The pandemic made many of us realize the small and not-so-small things that we take for granted. Last year, the simple pleasure of attending a baseball game was one of those things.
For a city like Pittsfield where the residents love America’s pastime, 2020 was especially difficult. After having the 2020 season canceled, Connecting Point‘s Brian Sullivan grabbed a seat in the grandstand of historic Wahconah Park for the Pittsfield Suns’ home opener to find out just how much the fans missed the game.
This story originally aired on June 25, 2021.
Read the full transcript:
Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: The isolation of this past year has made many of us realize the things that we take for granted, both large and small, the simple pleasure of attending a baseball game is one of those things.
And for a city like Pittsfield, where the residents love America’s pastime, the last year was especially difficult. After having the 2020 season canceled, Connecting Point’s Brian Sullivan grabbed a seat in the grandstand of historic Wahconah Park for the Pittsfield Suns’ home opener to find out just how much they missed it.
Brian Sullivan, Connecting Point: Going to a baseball game is as uniquely a part of the American experience as the hotdogs and hamburgers being grilled, served and eaten there.
It’s Banjo Joe Ryan singing this song at every game at the bottom of the seventh for the 15th season. It’s the mom who cheers a little louder than the others while her son is pitching. Or the dad who says “good eye!” after the pitch that leads to a base on balls. I
t’s a wooden grandstand built in 1919 that’s one of the last of its kind in the United States. And after a canceled 20-20 season in 2021, it’s seven simple words on a marquee.
Joe “Banjo Joe” Ryan, Pittsfield Resident: For me to be able to come up to a ball game…I love it. Wahconah Park is one of the most famous parks in all the land. My aunt, my godmother, started taking me up here in 1951, this is my 70th year of baseball at Wahconah Park.
Brian Sullivan: For the uninitiated, Wahconah Park has been the field of baseball dreams for the blue collar city of Pittsfield, dating back to the late 1990s. Double A teams for the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago Cubs made this their home park. As did the single teams for the New York Mets and Houston Astros.
Since 2002, though, it’s been the unpaid college player showing off their skills here. 2012 marked the first year for the Pittsfield Suns of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, and until the canceled 2020 season, it had been a continuation of the decades-long tradition of summertime baseball here.
That’s what made the 2021 season home opener such a special occasion for so many.
Laurie Phillips, Pittsfield Resident: I think it was really, really hard on a lot of people; were hoping and praying that they’re going to come back, so that we can have a game to go to.
For something they do in Pittsfield…it gives a lot of people to be able to come out and enjoy the weather, the game, the food, the beer.
Scott Nugai, Pittfield Resident: I mean, the field looks good, really nice and green. It’s a beautiful day. Got a little ballpark food. Didn’t cost me a thousand dollars. Got my seat.
You know, this is great. I can’t wait to come back for some more games.
Brian Sullivan: Youth is definitely the order of the day here with most players in that 18 to 20 age range. And that youth also extends to pitching coach Brandon Shileikis, who in his mid 20s looks like he could be one of the players himself.
And that’s something he wasn’t so sure would play in his favor at first.
Avery Mosseau, Pittsfield Suns Pitcher: I was worried about that at first, especially, I jumped right into coaching the same year that I finished playing. So, I was a little worried that they were looking at me as another player.
But honestly, as soon as I got the title of pitching coach guys, they were…they looked at me as a guy that was just out of it. And I can relate to him on a pretty good personal level.
Brian Sullivan: Manager and Worcester native Matt Gedman is no old-timer himself. The son of two time all star Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman. Matt retired from pro ball in 2014 at the age of 26 after playing four seasons in the Red Sox chain.
Now, as a player’s manager, he can take the lessons he learned as a pro and impart them on this younger generation.
Matt Gedman, Pittsfield Suns Manager: This is a grind, sixty eight games in three months, but if you want to play Major League season 162 games.
And let me say that that’s a grind, obviously the trainers are better, but you kind of get a taste for it if you really love the game or not, by going through this, you know, day to day, you know, struggle mentally, physically. And you’re going to have your moments where, you’re, you know, seven for ten and you’re going have you’re oh-for-fifteen.
So, this kind of weeds the guys out who really don’t want to be like a professional baseball player, maybe go to the office, or end up being like me and coaching.
Brian Sullivan: For me, this was just a long-awaited visit to a place that was only part of a stat line on the back of the baseball cards that I collected as a kid.
I’m not planning on waxing poetic or trying to romanticize the game of baseball. There are plenty of people that can do that for me. What I am fascinated by is the tradition and history of these old ballparks.
Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk spent the summer of 1969 playing here before heading across the state and calling Fenway Park his home for the next decade.
In the summer of 1986, a 21 year old outfielder named Rafael Palmeiro and a 20 year old pitcher named Greg Maddux both played on the same Pittsfield Cubs team. Palmero went on to hit five hundred sixty nine Big League home runs. Maddux won three hundred fifty five games in the senior circuit and now has a plaque in Cooperstown.
These guys here are still amateurs, but the dream of playing big league baseball is the thread that ties all their stories together. The untold story is that these players have to stand out enough on their college squads just to get picked for these teams.
And when this season’s over, it’s back to college and on to fall ball, winter ball, and then the spring season, all without drawing a paycheck for their dedication.
So, for the true believers, which seems to be most of them, that dream is very real and they’ll do whatever it takes to get to the next level.
Avery Mosseau, Pittsfield Suns Pitcher: The schedule is pretty long, but baseball is the only thing that I’ve known all my life. It’s the only — it’s like the language of my life.
So, as many games as I can get in, I’m going to play as many games as I can.
