it and, and hearing all the names.

[00:06:51] And it's funny, as you, as you meet some of these old men, they all knew him. So he was, uh, his nickname was [00:07:00] El Juaito, which in Spanish means the farmer. He was always planning or grafting something, so they knew him as El Juaito. So, uh, even Al Lopez, uh, I run into him every once in a while and he, he'd always ask, Hey, how's El Juaito doing?

[00:07:12] I said, Hey, Juaito is doing pretty good, you know, but, uh, it's, it is one of those little, it's a, it's a, a tight little group of guys that played in that inner social league back in the, in the thirties, forties, fifties, and even if, if you played for the Elks Club or the Loyal Knights, or the Cuban Club or the Italian Club or the Centro Asturiano, all these guys.

[00:07:37] Knew each other. You know, they, they, they traveled in, in the same circles and they, it was, they all knew it. And they knew I knew him, I knew him. I played against him. We knew each other and we played at Cuscaden park, and we, it was, it was great. So I got to grow up listening, absorbing all this stuff. You know, I don't know if he knew that I was sucking it all in, but I was, and [00:08:00] that's why I still have great memories of that till today.

[00:08:03] Mark Corbett: Is a player, but also as a fan or somebody watching a game, you see it with a depth that, that some, you know, many others don't. I. Right, 

[00:08:11] Jamie Urso: right. 

[00:08:12] Mark Corbett: And, and when I think of youngsters too, which you're talking about with your grandfather, I think of a lot of little leagues, it's hit ball, catch ball run.

[00:08:20] Exactly. And yeah, but the depth of what your grandfather gave you guys Right, exactly. What was, was so much more, I mean, you know, I've seen kids running in a pickle. 

[00:08:30] Jamie Urso: Yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly. He told, he would tell us, here's what you need to do, bail out this way. Especially, uh, he would teach us on how to handle that play.

[00:08:39] He goes, you know, if they run into you, you don't have the ball. You're gonna be, they're gonna be safe and you're gonna get the base gonna interference. And he, he knew these things and he was always, uh, cutting out an article about this, or Did you see this? Did you watch this? Did you just watch this? He, he was a big fan.

[00:08:53] , Of course my idol growing up was Johnny Bench. Yeah. You know, but before Johnny Bench came along, when I was real [00:09:00] little, he loved Tim McCarver. He thought Tim McCarver was the best catcher in baseball. You know, that guy is is he is the man. He's the man. Until Bench came along, of course. And then, um, and I used to watch the, it was always the, the Allstar game was always Johnny Bench on the National League side and Bill Freehand with the tigers on the America League side.

[00:09:17] And you emulate these guys 'cause they're, you know, they're big leaguers and you wanna do like they do and wear your, your uniform like they did and, and you use the same kind of glove they did. And, uh, so, it was him making me watch the Game of the week with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek, , and I would watch there from the first inning to the ninth every out, you know, and he, and as we're watching, he's explaining why.

[00:09:44] So when we had practices. How can we bunt so much? Because, 'cause everybody in the lineup's gonna bunt and you're gonna be able to put the ball wherever you want to. And to this day, I guarantee you I can, I can still drop bunts anywhere, even though I was never a [00:10:00] bunter. 'cause I had a, a speed deficiency.

[00:10:03] So, uh. But I can bunt, and that was from all the times he spent bunting. So when we played the branded baseball that we played as kids, which was more of the station to station, not the game of today, where you got a, you know, a hundred mile or flame thrower and nine guys in the lineup that could hit 50 home runs.

[00:10:24] We moved the guy over, you know, we just got a bunt here, you got a bunt here, you gotta take here, you gotta, and it was just, it was almost like a recipe of this is the way baseball is supposed to be played. And I, I still watch a game today on TV just recently, the Little League World Series. And I'm thinking they gotta bunt here.

[00:10:40] They gotta walk that cat because if he gonna, he is got the potential to do this. And it was just the, the groundwork that he laid of all this baseball iq, you know, that I allegedly have, um, comes out and I still watch ball games and talk to Ball to Friends while we're watching Game Guys I played ball with in, in high school and college, [00:11:00] um, that we can you believe what they did that can you believe they didn't walk that cat?

[00:11:03] You know what I mean? What the heck were they thinking about? You know? And sure enough, and we would go back and forth and text messages, watching ball games on the couch. , When you get to that level, then you start thinking differently. So. But anyway, , that's, that's the whole thing with my grandfather.

[00:11:18] He was just a great instructor. The main thing he had was a, just a passion for the game. He absolutely just loved baseball. He loved it, lived it, loved it. So, 

[00:11:27] Mark Corbett: I mean, and he took that love and parted upon you Yeah. And shared it and, yeah. And you guys also shared it with, with others as well. 

[00:11:35] Jamie Urso: Right? Right.

[00:11:35] Including my, my cousin, uh, Denise, uh, judge, she's a, a, a circuit court, uh, judge in, in, um, the 13th judicial. Her father was Danny Amer. My, my, my uncle. And she has an unbelievable love for baseball. We text each other watching a race game. What was he thinking about? Back and forth. And can you believe that guy that brought that guy in?

[00:11:57] He can't get anybody out. And it's, she's that [00:12:00] passionate about it as well. Super passionate about it. So. 

[00:12:04] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Being, being a fan who knows a lot. Sometimes you can be painful. It 

[00:12:08] Jamie Urso: can be, it can be. It's hard to watch sometime. I remember I was watching a game a couple years ago where, , there was a guy throwing a no-hitter, and they, they zoomed in on him.

[00:12:16] His, um, his glove and hand. I go, and I, and I saw it in two seconds. He's got tar, he's got tar on his glove and nobody's seeing this. So I, I immediately jumped on Facebook and I go, are you seeing this tar on the guy? And then all of a sudden it started like a, like 4th of July. Pow pow PP. Yeah, we saw it too.

[00:12:36] Can you believe I pow, pow, pow and yeah. Cheating. So, but anyway, that's the, if you're not, what's I Ill saying, if you're not cheating, you're not trying as that goes Oh yeah, yeah. To a certain point I hear, yeah. Certain point. 

[00:12:52] Mark Corbett: Well, I, I mean that's, that's part the, I know to 

[00:12:55] Jamie Urso: me, 

[00:12:55] Mark Corbett: I started out saying, well, baseball is a game of deception.

[00:12:58] Yeah, 

[00:12:59] Jamie Urso: [00:13:00] absolutely. 

[00:13:00] Mark Corbett: And I mean, there you are as a young catcher. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You're giving signals 'cause so that batter's us going to know what's coming. Right. Exactly. And there's things, well, as a catcher, uh, well, tell us a little bit about your role as, as a catcher in, uh, the battery, the conversations and what.

