St. John's University Athletics
St. John’s Baseball Announces Plan to Honor Fallen Heroes
9/11/2026 1:34:00 PM | Baseball
Commemorative plaques to be installed remembering Michael Weinberg and Anthony Varvaro
QUEENS, N.Y. – St. John's Baseball Head Coach Mike Hampton has announced that his program will soon unveil two permanent installations at Jack Kaiser Stadium honoring the legacies of former players who gave their lives in service to others: Michael Weinberg and Anthony Varvaro.
The University will place a pair of commemorative standing plaques telling the stories of Weinberg and Varvaro in the flower garden near the entrance of Jack Kaiser Stadium. The program plans to officially dedicate these plaques on Oct. 17 in conjunction with the team's fall scrimmage against Sacred Heart. All alumni and friends of the programs are invited to attend.
"This is something that we've been working toward for a long time and I'm thankful to everyone at the University who has helped make this a reality," said Hampton. "Mike Weinberg and Anthony Varvaro are the perfect representations of what we want our players to be. They were incredibly talented and dedicated, but above all they were loyal to the Vincentian ideals of service. I'm honored that our players will read their stories when coming into Jack Kaiser Stadium every day."
A native of Maspeth, Weinberg played for the Red Storm from 1986-89, winning two BIG EAST Tournament Championships and earning the 1988 Jack Kaiser Award as the tournament's most outstanding player. After signing a free agent contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1989, Weinberg played two minor league seasons in the organization before joining the New York City Fire Department in 1994.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Weinberg was on vacation. The 34-year-old was waiting to tee off at Forest Park Golf Course when he heard that a plane had hit the North Tower. Weinberg rushed to his fire house, Engine 1/Ladder 24, and then to The World Trade Center, where his sister, Patricia, worked on the 72nd floor of the South Tower. Patricia escaped, but Weinberg and 342 of his FDNY brethren perished on that fateful morning.
Anthony Varvaro did not take a traditional route to joining the Port Authority Police Department. A highly touted pitching prospect out of St. John's, the Staten Island native was drafted in the 12th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. He played six Major League seasons from 2010-15 and made 166 appearances, a majority of which came with the Atlanta Braves.
After retiring, Varvaro joined the academy of the Port Authority Police Department. Upon graduation, he was assigned to World Trade Center Command. In the early morning hours of Sept. 11, 2022, Varvaro was on his way to participate in memorial ceremonies at the World Trade Center site when he was killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver on the New Jersey Turnpike, leaving behind his wife, Kerri, and their four children.
More details on the alumni ceremony schedule for Oct. 17 will be shared at a later date. For more information, contact Hampton (hamptonm@stjohns.edu) or Associate Head Coach George Brown (browng1@stjohns.edu).
The University will place a pair of commemorative standing plaques telling the stories of Weinberg and Varvaro in the flower garden near the entrance of Jack Kaiser Stadium. The program plans to officially dedicate these plaques on Oct. 17 in conjunction with the team's fall scrimmage against Sacred Heart. All alumni and friends of the programs are invited to attend.
"This is something that we've been working toward for a long time and I'm thankful to everyone at the University who has helped make this a reality," said Hampton. "Mike Weinberg and Anthony Varvaro are the perfect representations of what we want our players to be. They were incredibly talented and dedicated, but above all they were loyal to the Vincentian ideals of service. I'm honored that our players will read their stories when coming into Jack Kaiser Stadium every day."
A native of Maspeth, Weinberg played for the Red Storm from 1986-89, winning two BIG EAST Tournament Championships and earning the 1988 Jack Kaiser Award as the tournament's most outstanding player. After signing a free agent contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1989, Weinberg played two minor league seasons in the organization before joining the New York City Fire Department in 1994.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Weinberg was on vacation. The 34-year-old was waiting to tee off at Forest Park Golf Course when he heard that a plane had hit the North Tower. Weinberg rushed to his fire house, Engine 1/Ladder 24, and then to The World Trade Center, where his sister, Patricia, worked on the 72nd floor of the South Tower. Patricia escaped, but Weinberg and 342 of his FDNY brethren perished on that fateful morning.
Anthony Varvaro did not take a traditional route to joining the Port Authority Police Department. A highly touted pitching prospect out of St. John's, the Staten Island native was drafted in the 12th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. He played six Major League seasons from 2010-15 and made 166 appearances, a majority of which came with the Atlanta Braves.
After retiring, Varvaro joined the academy of the Port Authority Police Department. Upon graduation, he was assigned to World Trade Center Command. In the early morning hours of Sept. 11, 2022, Varvaro was on his way to participate in memorial ceremonies at the World Trade Center site when he was killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver on the New Jersey Turnpike, leaving behind his wife, Kerri, and their four children.
More details on the alumni ceremony schedule for Oct. 17 will be shared at a later date. For more information, contact Hampton (hamptonm@stjohns.edu) or Associate Head Coach George Brown (browng1@stjohns.edu).
Monday, June 08
Saturday, June 06
Friday, June 05
Monday, June 01