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07/16/2015 12:01 AMIt's always good to remember your roots and that's exactly what Rob Corraro has done in Madison by giving back to the town's blossoming baseball community in many ways.
The Madison native and 1995 Xavier graduate played every level of baseball in Madison while growing up, including American Legion. Four years ago, Madison Baseball President Rob Card asked Rob to take over the Post 79 program and, in his brief but productive tenure, he's handled various aspects of Madison baseball's itinerary, including playing a pivotal role in bringing the Legion program back home after a year's absence as general manager.
"I told Rob Card that I would do it under two conditions. First was that we upgrade the equipment and field. Second was that we develop a feeder program for Legion that goes from 9-U to 14-U. We have a lot of Madison baseball guys coming back to coach, which is nice to have. I also want to offer the kids the best of both worlds here. I want us to teach the kids how to be good people," says Rob, a Colchester resident. "It was one of the most disappointing things to not do Legion ball here last summer, but we felt we made the next best decision for last summer with a travel program. Yet I'm happy to see Legion come back. We had a meeting with the high school players and [Hand baseball Head Coach] Travis LaPointe back in November and laid out our goals for Legion this summer and they all saw that and were ready to be all in."
Rob felt building character was paramount over scoring runs and winning games when he played baseball and so that aspect, along with his desire to push the sport up the ladder of Madison's athletic interests, sparked him to take the GM's chair.
"It all goes back to me taking pride in where I grew up and remembering what I had and didn't have. Joe Peterson, who started the Legion program here, was a great guy and all about the kids and simply wanted summer ball here at the high school level," Rob says. "I also always felt that baseball had taken a back seat to other sports in Madison and I thought I could help out and help take baseball to the next level here."
Coming into the Madison ranks simultaneously with Rob, LaPointe says that his colleague works tirelessly to cultivate a communal atmosphere in town.
"Rob is an incredible guy. He and I started with Madison baseball around the same time and we've worked closely together to build teams in Madison. He has a great vision of how to build a team from the bottom up with a huge emphasis on building a community," says LaPointe. "He has so many ideas and puts in so many hours. He is so unselfish and it's really nice to watch the program grow in the last four years."
Rob not only enjoys the big-league atmosphere of American Legion and its schedule, but also the fact that a squad can build natural camaraderie with homegrown talent in the dugout.
"I love using the wooden bats and also the scheduling. It's all about preparing them for the next level. I also love comparing Legion to AAU because Legion is an extension of high school baseball that goes to the next step," says Rob. "It gives the kids that first taste of the next level from a scheduling and competitive standpoint. You can also build a community with Legion, which is what we are trying to do here. When you start playing at nine years old in the same town, you get to know each other and get the same type of instruction from coaches all the way up to Legion. I'll take that over a team of 12 individuals from five different schools any day of the week."
Above and beyond all things, Rob wants his sluggers to develop into standup members of society and remain part of a tight-knit community that features a constant cast of people returning to the field.
"In the short term, I want the kids to play competitive baseball while developing as young men. The wins and losses don't concern me as much," Rob says. "I want to see former players come back and want to work at Madison as coaches and instructors because that's what helps build long-term success."