[00:13:18] Jamie Urso: Oh, well, you got, of course, you, you have to have confidence in the guy is throwing to you, and he in turn has to have confidence in you to throw whatever he wants, knowing you can handle it. And that happens. And, and, and that sets the, the tone of a game be when a pitcher has confidence in, you said, if I could throw this slider and it gets in the dirt, I know Jamie's gonna eat it up.

[00:13:36] He's gonna block it, or I can throw this pitch. But at the same time, he's gotta respect what you have coming across to play. Hey, listen, your curve ball is not biting today. Your fast ball has just got no giddy up and it's flat. We need to just stay away from that. Let's, let's do this and talk to each other between innings and that's, and then of course, your manager or your coach always comes to you as a catcher or a pitcher.

[00:13:57] Listen, what's go, what's, what's, what's the umpire calling? Well, that was one [00:14:00] of those things that I learned as well. I said, listen, he's giving us six inches on the outside part of the plate. Let's, let's stay right there. He's gonna give it to us. We're taking it. And let, we also let the baters know, listen, this guy's gonna ring you up.

[00:14:11] If that pitch , looks about six inches outside, he's gonna ring you up on us. Look at that. So there's a lot of little different dimensions of the game that, that, , you just, you take for granted that are there, that you have to have that relation between the, pitcher, catcher, and here's what we're seeing.

[00:14:29] And of course, your catcher's seeing the whole field. You got a guy that, you know, you wanna live on the inside part of the play. You maybe you wanna yank your, your, your third baseman over a little bit and your left fielder over a little bit, you know, move 'em over here. We're gonna be coming over here, so you need to get over that way.

[00:14:43] So those are the things and. Part of growing up with a guy like my grandfather. You knew those things. I knew those things. I was the only kid in little league that was moving outfielders and people were, what are you doing? We're moving this guy. 'cause he has a tendency to hit it over there. And before there were scouting [00:15:00] reports, we had scouting reports.

[00:15:01] And my grandfather always said, watch them take infield. And we always sit there and my, my entire team with my grandfather coaching me. 'cause my grandfather coached me all the way up until I started playing ball in high school. He would make sure you watch infield as you can see who can throw and who can't throw.

[00:15:18] You can see how they do this and how they do that. So watch the outfielders, throw in home, throw into the bases, see who's got the arm out there. Then we know we, we can maybe take an extra base on that guy because he did that. We're, and we're 10 and 11, 12 years old and he's imparting that kind of wisdom on us.

[00:15:35] So that was a little, a little ahead of the game compared to everybody else because. He showed us all that stuff and I still to this day, you know, still look at a baseball game the same way he did. And we did, because I know where everything should be and where they should go. So 

[00:15:52] Mark Corbett: now you were talking about his grandfather.

[00:15:54] Did you, you basically, he was your coach until you got to high school? Was it high school? Yeah, 

[00:15:59] Jamie Urso: I went to [00:16:00] Leto High School. Yeah. Leto High School. Leto High School. Yeah. 

[00:16:02] Mark Corbett: So, so tell me about Leto High School. I mean, af after that wealth of knowledge and experience that your grand 

[00:16:08] Jamie Urso: I was, I was lucky. I, I, I, I wasn't gonna, all I heard was my, because back then high school was sophomore through, through seniors.

[00:16:15] It was three years of high school. It was 10th, 11th, and 12th. Uh, eighth and ninth, you were in junior high and there's no, there was no, uh, baseball. So when I gotta high school, uh, I didn't, I was gonna try out for the team. I was, nobody. Sophomores don't make the team. So you know what? My grandfather, you need to get out there and give it a shot.

[00:16:32] Now, I tried out and it turns out that. The guy who was my high school baseball coach, Frank Kaori, played in the inner social league, and he played against my grandfather. And they kind of, kind of knew who, who each other were, who they were. Uh, Frank Kaori played for the Italian club, and uh, he, I remember your grandfather because he was a manager of the Cuban Club.

[00:16:55] I said, yeah, yeah. And so right [00:17:00] away, you know, he, it was a, the baseball IQ came out, you know, and one of those things that, that doesn't happen now that it did back then was I called every pitch. I never looked to the dugout for a, what am I throwing next? Yeah. Never. It was mean Queen, me and my guy on the mound and who had confidence in what he was doing, and I had confidence in what he was doing.

[00:17:24] We would call the whole game, even in college, I, I didn't, never looked over , to the dugout to, to call a pitch. So it was. Different sets of, not rules, but how I was groomed to be a catcher and, and knew how to move a ball inside and outside and see what a hitter's weakness was, where he was standing in the box, okay, we can get away with throwing a ball away or where, let's waste a pitch here, your 0 - 2 , you know, things like that.

[00:17:53] So yeah, I played three years at Leto to high school was great and, uh. I was a little bit [00:18:00] ahead of the game. I was, I was, I started my first high school baseball when I was 15 years old. I was dying. , But because of him, I kind of, knew what I was doing because , he groomed me to be a catcher.

[00:18:12] It was one of these kids that put the gear on. I was a catcher when I was seven, and I was a catcher of the last baseball game I ever played. So, I always caught, I always caught, 

[00:18:22] Mark Corbett: I have the greatest respect for catchers, my gosh, Jamie, I look at your, your coach in high school, he must have had all the confidence in the world with you. If he's, he's in that say, Hey, look, look. Go over here, buddy. I, I'm telling you what to do. 

[00:18:32] Jamie Urso: No, no, no, no, no, no. He, he, he knew before the, we would talk before the game and, and, and he knew what his pitchers had.

[00:18:39] And of course, in the bullpen when before the game started, you could always give a good, you know, idea of what, what he's got going on as far as, how it is with everything. You have good days and you have bad days. Yeah. , Some days my arm felt like a, like, , I could throw a ball over the center field fence for home plate and know, some days I felt like I could barely get it back to the pitcher.

[00:18:56] You know, it is one of those things, but. In the bullpen [00:19:00] if, you know, the guy's got a, his fastball's hopping, his curve ball's biting, you know, uh, you know, you know, and now you know, you go translate that to the game. And now we play, play it that way. Uh, and, uh, before the game, listen, the curve ball is done biting today.

[00:19:13] Let's stay away from that. Let's go with slider, change up fastball. And you know, every once in a while we'll get a guy, maybe eight or nine hitter, a 7, 8, 9 guy. We'll throw him the curve ball, just maybe as, as a change up type thing. So, uh, literally never had a, had a, a coach or manager call a pitch for me.

[00:19:33] And we always, and, and I still have pitchers that I caught to today that we, we, that's what we did. Yeah. You know, if they didn't like what I was flashing, they would tell me to, you know, change it. We would change it. But then, you know, if I was really confident on what I wanted, I would really be. Like shaking my head and giving, and I, and I would double start pumping that finger or two fingers down like that.

