I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Vince Yurko.
Vince was Mr. Baseball long before the movie of the same name starring Tom Selleck. Vince’s love for baseball was overwhelming; he would have fielded a team in the snow if possible in the winter months. Vince would have players over to his house to practice their swing by hitting baseballs off a tee in his large basement.
Vince was the George Toma, the God of Sod at Christian Field in South Wilkes-Barre. He loved riding the lawn tractor cutting the grass to perfection. During batting practice, if a player fouled a ball up onto the levee, that player would have to go and retrieve it. He would also have a bucket of baseballs at each practice. The count of balls had better be the same at the end of practice as it was in the beginning or you were going to go hunting for the missing ones!
Vince was one of the founders of South Wilkes-Barre Teener League Baseball. At the beginning of the season, Vince, Lou Foley, Ed Nash and myself would spend hours drawing up a schedule over glasses of iced tea and some of Vince’s wife Barb’s delicious pies. Barb was the absolute love of his life. This was well before the era of computers when friends actually got together to do things they enjoyed. If you saw Vince, you would’ve seen his best friend, the late Lou Foley. Vince, Lou and Jack Henry were regulars at the Burger King in Hanover Township. I would kid Vince that if I saw Burger King’s stock go down, I knew the boys hadn’t shown up in a bit.
Vince had a big influence and a genuine caring for the young athletes who played for him. He loved baseball, the New York Yankees, the GRIT television station and most of all, his wife, Barb.
His legacy will live on in the young men he coached and mentored. He was truly one of the Boys of Summer. Batter up.
Jack Morgan
Past president, South Wilkes-Barre Teeners
