Former Spartan Falasca remembered for athleticism, joviality

Skip Falasca could hit the ball a mile. In fact, says high school teammate Frank Carey, if you went on sheer power alone, Falasca very definitely could equal, and maybe even outdo, his more celebrated teammate: Tony Conigliaro.
?There was never any question about his power,” says Carey, who retired this past spring after 49 years of coaching baseball at North Reading High School. “He had as much power as Tony C.
?I don?t know where he got it,” says Carey, “because he wasn?t that big But he could hit.”
Falasca was part of an era of baseball at St. Mary?s that saw him, Carey, Tony Nicosia, Tom Iarrobino, and Tony Conigliaro play on both the St. Mary?s baseball team and the Connery Post 6 American Legion team.
He came from an athletic and competitive family. His father, Bill Falasca, coached high school hockey and Skip Falasca played that sport, too.
?He clowned around a lot,” said Carey, “but when it got close to game time, he?d get that game face on and he was all business. And he took losing hard.”
While Conigliaro?s exploits are legend in these parts, Falasca could have been playing right there with him, if not for some bad luck.
?His only problem,” says Carey, “is that he tended to swing and miss more often than Tony did. But he was a terrific third baseman and he had a strong arm. He was a very good player.”
?He was signed by the Detroit Tigers,” says Iarrobino, “and after one year in the minors, he was invited to come to spring training with the big club the following years.”
However, while playing ball in North Carolina, “he got into a terrible collision at the plate and tore up his knee. It was never the same. He went to camp, but it didn?t go well.”
Through the years, said Iarrobino, all those former teammates remained close.
?We go back to when he was a freshman and I was a sophomore,” says Iarrobino. “We got pretty close. We were always close, though we?d go months and months without seeing each other. Occasionally, though, we?d all be drawn together again and it would be like we never left.”
They all followed Carey, through every season ? through every tournament game, right up until the last one in June.
?He loved to go to Frank?s games,” said Iarrobino. “He went last June, and then we didn?t hear from him.
?The last few years, he?d always been fighting his body. He?d had back issues, hip surgery ? but we heard from his daughter that he was starting to have headaches, and nausea, and he found out he had Stage 4 lung cancer.”
Surgery and radiation proved unsuccessful. A month ago, Falasca was placed in hospice care, and both Carey and Iarrobino went as often as they could.
?We all made it a point to see him every week,” Iarrobino said.
Last month, Carey and a group of St Mary?s alumni were up in Poland Springs, Maine, to play some golf. Usually, Falasca was with them, pulling out a derby, putting it on his head in a lopsided way, and doing his Frank “Crazy Guggenheim” Fontaine impersonation.
?He used to do that as a freshman,” Carey said. “But no Crazy Guggenheim last month. So, we all raised a glass and toasted The Skipper.”
?We could see him deteriorating,” Iarrobino said, speaking of his weekly Friday visits. “It?s a sad ending. We lost one of the good ones.”
Falasca, who was 69, died on Friday.