Jon “Boog” Sciambi has never been on a cruise. While that’s hardly newsworthy, his reason for that claim might make you chuckle.
“When I was 5- or 6-years old, my grandparents went on a cruise,” he told me once. “I didn’t understand where they were going, so they explained to me what a cruise was. They said, ‘You go away on a big ship. You visit all these cool places.’ My only question at the end was, ‘How do you get box scores?’
“My grandfather said, ‘You don’t.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m never going on a cruise.’ And I have never been on a cruise.”
Sciambi was born in Philadelphia where he quickly adopted the Philadelphia attitude of “sports first.” His parents divorced when Sciambi was 3, but they both stayed active in his life. When Sciambi was 7, he and his mom moved to New York City, but he didn’t give up his love for Philadelphia sports, especially the Phillies.
His life pretty much revolved around baseball. He was a good baseball player in high school, earning his school’s “athlete of the year” award as a senior. He was a left-handed hitting catcher. He attended William and Mary as a preferred walk-on baseball player. But he injured his shoulder.
He transferred to Boston College, where he got cut from the baseball team, so he knew he wouldn’t have a chance to play professional baseball. But he wanted to stay in the game.
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