photo credit: apbagames.com |
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“If I could get everyone to play APBA, what a world this would be!”
Dom Provisiero
I may have met Dom Provisiero in person maybe once or twice in my whole life. Yet, he and I have known each other and kept in touch over email since the early 90s. We’ve shared APBA game modification ideas (it was because of him that we now have the pitchers hitting card in the IAL), kept up on each other’s leagues and just touched base on our lives. In short, Dom is an all right guy.
In preparation of this article, I was just going to send Dom a few questions via email for him to answer. Dom wouldn’t have that. He asked if we do this over the phone. He’s just that kind of guy. Looking back at it, I’m so glad he suggested it. I called him Tuesday night and for 40 minutes, we chatted about APBA, the O.Z. League, family, you name it.
Dom lives in Long Island, New York. He works for a company called Safariland selling body armor to the police force of New York City. “I save lives”, he says and I’m not one to disagree. Dom loves his job and I can see why. His jovial demeanor combined with a belief in his product is conducive to what makes a good salesman.
The O.Z. League
The O.Z League founded in 1982, gets its name from Ozone Park which was a nearby venue to the originating six members. Dom tells me that in the first year, each manager took two teams, an AL and an NL team. In the years since, the O.Z. League has grown to as many as 16 teams and currently has 10. They play a full 162 game schedule which generally lasts from February to September each year.
Dom tells me that the managers O.Z. League come from a variety of backgrounds, occupations, and political beliefs. It didn’t matter, they’re there to play APBA and have a good time. When they sit down at the table to play a game, no matter who he is, “he’s the ENEMY!”, he joked.
The league is billed as a face to face league. Initially, with most managers in the NYC area that was pretty conducive to FTF play. Since then, a few managers have uprooted and moved out of state, though. Dom said they have gotten creative to get the games played. They’ve played games over the phone and even used AOL chat (or a combination of both).
Dom said the 31 years of the O.Z. League was somewhat “like a marriage”. Most of of the managers have been there since its inception. They have seen each other through the good times and the bad times. Dom says that managers have watch each other get married, have kids and eventually lose family members. They’ve all been here for all of that. I really got a sense of closeness with Dom and the relationship with the O.Z. League.
Favorites
I asked Dom, a NYC resident, whether he was a Yankees or Mets fan. Knowing Dom like I do, I was betting he followed the Bronx Bombers and I was right on target. He’s been a fan of the team since the days of Mantle. That said, he went to Citi Field and claims that’s one of his favorite parks.
While we were on the subject of “favorites”, I had to ask Dom which Ozone Outlaw player was his favorite to manage throughout the history of the O.Z. League. Without hesitation, he said “Rickey Henderson”. He continued, “I had Rickey leading off who would get on base and then steal second. (Wade) Boggs would drive him home. Then (Don) Mattingly would double Boggs home”. He remembered some pretty awesome Henderson APBA cards from the mid-80s.
Community
Some of you may recognize Dom’s name from the APBA Games Facebook page. Every few weeks, Dom will do a “Roll Call” asking people to chime in with what town they are from. The result is quite fun. People do tell where they are from but might add a comment or two such as what game they play or replay or league they are involved in. I asked Dom about his Roll Call and what was behind it. He replied by asking me if I remembered the APBA Journal’s “AJ Directory” (I did, that’s how my league found me 30 years ago). This was Dom’s way of establishing community. By asking people to report where they were from (FB no longer automatically displays this, Dom says), it gave APBA fans a chance to find people in their area who played the game they love.
Throughout our conversation the theme of “APBA is a part of life” kept creeping up. It was obvious that the game meant a lot to Dom. Not just the board and dice, of course. It’s the community of people who play the game… the O.Z. League, those on the Between the Lines forum and the Facebook forum. Dom also stressed that APBA as a Company and as a community can’t forget its history.
I’ve gotten this far in this article without mentioning that Dom is an honored member of APBA’s Hall of Fame. A very deserving choice in my mind and I’m glad to see he was recognized.
One more thing about Dom. He’s a devoted family man. How do I know this? I was scanning his Facebook page photos in case I might want to use any for this article. I was hard pressed to find any photo without his arm around his wife or his kids or even ones holding babies. For my part, that’s nice to see.
Dom, you’re one class act.
As a member of the O.Z. League (one of two Tennessee teams), I second everything said about Dom in this post. Dom’s love of baseball, APBA and his good natured common sense have served the league (and APBA) well.