Plow For Life – Bethlehem celebrates 100 year anniversary!
BETHLEHEM – Plow For Life.
Bethlehem’s cozy, character-filled Gallop Baseball Field with its Beatle-like haircut beamed with the sentiment on a day built for reliving, reloading, remembering and relishing a life experience.
The Bethlehem Plowboys celebrated 100 years of existence on a fitting baseball day, a remarkable milestone of longevity for any person or organization but particularly for a recreational program.
So often teams form on this level and when the group ages and moves on the team becomes a memory. Fabled Waterbury Timers and Waterbury Laurels of Waterbury baseball fame wrote magnificent stories but eventually moved from the fields into the memory books. The Thomaston Ponies, a state power football team roared for the first 30 years of the 20th century and eventually folded. The list is long and for almost all, they came, they saw, they conquered occasionally or for a while and eventually they were no more.
Not so the Plowboys. They just keep rolling along like Old Man River. Players have come and gone, members have lived and died, gloves have morphed from hand coverings to the size of a covered wagon and field locations have changed. No matter. The Plowboys continue on.
Think of the scope of existence. The Jazz Age, Great Depression, WWII, Elvis, the Beatles, Woodstock, television, man on the moon, penicillin, 9/11, the computer, Hulk Hogan – the Plowboys have seen and survived it all. And maybe more. Gregg Hunt, one of the integral figures in the Plowboy story thinks the team came before 1923. Either way, it is an infinite run at this point and continues to roll on.
The Plowboys know this and they reveled in it on celebration day. More than 30 former players showed up to celebrate the centennial. They laughed (a lot), questioned one another’s physiques which is what happens at reunions and is part of the endearing camaraderie, remembered a lot, rewrote some of the history, maybe popped a top or two and played a make-shift scrimmage.
Some balls were caught, some balls were missed and some balls ended a long way from home plate. Jon Conlon, Pat McGee and Aaron Granahan went back-to-back-to-back depositing a trio of John Pettit’s soft serves deep in to the left field foliage. Conlon’s bomb was a tree topper and was headed somewhere near Popeye’s Ice Cream Shoppe on West St. in Morris.
Vintage Plowboy shirts were on display. Bob McMahon wore his blue jersey with the big B on the left side but even more poignant MD initials on one sleeve in honor of one of the Plowboy legends Marc D’Amelio who died in his early 30s. Hunt went gray with Bethlehem running across the chest and looked like Ty Cobb out in right field.
Players ranged from 9 to 90, the younger ones were big leaguers for a moment and the veterans turned the clock back to a younger day. So much of it was about seeing old friends, being with a game they loved and basking in the glow of a lifetime experience.
But, to be honest it goes deeper than that with the Plowboys. It wasn’t just about them or the day; it was about 100 years of them. It is about the Plow as a whole. State and local authorities along with television recognize this and had representatives on hand to present proclamations recognizing an admirable achievement and story. The Bethlehem Historical Society has a marvelous display on the team’s history.
The Plowboys on hand know that their time was part of all-time and that is unique here and they understand that.
Former Plowboy (briefly) and Tri-State Baseball Commissioner Ed Gadomski touched on the idea that the Plowboy magic doesn’t end when the career ends, you carry it with you.
“There was one thing that really intrigued me this week and it was on social media with the posts that were out and all I saw and kept seeing in comment, post, comment, post was Plow for Life,” Gadomski said in addressing the players. “And I thought about what Plow for Life really means. Friendship, respect, sportsmanship, and of course family. That’s what I really think kept the Bethlehem Plowboys going for 100 years was Plow for Life. Not many teams have a slogan and you don’t just get a slogan, you have to earn that slogan and that is exactly what you guys did. “
“There is something special when you put the uniform on,” Pettit added. “Jim Calhoun used to say that when you play you are all family. We are not teammates, we are friends. You realize when you are playing that you are in the twilight of youth. You realize things change and you have to enjoy every day.”
It was a theme heard all over the field. The Plowboys have always been more than baseball. Dan Goscinski was quick to mention that five of his teammates were in his wedding. Hunt talked about your best friends being your baseball friends.
