Cranford's Gordon Graceffo Makes His Major League Baseball Debut

CRANFORD, NJ -- The success of the Cranford baseball program over the past two decades is undeniable. Under the guidance of head coach Dennis McCaffery, the Cougars have become one of the premier programs in the state. But the program has reached a whole new level since the canceled 2020 season. During that time, Cranford has won three Watching Division Conference championships, two Union County Tournament championships, and one Group 3 State championship, all while compiling a spectacular record of 84-20.

“It starts with the players,” McCaffery noted. “For the 30 years I have been here, they are hard-working, they are loyal, they buy into what we are looking to do, and they are smart kids. They put in a lot of hard work and commitment, and I think that really helps out on the baseball field.”

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The success of the program has seen several players compete at the next level, continuing their baseball careers in college and professionally. A recent example is Cranford's Gordon Graceffo, who made his Major League Baseball debut last weekend with the St. Louis Cardinals after working as a starter with Triple-A Memphis. The former Cranford pitcher appeared on June 29 to throw relief for 4.1 innings, allowing a run on three hits and two walks while striking out four.

“Seeing one of your kids that you coached in high school make his Major League debut on Saturday is special,” McCaffery said. “I spoke to him before the game by text and after the game I FaceTimed with him. He was just so excited and so appreciative.”

However brief it was, Saturday’s debut for Graceffo was an emotional day as he heard from not only McCaffery but from several other people from Cranford, as he became the first player from the program to appear in a Major League game.

“It was awesome to see him on FaceTime on the field after the game,” Graceffo said of his conversation with McCaffery after his debut. “I wish he could have been there. It was tough not to be brought to tears, I’ll tell you that.”

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“There was a ton of people from Cranford and Cranford baseball that reached out and to have that level of support was unbelievable,” Graceffo continued. “Just to know that you have an entire town behind you every step of the way is fantastic.”

There are also currently 17 former Cougars playing college baseball, including Shane van Dam (NC State), Joe Carrea (UConn) and Shea Grady (Bryant), all of whom contributed to their team’s success in the College World Series. To see former players compete on the big stage in college baseball is something that is special to McCaffery and will always have meaning to not only him but the entire Cranford community.

“It is fantastic,” McCaffery said. “As good players as they are, they are also quality people, they are good kids.” The standout of Cranford baseball reaches back farther than the last half-decade or so of dominance as

To have that level of success, the mentality and culture needs to start before the players get to McCaffery and his staff at the high school level. It is people like Kevin Wetherhall, Bob Bruns, and Mike Feely, McCaffery told TAPinto Cranford, at the middle school and little league level that truly shape Cranford baseball and have just as big a hand in the success of the program as he does.

“[Cranford] is a town that supports their baseball," he said. "Little League is very good, people like [Kevin, Bob and Mike] have put in hours and hours and years and years of getting these kids ready, and it has been a wonderful, cohesive relationship with Little League.”

“The varsity field, by design, is right near the Little League complex,” McCaffery added. “The kids that are playing now grew up watching the older generation, so it has been a pipeline of kids just wanting to grow up and play on the field and have the success that they have seen.”  Even in the offseason, McCaffery is hard at work training potential future players and hoping to instill the winning mindset that has made the program one of the best in the state.

“I just did a camp last week and the coaches were all players that are from the program. All the coaches that coached are all former players,” McCaffery noted. “They are guys that played for me for the last 25 years. It is not by accident; it is by design. There is a certain approach, a certain mindset that we have, and we try and instill that in all our players. It is the same practice at the eighth-grade level that we do at the high school level. Same system, same foundation that we build. We try and get it to them at a young age and it starts in Little League.”

Graceffo echoed the sentiment shared by his coach about the consistency of Cranford baseball from the high school level down through the Little League teams. It was that early learning that instilled the traits and characteristics that Graceffo still utilizes to this day. Looking back at his time in Cranford, Graceffo is thankful to have such great coaches throughout his development as a young player.

“The coaches create a great foundation for the younger players as you come up through Little League and middle school,” Graceffo noted. “And because the middle school coaches played for Coach McCaffery, once you get to high school, the kind of lessons a coach may teach you helped me get to where I am today.”

“One of the biggest lessons he taught me that still stuck with me is never be content and always be pushing yourself. I have tried to live by that throughout a lot of my life, because I feel like I can outperform where a lot of people have seen me. A lot of people did not think I would have played Division I baseball and now beyond that. So I have tried to live with that one.”

Emblematic of the culture that McCaffery has instilled within the Cranford program, the Cougars’ head coach and Graceffo still talk multiple times a week, as the right-hander has maintained a relationship with his high school head coach well after his career at Cranford ended.

“He was there for me throughout the whole journey,” Graceffo said of McCaffery. “He helped me a ton at Villanova, and we talked three or four times a week in college, and we still do to this day. He has been with me every single step of the way.”

For McCaffery, the success of his two and half decades of coaching reached a climax this year when the veteran coach reached the 500 wins plateau with a victory over New Providence in April. To make the day even more special, McCaffery’s son, Dennis, hit a walk-off two-run home run to clinch the milestone victory for his dad and head coach.

“To have 500 wins you have to have good players,” said a humble McCaffery. “I am well aware that we have had good players over the years. To see your kid hit the home run to get your 500th win is mixed emotions because, as a coach, you have that mindset, but then to see your kid have success was very satisfying. I know he was very happy, which makes you happy as a dad. It was extremely special, something that him and I have with us for our whole life.”

In typical McCaffery fashion, he was quick to give credit to others and shout out to the people who have helped him along the way. As McCaffery puts it, Cranford varsity coaches Ryan Matlosz, Carl Lorelli, and Rob Chamra as well as JV coach Dan Garguilo and freshman coach Mike Smith all deserve recognition as part of the staff that helped McCaffery reach the 500-win plateau.

“500 wins is just a number,” McCaffery quipped. “It means you have been doing it a long time, and it means it is a unique group of kids that know how to win. And it is a coaching staff that all the guys that played for me and have bought into the system. They bought in as players, and now they work their tails off as coaches. I am just fortunate that I have an opportunity to just have this type of coaching staff that does so much.”

“500 wins is an amazing accomplishment and nobody deserves it more than him,” Graceffo said of his former head coach. “He is the hardest working person I think I have ever known, and I think because of that it rubs off on a lot of his guys. They see how hard he works day in and day out. We want to work just as hard, if not harder, to win for him. I think that is a big thing that Coach ‘Mac’ instilled in me as a coach, his work ethic and inspiring the guys that play under him to work hard.”

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