Local author discusses book on 1947 Utica Blue Sox baseball team

Author Peter Pagliaro admits his new book “The 1947 Utica Blue Sox: A Baseball Season to Remember” was “a labor of love that took too long.”

“I started it when my now 16-year-old daughter was probably 10,” he recalled. “I started and stopped over the years because life got in the way but I was determined to complete it.”

He finally released it in October 2022. Now, Pagliaro will discuss the book at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 25 at the Oneida County History Center, 1608 Genesee St. He said he plans to share how he wrote the book and inform the audience of how great this team really was in its heyday.

His interest in the team stems from going to their games – and even working at them – in his younger years, Pagliaro recalled.

“Local baseball history has always been an interest of mine,” Pagliaro said. “The Utica Blue Sox was a part of my childhood growing up in east Utica and I worked with the team as a teenager, so as I dug deeper into their history I learned of the 1947 team.”

The 1947 Utica Blue Sox laid the foundation for the team that would go on to become the 1950 National League champion, the Philadelphia Phillies, he explained.

It included Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, Stan Lopata, Granny Hamner and other stars who played for both Utica and Philadelphia during the late 1940s.

Born and raised in east Utica and now living in Westmoreland, Pagliaro said his sources were vast. He researched the newspapers of 1947, Phillies blogs, websites and books and the Society of Baseball Research. Pagliaro said he was also fortunate to speak to some of the players and a player from an opposing team as well.

“I felt that we had this great team in Utica in 1947 that won a championship and was stocked with players who made the major leagues and even produced a Hall of Famer,” he explained. “The beginnings of the 1950s Philadelphia Phillies ‘Whiz Kids’ began right here in Utica, NY. I wanted to tell the story!”

“The 1947 Utica Blue Sox: A Baseball Season to Remember” is available at the Oneida County History Center, by emailing Pagliaro at PPagliaro01@gmail.com or on Amazon.com.

For more information on this or any OCHC program, visit www. oneidacountyhistory.org.