SYRACUSE, N.Y.-- At 81, Bob Capucilli is two years younger than the Syracuse Chiefs organization and he has been going to games since 1946. So it was no surprise to find him at NBT Bank Stadium on Thursday night.
Born and raised in Syracuse, he says he went to his first Chiefs game one night with his father at the old home ballpark, MacArthur Stadium."I was asking my father how can we go to the game if there's no light out?" Capucilli said. "I was nine-years-old and I didn't know they had lights on."
He says he had the time of his life, and would then go every chance he could. He was hooked immediately for one reason.
"Watching Hank Sauer hit home runs," he said.
You can quiz him about the power hitting left fielder. Capucilli will name everything from Sauer's Minor League MVP season when he hit 50 home runs with the Chiefs in 1947, to the National League Most Valuable Player award he won with the Chicago Cubs in 1952 and that he was a veteran on the baseball field and in World War II.
Capucilli says he loved it when the Syracuse Chiefs became the farm team of his favorite professional team, the New York Yankees, in 1967.
And he says he hated what happened in 1977.
"My least favorite memory is when management of the Syracuse Chiefs said they don't want to be a New York Yankee farm team anymore," Capucilli said.
His fandom of the Chiefs never wavered though. To this day, he continues to go to the games as a fan and as a reminder of all his fond memories.
"We have had a lot of great teams in Syracuse, this is not one of them," Capucilli said during a game between the Syracuse Chiefs and the Louisville Bats, Thursday night. "What are you going to do? You win some you lose some."
On this night, the Chiefs won, coming from behind on a 3-run Alejandro De Aza homer in the bottom of the ninth.
But even when the team loses, Capucilli says he wins because he gets to hang out and watch his favorite team.
It's something Capucilli says will never change.
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