Beloved baseball man Bob Soifer returns to his ‘sanctuary’ at Holy Spirit

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher What makes baseball such a great game is that it’s always there for you. Like a childhood friend you used to hang out with in tree forts or ride bikes with. That bond you develop with the game never really leaves you, and when times get tough, a baseball diamond can be a place of comfort. It’s a place where everything makes sense. The sound of the ball meeting the bat, the smell of fresh-cut grass, the sight of bright white foul lines on game day. A baseball dugout is a place where you can leave your troubles behind and be a kid again for a few hours. For Bob Soifer, baseball has been more than just a game. It’s been a way of life. The last few years have been tough on the man known as “Coach Soif” but the hard times seem to fade away when he puts on the vegas gold and navy blue uniform of the Holy Spirit Spartans. He wore that uniform proudly, first as an assistant under Keith Gorman, then as the head man for two years. But he had to step away from the game prior to the 2014 season to deal with some lingering health concerns. He ended up having four surgeries and almost lost a foot after an infection following a surgery, but he is back now, better than ever as an assistant coach under Steve Normane, a former Rutgers standout who cut his teeth under Soifer’s tutelage before taking over as Spirit’s head coach last year. Bob Soifer is back, and Cape-Atlantic League baseball is better because of his return. “It’s been great. It was an easy decision to ask him, but I wasn’t sure what kind of response I was going to get from him. I wasn’t sure if he was ready to come back,” Normane said. “I kind of just asked him to be a part-time guy and come around when he could, but he’s been there every day.” “That’s where I belong, on the baseball field. I’ve been doing it for so many years, if it wasn’t high school it was in the youth leagues. It’s where I’m supposed to be,” Soifer said. “For me, most of the time I show up and I don’t determine the starting lineup or anything. I work a lot with the hitters and the outfielders. Most of the days I go to the batting cage, I call that my sanctuary. Whatever (coach Normane) needs done, that’s what I do.” A baseball lifer Soifer, a 56-year-old who graduated from Atlantic City High School in the late 1970s, started his coaching career at the tender age of just 15, and hasn’t stopped for the past four decades. In an age of neon green batting gloves and camo-style arm sleeves, Soifer is an old-school guy. He makes sure guys have their shirts tucked in and their hats on straight. He teaches teenage players to respect the game, because he knows from experience how much the game can give back to you over the course of a lifetime. Soifer gathers with the team following a win over Atlantic City earlier this season. Soifer began his coaching career at age 15, the same age as many of the players he coaches now. “He knows a lot about hitting. He coached me my sophomore and freshman years, he’s a close friend of my family. He’s an all-around great guy. He has these inspirational stories he tells in practice,” said senior infielder A.J. Russo, whose father, also named A.J., was one of the first players Soifer ever coached. “He has so much experience with baseball. He specializes in hitting, so if I do something wrong in an at-bat he will point it out right away and I’ll try to use what he taught me in my next at-bat. We have young coaches who played in college, and Coach Soif has been around for a long time, so it’s a good mix.” “One of the first kids I ever coached was A.J.’s father. It’s pretty ironic that I’m coaching his kid now,” Soifer said. “It just shows that I’ve been around for a little while. A lot of the guys who I coached are now coaches, and that’s a big thrill for me.” Role reversal Soifer spent two seasons as the Spartans’ head coach before giving way to Normane last year when his health declined. Normane said having a guy with previous head coaching experience on his staff has been invaluable for him. “His one-liners are fantastic. If I’m ever looking for some kind of motivation I’ll be like, ‘coach, you got anything for this?’ And he’s got it, doesn’t even have to think about it. He’s such a good leader that way,” Normane said. “I told him that with all the one-liners, the quips, the advice, I have to get him on Twitter, but he won’t let me. I’m making that my season goal, to get him on Twitter.” Bean also recognizes the value of having a former head coach on staff. “Anytime you have a guy like coach Soifer on your staff who was previously a head coach and comes back, he can give a lot of insight and give you pointers on what to do and what not to do. That’s a huge shoulder to lean on to have him there,” Bean said. Soifer said that many people don’t understand the pressure and stress that a head coach faces on a daily basis, and as an assistant he can spend the majority of his time coaching and not worrying about anything else. “Most people don’t realize how much work it is to be a head coach. As an assistant coach, it’s a lot easier, but coaching is coaching. It’s all about serving and giving back to the kids. I didn’t really want to give it up, but I had health issues,” Soifer said. “I had surgery and was laid up for three months and one day Steve came over and said, ‘coach, how would you feel about being an assistant?’ At one point I had to give him an answer, I talked it over with my family, and like I said, that’s where I’m supposed to be. The opportunity was there and I’m really grateful (Steve) gave me the opportunity. I love the kids, I love coaching.” Mother knows best Soifer was very close to his mother, Elke Hirsh, who passed away in March, just as the 2015 season was beginning. He could have packed it in right then and there, but he knew that’s not what she would have wanted. She would have wanted him to continue to have an impact on young people’s lives. “My mom passed away in March and that was a tough thing,” Soifer said. “When I’m on the baseball field, everything in life kind of fades out and that’s where I get my peace. (Coaching) has really helped me. “She was one of my biggest fans. Every night she would call me up and ask who won. That’s a little different now that I don’t have her. She always gave me inspiration and always motivated me. She was a music teacher, so that’s what I learned from her, to always give back and keep teaching the kids. I got that from my mom.” Elke was a former music teacher, and bringing young people along was her life’s passion. Soifer has carried on that family tradition, impacting countless young athletes for the past 40 years. Current Holy Spirit assistant Mike Buccafurni is one of them. “He has played an enormous role in my life. He was one of the major influences on me going to college and getting focused. There are a lot of guys who love him and love being around him,” Buccafurni said. “Me, personally, I owe him a lot. I never thought I would go to college. The impact he had on me was huge, and I know I’m not the only one who he has impacted in that way. I will always owe him for the impact he had on me.” “I’m glad he’s healthy. He’s moving around much better. It was very unfortunate with his mother passing away, I know he was very close to her,” Bean said. “But he was out there at the alumni game, playing second base and pitching a little bit. You could tell the surgeries are working well and he’s getting around much better. I think Holy Spirit has a great thing going on with having him on staff and having him around the players.” Soifer said current players and parents often thank him for putting in so much time on the baseball diamond, but he says they have it all wrong. He’s the one who should be thanking them, he sa
id. “The kids and the parents always thank me, but in reality, they help me more than I help them,” Soifer said. “So it’s worked out pretty good. I needed to be back out on the field as part of my own healing process.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]