“These guys have stuck together and it keeps on going,” Hunt said. “Three or four times this team has been turnover over to a new group and it continues.”
Hunt is a big part of that. He resurrected the team in 1981 and many Thomaston High players followed him to Bethlehem when he coached the Bears in the mid-1980s.
“The magic is coach Hunt and the people he decided to bring here and hen passing it over to John (Pettit),” said McMahon who learned much of his trade under Hunt and gone on to forge his own formidable coaching career at Thomaston as baseball and girls basketball coach. “The core was the Thomaston guys he brought here and then we added over-the-top pieces like D’Amelio, Eric O’Toole, Tony Geraci, Erick Williams, Jay Rocca and Erick Williams.
Much of the proud Plow for the Centennial was part of a vintage group that made 12 finals in 15 years from 1995-2010 and won six titles. Most were in the 30-55 years-old territory. They stay in touch with the present edition of the Plowboys who continue on with the winning tradition having made the Tri-State championship finals the last two years. They keep track, they offer advice. Today is part of yesterday in Plow world. You stop playing, you don’t stop loving. You don’t stop wearing the blue with the big B on it.
Much of the day was about their time. Most of the day was about all-time. The past is always the present. They know that. After all. Plow Forever. All 100 years of it and still going.
Roll Plow.
BETHLEHEM – The gravestone sits in the Bethlehem Cemetery off Thomson Road in the center of town. John G. Jenkins (April 28, 1911-Sept. 4, 2001) lies buried here next to his beloved Eva, but it’s the back of the monument that shows his claim to fame: “The Last Survivor of the Original Bethlehem Plowboys.” John Pettit, who played 20 seasons for the modern version of the amateur baseball team, is all on board with Jenkins’ way of thinking. “That’s how much the team means to some of the guys,” said Pettit, a former manager, too. “I know it will be in my obituary. It was a huge part of our lives.”
This coming Saturday, the Plowboys will celebrate their 100th anniversary with an old-timers game from 10 to 11:30 a.m., followed by a brief ceremony at Gallop Field. The Old Bethlem Historical Society will also open its current exhibit on the Plowboys to the public from noon to 2 p.m. The team started in 1923, but aside from Jenkins’ spot on the roster, its origins are unclear. But the exhibit does include several stories from the old Waterbury Evening Democrat newspaper about Plowboys games in the old Naugatuck Valley Baseball Loop. One report from Aug. 26, 1935 describes a win by Hopeville, known as the Tommies, in the “feature game” over Bethlehem, with Plowboys pitcher Smokey Joe Dennis surrendering seven runs in the third inning alone. The wild Bethlehem chucker beaned six batsmen, including Hopeville’s Paul Doran, “who then chased him into left field with the bat in his hand, one of the most comical moves seen on the circuit this year,” according to the article’s unknown author. Dennis was eventually removed and sent to right field, where a “verbal argument” ensued with Doran, prompting fans to swarm onto the sod and hold up the game for six minutes. The games were held at Ferriday Field, now a cornfield for March Farms, at the intersection of Munger and Bellamy lanes. According to the late Walter Hunt, father of one-time Plowboys manager Gregg Hunt, games drew up to 200 fans.
The team disbanded at an uncertain date, although it is generally thought to be in the 1940s during World War II. Decked out in royal blue Brooklyn Dodger-style uniforms, the Plowboys were resurrected by Gregg Hunt in 1981 with former Nonnewaug High players who had grown too old for the Senior Babe Ruth team of the same name. They joined the Tri-State Baseball League, which then actually had teams in three states, and began playing at Gallop Field, where the ground rules were a bit unique. The outfield fence that exists today didn’t then, but the Public Works Department’s sand and gravel piles hugged right and center field. The town also parked its school buses for the summer in the lot beyond center. “The buses were in play,” Hunt recalled. “Bethlehem guys would dive under the bus to grab the ball and throw it out to the relay guy. You might get the guy at the plate. The guys from out of town wouldn’t know what to do.” Hunt used to run into Jenkins at the town dump, where the veteran ballplayer worked. The last of the originals would quiz Hunt about how many players were from tiny Bethlehem. When Hunt replied, “Not many,” Jenkins would answer, “Yeah, that was always the problem.” Hunt recruited players from his Thomaston High teams – such as Keith Harkness, Brian Grabherr, Jason Harlow, Bob McMahon, Marc Beaudoin, John Pettit and his brother Kevin – but the Plowboys still struggled in their infancy. In fact, as the 1995 season began, they hadn’t had a winning record yet and Hunt told his players they had to finish at least .500 that season or the club was history. After starting 4-10, the Plowboys rallied to win six games in their final at bat to close the season at .500.
