Jersey Shore BlueClaws 2023: New manager has deep connection to Phillies - and a good jump shot

LAKEWOOD – To provide the proper context, you have to go back to Philadelphia in the late 1970s, when Barry and Jan Brodzinsk settled into their first apartment as newlyweds.

“We got married in June and had no TV, so all we did that summer was listen to the Phillies on the radio,” said Barry Brodzinski, a 2,000-point scorer at Northeast Catholic High School in the city, who went on to play basketball at LaSalle.

Eventually they named their four boys after Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose and Greg Luzinski, the stars of the 1980 World Series-winning team.

And Friday they’ll be in Coney Island, where Greg, their youngest, will manage his first game with the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in the season opener against the Brooklyn Cyclones, as the former hard-hitting catcher at Bishop Eustace in Pennsauken takes over his first team in the Phillies’ organization at just 31.

“A dream come true,” Greg Brodzinski said. “I have always wanted to manage a club, and to do it for the Philadelphia Phillies is really special.”

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But there’s a lot that happened in between to make this fast track to Shore Town Ballpark possible, with the path having touched the highest levels of sports along the way, while never losing that tight family connection.

“Best memories of my life”

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So when Barry Brodzinski, whose coaching career includes five successful seasons at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia in the 1980s, would drive to basketball clinics all over the country during the summer, his sons would come and they’d pack their baseball gear, pulling off in fields along the way for batting practice. And it was the same when they were at home, heading out to local fields every chance they got.

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“I would say those are a lot of the best memories of my life, and some of the most fun I’ve ever had,” said Greg Brodzinski, who noted he still has a good jump shot. “When you get to spend that much time with your father and do that many different things and see how much care and love he put into it. Especially now as you get older you see it couldn’t have been easy on him because he’s working all day and then he would coach and then we’d go to the field and hit.

“We had an L screen that folded up into a square that he could pitch behind. There’s nothing more fun that being at the field with your dad and playing ball, so I enjoyed all those moments and hopefully some day when I’m a father I can do those same things.”

After spending more than a decade in Western Pennsylvania, including three years as an assistant coach at Duquesne University, Barry Brodzinski moved his family to South Jersey when Greg was 10.  And it was while he was playing youth baseball in Washington Township that he became friends with the nephew of legendary Bishop Eustace baseball coach Sam Tropiano, who entered the 2023 season with 707 career wins, sixth on New Jersey’s all-time list.

“Greg and his dad would have a lot of BP sessions when they were in Little League and I was working with my nephew and we would be bumping into them at all the various fields,” Tropiano said. “We were like nomads going from field to field.”

So when it came time to go to high school, there was never a doubt Brodzinski would play at Bishop Eustace, where the numbers he produced were eye-popping, including 34 career homes, 173 hits and 162 RBIs.

“Sam had him in the lineup right away as a freshman and it really helped Greg progress with his baseball career,” Barry Brodzinski said. “We really owe Sam a lot. It was a really great relationship with him, Greg and us.”

Brotherly bond

A constant throughout Greg Brodzinski’s life has been a close relationship with his older brother, Pete, who has Down syndrome.

“He’s as much a part of my career and as much a part of what I’m doing as anyone,” Greg Brodzinski said.

“Every chance Greg gets he’s in the dugout with him, on the field with him, and it’s really been a beautiful thing as a family,” added Barry Brodzinski.

Since his brother's days at Bishop Eustace, Pete Brodzinski has helped inspire and motivate his brother and his teammates, always seeking to keep him involved. At the most recent spring training in Clearwater, Florida, Pete Brodzinski was in uniform with his brother on the bench.

“He’s my best friend,” said Brodzinski said. “We grew up together. He was older but we always progressed similarly, with him having Downs syndrome. We shared a room until we moved back to the Philadelphia area, and there’s no one more special to me in this world than him. He’s taught me so much in my life. How he wakes up every day and enjoys life, smiles, makes the people around him better – I’ve never seen him have a bad day and that made an impression on me that I think has really helped shape who I am I can’t thank him enough for that.

“Last year Anthony Contreras, the manager at Lehigh Valley, was awesome. He let him come and coach for the day, full uniform, and we did the same at spring training this year and he’ll do the same when he’s here. He knows the game. He absolutely loves all the guys and they have become his best friends almost immediately.”

Now Pete Brodzinski is expected to make regular appearances in the BlueClaws’ clubhouse.

“The one thing that I can’t thank the players enough how well they accept Pete every day,” Greg Brodzinski said. “They view him as an equal and treat him with respect and that means even more to me than I can explain to them.”

Opportunity knocks

Brodzinski’s disjointed college career began at South Carolina and ended at Barry University in Miami, with stops at Coastal Carolina and Kirkwood (Iowa) Community College in between, all in search of an opportunity.

And it came at Barry University, where as a junior he hit .308 and drove in 40 runs, catching the eye of a Phillies’ scout. A year later, he hit .321, with 46 RBI and five homers and got drafted in the 18th round in 2015.

“I think we cried for three or four days. It was so emotional,” Barry Brodzinski said.

But after two seasons in the minors, Brodzinski was given a chance to chase his dream as a coach within the organization, which, after some soul searching, he took. Since then, the Phillies have taken him through the organization, including two years on the Phillies' coaching staff (2020-21) as the bullpen catcher and catching coach, before serving as a bench coach at Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season.

“I’ve been like a sponge,” Brodzinski said. “I was fortunate enough to get a chance to coach on a major league staff and was surrounded by Joe Girardi, Rob Thomson, Dusty Wathan, all these baseball minds that have so many years of knowledge in the game. To be a part of that on a daily basis, hear the way they talk to players, the way they think about the game, the different situations that come up, just a great experience.”

Now he takes over a franchise looking to rise again after a pair of disappointing post-pandemic seasons on the field.

“From the day I was drafted until now, all the things I’ve gotten to do throughout this organization have been special,” he said. “Stuff you dream about doing as a kid and then go to do it. And this is the next step.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Greg Brodzinski: Jersey Shore BlueClaws manager's deep ties to Phillies