[00:19:55] And they knew that I really, really, really wanted that. And they would, uh, and they would, [00:20:00] you know, sometimes, and of course if I made a mistake and the guy throws a hanger or whatever, hits a home run gas, that's on me. That's me. You know what I mean? I, I called for it. You threw it. He he hit it out. That's on me.

[00:20:10] Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, it was, it was a different time. Now, most of the kids, they, you see 'em looking at the dugout every pitch. They, they turn their head, they look at the dugout and they're getting a sign from their coach or or manager telling, Hey, throw fastball here, curveball, change up here, whatever. But back in that day, it was none of that going on.

[00:20:26] Well, that going on. 

[00:20:27] Mark Corbett: Well, I, I like the, the sense of independence where you're actually handing the game over to the players. Right. And you're, you're giving a sense of trust to them. Right. And, and a good coach knows that they've already given those players the education. To do well. 

[00:20:43] Jamie Urso: Right. 

[00:20:43] Mark Corbett: But sometimes we need opportunities to fail as well as to succeed.

[00:20:47] Right? Sure. And, and, and if they're calling you continuously from the dugout Yeah. That's sometimes 

[00:20:53] Jamie Urso: a miss. Yeah. And so it's missed because you don't, you don't, you know, only time you're gonna talk to him. You're not gonna go out there every pitch and say, Hey, how's your fastball going today? I said, [00:21:00] no. Oh, it's, it's between innings.

[00:21:02] You'd go in and say, listen, fastball is flat today. Um. Curve ball is, is just spinning, you know, uh, there's not, there's no bite. It's, uh, he's, he's his, um, for some reason or other, his arm slots off. He's, and he's, he's gone more three quarter and his ball's sailing or, or what have you. It's done. Things you start looking at and you see, and I, I told, I remember I told you the story, uh, uh, one of my best friends growing up, we played high school ball together.

[00:21:30] We played college ball together. , He, , played an inner squad game and, , I was batting against him and he threw me a curve ball and I hit a double. He goes, bro, I go. I'm gonna tell you why you stick your tongue out every time you throw a curve ball, he whatcha talking about. He goes, every time you throw a curve ball, you stick your tongue out.

[00:21:48] And I, and I, and I, it was a tell and I, and I, and I saw it and I said, oh, here comes curve ball. And I sat on it and hit a nice ball. And after getting, bro, how did you, I said, need to keep your tongue in your mouth. He [00:22:00] goes, otherwise, everybody's gonna figure out you're throwing a curve ball here. But, uh, it's those things you look at and just l because of the way I was taught, I looked at all of that.

[00:22:09] Yeah. I looked at all, I, I, I scanned the field every, between, every pitch. I looked at all of it, see where my guys were, and not just giving the pitcher the signals that what, you know, what I wanted him to throw or what he wanted me, what he wanted to throw to me. I was scanning. Scanning. So, and looking, you have to, where's the guy standing in the box?

[00:22:29] Where's he, what's he doing here? What's, where's he gonna be? You know? So 

[00:22:33] Mark Corbett: Well, Jamie, do you find yourself now. If you're watching a, a game MLB on tv, do you find yourself looking for tells from, 

[00:22:41] Jamie Urso: oh, I look, I look for, I look for tells. I look, I literally look for, tells Uhhuh when they show the angle from above toward home play and they have the, the, the pitcher's hand in the glove.

[00:22:52] I'm looking to see what position is hand in. 'cause I, I just start looking for things like that. Is his hand cocked over this way? [00:23:00] He's gonna make, he might be gripping for slider if his hand's cocked over up to the right. Is he, is he gripping for fastball? You know, and of course now you, they go to the mouth and they cover their mouths 'cause somebody's gonna read their lips or what have you.

[00:23:12] Nobody's covered their mouth. We wanna talk, say whatever we want to, but, uh, yeah, I, I still, I, I find myself. Looking, looking for, tell. Now, this past couple weeks, of course we were watching the Little League World Series and, and I'm, my wife and I are watching the game and I'm screaming at the tv. She goes, you know, they can't hear you.

[00:23:30] I go, yeah, I kinda know that. But this, this kid that's up the bat, it's their best player. But he's, he's his, his, his feet are right on the plate. Mm-hmm. And he needs a, if, if he would back off four inches. 'cause he's naturally just a good hitter. He's gonna give himself a better opportunity. 'cause he's getting tied up on that inside part of the plate and he just backs up four inches.

[00:23:53] And guess what? The next time he came about, he had backed off the plate and he got, I think he hit a home run or a double. I said, [00:24:00] you just, , those things and those, those, those little hitting philosophies and what have you. and I coached my daughters in, in softball and I coached, uh, uh, fast pitched softball at the high school level here at Plant High School.

[00:24:15] And sometimes when it was a rainy day or what have you, and we was talking, I, I just sat there and talked hitting with them. And not mechanically, but philosophies. What are you thinking about when you're up there? You know what I mean? What are, what, what, what, what's going through your mind? What, and to me, the most important thing about being a hitter is knowing the strike zone.

[00:24:35] If you don't know what the strike, you don't, if a ball or strike, then, you need to take a step back , and start from square one and learn the strike zone a little bit. And there's little things that as you progress up in advance, through ball from little league to, to, to pony league, to whatever, to high school, the college, the pros, what have you, those, those things change.

[00:24:55] You know, those things change. You know, when you're in little League help these [00:25:00] guys with Little League sometimes, I always tell the kids Best pitch, you're gonna see your entire bat is gonna be the first pitch. So there's an advantage of taking a pitch and advantage of not taking a pitch. I said, but in Little League.

[00:25:14] I, I had all my hitters. Guess what? Best thing you're gonna see is the first pitch that cat's gonna throw you. 'cause he wants to get ahead in the count. Now the big leagues that you might get a 12 six curve ball for strike one and you're sitting on it. You know what I mean? That's 'cause they could throw it for a strike.

[00:25:30] But these kids in little league can't throw that pitch for a strike usually, and they're gonna come right at you. So get ready. So I was always a. A proponent of, uh, let's, let's free swinging. Let's get, let's get swinging the bats here. Let's not sit and take a bunch of pitches. Now the kid's struggling.

[00:25:45] You go backwards, you know, Hey, let's take a couple pitch. This guy's having a tough time. But, um, it's those things, uh, that you just learned and learned and learned. And I learned it from that old man, that old, that old man , he knew all that business. So, [00:26:00] and he learned it from guys that he played with, that played, had played pro ball, you know, and had been in the, in the big leagues for a little while and came back to Tampa, what have you.

