It’s Christmas time, so I’m sure there are people out there who have loved ones they are stumped to buy presents for. It’s kind of like the saying goes, “What do you buy the person who has everything?”
Well, that’s kind of how my phone call went with Greenfield High School coach Tom Suchanek on Monday afternoon. I was calling about his most recent honor, that of being inducted into the relatively new Western Mass. Baseball Hall of Fame.
“What exactly do you ask a coach who has been honored so many times in the past?” Answer? You ask him the meaning of his most recent achievement.
“It’s certainly a great honor,” Suchanek began. “It certainly shows that there are organizations out there that appreciate and respect what you’ve done over the years.”
Suchanek has piled up some notable honors during his distinguished career, most notably being inducted into the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005, and being named the National High School Baseball Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year in 2014.
“I’ve said it before, but winning things like this means you’ve been around a while,” Suchanek joked.
That he has. This spring he will be dedicating his 45th consecutive year to coaching high school baseball in the area. Prior to that, Suchanek played his high school baseball under Stan Benjamin in the early 1960s, before playing baseball collegiately at the University of Vermont. He also spent some time in the Houston Astros organization as a minor leaguer. He eventually moved back to the area, began teaching math and science at Greenfield High School in 1972, and has been coaching baseball ever since. Over the past 44 years Suchanek has piled up more than 600 career wins and six western Mass. titles.
“Certainly, if we hadn’t had the players that we had over the years I wouldn’t have had this kind of success,” Suchanek said. “I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great players and a lot of great coaches. And the area feeder program deserves credit, too, from the Minor League right on up. That has helped us sustain the program.”
The Western Mass. Hall of Fame was founded in 2014 and the chairman is Clark Eckhoff, owner/president of the Valley Blue Sox of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The Western Mass. Hall of Fame’s website is linked to the Blue Sox website, and on that website it states that the Hall of Fame was founded with “the aim of not only recognizing the best and brightest baseball figures in the region, but to also celebrate the area’s long lover affair with the game of baseball. … The residents of Western Massachusetts have played, supported and cared deeply about the game. We felt that it was time to honor that.”
Suchanek found out he was being inducted a couple of weeks ago when he got a call from friend Joe McCarthy, the longtime coach at Holyoke High School who was inducted last season. But the Hall is far from a collection of high school coaches. While Dan Dulchinos, who coached at Chicopee Comp for 50 years before retiring in 2012, is also a member, those three are the only high school coaches from the first three years. The inaugural class in 2014 included Dulchinos, Garry Brown (sports writer for the Springfield Republican), Mike Trombley (pitcher for the Minnesota Twins), Walker Marranville (former Boston Braves player), Joe Thurston (former Amherst College coach), Al Stanek (pitcher for the San Francisco Giants), and Peter Brown (president of the John L. Sulliver Youth Baseball Program). Last year’s class included the longtime radio voice of the Boston Red Sox Joe Castiglione, Amherst baseball icon Stan Ziomek, and former New York Yankees pitchers Art Ditmar and Vic Raschie.
Suchanek is a member of the third class and he is going in with some pretty prestigious folks as well. Another local person, Dick Bergquist, is being inducted. The Orange native coached the UMass baseball team for 21 years (1967-1987), winning 392 games, eight conference championships and making the College World Series in 1969. Billy Jo Robidoux is another well-known person in these parts and he is now one of the best known high school umpires in western Mass. Robidoux, from Ware, played in the Major Leagues with Milwaukee, Chicago White Sox and Boston. Speaking of umpires, another member of this year’s class is Ed Hurley of Holyoke, who was an American League umpire from 1947 through 1965 and worked nearly 3,000 games in his career. He called four World Series and three All-Star games, including Game 7 of the 1965 World Series when Sandy Koufax, pitching on just two days rest, hurled a complete-game shutout to lead the Dodgers to a 2-0 win over Twins.
Another inductee is Tom Grieve of Pittsfield, who spent nine years in the Major Leagues as an outfielder. He helped Pittsfield High School win a state title in 1966 as a pitcher and outfielder, and was the sixth overall pick by the Washington Senators, who went on to become the Texas Rangers. He later managed the Rangers for 10 years, and has been part of the team’s broadcasting crew, serving as a color analyst since 1995. He will be the keynote speaker during the induction ceremony, which will take place on Jan. 26 in Springfield at La Quinta Inn & Suites.
The final three inductees are Dan Welch of Westfield, who worked with youth sports in his community, Charles Hagan, who was coach at Westfield State for 34 years, and the 1968, 69 and 70 Springfield Tech teams that won three consecutive state titles, compiling a 55-5 record.
“I know a few guys who have been inducted, I played against some and coached against some, so that makes it even more enjoyable,” Suchanek said.
Who knows if this will be the final honor for Suchanek in a storied career. He said that he has no plans to retire.
“I get asked that question quite often,” he said about retirement. “I still enjoy it. When I don’t enjoy it, or I feel like I’m not doing the type of job I should be doing, that’s when I’ll exit. I’m lucky because I’ve had a lot of assistant coaches over the years who have been great. It makes it easier.”
So if you are looking to buy Suchanek a present this Christmas, perhaps the best idea is for a place to put yet another award.
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native and Recorder sportswriter. His email address is jbutynski@recorder.com. Like him on Facebook and leave your feedback at www.facebook.com/jaybutynski.