University of Massachusets Athletics
No Small Achievement For UMass Hall of Famer Wennik
July 12, 2007 | Baseball
July 12, 2007
By Bob Albright , Staff Writer
Eagle-Tribune
It's a daunting task to find a single press clipping out of the pile that Paul Wennik empties out of his briefcase that does not contain the words, "little" or "tiny" in describing the former UMass Amherst standout lefty.
"UM's Little Paul Wennik Has An Amazing 0.35 ERA," screams one headline from the spring of 1961, his senior year.
Given that the 5-foot-5, 140-pound standout from Andover was putting the finishing touches on a terrific three-year career with the Redmen, as they were then known, it seems appropriate. But by the same token, the adjectives fall way short of describing the mammoth impact the gregarious 70-year-old has had on the institution, and so many others, on and off the field.
In tribute to those on-the-field contributions, Wennik will become just the sixth baseball player inducted into UMass Athletic Hall of Fame this fall (11 others played baseball and at least one other sport).
Lifetime pitchman for the Minutemen
Officially, Wennik stepped off the mound for UMass in 1962, but in reality he has never stopped pitching for his beloved school. Wennik figures he makes upwards of 40 trips annually from his home in Salem, Mass., to Amherst.
He has been recognized by nearly every board and committee at the school for his dedication in terms of fundraising, service and volunteer efforts. In 1992 he was honored by the UMass Alumni Association for his distinguished service.
"UMass is just an amazing part of my life," says Wennik. "I am very grateful for the way they took care of me. I easily could have gotten lost there, but they made sure that didn't happen."
Learned from 'Mr. Andover Sports'
Wennik played for a slew of coaches in a career that started in the sandlots in Andover in the late '40s and came to an end in the Boston Park League in the mid '80s when he made a brief comeback at the age of 52. He, however, is quick to note that just one stood out.
"My dad was the only great coach I ever had," says Wennik of his father, Hal, a beloved sports booster and athletic advocate at the old Punchard High School (now Andover High).
Given that Wennik went on to hall of fame careers at both UMass and the Park League and that his older brother, Joe, won 10 letters at Phillips Andover and six more at Yale, the lessons apparently were learned well.
Despite his father's undying affinity for Andover, however, Hal Wennik sent his son to Central Catholic to start his junior year.
"He threw me out of Punchard after my sophomore year because I needed more discipline," said Wennik.
Auspicious beginning on the mound
It was in his senior year at Central that Wennik, an outfielder, got his first call to the mound.
Missing his regular starter due to injury, Central coach Dick Moynihan handed the ball to the diminutive Wennik against St. Joseph's of Lowell and the senior responded with a nine-inning no-hitter.
Wennik fine-tuned his repertoire during a postgraduate year at Lawrence Academy before walking on to the UMass baseball team the next fall as college recruiters could not get past the simple fact that a 5-foot-5 lefty was indeed capable of putting the best lineups to sleep.
After playing the outfield and logging some time in relief for the freshman team (in those days freshmen were not eligible to play varsity), Wennik earned a scholarship in his sophomore year after compiling a paltry 1.16 ERA, which ranked him in the top 10 in the nation among Division 1 pitchers.
Superior senior season
After missing the next season with mono, Wennik posted a 2.65 ERA in 1960, his second varsity season. In a superlative senior campaign, he carried a 0.35 ERA late in the year and finished at 1.24, while hitting .357. In that season, Wennik surrendered just 21 hits in seven games.
"That year I was as good as I was ever going to be," said Wennik.
The undeniable highlight came one afternoon in Storrs, Conn., where he outdueled undefeated UConn ace Joe Clement before a bevy of professional scouts who were there ostensibly to watch the 6-foot-3 UConn righty, not the 5-foot-5 crafty lefty from UMass. The fact that Wennik even got to the game was nothing short of miraculous.
"I had a test at noon and the game was at three," recalled Wennik. "In those days, the teachers were not exactly pushovers for athletes and the professor said I could not make it up."
Aided by a certain lead-footed UMass trainer, Wennik took the test and was still in the park five minutes before the national anthem. He then proceeded to shackle the Huskies with a four-hit shutout that kept UMass in the conference title hunt.
Wennik recalls that afterward he got dressed back into his coat and tie as fast as he had gotten out of them to make sure he did not miss the parade of scouts walking past the locker room.
"I can remember standing outside and I've got my heels up against the wall just to push me up a couple of inches," recalled Wennik, who still watched as the parade marched by to the other locker room to visit with the losing pitcher.
"They're all saying, 'Terrific game Lefty; good job,' and then they kept walking and gave Clement $46,000 to sign," Wennik remembered with a chuckle.
