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By Ron P. Coderre
This week’s RPC sporty shout out is sent along to Jay Byrnes of Woodstock. As a high school athlete Byrnes starred on the hardwood for the Putnam Clippers. Today, in addition to a few rounds of golf, he enjoys partaking in the activities of his three children.
Life in the Major Leagues of baseball is what you make of it. Take the plight of former East Lyme native John McDonald. At the start of this season he was seemingly secure as a backup infielder with the Arizona Diamondbacks. That all changed when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who then quickly sent him to Cleveland where he had a two-week stop before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. In late August McDonald became a member of the Boston Red Sox, where he languished on the bench, only getting into very few games in September.
When postseason playoff rosters were announced, McDonald was left off the active roster. However, the Red Sox and Manager John Farrell and GM Ben Cherington made a very sage move, keeping McDonald with the team in the dugout as insurance in the event of injury to one of the team’s infielders.
Most players today would probably pout and sulk over the situation but not the veteran McDonald, who is truly a “team player” and a 110 percent competitor. In addition to his insurance role, the Red Sox have asked Johnny Mac to take time and work with the team’s top infield prospect, Xander Bogaerts.
Travelling with the team and when they’re home at Fenway Park, Bogaerts and McDonald are on the field working on the subtleties of infield play before games during batting practice. The veteran and the rookie go through drills and discuss the finer points of fielding. McDonald, the 15-year veteran and one of baseball’s best defensive shortstops, indicates that Bogaerts has been a very apt pupil.
“It’s something fun we do - a little competition. It helps keep him (Bogaerts) sharp and maybe there are a few things I can show him in terms of positioning and how to be more efficient,” McDonald said in a Newsday report released recently.
A professional in the truest sense of the word, it’s a certainty that McDonald will be justly rewarded by the Red Sox when the time comes at the conclusion of the season, which hopefully will be with a World Series title. Although McDonald, who is 39, has indicated that he’d like to continue playing as long as possible, this may be the precursor to a professional career as a coach or manager.
HoF Inductions…
The Manchester Sports Hall of Fame will hold its 34th induction ceremony at the Manchester Country Club on Saturday, November 9. Two of the inductees are names that are very familiar to Putnam area sports fans. Scheduled to be in class of four honorees are Dave Boland and Gary Kinel.
Boland, who hailed from Manchester originally, is best remembered as a soccer and basketball official. In his officiating career he has blown the whistle in more than 3000 soccer games and 6000 basketball games. Currently he heads up his own organization of individuals who are contracted to be official timers at basketball and soccer games on the high school and college level.
As a student at Manchester High School, Boland excelled in soccer, basketball and baseball. He later went on to gain notoriety as a basketball standout at Central Connecticut State University. A longtime educator, Boland served as superintendent of schools in Canterbury and Brooklyn. He also had a distinguished career in the Connecticut National Guard, retiring at the rank of General.
Kinel is also a native of Manchester and 1968 graduate of East Catholic High School where he starred in baseball and basketball, leading the hoop team to a state championship. Kinel then went on to a two-sport career at Eastern Connecticut State University excelling on the diamond and hardwood. This is the third hall of fame induction for Kinel, who was previously inducted into the East Catholic and ECSU halls.
Kinel was the longtime highly successful basketball and baseball coach at Griswold High School, where he also served as the Wolverines athletic director. He is retired and resides in Florida.
PHSAAA On The Go Again…
The very active Putnam High School Alumni Athletic Association continues to be creative as it strives to make money in support of the athletes at Putnam High School. The association’s latest venture is a “2-Person Pitch Tournament” scheduled for Friday, October 25, 2013 at Athens Pizza on School Street in Putnam.
According to organizers Willie Bousquet and Dave Vitale, check in time is 8:30 p.m. with play scheduled to begin promptly at 9 p.m. The entry fee is a reasonable $40 per two-person team and includes free pizza. Prizes, which include gift certificates, game tickets and sporting apparel, will be awarded to the top six teams in the competition.
Among the recent activities of the PHSAAA, the group has sponsored a trivia night, a Glo-ball Tournament and Sunday Football FunFest. In addition, members staff the concession stand at all Quinebaug Pride football games at the St. Marie-Greenhalgh Athletic Complex. For more information or to register for the “Pitch Tournament” contact Bousquet at 860 617-4282 or Vitale at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
History Made At Marianapolis…
Marianapolis Prep in Thompson, which has been in existence since 1926, recently recorded a first in the illustrious annals of it sports history. The Golden Knights, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor now feature two four-person rowing crews as part of the school’s athletic offerings.
The male and female crews are coached by Shawn Murphy, a graduate of St. John’s Prep in Shrewsbury and Holy Cross College in Worcester. Murphy is a veteran of crew having participated on both the prep school and collegiate levels.
The teams, which practice at West Thompson Lake, put their oars in the water competitively for the first time in a regatta on the Merrimack River. They are scheduled for three more meets in the fall culminating with competition in the Head of Quinsigamond regatta in Worcester. Marianapolis athletics booster Charlie Baron and head-of-school Joe Hanrahan were on hand for the historic first event in Merrimack.
From The Annals of Putnam Sports History…
November 1895: Putnam’s football team lost to Nichols 6-0 on Tatem Field. (Information contributed by Willie Zamagni)
RPC’s Closing Thought For The Day: “When they operated, I told them to put in a Koufax fastball. They did – but it was Mrs. Koufax.” Tommy John, New York Yankees pitcher recalling his 1974 arm surgery.
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