Apr 23, 2017 7 min read

The secret to Brian Zanardelli’s success as a high school baseball player at California High School in the 1980s was well kept.

Zanardelli’s coaches, teammates, opponents and, ultimately, collegiate coaches and professional scouts recognized his obvious pitching talent.

But one thing most people did not know is just how that raw ability, strength and a determination to succeed was developed.

“He would swim the (Monongahela) River,” said Romaine Howell, Zanardelli’s high school coach. “People would say, ‘What?'” As he went on, he got stronger. He had an over-powering fastball and pretty good location.

“Brian had a work ethic that was tremendous. He was such a strong kid. He prepared himself real well. He was a man among boys as a pitcher for California High School. Zanardelli did everything asked of him. He had a great attitude.”

Zanardelli, who will turn 51 years old in May, led the Trojans to the 1983 WPIAL Class AA championship, earning a one-run victory over Leechburg, which featured future major leaguer Mickey Morandini, who played for Philadelphia and Chicago Cubs.

“The team we had, we had talent and we had the work ethic,” Zanardelli said. “The field we played on, we put it together ourselves. We had a bunch of hard-nosed kids. It really helped that we were unified.

“We were a family. We got along and we were friends. We spent a lot of summers together playing ball and being around each other.”

Zanardelli resides in Canonsburg with his wife, the former Melissa Kopko, a Monessen native, and three children, Abbey (a 19-year-old pre-med student) and 16-year-old twins, Nathan and Haley, both students at Canon-McMillan High School. Zanardelli works as an inspector in the construction industry.

While his pitching mate, the late Steve Tatar, and teammates Brian Konick, a shortstop, and Randy Wadsworth, a catcher, fueled the 1983 California team’s success, Zanardelli was the centerpiece.

As a junior, Zanardelli came into his own and California’s new coaching staff that included Howell and his assistant, the late Bud Grebb, took a liking to him.

“They brought us together,” Zanardelli explained. “Romaine was a good coach, a little more laid back. Bud Grebb was a disciplinarian. It just worked for us.”

It certainly worked out well for Zanardelli, who was nondescript as a freshman and sophomore for the Trojans.

“I never really pitched until my junior year,” Zanardelli said. “The new coaches had no idea what we had. They wanted to see what each person would bring to the table. They saw what I could do and they recognized that.

“We may not have been the most talented team, but we had the best work ethic. As the 1983 season went on, we started to realize and understand we might be able to do something special.”

The WPIAL championship was the Trojans’ first in baseball. The school has since won three other times: 2001, 2006 and 2014.

The 1984 season, with Zanardelli and the meat of the team returning, found California as a favorite. The Trojans advanced to WPIAL semifinals before losing to Carlynton, then rebounding to qualify for the PIAA championship game where they lost to Oley Valley. Zanardelli had a 14-3 record that season and pitched all but 1 1/3 innings of the Trojans’ games in the state tournament.

With their high school careers over, Zanardelli, Konick and Wadsworth all decided to attend Division I Robert Morris College.

After one season, the Colonials’ baseball program was dropped in the face of cost cuts.

“I had other offers, California University, and a community college in Florida,” Zanardelli said. “I wanted to be away from home but not that far away. Robert Morris was trying to rebuild. It felt like a good decision at the time.”

The threesome all ended up enrolling at California.

But Zanardelli had a big decision before joining the Vulcans.

He was selected in the 17th round – the 424th overall pick – of the 1985 June amateur baseball draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team had picked Barry Bonds (6th overall) in the first round.

Though he attended tryouts after high school and another about two weeks before the 1985 draft, being selected caught him off guard.

While attending a graduation party for Konick’s sister, a Pirates representative called and informed him that the club drafted him.

“I asked him what was the next step,” Zanardelli recalled. “We set up a meeting at the old Pizza Hut in Canonsburg.

“Back in the 1980s, you didn’t know about the workings of the draft. There wasn’t the information available back then as there is now. I don’t think they expected to draft me and I didn’t expect to get drafted.”

Zanardelli decided against signing a professional contract and joined the Vulcans’ program. But he can take pride in being selected that year.

The 1985 draft is arguably the greatest amateur baseball draft of all time.

The group includes three Hall of Fame players – Barry Larkin (4th overall), Randy Johnson (36th) and John Smoltz (574th). Two others, Bonds and Rafael Palmeiro (22nd) are potential Hall of Fame players.

Other notables in that draft were: B.J. Surhoff, Will Clark, Bobby Witt, Walt Weiss, Brian McRae, Gregg Jeffries, Joey Cora, Tina Martinez, Bobby Thigpen, David Justice, Al Martin and Mark Grace.

Other local players drafted that year were: Chris Jelich (45th) of Mt. Lebanon High School and Pitt and Doug Dascenzo (310th) of Brownsville High School and Oklahoma State.

And three men played in the NFL and MLB including, Deion Sanders (149th), Brian Jordan (505th) and Bo Jackson (511th).

“Wow,” said Howell. “My God. That is tremendous company. Brian sure had some talent. It’s astonishing to hear of all those type of players being taken in that draft.

“Some people back here just didn’t understand how good Brian was. I though he could play professionally. Him being drafted with these types of athletes and players is a tremen-dous statement about him.”

Zanardelli had a 6-8 record in 1986 for the Vulcans, winning almost a third of the team’s 19 victories in 44 games that season.

Zanardelli was named to the PSAC’s first team. His 28 appearances and 79 strikeouts are fifth-best in a single season for a Vulcans pitcher and his 83 2/3 innings ranks third highest in a season at California.

He left the school for two years for financial reasons before returning for two more seasons. But injuries dogged him and he was never the same.

“I tried to pitch through it,” Zanardelli said. “I noticed in the summer one year, something wasn’t right. I was putting a lot of strain on my rotator cuff. I was able to muddle through for awhile but I tried to stay in baseball in the Fayette County League but couldn’t even get the ball to home plate.

“At that point, I was 26 or 27 and I realized I couldn’t do it anymore. A nine-to-12-month or 14-to-16-month rehab made no sense. Who was going to take a chance on a 28- or 29-year-old player?”

Howell said Zanardelli’s career was as special as anyone’s in the area.

“I was overwhelmed to coach a team like that and a young man like Brian,” Howell said. “I could never have dreamed of that. Coaching at that time at Cal was a blessing for me. We kept our hands together and accomplished quite a bit. Brian was the one who led us there.”

John Sacco writes a bi-weekly column about local sports history.