Chicago Baseball Club - Chicago Warriors and Philosophy
Joe Perona founded Chicago Baseball Club in 2015 to develop confident, fundamentally strong baseball players. Joe has for more than 15 years has focused primarily on youth and high school coaching levels. He boasts an impressive athletic career at the amateur and professional levels. Through Chicago Baseball Club, Joe and his staff of coaches deliver his unique "make no excuses, instead find a way to improve" coaching philosophy in a supportive teaching environment.
Joe enjoys coaching too much to simply be an administrator of the Warriors baseball program. Coach Perona coaches multiple Chicago Warriors teams and designs and manages the Chicago Baseball Club Chicago Warriors winter training program. You will also see Joe directing and coaching the Chicago Warriors fall program. Chicago Warriors teams compete for championships but at the heart of the Chicago Baseball Club program is developing players and coaches.
Chicago Baseball Club - Chicago Warriors coaches range from former college and professional baseball players to experienced youth or high school coaches. CBC offers multiple seasonal training programs and private lessons designed to develop players 8 to 18 as well as training clinics for youth baseball coaches.
Prior to Chicago Baseball Club, Joe served as a volunteer coach and league leader for over 10 years at Warren Park Youth Baseball serving as President and bringing a Little League Charter to the league. He also coached Warren Park Youth Baseball LL all star teams to multiple years of wins over Illinois Little League powerhouse Jackie Robinson West LL on the way to 4 Warren Park State Championships and a National 3rd place finish at the Junior League World Series in 2018. Joe also co founded the not for profit Chicago Northside 5 Baseball League in 2012 with a single age group of five teams and now has over 50 teams in six age divisions.
Player and Team Development: Evolution of a Philosophy and First Year Team Builds a Program
" The first year I founded the Warriors program, we had a group of nine-year-olds who were just learning the game of competitive baseball. Back then, the Warriors were simply trying to survive a complete six inning game verses competitive teams -- winning against strong teams wasn't on our radar. Near the end of their second season, these young players came to believe in themselves and realize they were good baseball players who could compete. With confidence, authentic growth followed. By year three, the Warriors posted a winning record and they never looked back. The players reached a point as a team where they expected to win. Now, as individuals, they are skilled ball players who can compete against anyone." --Joe Perona
Coaching Purpose
"Both coach and player must desire improvement. Coaches must demonstrate belief in their players, and convince the player the belief is genuine. As a coach, I try to light sparks in my players and allow them to see the possibilities, and lead through good instruction. This method builds confidence and encourages players to build on their improvement."-- Joe Perona
Media Spotlight
* Bureau County Republican, Perona comes full circle
* Illinois Valley News Tribune, Where are they now: St. Bede's Joe Perona
* Youth Baseball Edge Podcast, Turning Around a Dying Program with Joe Perona,
* Illinois Valley News Tribune, Junior League World Series: Perona coaches Warren Park to World Series
Mentoring Coaches
"My own coaching improvement began to flourish when I set aside my ego and accepted that my growth as a teacher of baseball would not simply be the result of my own accomplishments as a baseball player. That is, being a good player and having deep knowledge of the game doesn't automatically make me a good coach. Practice is the time for the coach to frame the game into smaller chunks, challenge the player beyond comfort and focus on quality movements. Forget about scouting an opponent. Focus your team on playing their game. For my teams, that means they come prepared to play hard, aggressive baseball. Good coaches drop their ego and teach the game."--Joe Perona
Joe Perona background as an athlete
Joe's interest in sports began on the diamonds in the Spring Valley, IL Little League in the late 1970's. By the time he reached high school at St. Bede Academy in
Peru, IL, Joe was a three-sport star. At St. Bede, he played three years of varsity football as a quarterback and strong safety, rushing for over 1,000 yards and passing for 2,000 yards over his final two seasons. As a basketball player, Joe played four years on the varsity team, and when he graduated in 1987, he was the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1199 points. In baseball, Joe started on the varsity team at shortstop his freshman year and, as he would in each of his four years, led the team in batting average. In his junior year, he batted .520 and had a state record 62 RBI in 31 games. Colleges recruited Joe in all three sports. Joe considered interest from three schools to play both football and baseball: The Naval Academy, Princeton University and College of St Francis. For baseball, he received athletic scholarship offers at Bradley, Wisconsin, and Northwestern University.
Joe played four years of baseball at Northwestern and graduated in 1991. In his junior and senior seasons, while playing mostly third base and catcher, he led Northwestern in batting averages of .368 and .384 and was an All Big Ten Conference selection, team captain, and team MVP. The Detroit Tigers drafted Joe in 1991 in the 8th round as a catcher. He played five minor league seasons in the Detroit system, making it to Double A in his final three professional seasons. He was released by Detroit in 1995.
After a summer coaching his nephew's 13-year-old team, Joe began playing baseball again in 1997 as an amateur in the Chicago Skyscraper League in the NABF open-age division, which consists of players 18 and older. Joe has not missed a season since and is currently a catcher on the Chicago Clout baseball team.
Joe lives in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood with his wife, Julie, and their four children.