[00:26:08] Or, or they were the twilight of their career, decided I'm gonna play in the, in the social league for a little while, you know, and, and he learned from a lot of guys that had played high level of ball. So 

[00:26:18] Mark Corbett: I want to come back to for a minute about, you know, who you saw in the community, the pro ball players who came back.

[00:26:25] Mm-hmm. And, you know, some, maybe some similar, learn some things there. But for now, I would like to, uh, to take a look at that step. From high school to, what was it? Hillsborough Community College. Hillsborough Community College. Yeah. How, what was, how did you take that step? How were you introduced to say, this is a college I want to participate?

[00:26:42] Well, 

[00:26:43] Jamie Urso: I, you know, my senior year in high school, I took, I had a, I had a, a few scholarship offers, uh, , USF didn't want to give a full ride. I only wanted to give a partial ride. And, and, uh, my high school baseball coach, , his son was actually the head baseball coach at Edison, , junior [00:27:00] college. And, , he expressed a lot of interest in me, , going to Fort Myers to play, and then, uh, Valencia College as well, uh, in Orlando.

[00:27:09] but Hillsborough Community College, I knew some, some two of my family members had played there. And it was a hotbed of getting, like Lou Garcia, who, which the, was the coach at the time. He started the program there and he built into a national JUCO powerhouse, and he had all the talent in the world in his backyard.

[00:27:31] So it was one of those things, Hey, this guy's playing over there. This guy's playing over there. And, and, and one night I, I had just graduated from high school. He had come to see me play a couple times and, and of course my grandfather and Lou knew each other. They played in the inter social league together.

[00:27:45] And, um, and my uncle Danny had been, uh, their, uh, assistant coach at HCC and he came to see me play a couple times and outta the clear blue one night, uh, in big league, right after I graduated, he came to the, to the, to the ballpark and offered me a scholarship. [00:28:00] So, um, I'm, I'm, I'm in, you know, so I'm, I'm in.

[00:28:06] , And the transition from, um. From high school to college. It's, you know, it's, it's like a step up from anything else. Like, pitchers throw harder, you know, and guys hit harder, you know, guys run faster, you know, they got, you know, uh, it's, you gotta step your game up. You really, you wanna see what you got.

[00:28:27] You gotta step your game up. So it's one of those things you, once you see a little bit and see it, the game starts slowing down a little bit. Um, I, our first few weeks of college, uh, practice, oh my God, these guys are throwing, , some of the guys I was catching in the bullpen, these guys are throwing 95 miles an hour, some of the giddy up on this stuff.

[00:28:42] And, um, but you acclimate, you know, you acclimate. And, uh, it was, it was a heck of an experience. The best part about it, I thought, was, uh, we got to play all our home games at Al Lopez Field, which was great. And, uh, man, in high school, you, you were the grounds crew. But man, over there we had our grounds crew. We [00:29:00] had a guy painting the bases and painting home, played before the game and chalking the field.

[00:29:04] It was so nicely groomed. This is beautiful. And it's weird how you go to play in some of these bigger ballparks in college. It makes you feel play better. I mean, it makes you, it steps up your game. 'cause you're playing on a nice field and you got a nice uniform and you got nice stuff and it's, man, you wanna, God, this is, hmm.

[00:29:23] You know, I'm, I'm there, you know, and this is, this is great. But it was, it was, it was good. It was a good experience. A good experience. 

[00:29:30] Mark Corbett: I, I've always thought the Florida Complex League has the benefit of these spring training facilities. Oh my God. Team. Oh my God. And it has to elevate. I, I feel a little bit now from the Tampa Tarpons this year since they've been kind of ousted as raised.

[00:29:43] Right. Taking over George. Right. I guess HC chil for community college. 

[00:29:49] Jamie Urso: Yeah, they have, 'cause they have a dedicated field there as well over there at Steinbrenner Conference. That was for h For HCC. That was part of the, I guess it was part of the, the whole land agreement when they built the stadium. 'cause it was, I think part of that [00:30:00] was Hillsborough Community College's property, I think.

[00:30:02] 'cause when I was playing at HCC, we had, of course, Red's land, which it was Reds land back then. It wasn't, it wasn't a Yankee complex. And, um, at, right at on campus, we had right behind the basketball gym was. A batting cage that everybody had a key to, and everybody had a bucket of balls. And we, hey, when go, let's go hit.

[00:30:26] So I call a buddy of mine, Hey, we're gonna, I'll meet you at HCC, at the BA basketball court. And they had, um, a Iron Mike. You know what an Iron Mike is? It's a old school arm throwing batting machine that had a hopper fill a full of baseballs, hit a button and hit till they till you run out, pick 'em up and do it again.

[00:30:42] And that, man, we would do that for hours and just hit and hit and hit because we didn't have access to all this stuff. These, a lot of these teams now, even in high school, have beautiful fields. And, and it's, you know, it's changed. It's, it's, it's, it's changed a little, you know, heck at Leto high school, the outfield, [00:31:00] it was the, sometimes the grass was so high you couldn't see the, I couldn't see my players' feet.

[00:31:08] Mark Corbett: Uh, I was looking, a friend of mine in the USA Women's National Team pitch Meggie Meidlinger. She's also an architect. Oh, well, lo and behold, university of Georgia needed somebody to go ahead and rework their baseball field, so she got to take both her loves. Wow. Bring 'em into one. And it's amazing. I was looking at some of the photos and I was looking at the interior of the, of the locker room herself and.

[00:31:35] Oh my gosh. Amazing. Yes. 

[00:31:38] Jamie Urso: Amazing. I, I took a tour tour or a few years ago at, uh, up at FSU of their baseball locker room. And then of course they have a locker dedicated to Buster Posey. Uh, 'cause he was, you know, one of the best players they ever produced. And now, ca Cal Raleigh is killing it right now with the, uh, Mariners and he's a FSU guy.

[00:31:56] But that locker room was, oh my God. I was, you know, we [00:32:00] never had a locker room. And heck, when we traveled to play Florida Southern in Lakeland, we played at the old Henley Field. They had a locker room for the visiting team. And it was chicken wire. It was chicken wire lockers with, uh, an old, uh, urinal in the middle of the room.

[00:32:14] That was, that was the locker room. These things there. They have a, uh, lazy boys at FSU and they had leather chairs and your uniforms hanging there. You know, my god, I used to all this business. But, uh, things have changed. Times have changed. And, uh, 

[00:32:30] Mark Corbett: but you didn't stop with C though 'cause you went in what?

[00:32:33] Uh, what. Is it inner social and firefighters as well? 

[00:32:36] Jamie Urso: Well, yeah. When, when, once I, I was done playing ball. Uh, but in, in college I was, I just had some is arm issues and I just, you know, just kind of disillusioned with the whole arm thing. And so I said, you know what? I played a long time. I'm done. I'm gonna focus on a career now.

