Tri-State Commissioner Eddie Gadomski always on the move, always Thankful

The Tri-State Baseball League’s Eddie Gadomski stands in his 21st year as volunteer Commissioner while fielding other huge blocks of responsibility in his life.

copyright By Peter Wallace, Correspondent June 12, 2024

LITCHFIELD – Sometimes, it takes a closer look to discover how special some people really are in athletics, business and maybe even life itself.

This is Eddie Gadomski’s 21st year as Commissioner of the 91-year-old Tri-State Baseball League and his third year as the fulltime union rep for nurses and techs at Waterbury Hospital, Midstate Medical Center, the Waterbury Public Health Nurses Department, Waterbury school nurses and a few other organizations after 32 years as Waterbury Hospital’s IT supervisor and union rep. He’s 57 years old and didn’t stop playing the Tri-State League’s serious brand of baseball until he was 41.

When he took over the league in 2003, the venerable amateur adult league which has always included a smattering of former and future MLB players, present or former college players and select high school stars, was down to six teams and a dwindling reputation. He took over his current union job on the cusp of near-daily news about the ongoing struggles to reach a sales deal between Yale New Haven Hospital and Waterbury Hospital’s holding company in California. Round out the overview with a picture of a 37-year happy marriage to wife Lori, three grown daughters and four grandchildren.

“Family is key,” says Gadomski in an hour-long conversation he carves out last Saturday morning at Litchfield’s Community Field with two of the 12 thriving Tri-State Baseball teams playing in the background. “You have to remember to make memories,” he says, only occasionally checking his watch to be on time for 6-year-old granddaughter Avery’s gymnastics recital that afternoon. He was just as punctual for 3-year-old Paisley’s dance recital earlier in the week.

He describes his union job, complete with its on-call emergencies, as 24/7, 365 days a year. On the side, though the math seems to stop working, Gadomski, a Thomaston resident, has been nominated to become president of the Naugatuck Valley Project this summer, an activist organization working with Waterbury’s Board of Aldermen and Major “to back each other to do the right thing” in environmental and civic activities. In the fall, he runs a thriving Fantasy Football League.

“I have to be moving,” he says. “My ideal situation when I played baseball was, ‘Give me the ball on the mound, then let me bat third or fourth.”

If he sounds like a frenetic personality, you’re hearing wrong. During Saturday’s conversation, Gadomski takes time to chat with Gene Fischer, a baseball lifer who’s come all the way from Pleasantville, New York to see the double header at Community Field, then Tom Downey IV, former player coach of Tri-State’s Amenia, New York team now coaching Tom Downey V’s Little League baseball team at Litchfield’s adjacent Little League field. “Baseball is still America’s game,” they all agree and who can argue on a beautiful early-summer morning with the crack of Tri-State’s wooden bats in the background. Becoming Tri-State’s Commissioner was “my chance to give back to baseball and keep Tri-State going,” says Gadomski, whose efforts were largely responsible for the league’s growth to 19 teams before Covid struck.

The sentiment is largely the same for his other roles, with a few key elements tying them together and making them easier to handle. “I’m half attorney and half psychiatrist,” he says. “Organization and communication are keys. Thanks to the internet, I keep nurses and baseball players updated so they have a voice in what’s going on.” “Another key to both jobs is continuing to bring in youth,” he says. Results are obvious in the Tri-State League.

“Every kid grows up wanting to be a famous baseball player,” Gadomski laughs, referring back to his own 18-year-old playing days on an Oakville American Legion team alongside future major leaguers Rico Brogna and Darren Bragg. “Rico always said, ‘If you want to get better, you have to play against better opponents,’” says Gadomski. This summer, three new Tri-State teams – New Milford, Wolcott and Torrington – have rosters in which nobody is over 20, including almost all of Wolcott’s CIAC Class M finalists from a year ago. “We had nine straight years when one of our Tri-State players was drafted by MLB,” Gadomski says.

“We’re so glad you represent us,” say legions of Waterbury and Midstate nurses looking for a brighter future. “You have so much respect.” The parallel is obvious among Tri-State’s highly-competitive teams this summer. “Baseball is a big part of people’s lives, including mine,” Gadomski says.

“’Thank you’ is what keeps me going.”