By Joseph Staszewski
C.J. Nitkowski’s grew up in a blue-collar, military family where his father always preached the value of a person’s work ethic. He heard it. He understood it, but never fully practice it until he put on a St. John’s uniform.
“I always got the message, but I don’t think it really started to stick until I got to St. John’s where I could really start to put it in to practice,” said Nitkowski, who was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in February.
Nitkowski, who spent 10 seasons pitching in the Major League, blossomed when he arrived in Queens in 1992. He landed at St. John’s by chance after deciding to transfer closer to home from Florida Atlantic. He saw the Johnnies play Providence, a school he was considering at the time. The St. John’s catcher then was Anthony Criscuolo, Nitkowski’s former teammate at Don Bosco High School in New Jersey.
The 6-foot-2 left-hander talked with the St. John’s coaches after the game and began being recruited on the spot. He picked the then Redmen over Clemson and never regretted it. His teammates’ work ethic and friendly competitiveness brought out the best him.
“It was such a competitive environment.” Nitkowski said. “I don’t think I have been in the that kind of environment before. I was really lucky.”
He went undrafted out of high school, throwing just 79 miles per hour and in the lows 80s as a freshman at Florida Atlantic. Nitkowski starting touching 90 early in his sophomore season and as a junior hit 94.
He went on to be an All-American and a Big East Pitcher of the Year at St. John’s. Nitkowski combined to go 11-7 with two saves, a 2.17 ERA and 145 strikeouts in his two seasons in Queens. St. John’s won the Big East championship in 1993 and reached an NCAA Regional final He also met his wife at the school.
Nitkowski remains the program’s highest draft pick after being taken by the Cincinnati Reds with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1994 MLB Draft.
“St. John’s had a great impact on my life, changed my baseball career,” he said.
Nitkowski, now 42, grew up a Yankees fan. He made 336 appearances and 44 starts, mostly as a reliever, in his Major League tenure. He is one of 125 players who have suited up for the Mets and Yankees.
“Since I was 7-years old, that’s what I wanted to do, to play for both teams even though it was briefly,” Nitkowski said.
His affiliations with the clubs didn’t end there. Nitkowski retired from baseball in 2013 and now has budding career as broadcaster and analyst. He was one of the first major leaguers to maintain his own website, starting in 1997. Close to two years into his new job he has already been apart of the radio broadcast for both New York baseball clubs as a fill in.
“The first big league game I ever did was with John Sterling on the radio,” Nitkowski said. “It was crazy.”
He currently writes for JustA
“I also know that I have to work because I don’t have a big name,” he said. “I’m not in the baseball Hall of Fame. I have to be good at my job if I want to keep it.”
Being inducted into the St. John’s Athletic Hall of Fame gave Nitkowski credited his teammates for nurturing the drive the propell him into a pro career.
“There was a lot of accountability,” Nitkowski said. “That started to bring out more in me.”