[00:32:51] And my uncle, who had been a firefighter as well, uh, got me into the fire academy and I, um, uh, was hired by Tampa Fire and, [00:33:00] uh, was there for 26 years. I retired from there in 2009. But it was funny, the, the first day on at work, um, I got a phone call, uh, I hadn't been at fire station for an hour, phone rings and the phone call for Urso.

[00:33:14] I go, who in the heck is calling me? It's my first day at work and I'm thinking to myself, man, my wife's calling me already at work. I'm, I'm gonna be so mad. And, um. It was, um, it was a, a fire captain. Then it became, he ended up becoming the city of Tampa fire Chief Pete Boto. He goes, Hey, you have, uh, you, Jamie Urso, your sir?

[00:33:32] I go, yes, sir. You have softball practice in the morning. I said, no, I don't. He goes, yeah, you do. I go, no, I don't. He goes, yeah, you do. I go. What do you mean? He goes, you're on B shift. That's most of the guys that play softball for this team are on B shift and you're gonna be playing for Tampa fire. I go, okay.

[00:33:47] Uh, so I had to call, I actually called my wife to tell her, Hey, can you bring me a glove and some cleats? I got practice in the morning. She was befuddled. What are you talking about? I go, yeah, I got softball practice in the morning. So for there, I played about 10 years and we had [00:34:00] a, we had some of the best times.

[00:34:01] We had some guys I had played ball with in college and guys that some guys had played pro ball and what have you. We had a great team at Tampa Fire for years, and they, they put out so many good teams at Tampa Fire. Uh, not only the teams I played on, but some of the other teams that played on, they traveled to Hawaii.

[00:34:17] They, we went to the World Games in Vancouver and played in the World Fire and police games, and it was just a. Great time playing softball with these guys. And, and it was kind of relive our, our youth, but we, most of the guys were playing, still passionate about playing ball, right? So even though it was fun, it was serious at the same time, because we wanted to win.

[00:34:39] You're not, you don't, you don't go up to a decent level playing anything without having that desire to win that competitive spirit. And we all had that and we wanted to win. So it was, it was, it was really, really good. Really good. We had a, we had a great time building a lot of good friendships, a lot of great, great friends on that, on that team.

[00:34:55] So, uh, it was a, it was a good time. Good time. 

[00:34:59] Mark Corbett: Well, I, I want to thank [00:35:00] you and all the folks that you've worked with, you know, to protect us. I appreciate it and it means a lot, brother. Um, I appreciate it. No, it does. It's, it's every day. So I. I have been over the years have been interesting too. I think we said this before, how many folks that I've seen who are involved in baseball or coaching or scouts mm-hmm.

[00:35:19] Or something. Quite often I'll find firefighters in those groups too, because they allowed their jobs, allowed 

[00:35:26] Jamie Urso: them their time, the time to do. Right. Like I saw, I coached at playing high school for that season, a fast pitch softball at plant, and I had my schedule and I worked one day on, two days off. I was in investigations and, , let me , part, some wisdom on, the game.

[00:35:40] I was more there. I was, I was, it's funny, I was working at Plant High School on, as on the coaching staff of the soccer team. And I, I took my grandfather's role. I was the teacher. I was teaching how to get a ground ball, how to play here, why do you need to play there, why do you need to play that? And, , I was parting wisdom on, on [00:36:00] them about how the game should be played.

[00:36:02] Wow. So this. 

[00:36:04] Mark Corbett: You, you know, um, here, whether beyond your playing and imparting wisdom, whether you're talking like with your daughters with softball mm-hmm. You know, are the little leagues mm-hmm. And the, the wisdom that was imparted upon you with your 

[00:36:18] Jamie Urso: grandfather. Mm-hmm. 

[00:36:20] Mark Corbett: What, what is the, what is the next Urso family?

[00:36:23] If, if we look beyond just your nuclear family here, what would we see in, in baseball or sports? 

[00:36:29] Jamie Urso: Well, it's, it's continuing to today you, and you know, as good as well. My cousin Joe Urso is the head baseball coach at the University of Tampa. Unbelievable success. Uh, just another unbelievable baseball mind.

[00:36:42] Um, his brother Salvi was a, a pitcher, ended up playing in the big leagues in Japan. , His two half brothers played ball. They were a little older than me. , And he's involved in the Italian American Baseball Federation as well. And he's just a super guy and he is a super coach and a super, [00:37:00] how would you say it, selecting talent is his, he, he knows if you could play, you can't play.

[00:37:05] It was funny, I used to talk to him, Hey, these guy, he used to watch me come play. He used to come watch me play Joey and Salvi when they were little. And , they just. He's, what he's done at the University of Tampa is unbelievable. Um, national seven, six national championships, seven national championships, uh, just for him.

[00:37:21] And, uh, it's, and guess what? Some of the guys that are, that are played for him are products of those old Tampa guys. Tony Saladino, his, his grandson played on that team. I'm so glad Tony, Tony got to see and see Nico play, Nico play. And those, the guys you run into that at the ballpark that were still, uh, they played ball with my, with my uncle.

[00:37:44] They knew my grandfather. They knew these guys. And he's basically carrying on that same legacy to the next group of guys. The next group are coming down the pipe. So now I got my grandson. He's, he's, uh, seven years old. He is not so much interested in baseball right now, but if [00:38:00] there, if he does show interest and he does wanna play.

[00:38:02] Guess what? I'll be the first one to sign up to be right there with them to show 'em anything that I know, everything that I know, and that just continues the line. It keeps on coming and keeps on coming. You know, the game has changed a little bit here, but it's still a, a stick and a ball, you know, and a glove.

[00:38:19] And, uh, and there's still, , four bases in the left and center and the right field, and the pitcher's mound is still 60 feet, six inches away and 11 inches tall and home plate at 18 inches wide. My grandfather go back to that, used to have a string in his trunk with a spike that he had black electrical tape at the exact distance of all the bases where they should be.

[00:38:48] And before the game, after they marked a field, he'd, he'd take that thing out there and go, Hey, first base is short. Eight inches. That's the old days when we didn't have the, the bags that stuck in the thing. They were an [00:39:00] actual bag, you know, with the strap and a little thing, you know, and he, he'd measure 'em out.

[00:39:07] Second base needs to be over here. And, and that's, that's to the extent he took it. And it was, uh, it was legit. It was legit. But, but going back to what we were talking about, yeah. Hopefully the legacy continues, man. It's ingrained in my, like I said, I can't watch a ball game without being critical or, or I, I have to think about, and I'll sit with my, even with my wife sometimes I go, here comes, here, comes curve ball.

