AFTER 1,000 GAMES TOGETHER, BOBBY BROWN, TOM CARCIONE FACE OFF FOR FIRST TIME
By Brendan Gallian
A series of power outages at Ozinga Field on Thursday delayed the rubber match between the Windy City ThunderBolts and Ottawa Titans. Even when the lights were out and the game was on hold, there was still plenty of electricity in the air as Bolts manager Tom Carcione and Titans leader Bobby Brown faced off.
For more than 1,000 games across the Frontier League, American Association, and Northern League, Brown and Carcione shared a dugout. This series was the first time that they’d managed against each other.
“You're always going to be playing against guys that you had coached before, but (it’s) different when it's someone you've been with through wars with,” Brown said. “We had the highest of highs, the lowest of lows together.”
Carcione’s Bolts took the series two games to one, but there’s no bad blood between the managers. Carcione said that after so many seasons working together, the two share a brotherly bond.
“He's always been in my corner,” Carcione said of Brown. We're kind of like brothers; we bicker at each other and argue and fight.”
Brown concurred. He said that something between the managers just clicks, likening their bond to a successful marriage.
“Some people just click,” Brown said. “(There was) just something about (Carcione) from the day I met him that always clicked.”
The two veteran skippers have known each other for nearly 30 years. In 1999, Brown — an outfielder — joined the Northern League’s Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. Carcione served as the team’s bench coach and bullpen coach.
Brown and Carcione next worked together in 2016, when Brown managed the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association, while Carcione served as the team’s hitting coach. The two also joined forces in Ottawa, where Brown has led the Titans since 2022, and Carcione served in a variety of roles between 2022 and 2025.
The match-up between familiar faces went beyond just Brown and Carcione. Three former Titans who Carcione coached last season — Zach Cameron, Victor Cerny, and Justin Fogel — have played big roles for the ThunderBolts this year.
Carcione also brought Tino Novis, who served as Ottawa’s analytics coordinator last season, with him to serve as Windy City’s pitching coach.
Carcione said that his familiarity with the ex-Titans made for an easy decision to bring the group to the ThunderBolts.
“You know what you're getting,” Carcione said. “It's not like ‘Oh, I'm going to bring this guy in, I don't know how he is.’ Those are easy moves because you've got a relationship and you know their abilities.”
Fogel shared the sentiment, saying that his familiarity with Caricione, Cerny, Cameron, and Novis helped him adjust to his new team after a mid-season trade.
“You put on a different uniform, but the rules of the game stay the same, so it's easy to show up,” Fogel said. “Coming into Windy City that first day, it's like, ‘Okay, I have some familiar faces.’”
The group of former Titans has been a big help to Carcione, who is in his first full season managing a professional team.
Carcione is also using lessons he learned from Brown over the years. He said that their differences in hitting philosophies made for productive conversations.
“We just bounce things off each other,” Carcione said. “He'll be like, ‘Hey, this is what I'm thinking.’ I wasn't like a yes man, like, “Oh yeah, that's right, Bobby.’ I would say, ‘No.’ Just being able to have those conversations going back and forth with stuff, you learn.”
At the same time, Brown has learned things from the older Carcione. Brown said it was invaluable to have someone more experienced than himself on his coaching staff.
One specific tip that Brown picked up from Carcione is to never steal with runners on first and second with no outs, citing the risk of ending up on the wrong side of a triple play.
“Every time I want to run, I have him in my ear,” Brown said. “‘Don't do it, you're gonna hit into a triple play.’”
To Brown’s credit (and Carcione’s), the Titans successfully avoided a triple play during the series.
For players like Cerny — who didn’t have decades of coaching experience buzzing in their ears — it was just fun to play against so many old teammates and friends.
“It's fun competing against friends; it gives a little extra energy,” Cerny said. “We know each other, we played together, and it's fun.”
