In a baseball game against Parsippany in 2003, West Essex was down 3-0 in the last inning. West Essex miraculously got three runs and loaded the bases. The batter squared up and hit a walk-off grand slam. He crushed that home run over the fence and onto the softball field. As he rounded second base, he screamed out, “That’s right, baby!” West Essex won the game.
That “he” is better known as Joseph Cardinale, current West Essex Baseball coach and business teacher. This iconic memory was recalled by current Special Education teacher Scott Illiano, who also happens to be Cardinale’s former coach. Illiano has devoted decades of his life to baseball, barely remembering when he was not in love with the game. Their relationship has gone from coach and player to coworkers and great friends, and now, Cardinale and Illiano reminisced about Cardinale’s time as a player and their time together, which influenced and improved the current program.
Cardinale graduated from West Essex in 2003 and went on to play baseball in college at Drew University. After college, he got right into coaching at a few different local high schools, gaining experience. The 2023 season was the start of his head coaching career at West Essex, and ever since then, he has helped shape the program to be very successful. Illiano said he knew from the start that Cardinale had something special in him that could lead a team to work to the best of their abilities.
“Joe had a concept of the team when he was in high school, and he understood the commitment and self-sacrifice that’s required to prepare at a championship level,” Illiano said. “He also got a lot of his peers who admired him to follow along.”
Now, Illiano praises what Cardinale has been able to achieve within the program, beyond their impressive record or wins.
“I knew he was going to help transform the culture, and I think we’re seeing that now with the success that he’s had in his first two seasons,” Illiano said. “I think that’s going to continue this year and for years to come.”
Cardinale has used his past experiences to shape the way he coaches the current players. He learned many of these strategies and tactics from Coach Illiano, who taught him methods of composing a good team that has morals and talent.
“I hope that the guys that play for me have that same experience and that same feeling when it is all said and done, and that they look back on their time with our program and realize it’s not just baseball, it’s about life,” Cardinale said. “It’s about learning to become accountable, and getting experiences that shape you as a person.”
Coaches Illiano and Cardinale have both transformed West Essex Baseball into an admirable program that takes pride in how they hold their own on and off the field. Cardinale draws on what Illiano has taught him to compose how he coaches his current players. This season, the Baseball Knights are expected to perform at a very high level and carry the legacies created over the past decades, as they write their own history for future generations of players to come.