[00:39:36] And this guy's striking out. I could tell by his body language and, and boop, she, she looks at me, she goes, I things, these things I know I might not know too many things, but I know that. 

[00:39:48] Mark Corbett: Well, and it gives you, we were talking about earlier about sometimes it's, it's frustrating. Yeah. You know, but it gives you a richer, uh, to me, a fulfilling of, of watching that game.

[00:39:59] It's not [00:40:00] just hitting the ball. Catching the ball. Right, right. And, and those rules and all. Like you were watching, well, I'm not gonna put this so much here, but, uh, my brother and I went up to Williamsport. Oh. Saw the semifinals this year. Jesus. And it was amazing. Yeah. I'm, I'm not gonna put this sport in, but you saw that one where four times in a row.

[00:40:22] Yeah. There was a pickle between you first and Yeah. Yeah, 

[00:40:25] Jamie Urso: exactly. It was, yeah. It was a team from Connecticut that kept, they, they, the guy kept on going and they were just, you know, and it, they took advantage of a 12-year-old mind not knowing what to do, versus he should come out, he should have said, listen, hey, listen.

[00:40:44] As soon as I get the ball back, throw it to the mound. Yeah. Call time. 

[00:40:47] Mark Corbett: I won't cut this part out. I don't want to criticize those kids. No, no, no, no, no, no. But yes, I, yeah, just hand. 

[00:40:56] Jamie Urso: I I did the same thing. I I, I did the same thing. I was watching this one of the [00:41:00] games and there was a, a pitcher from what? And they, they there, uh, 'cause everybody bats, so they were at 10, 11, 12.

[00:41:07] And you know, this kid's four foot, nothing weighs 80 pounds. And I'm thinking, and he's their last place hitter. And I mean, he's not a good player, but I'm thinking, why are you And I was, this comes outta my mouth. And if you're gonna cut this out, why are you being cute with this kid who's had not had a hit in the little League World Series and you're throwing in curve balls, rear back and fire it right across the plate and make him do something.

[00:41:32] And I'm thinking, so why are you being cute? And you end up walking him. Why that kid should have never been walked. Yeah. Never been walked. And guess what thing thing translated to 1988, I was at the fire station watching the. Dodgers in the, A's in the World Series when, um, west New, uh, Eckersley gave up the home run to Bob, to, to, um, Kirk Gibson.

[00:41:59] [00:42:00] And it was, I guess there was two outs. And the batter before was hitting like a, a buck 80. And he and I said, Eckersley challenge this cat. He's not going to, he, he doesn't have power. He is not gonna hurt you here. And he got cute with him and walked him and here comes limping up Kurt Gibson to hit the home run with one leg or whatever he was.

[00:42:23] I go and I was looking at every buddy, Mike, what in the hell just happened here?

[00:42:30] Oh man. 

[00:42:32] Mark Corbett: Well, we'll go back and resume here. I just, thanks for sharing. It's, it's good. It's good. It's, um. One of the things I was glad to meet you, Jamie, and 

[00:42:42] Jamie Urso: Oh, great. To meet you. 

[00:42:44] Mark Corbett: Part of it, you know, was from, uh, something I put up on YouTube, kind of a, a summary of a relative of yours. Yeah. And fortunately, you, and I think one of your cousins had responded to that mm-hmm.

[00:42:55] And learned a little bit more. Right. Uh, can you tell us a little bit more about that, uh, that [00:43:00] relative Yeah. We're 

[00:43:00] Jamie Urso: talking about, uh, Senaida (Sonida_ Shu Shu Wirth, who, who was, uh, uh, from Tampa. , She was a cousin, uh, of mine. , Her mother and my great-grandmother were sisters. And, uh, of course grew up in our family and.

[00:43:16] I didn't know her as a young lady 'cause I wasn't around, but my, I remember my uncle Danny, , who played pro ball, said, you know, the best ball player in this, in, in this family is Shu Shu. And he goes, I played with her when I was little, just out in the playground and she was right there with the dudes and hanging.

[00:43:34] And she could, had a great arm. She was only four foot, nothing. A great arm can run like a deer and covered all kind of ground. And she became an all star in the all in the ladies, the All American, , ladies professional league - AAGPBL. And, um, she was just, you know, you heard the stories. Of course I heard 'em. I was as a kid from my grandfather, from my uncle, a whole family.

[00:43:59] [00:44:00] And Shu Shu play this. And I remember seeing her, I remember, , going to her house to visit what have you. And I was very young. But it, it all gelled and clicked for me in my head is when the movie came out. Yeah. And I go, Hey, wait a minute. And I have at least had some of these pictures of her leaping and catching a ball.

[00:44:18] And that's Shu Shu. She played for the South Bend Blue Socks, and she was an Allstar, she was one of the best players in the league. And, uh, uh, she led the league in stolen bases. And, and she just, just, uh, when she was on first, guess what? A couple pitches later, she's gonna be standing on second, you know, because they're not gonna throw her out.

[00:44:39] And she was just. That good. And, and she was with a name like Wirth, W-I-R-T-H. You wouldn't think that she was a Cuban, but she was Cuban, as you can get, you know, her father was, was a German, uh, American from New Orleans. Um, but the old man [00:45:00] spoke Spanish just as good as anybody else. And, , of course she grew up in households speaking Spanish.

[00:45:04] So Shu Shu Wirth was, was a, was, you know, Cuban and she spoke Spanish very well. And, but a name like that, you wouldn't think it her first name, of course, Senaida (Sonida), which is, you know, Latin name. But Shu Shu was, was something else, man. She and that movie came out and they started talking about it and what have you.

[00:45:23] What a, what a pride you have knowing, hey, that was my cousin playing in that league and that movie. She was part of that and was my daughter's little. I go see that movie. You've been what you love. You had a cousin that played in that league and she was just a player. She was an all star in that league.

[00:45:38] Yeah. And a great player. 

[00:45:39] Mark Corbett: And I'm, I'm trying to think if it was her rookie year or second year. Mean ball star right there. Yeah. Toward the beginning. Yeah. I think her initial year is like 89 stolen. 

[00:45:47] Jamie Urso: Yeah. Some crazy, yeah. Some, some stupid amount of stolen bases, you know, and, and sliding in a skirt. Come on.

[00:45:54] You know, that's, that's, you know, I, I was scared of sliding in my full boat baseball pants and she, and she would [00:46:00] just throw herself in there and, uh, the old dirt and the skirt, she got it in there plenty, I imagine. But she, she was a. A, a ball player man. She was a, she was a ball player. And, , I wish to find more.

[00:46:11] In fact, I'm, I'm actually working on it now since we've spoken and talking to some more relatives to see if they have any more memorabilia or what have you, and get some more of the story. It's a tragic story, you know, 'cause she, she had a son that was born with any special needs and what have you, and then her husband has, you know, divorced her.