Senators come calling
While Clement got all the attention that day, eventually it was the expansion Washington Senators who could not look past Wennik's paltry three-year ERA of 1.67 and signed him on a straight salary basis in June of 1961. The modest deal was consummated on the living room coffee table of his Andover home and included a trip with the two scouts to Fenway Park that evening where the Sox were hosting Wennik's new club.
Wennik still can vividly remember meeting Senators skipper Mickey Vernon after the game, which was won handily by the Sox.
"He looked down at me and said, 'Second baseman?'" Wennik recalls. "I looked up at him and said, 'No sir, I'm a pitcher.'"
After what he describes as a somewhat disgusted look from Vernon directed at the two Senator scouts, Wennik, who was never lacking for confidence, added another tidbit.
"I told him, 'Don't worry, they don't hit them as far off me as they do off your guys.'"
Despite that reassurance, or perhaps because of it, Wennik still found himself in Class A ball in Millsborough, Ky., where he landed in the bullpen. After one season, however, Wennik decided that it was time to get a 9-to-5 job as it was clear he was not in the Senators' long-range plans. That didn't mean he was ready to stop toeing the rubber, however. Not by a long shot.
Granddaddy of Park League
Although he said he received an invitation from Boston Braves GM Birdie Tebbetts the following spring, Wennik came back home, landed a job with Shell Oil, started a family, and became a fixture in the Boston Park League.
A standout for BPL powerhouse, Mass Envelope, Wennik pitched well into his 40s and was elected into the league's hall of fame.
Along the way, he moonlighted with a host of other semi-pro teams. Wennik helped lead a team from Providence all the way to the semi-pro championship in Wichita, and also struck up a friendship with then White Sox skipper Chuck Tanner. That led to a regular gig throwing batting practice to the White Sox whenever they were in town in the mid-'70s.
"The biggest hand I ever got was one night when (Chicago slugger) Bill Melton took me deep on seven straight pitches. The fans loved it," recalled Wennik.
The three uncashed checks for $25 dollars a piece tell the story of his three-game Park League comeback at the tender age of 52.
"I was coaching a Senior Babe Ruth team in Swampscott at the time and I was throwing batting practice and I felt pretty good," recalled Wennik, who had been profiled in the Boston Globe nearly a dozen years earlier as one of the timeless legends of the durable league. "The breaking ball was breaking, the curve curving and the fastball nibbling, so I gave it a shot."
While the first two checks were well earned with a pair of wins, the third was more suspect.
"I threw this one pitch and I swear I felt everything come right through my fingers," recalled Wennik, who walked off the mound right there and headed for the nearest package store in search of a six-pack and a large bag of ice.
"The coach wanted me to sit and rest, but I just walked away with tears in my eyes. I knew it was it."
Pushing vinyl
The end of Wennik's baseball career only left more time for his day job. After a short stint with Shell, he joined the sales staff at Capitol Records in Boston in 1969 at the urging of his college roommate Bobby Smith, who had penned the schoolyard classic, "Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa-Pop."
"I worked with everyone from Grand Funk Railroad to the Beatles," said Wennik. "It was just a very exciting time."
Especially to be a young Wennik. The father of twin girls, Jennifer and Suzanne, and later a son, Jesse, Wennik said his children often had the best seat around.
"My kids grew up backstage," he points out. "They were the ones standing behind 'Kiss' when they were doing store appearances and had 1,000 screaming teenagers trying to come over the table to get at them."
Wennik eventually took an executive position with the recording giant, Polygram Records, helping shape the careers of the likes of John Mellencamp and Bon Jovi. He said he still enjoys a close relationship with Jon Bon Jovi.
Currently, Wennik is trying his hand at writing music with famed songwriter Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon ("Palisades Park").
They've come up with a song that they hope will become the new Red Sox theme song. He said they have received some interest from the Red Sox brass.
When he's taking a break from that endeavor he can be found on the rolling fairways at Haverhill Country Club where he says he keeps his friend, Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, in lunch money.
"He's way ahead in that one," says Wennik of their friendly and frequent golf rivalry. "He refers to me as his lifetime annuity."
It's a good line, but maybe not an original one. From the sound of things they've been referring to Wennik by the same title out in Amherst, and places in-between, for quite some time now.
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Hall Pass
Name: Paul Wennik
Age: 70
Residence: Salem, Mass.
Hometown: Andover
College: UMass ('62)
College career: A lefthanded pitcher with a combined three-year combined ERA of 1.67; went 5-1 with a 1.24 ERA in 1961 en route to All-New England honors
Off the field: Tireless fund-raiser and advocate for UMass and UMass athletics
Special: Long time marketing executive for Polygram Records, Wennik has helped shape the careers of Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp, among others.
