This is the 40th anniversary of the Utica Blue Sox's 1983 New York-Penn League championship. The Blue Sox's landmark season was later chronicled in Roger Kahn's "Good Enough to Dream." Kahn, who earlier had a major success with "The Boys of Summer," his tale of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s, was a major stockholder in the team and served as president of the club.

Managed by Jim Gattis, the Blue Sox won the NY-P's Yawkey Division by a half-game over their Mohawk Valley rivals, Falls Mets, finishing the regular season at 48-26. They then faced the Newark Orioles in the championship series.

The Orioles won Game 1 of the best-of-three series, 6-3, in Utica, but the Blue Sox bounced back to win the second game, 4-2, in Newark. The next night, on the road again, the Blue Sox won 7-0 behind the five-hit pitching of Jim Wright and Rocky Coyle's four hits, including a triple and a two-run home run, to claim the title

That touched off a memorable late-night celebration at Utica's Murnane Field after a bus ride back down the Thruway.

Former major leaguer Bob Veale served as the team's pitching coach, Barry Moss was a player-coach, and Utica native Joanne Gerace, herself a 2019 GUSHOF Inductee, was the GM, one of only two women serving in that capacity in organized baseball.

Unlike the rest of the NY-P teams, which had arrangements with major league franchises, the Blue Sox were independent. Players - some of whom were former draft choices and college stars - were provided by Texas Star Baseball, owned by Van Schley. There were several minority owners, including actor-comedian Bill Murray and his brother, Brian Doyle Murray, among them.

"Good Enough to Dream" - the title came from Gerace's answer to Kahn when he asked how good the players were - went on to be a bookselling success.

The Blue Sox led the NY-P with 526 runs scored, and gave up just 336. Don Jacoby led the league with a .386 batting average, hit 22 home runs, and drove in 74 runs. Barry Moss and Rocky Coyle each hit more than 20 home runs, Mike Zamba and John Seitz had 12 wins apiece, and ace reliever Roy Moretti had a 2.19 ERA.

Utica Blue Sox 1983 Roster: Shawn Barton, Rocky Coyle, Robin Dreizler, Willie Finnegan, Jim Gattis (manager), Jeff Gyarmati, Bob Hendershot, Scott Hurst, Don Jacoby, Mark Krynitsky, Larry Lee, Andy Mehalko, Bob Merenda, Jerry Moore, Roy Moretti, Barry Moss (player-coach), Bryan Oatman, Dominic Perrino, Willie Picchioni, Daryl Pitts, Brian Robinson, Daniel Roma, John Seitz, Ralph Sheffield, Steve Sproesser, Jimmy Tompkins, Roy Wolfe, Bob Veale (coach), James Wright, and Mike Zamba.