Manny’s TV & Appliance baseball skipper Lee Magee was never one to yell on the Tri-County League circuit.
Longtime player Brian Hayes said he can still remember when Magee got ejected from a game a couple of years back, when he quietly yelled out to a home plate umpire that a pitch that was called a strike missed so high that it could have broken the umpire’s mask. That was one of the few times Hayes, an outfielder who just wrapped up his 15th year with the team, could remember his coach getting ejected in the 15 years he has been with the TCL semi-pro team. It was the way Magee went quietly about his business that made him one of the league’s most respected figures, well-liked by players, coaches and umpires.
On Monday, Magee passed away quietly at his Greenfield home at the age of 57 following a battle with diabetes. Over the past few years his condition made it more difficult for him to get to the ballpark on a daily basis, but his love of the game and being around his team rarely kept him away for long.
“His health wasn’t the greatest and we were all concerned about how he was going to carry on and continue to be the ray of sunshine that he was on our bench,” Hayes said. “He was a quiet guy, and such a great guy, and I know he is in a better place. Our world will miss people like Lee.”
Eric Libardoni is another longtime Manny’s player, having served as one of the team’s catchers since he joined the team in 2001. At that time, the Brattleboro native had just graduated from a postgrad prep-school year and was looking for a place to play in the summer. He got hooked up with Manny’s and that started a pipeline with the Greenfield-based team that has seen over 30 players from the Brattleboro area suit up. Libardoni just finished his 16th year with the club.
“Lee was always happy to be at the ballpark,” he said. “He loved baseball, and he loved being around his team. His team was really his family.”
It was that team family atmosphere that made Manny’s one of the TCL’s most successful programs. Manny’s has had very little turnover in the past decade, with a number of players returning summer after summer. A major reason was Magee.
“We were more than a team. We were like a family,” Libardoni said. “Lee was such a caring person and everybody who came in contact with him had such a positive experience. He was fair and cared about his players’ personal lives.”
Hayes concurred.
“Lee went to the weddings of a number of our players,” he said. “My kids love Lee. He welcomed them to sit on the bench and be bat boys. I love the summer because I get to be around the guys and be around the team. Lee loved that, too.”
Magee spent 27 years coaching the Manny’s team. He hooked on with the club in 1990. At that time he was teaching at Deerfield Academy, where he coached basketball and baseball. Terry Ruggles, who was the general manager of Manny’s, was looking to start a summer league team at that time. He was also looking for an algebra tutor for his son, Todd. Magee was tutoring, and when Ruggles needed a coach, he asked the tutor.
“I called Lee one night and he literally had just gotten off the phone with the Hotchkiss School, where he had taught a summer math course and told them he was not coming back,” Ruggles recalled. “That was the summer of 1990. We didn’t even have a team at that point, but Lee agreed to coach.”
The two men became close friends over the years and built up one of the most successful TCL teams, one that played in seven championship series. The team cashed in on two of those trips, winning the league crown in 2007 and 2009. It wasn’t just his success that made him respected around the league, according to Ruggles, who stepped down as team manager two years ago, but the way he handled himself.
“As a person, I don’t know anyone in the league who did not like Lee,” Ruggles said. “He knew the game, appreciated it, knew how to work with young men, and they respected his knowledge. They respected his quiet demeanor and they listened. He seldom got mad, and he seldom had issues with umpires.
“We have always had people who came to see our games and they would say, ‘We don’t know how you guys put together teams that are this homogenous year after year after year,’” Ruggles continued. “That’s what Lee was after. He wanted to put together a team that knew how to play the game, but also knew how to be gentlemen.”
One player who has remained alongside Magee since the very first season in 1990 was Dave Talbot, who just finished up his 27th year in the league.
“We often joked about how we had been together longer than some married couples,” Talbot said. “It started off as a coach and player, and developed into a friendship. We would go on the road trips to games together. Those will never be the same. His laugh was infectious to say the least. He had so many more things to bring other than baseball. His love of music, TV shows and his brain in general, he was so smart. It was a genuine pleasure to get to know him and be part of his inner circle for all this time.”
Magee’s passing will be felt throughout the league. Karl Oliveira, the manager of the St. Joseph’s team and the league secretary, said that Magee had an impact on the league as a whole.
“Lee was a key member of our Board of Governors, a coach and a friend,” he said. “His contributions to our TCL are numerous and he was always part of every sub-committee. His excellent knowledge of the game, strategy and love for this league and his Manny’s team made this league what it is today.”
Andy Rogers, who is the umpire assigner for the TCL, said Magee was well-respected by his crew.
“Lee cared about the Tri-County League, he loved baseball and he was respectful to the umpires,” he said. “In that same light, Lee would stick up for his players when he disagreed, but he was respectful about how he went about it.”
Local services may yet be planned for Magee, who will be flown back to his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, to be buried alongside his mother.
“There’s going to be a little bit of a hole to fill, both in the league and on the team,” Ruggles concluded. “We tried to build a team that everybody would respect. That was really the point. Sure, we lost our share and we won our share, but overall we