In a nonleague game against Newtown, John Pettit ended it with a home run that shattered the rear window of the opposing pitcher’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. “It exploded, kind of like the scoreboard lights in ‘The Natural,’” Pettit recalled. “(The pitcher) walked with his glove to his car, got in, never threw the ball out and drove home (to New Milford). I joke that it’s the longest home run in Tri-State history.” The next season, Pettit ran into some of the pitcher’s teammates now playing for another club. They were wearing T-shirts featuring a baseball shattering a window. And when he turned 53 in May this year, his mother gave Pettit a birthday card. Tucked inside was an article from 1995 about that home run. With the team off life support, the Plowboys began to add out-of-town players, such as Plainville’s Pat Reddy, Wolcott’s Erik Williams and Jay Rocca, and Watertown’s Mike Talarico, to their roster. The infusion of pitching talent paid off.
After losing the Tri-State World Series in 1996 and ’97, the Plowboys finally won their first championship in their third try in ’98. In the opener of the best-of-three series, Bethlehem fell to Lakeville at Gallop Field, 9-7. The next two games were a doubleheader in Lakeville. Hunt sent Williams, who threw a one-finger knuckleball, to the mound. He surrendered eight singles in nine innings in an 8-1 win that evened the series. The manager decided to send Williams back out for the nightcap, but with one caveat: He had promised Talarico a chance to pitch. Through eight innings, Williams was working on a six-hit shutout, D.J. Reese had clouted a grand slam and the Plowboys were en route to their first championship. Still, Hunt kept his word. Talarico came on in relief in the ninth, surrendering a solo home run before cinching the 13-1 victory. After the 1999 championship, Hunt left his manager’s position. He was also skipper of the collegiate league Torrington Twisters and didn’t have enough time for both managerial jobs.The position fell to Pettit, who kept many of Hunt’s rules: Show up on time; don’t skip games for vacations; no drinking the night before games. “You can still have fun, but winning is fun,” said Pettit, who admitted he was more lenient than his predecessor.
Under Pettit, the Plowboys added Tri-State titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005. The last of Bethlehem’s crowns happened in 2010. It has played in seven more finals, including this year when the Plowboys fell to the Tri-Town Trojans for the second season in a row. On Saturday, the team is inviting current and former Plowboys, along with the children of players, to compete in the old-timers game. “One hundred years is pretty awesome,” said Pettit, who stopped playing in 2006 after the birth of his twin sons. “The reason we’ve invited the sons and daughters of old players to come out is so maybe this will be around in another hundred years.”
PLOWBOYS CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY WITH OLD-TIMERS GAME
The Plowboys’ 100th anniversary celebration will be Saturday, Aug. 26, at Gallop Field in Bethlehem. Batting practice will begin at 9:30 a.m. with the old-timers game from 10 to 11:30, followed by a brief ceremony. Current and former Plowboys are invited to attend, with the children of players welcome to play, too. The Old Bethlem Historical Society on Main Street will open its exhibit on the Plowboys from noon to 2 p.m. The exhibit can also be seen on Sundays from 1 to 4 or by appointment. The society hosts a different exhibit every year, explained board members Vin and Meghan Bove. Last year’s was on the Civil War. The Plowboys’ exhibit includes old news clippings, uniforms, programs, photographs, baseballs, bats, gloves and other equipment.