[00:46:27] And a month later she was gone. And, um, I remember going to visit her at her house with her and her son. They lived around the corner from my grandparents' house in Ybor City. And we'd, Hey, we're gonna go walk to see Shu Shu. And we'd get in and just walk down the block, take a couple turns, and there we were at Shu Shu's house and she was there, you know, and I was, you know, I was.

[00:46:46] , Eight, nine years old and then she was about the same size as me. And uh, but I remember my uncle Danny saying, man, 'cause she play, 'cause she could play. She was the first, she was that first [00:47:00] kid picked no matter girl or boy, they wanted Shu Shu. You, because she could, she could do it all, she could do it, all.

[00:47:06] Mark Corbett: it amazes me when you see, like said the talent there and how it's come through and when you know what your grandfather did, what, what you were, he was able to share with you. Right. You did. Now you're doing with, with, uh, as far as softball with your daughters. 

[00:47:19] Jamie Urso: Yeah. They, when they were little, I, I coached them at the, the little league and then, then, um, they.

[00:47:25] One, one daughter became, she was into that cheerleading, so she was unbelievable. Tumbler and Cheerleader and my young, and my, yeah. And my youngest daughter was a golfer. She played, uh, golf collegiately at Florida State, and she played, uh, football at, uh, flag football at Plant. And, uh,, they grew up playing, playing ball.

[00:47:42] I was a little intense , as a little league coach, as you could, as you could imagine, but the, the, the knowledge was, uh. As it would say, it was boiling outta my head all game long. And , I went from being the dad to like this, , baseball, softball, mad scientist, which, [00:48:00] uh, was, uh, two steps ahead of everybody else.

[00:48:02] But it, you know, you're dealing with little ones and, uh, it's, it, it's, it's tough. And I, I have regrets on how intense I was coaching the little guys, but most of the girls that , I still run into every once in a while that I coached in high in high school and little league, they, they have fond memories go, well, you were intense, but you wanted to win and you showed us how to do this, and you, you really wanted to win and, and you gave us the best opportunity because of what you showed us.

[00:48:26] So take that as a, as a applause on my back. But, you know, 

[00:48:32] Mark Corbett: but it is good nonetheless to see that grow, you know, across all the generations with your family. Right. You know, even talking about your cousin and what's going on with there. Right. I, I just briefly wanna mention too, you, you mentioned, uh.

[00:48:45] Saladino Tony son. Yeah. He just pa Yeah. He passed a couple weeks ago. Right. And he was a friend of mine. I'm fortunate enough to have lunch with him a few times. Mm-hmm. Shoot the breeze. Right. And talk about the game. His personal home museum. 

[00:48:59] Jamie Urso: [00:49:00] Yeah. His, his home museum is crazy. Uh, 

[00:49:01] Mark Corbett: but it's, there's, there's so many folks who, who give to the game in one capacity or another.

[00:49:07] Mm-hmm. And I know his family's continuing on with, with a tournament, the Sino tournament. Right. Uh, which is, was a, a gift of love to the community. Right. And, you know, we all appreciate so. One. I wanna thank you, Jamie, for, for sharing today. Oh, you're welcome. I 

[00:49:22] Jamie Urso: could, I could, I could talk this BaseballBiz all, all day long.

[00:49:25] And not only on in my side, it's my wife's father was an unbelievable pitcher as well. . Yeah. He was, Don Corson was a all star pitcher at, at Hillsborough High School who signed with the Dodgers in, uh, 52. And, , he didn't have many words to say. He was, , a matter of fact kind of guy and, um.

[00:49:45] I tried to prod him for info, later on in life. And, , he was there when they dedicated Holman Stadium in Vero Beach. He, he had a souvenir bat from the dedication, and I asked him, who were you in spring training with? He goes, well, yeah, [00:50:00] gosh, you know, there was Peewee Reese was there. I go, oh my God, are you kidding?

[00:50:04] Duke Snyder. Yeah, duke Snyder, Carl Furillo, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella. I go and he's like a nonchalant, matter of fact, you know what I mean? Can you imagine going to spring training as a, as a eight 19-year-old? Here you are with, with, uh, with all these, guys who are go down in history, then maybe not, but.

[00:50:25] As, as like the, the Royal Baseball Royalty Baseball. Exactly. Exactly. Oh my Gosh. It's crazy. Crazy. But he was an unbelievable pitcher. Um, but, um, and he played court for quite a few years in the minor leagues. So, uh, 

[00:50:43] Mark Corbett: I mean, that's something one, like I said, just to, to think of those moments that, that, uh, you hear from the other relatives, what they, what they've seen there.

[00:50:52] Right, right. And you were, I don't wanna get, but I, I thought this was important. One of the things you brought up, what was a visit to was the Columbia Re [00:51:00] restaurant, and there was a gentleman, uh, out in front, I'm trying to think of the, 

[00:51:05] Jamie Urso: um, oh my goodness. Yes. It wasn't in the Columbia. I forget where exactly it was.

[00:51:09] I was with my grandfather and I was maybe. I don't know, maybe 13, 14 years old, maybe. I can't remember how old I was. And he was an old, I saw my grandfather speaking to another gentleman. There was another gentleman sitting in a wheelchair with a leg, his leg cut off, and, and he was talking, they were speaking Spanish to each other.

[00:51:26] I speak Spanish as well. We were talking and my grandfather called him over. He wants me to meet this guy. I go, Hey, I want you to meet this, this man. He's a old ball player. And, um, my grandfather talked like that. He's an old ball player and his name is, um, Sandy Amorós. And I go signed the Amorós, like Brooklyn Dodgers, Sandy Amorós, made the catch, Sandy Amorós.

[00:51:45] He goes, yeah. So I got to talk a few minutes with Sandy Amorós.. Poor guy was down on his luck. Yeah. And he had a through, uh, because of diabetes, what have you. He was in a wheelchair and I think he'd had a leg amputated, what have you. And, but he was just, just enjoying himself, having a Cuban coffee [00:52:00] and talking with the old, the old ball Latin guys and, uh, some of these old Cuban ball players.

[00:52:05] And, uh, I got to talk for a few minutes with him and he spoke very little English, but, uh, you know, he did, he did okay, but what, what an experience. And, and because of my grandfather, I knew exactly who he was because I, he, I grew up hearing all the, this, this, this, this and that. I remember hearing who was the best center fielder.

[00:52:26] My grandfather was always. Joe DiMaggio because he, he, he had a, a rifle arm and he could run very, he ran very well and not his hitting, he would always talk about how good an arm that people don't talk about that DiMaggio had, as well as how fast he really ran. Of course it was. And of course he was replaced by another guy who could run pretty good named Mickey Mantle and hit home runs from both sides of the plate.

