42nd Hall of Fame Induction - Graber Associates

GEORGE RAVANIS ’78Baseball2010 INDUCTEE“Hey Ravioli! Warm up!”That was how Boston College coach EddiePellagrini opened the pitching career ofGeorge Ravanis. The Eagles were losing bigin an early-season game at Tufts. CaptainHarry Ohanesian went to Pelly and suggestedthat it might be time for Ravanis, a sophomorewho had not seen an inning of actionin his freshman year, to show what he coulddo on the mound.Ravanis made the best of his opportunity.Like Bob Feller, who struck out eight St.Louis Browns in a three-inning first outing,Ravanis delivered eight strikeouts in threeinnings.For the rest of that season and the two following,the smoke-throwing Ravanis, tall,slim, and menacing in the manner of RandyJohnson, dominated games and intimidatedopposing batters. Pellagrini became a believerin the kid from Lexington High, sayingthat he had a true major –league fastball.In the three varsity seasons when Ravanisplayed, the Eagles won a total of 41 games.Of those wins, 15 belonged to Ravanis. Healso had three saves.The fastball was his bread and butter pitch,and he eventually developed a nasty sliderand a screwball. He set a number of BostonCollege single season records that have stoodthe test of time and are still at or near thetop in Eagle annals, even though the baseballprogram has grown and changed in the interveningyears.“Georgie is a kid with a really great arm.Everybody felt very confident with him onthe mound. But the best thing about Georgewas that he was such a competitor. If youcame out to the mound and asked how hefelt, he’d want to stay in the game,” saidteammate Greg Stewart.George still holds Boston College’s all-timerecord for earned run average at 2.49 runsper game. His 1.98 ERA in 1977 was thethird-best single season mark ever, followedby a 2.09 ERA the following year. His 15total wins now ranks him ninth all-time. Hehad eight wins and two saves in 1975. In156 innings pitched, Ravanis struck out 156batters.One fond memory is of a game againstHarvard when he struck out Mike Stenhousethree times, all on screwballs. Stenhouseeventually played four years in the majors,but he couldn’t hit Ravanis.“He was a money pitcher. He loved the ballin a tough spot. He had a heavy fastball. Itwas a thick pitch, one that broke a lot ofbats. He used to punch it in there at 95miles an hour. He worked fast, and it was funto play behind him,” recalls first basemanJim Conroy.Stewart persuaded his coach at Wareham tobring Ravanis onto that team in the CapeCod League one summer. George respondedby tossing a three hitter in his debut andending up as a member of the all-stars.Ravanis was also a two-time Greater BostonLeague All-Star and All-ECAC as an Eagle.George’s 1978 season ended prematurely. Hehad started off 3-0, and the team had a 7-0record. He threw both ends of a doubleheaderat Providence, won the first one,relieved in the second, and blew his arm outthe following game. The team skidded to a14-10 final mark without George available.Despite his injury, George was drafted in the42nd round by the Cleveland Indians. Hewas the only Boston College player between1969 and 1990 to be selected in the majorleague draft. He underwent elbow surgeryby well-known orthopedists Carter Rowe andBert Zarins. They scraped scar tissue off anerve, but that didn’t solve things. Hereported to training camp in 1979, delayedhis debut, and threw one brilliant inningbefore his arm gave out. That was the end.George grew up near Magazine Beach inCambridge, in a house with one of the fewyards that was just large enough for kids toplay wiffle ball. Though he did take part inbasketball with GOYA, the Greek OrthodoxYouth Association, baseball was the onlysport that George played regularly. He had apassion for the game since the time hisgrandfather, an immigrant from Greece, tookhim to Fenway Park.Bill Ravanis, George’s father, drove trucksfor Table Talk Pies and eventually went intothe bar and restaurant business. The elderRavanis worked too long and hard to developan affinity for baseball.The family moved to Watertown, then toLexington. George made the WatertownLittle League all-stars without even tryingout. He missed the tryouts for Lexingtonafter moving there at age 12, had a privatetryout, and caused a minor dust-up amongcoaches vying for his services.At Lexington High, Ravanis also playedshortstop. He led the team in wins, strikeouts,and hitting, but did not get MVP fromthe Rotary Club. They gave the award to hiscatcher Bill McAuliffe, who “Hit about .200but he was a really good guy,” laughsGeorge.During the summer, George played on severalteams, wherever he could find a diamond– in American Legion ball, the IntercityLeague, Eastern Mass League. “It was likerent-an-arm. They put me in right field andbring me in whenever they needed an out,”he says.When college came around, George appliedto BC, Northeastern and Harvard. He says heknew nothing about any of the institutions.He majored in English, initially thinking ofbecoming a sportswriter. He didn’t alwaysseek out the toughest courses, but be lovedhow the Jesuit teachers were passionatebaseball fans.George now runs Frank’s Steakouse in NorthCambridge, not far from the Arlington townline. That’s the family business purchased byhis father in 1974 and the place where hemet his wife, the former Tina Sbordone. Shewas employed by the Board of Health andhad stopped by to investigate a phony complaintby an ill-humored customer. Theirdaughter Kristina, 22, is a Fairfield graduateand works in TV production. Son Alex, 19,is a sophomore at Bentley.29