Bronx Stage&Film Company

John Malangone is probably the best baseball player the world has never heard of... He grew up in the 1940’s in East Harlem, and was signed by the Yankees. Scouts were so impressed with his raw talent, they thought he might one day inherit the catching spot of Yankee great Yogi Berra. It was not to be.

What happened to the once promising career of John Malangone? This question is at the core of a new 55 minute documentary, LONG ROAD HOME, directed by Bruce Spiegel. The story of Malangone spans 5 decades. It starts in the streets and back alleys of East Harlem, the first “Little Italy” of New York City. John Malangone’s grew up in a vibrant world that included gangsters and hustlers. It’s a world that no longer exists, but comes to life in LONG ROAD HOME thru Malangone, family members and friends who lived it. It’s from those early days in East Harlem that Malangone has an experience that forever casts a shadow on everything he does for the next 50 years!

John Malangone is discovered by Paul Kritchel, legendary Yankee scout, who signed both Lou Gerhig and Whitey Ford to contracts. Malangone travels the minor leagues of the 50’s, makes it to the famed “Yankee rookie school”, plays and becomes friends with Yankee major leaguers like Johnnie Blanchard, Johnnie Kucks… Everywhere he plays, he causes a stir among players and fans alike. But, his past is always a part of his present, and he is unable to escape it.

Finally, a chance meeting and subsequent friendship with a fellow ball player provides the key to ultimately changing Malangone’s life. John Malangone finally reclaims his life, and is able to have “a second chance” at both baseball and life.

Credits
Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Bruce Spiegel

Bruce Spiegel has been a film and video editor for over 20 years in New York. Over the last 14 years he has been an editor/producer at CBS’s “48 Hours”. The show is currently one of the longest running shows on television and can be seen on Saturday nights at 10. In 2002, Spiegel was one of 4 producer/editors who won a prime time Emmy for best documentary for ‘9-11’, the only documentary that takes viewers into the world trade center with firefighters on Sept. 11. In the late 80’s Spiegel wrote and edited “Machito: a Latin jazz legacy” This film, chronicling the life of Latin band leader Machito, has been featured on PBS numerous times, and won first prize at the London Film Festival in 1989. In 2006 Spiegel won the Sigma Delta Phi for outstanding journalism for his editing on “Out of the Shadows”, a 48 Hours special dealing with the sex slave industry in Eastern Europe. Spiegel met John Malangone 6 years ago in the gym at the Hackensack YMCA. They have been friends ever since. Bruce Spiegel lives in Teaneck New Jersey, with his wife and 3 children.