[00:52:48] So, but anyway, so yeah, it was one of those things that you, you, you hear and you, you hear the stories of my grandfather going to play the, um, the Cuban team when they came to visit and [00:53:00] what have you, and it was a big thing 'cause skating. The Cubans are coming to town to play the Smokers at Cuscaden Park.

[00:53:06] Good luck. Good luck finding a place to sit. Good luck. You know, you know, getting in there, there were three, two, 3000 or more people there to go watch these, watch these games and, um, I'm glad here at gonna be 64 this year. Can re remember these stories. So. I could tell them to my, my grandchildren, my children that they, they know and, , 'cause , they're, the people that were around back then are slowly disappearing.

[00:53:31] You know, they're slowly disappearing. So, uh, you gotta, I'm the keeper of the family history, so I got a lot of this stuff written down and a lot of pictures that are labeled and what have you that are this guy, this guy, this guy who's who, this, this is, this is my grandfather's friend who played ball with him.

[00:53:47] , And it all trickled down to, there was guys that I played ball with in high school that my grandfather, and they played ball together in the end, their social league. I'm thinking our [00:54:00] grandfathers played baseball at the same age as us 40 years ago. You know, and it's like, what, what? You know, it's up 50 years ago, you know?

[00:54:07] That's, it's insane. It's insane. So 

[00:54:10] Mark Corbett: it's amazing. Mean just having a historical touchstone right there with 

[00:54:14] Jamie Urso: Right. And it's, what's amazing is that you get around some these, I still talk to these guys, see 'em every once in a while. And when you start talking to 'em, you're, you're, you're 15, you know, you're 15.

[00:54:25] And my buddy, uh, David Zeller from lives in Catalina Island, we on that championship team together, we talk to each other. We're 10, we're 11, we're 12. And that's how we talk to each other. Like we're 10, 11, and 12 and our wives are looking at each other like, what the heck? These guys are like, they're little kids.

[00:54:40] Yeah. We're little kids. 'cause of baseball. 

[00:54:44] Mark Corbett: If, if you've got a few more minutes, I'd love to hear a bit more about that championship team and that scene. 

[00:54:48] Jamie Urso: Oh, absolutely. I, I'd love to talk, but we, I, I told you, we, we had this rag-tag team. We started working was, uh, of course I was gonna be the catcher, but then.

[00:54:58] We had a deficiency [00:55:00] at the left side of the infield at third base. And my grandfather had always taught me how to, you're going to, we're gonna get ground balls too. 'cause you're not gonna be, just be the, you're gonna be the catcher. You, you know what to do behind the plate, but you're gonna know how to get ground balls.

[00:55:11] So I became the defacto third baseman on that team. And my friend David Zeller became the, he was the shortstop, he was an unbelievable athlete, , soccer player. He came from, from the Washington State area. His father transferred to Tampa and he was a new kid in the block and he didn't make sign up because he was a new kid on the block.

[00:55:30] And we hit the jackpot by having him, 'cause this kid could play. So that whole season we had kids that I thought were terrible, that my grandfather groomed them and taught 'em how to play ball. And we just every week started dismantling everybody. And because. We, we bonded and we stole bases. And we, when we could, even though literally you had to wait till the pitcher we used to this guy, this catcher can't, my [00:56:00] grandfather, he can't throw, he could barely make it to the pitcher.

[00:56:02] So as soon as the ball cross the plate, you're off. And we're off. And we did things like that and , we learned how to turn a double play. We turned, we were turning double plays. We're 10 years old and people were, how in the heck these kids, they didn't know what to do with the ball. We're turning double plays because he showed us, 'cause we, we, okay, just run it again.

[00:56:21] Run it again, run it again, run it again. So we can just do it, do it, do it. And then he would sit us down. I'll never forget, he would sit us down, Indian style and, uh, he'd, he'd start shooting out, uh, game scenarios to us and point. Put you on the spot. And, but guess what? Those kids learned and they learned what to do with the ball.

[00:56:47] What are you going to, his big thing was, what are you gonna do with the ball if they hit it to me now? And they would formulate in that head and they would, and they would do it. And there was no hesitation. They weren't throwing, we weren't throwing the wrong basis. We [00:57:00] weren't throwing the ball all over the place.

[00:57:02] And other kid teams were, and we weren't. And that's what gave us the edge. And we, every week we started getting better and better and better. And those kids, there were scrubs we thought ended up being ball players. And by the end of the year, and it's funny, I I, I only one I really speak with, there's, there's a couple of 'em I still see every once in a while.

[00:57:24] But they still have that memory. He goes, we were, we learned how to play ball and we were a ball team. We could play. And we, and we, and we beat that, the, the, the team for the championship handily. And because we were ball players, we weren't just the kids with t-shirts and, and most of 'em wearing jeans , and that was because of the, of the skills my grandfather instilled in us. And, and, uh, and what, what, great. Still, I could still see us today playing. I could still see it. I could close my eyes and I could be back at town and country, little league field, 1972. And, and there we were, [00:58:00] you know, with our t-shirt and, you know, and, uh, I had a old pair of baseball pants and uh, uh, my glove and, uh, we were.

[00:58:11] Just happy to be playing ball and, and, and having more fun. 'cause we're winning. We were winning and, and the trophy. And I, the only trophy I ever kept, I have, I had a plethora of trophies over the years, but, and I got, what am I doing with last thing Dust collectors, except for that 1 19 72 minor town and country minors Champ.

[00:58:34] 19. And it's a, it's a, it's a six inch tall trophy. And never, will get rid of that. Never get rid of it. And my friend and Catalina, uh, that we still talk to each other. We spend time with each other. In fact, we're gonna try to go to the Little League World Series next year. He's got, he's got it. He, all the trophies I collected all the years I played soccer, he, he was, he turned to soccer after and he was really competitive.

[00:58:59] I keep that [00:59:00] trophy and he goes, and I see you every day. 'cause he has that picture, same picture I have hanging in my office. He has the same picture hanging in his. At we were 10 years old and, and my grandfather was on one end coach, and his father is on the other end as the manager, , raggedy kids.

[00:59:17] That, that we learned how to play baseball the right way. And, uh, and the fruits of our labor. Were winning the little, that little minor championship in 1972. So, 

[00:59:28] Mark Corbett: well, Jamie, again, uh, anything else you'd like to impart? 

[00:59:31] Jamie Urso: No, it was, it was great talking to you. I, I could talk baseball all day long. You know, we have so many great stories and, uh, I have a lot of, like, I could dig deep and I got all kinds of baseball.

[00:59:42] I could talk with you, but we'll have to talk. Yeah, absolutely. Anytime. Anytime. I'm always game. I'm always game. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right.