Ex-'Edge of Night' soap opera star Craig shines at PNC Park

His life is like a soap opera.

The thousands of baseball fans streaming into PNC Park for Pirates home games likely don't recognize the tall, thin, friendly guy shouting directions through a bullhorn, but he once was one of America's heartthrobs.

Tony Craig grew up in McKeesport and as a boy was inspired by former All-Star shortstop and 1960 MVP Dick Groat to dream of becoming a Pirates shortstop. Instead, he became an English teacher, and then a cab driver and bartender in New York, before landing a starring role on a long-running soap opera.

Years later, after his career on camera waned, he headed home to Pittsburgh and landed a job in guest relations for the baseball team.

"It's been wonderful, great," said Craig, 62, of the North Side. "To have lived this kind of a life — who would believe it?"

In the 1970s, Craig was at the pinnacle of his career playing Draper Scott on the ABC soap opera "The Edge of Night." Women fawned over him as he lived a lavish New York City lifestyle.

"That was probably the best time in my life," Craig said. "I was living the dream."

His life while growing up might have been somewhat typical for a young man whose father worked in a steel mill before opening a McKeesport restaurant that catered to mill workers. Craig left to earn a bachelor's degree in English from Mansfield University and worked toward a graduate degree in theater from Ohio State University before striking out for New York, where he taught high school English for three years.

Yet, he hated it.

"The whole time, I was auditioning, because I didn't really want to teach, I wanted to act," he said.

He quit teaching and took odd jobs, and continued to audition until the role of sophisticated district attorney Draper Scott emerged in 1975. As Scott, the dark-haired young man who worked to rid himself of a Pittsburgh accent came into his own.

"The producer of 'The Edge of Night' pulled me aside and said I needed to work on my accent," Craig said. "I didn't think I had an accent, but Pittsburgh people never do. But we have a terrible accent. I worked with a speech therapist for six months to adopt a Midwestern non-accent-accent."

He soon rocketed to fame. Women mailed him gifts — expensive watches, underwear, and one, the deed to her house.

"She wanted me to just sign it and come live with her," said Craig, who was twice married and divorced while living in New York.

Soap Opera Digest sponsored a "Win a date with Tony Craig" contest in 1977. A young Ohio woman won.

"She was just shaking; she couldn't believe she was there in New York," Craig said.

That was "the time of my life," he recalled. "When you're young, nothing terrifies you. Nothing worries you. You just enjoy it all."

After seven years on the hit soap, Craig began feeling burned out.

"We did 750 shows in seven years, and the soap ran five days a week," Craig said. "Many of those shows were live. It just became a grind."

Though he says ABC offered him a lot of money and a contract for two made-for-television movies, he walked away.

"My agent encouraged me to stay for another year and take the offer, and in hindsight I probably should have, but I just wanted a break," Craig said.

He moved to Hollywood. There, casting agents found him small roles in movies, including "Tootsie" with Dustin Hoffman, the 1982 film about an out-of-work actor who becomes a star after he takes a female role. Craig played Joel Spector, the college roommate of Dustin Hoffman's character.

"I thought, who the hell wants to see a movie about a middle-aged man who dresses as a woman?" Craig said. "I thought that movie was going to be the biggest flop of all movies. I was shocked it was such a hit. I still get residual checks from that movie."

A few parts followed, but "nothing notable," he said.

He was commuting between New York and Los Angeles when he met his third wife, Rachel, in 1985 at a party given for the New York Yankees. The boy who grew up collecting baseball cards and "everything else you can imagine" decided in 1986 to start a business selling autographed memorabilia and books.

The couple married in 1988, settling in New York. Three years later, Rachel died of cancer.

Craig moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and continued operating T.C. Card Co. from his house. He spent much of his time playing golf.

He continued to accept acting roles, in TV commercials and theater, splitting his time among Palm Beach Gardens, Los Angeles and New York.

"In my 20s and 30s, I was living the life, and I had so much drive and so much edge," Craig said. "I would push, push, push. (Then) I suddenly found myself going to auditions and taking acting classes with these kids in their 20s, who looked at me as the old guy.

"It was time for the edge to come off."

Craig moved home to Pittsburgh in January 2008, to be near his brother and sister-in-law, nieces and nephews, and his aunts. He signed with a local casting agent and though he's had many call-backs, he hasn't landed any roles. He said he considers himself retired, but he wanted to get out of the house.

When the Pirates hired him last spring as a part-time employee at the ballpark, it "changed my life," Craig said.

"After his first few days on the job, some of the staff started to recognize his name and face, and immediately knew him by his television name," recalled Melissa Cushey, the guest relations manager at PNC Park who hired and supervises Craig.

"To be in there on a summer night, surrounded by 20,000 people and to be helping them, it's the best job in the world," Craig said. "What could be better• The people down there are my family."

In April, ballpark management named him "All Star of the Month." During a presentation before the game, Craig was given a trophy and tickets for four free dinners at the ballpark's Lexus Club. He took home the game's line-up card.

"He is always wearing a smile on his face and is willing to help a guest no matter what the request," Cushey said. "He definitely shows his PNC Park pride."

These days, he keeps in touch with his soap opera co-stars, who are "scattered across the globe," he said. Most are retired or moved on to other professions.

And Craig makes friends with strangers. Occasionally, someone recognizes him.

"People will do a double-take and say, 'Do I know you?' I always say, 'No, I just have one of those faces.'"