Back in the 1970s, New England college baseball was a
pitcher’s game and Shrewsbury native Paul Josephson gave the
Engineers a bonafide ace.
The right hander played for the Crimson and Gray all four of his
years at WPI. As a junior, he registered complete games in all
seven of his starts. He posted a 3-4 record with a 2.52 ERA and
collected 47 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings.
Josephson was a team captain his senior season. He continued to
be a workhorse, notching four complete games, including a shutout,
in his eight starts. The Engineers offense struggled but Josephson
kept them in every game, posting a 2.77 ERA.
After graduating from WPI with a degree in civil engineering, he
couldn’t shake the baseball bug and, thanks to former major
leaguer Larry Bearnarth, he was drafted by the Montreal Expos in
the 10th round (197th overall) of the 1978 winter draft.
“When Paul was on the mound, WPI could compete with any
team in New England,” commented teammate Tom McBride.
“The fact that he was drafted and was playing professional
baseball really went a long way to legitimize our program and make
us all proud.”
He spent four years in the Expos system, making stops with the
Jamestown Expos of the New York-Penn League and the West Palm Beach
Expos of the Florida State League, where Josephson was voted
pitcher of the month in August of 1980. He was rewarded with a
promotion to the Memphis Chicks of the AA Southern League.
The next year during spring training, Josephson’s contract
was acquired by the Detroit Tigers organization where he played
with the Lakeland Tigers and the Double AA Birmingham Barons. The
following season he was with the Oakland Athletics organization and
won a league championship with the Modesto A’s, where he led
the team with the most saves and a 1.97 ERA.
The next year he was back in New England and compiled a 6-0
record with the Albany A’s of the Double AA Eastern League.
Josephson closed out his professional career with the Durham Bulls,
where he played a game for then-Atlanta Braves manager Joe Torre,
in front of a crowd of 24,000.
“What comes to mind what I think of Paul is his
determination to succeed,” says teammate Don Maki. “He
craftily hit his spots consistently with his heavy fastball and a
curve. Not only did opponents notice his skills, so did the
Montreal Expos, who drafted him. I had professional aspirations
like Paul so I considered him a role model, an engineer who could
meet the rigorous academic requirements at WPI and eventually play
baseball professionally.”
At the young age of 28, Josephson decided to put his WPI degree
to use. He currently operates his own civil engineering and land
surveying business as a licensed Professional Engineer. Paul has
been married for 23 years to his wife, Theresa. The couple have two
sons, Matthew, 16, and David, 10, both of whom excel at hockey.
Click HERE if the video does not appear below.
