Bridgewater, New Jersey – There wasn’t a formal sitdown at The Bada Bing and the hits that were ordered looked a little bit different on Thursday night at TD Bank Ballpark.
While Yankees stars of tomorrow were whacking the ball around the yard, the Patriots welcomed actors Vincent Curatola and Federico Castelluccio, known to millions of fans as “Johnny Sack” and “Furio Giunta” from “The Sopranos,” for the third installment of what has become an annual celebration of the famed HBO drama series.
After hosting Steve Schirripa for the event over the last two years, both Curatola and Castelluccio made their first-ever public fan appearance at a baseball stadium on what proved to be a memorable night in Bridgewater.
The first 1,000 adults at the ballpark on Thursday were given a commemorative Tony Soprano-style bowling shirt and had the opportunity to participate in various in-game themed promotions including the Pine Barrens ketchup packet eating contest, the Ginny Sack race and the Pie-O-My pony race.
The wiseguy duo met with VIP fans in the SK Club for a pregame meet-and-greet session, before participating in an on-field Q&A. The pair then threw out ceremonial first pitches while sporting personalized Patriots jerseys.
“I think that’s a huge honor, to throw out the first pitch,” Castelluccio said. “We love meeting the fans and now some new fans with the Patriots.”
The longtime Goombahs then made their way up to the concourse, where hundreds of fans lined up for the opportunity to meet the two gentlemen whose characters have remained timeless and synonymous with Jersey nearly two decades after the show wrapped.
‘It never ends,” Castelluccio said. “It has been such a huge part of our lives, and I don’t want to escape it. There are some people that don’t embrace it; we know a lot of actors that just want to stay out of the limelight, or whatever. It’s not even so much the limelight, it’s just being proud of doing the work that we did on that show.”
Curatola added that just because the show went off HBO in 2007, that didn’t mean anything for its longevity.
“Because you had DVD’s and you have so many platforms that exponentially [reach] I don’t know how many countries - but it’s like I Love Lucy,” Curatola said. “You’re not going to see a day without one of our episodes.”
Both Curatola and Castelluccio hail from New Jersey and so it was only fitting that the two actors brought a piece of the state’s favorite television show to TD Bank Ballpark.
“The Somerset Patriots is a Jersey thing,” Castelluccio said. It just seems natural that Sopranos family and the Somerset family kind of get together and have some fun.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a show so deeply rooted in New Jersey still makes fans feel connected. For most in the Somerset community, family is paramount, and “The Sopranos” are still part of it nearly 20 years after the screen cut to black.
Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Senior Writer
Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 14th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.