MSBL Player Profile: Steve Ramer, Lehigh Valley MSBL
By Steve LaMontia, Director of Communications
67-year-old Steve Ramer is a longtime member and Hall of Fame inductee of the Lehigh Valley MSBL and a former minor leaguer whom League President Turk Starniri describes as an integral part of the league and someone we should speak with. I’m glad we did.
“I started in the league in maybe 2006,” said Ramer. “We had eight teams in the league at that time and now hover around 20 annually. I still remember the first practice I went to I carried along my metal bat and quickly had to adjust again to wood.
I had not played for about eight years because I was coaching my son’s teams as he went up the ladder and then Dick Prue called in 2006 and asked me to play. I said I’d think about it and started swinging the bat in the backyard to see how it felt. My wife instructed me to call Dick back!”
Steve played two years in the Phillies organization back in ’74 and ’75 and last played in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He was also a part of history in that last game at the stadium.
“About 15 years ago somebody saw an article about that stadium and how my last game was also the last game ever played there. The league was AA and on that final night, I had two triples and I was mentioned in the article! That was pretty flattering.”
Are there any special Minor League memories that stand out?
“I got there in Virginia for A ball and the first time I got into the cage and took one swing, the coaches tried to change me right away. MLB veteran Wally Moses was our traveling hitting coach and he had my stance all screwed up and I couldn’t hit anything. When he left, I went into the manager’s office and got permission to go back to my old stance and things started to gel.”
Steve has reached that golden age of dealing with nagging injuries that impact what you can do on the field, as the realization that you are no longer a professional ballplayer sinks in.
“My back has been dealing me fits lately, along with sore knees. I have been a center fielder forever but mostly DH now because of it. Our Dodgers moved to the 60-over division this past year but I miss the guys in the 50’s that I have known for a long time.
I toyed with the idea of not playing this year but my wife urged me to stay with it. I’ve been playing ball since I was six. It is hard to walk away from it. I’ve been able to hit the indoor cages this winter so I feel pretty good. We’ll give it another go and see what happens.”
Steve described a truly amazing act of fate as someone entered his life with a surprise from many years ago while in the Phillies organization.
“Back in 1975, I didn’t know it would be my last year playing pro ball. I had my Phillies jersey that I would have kept for a memento but just threw it in the dirty clothes in the clubhouse. I had my name written on the tag, of course, and somebody ran across that jersey many years later and tracked me down! It is my number 21 jersey in honor of Clemente, my favorite player of all time. Three weeks before Christmas I got a call from this guy and he sent it to me! I intend on having it framed.”
I asked Steve what he felt was the most important ingredient within the Lehigh Valley MSBL.
“The best thing is the camaraderie across the league. Everyone enjoys themselves, not just on our own team. The entire league is like that. Everybody gets along for the most part. We still take it seriously and want to win but we want to have fun along the way.
We have a guy on our team who drives 3 ½ hours each way from New York to play every week. He wouldn’t do that if it weren’t a great league with wonderful people. It’s like seeing old friends every week. I would miss that the most if I ever hung them up. I also would like to attend the MSBL World Series one of these days. That remains on the bucket list.”
To conclude, Steve is also an amazing artist and paints commemorative baseballs. In 2019 we featured a story about Steve’s talents titled ‘MSBL Player Designs Commemorative Baseballs. How Cool Are These?!’ You can click on the highlighted title to read the story and see Steve’s contact information.
“I’ve been doing this since 2008. I also paint bats for special occasions or events. Now with everything online, it makes it a lot easier.”