Sometimes stories find you in places you least expect.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from Larry Grimard, a 1959 graduate of Turners Falls High School and a 1963 graduate of Boston College. During the summer prior to his senior year of college, Grimard served as the manager of the Rotary baseball team in the Newt Guilbault Community League, which featured his younger brother Robert Grimard, who was a 10-year-old at the time. The summer of 1962 held a very special story, indeed, as Rotary not only won the Newt Guilbault title, but then won a best-of-three series over Nick & Al’s, which was the championship-winning team from the Greenfield Minor League. It’s a story I thought was worth sharing.
Grimard now lives in Florida but was going to be returning to the area in late August for a family reunion with his two brothers and two sisters. Larry was looking to surprise his younger brother Robert with some great memories after his brother had a tough year medically, but needed my help in locating the articles.
Of course, I wanted to help track down the old game stories. The Recorder has microfilm and hard copies of newspapers dating back over 100 years, which made the task doable. I enlisted the help of colleague Josh Solomon late one night to help locate the hard copies of the newspapers, which are stored in the basement of our building on Hope Street.
The story begins in the second half of the Newt Guilbault season. I’m not exactly positive as to how it all worked, but from what I can tell, back then, the league featured two halves of the season, and if two teams each won a half, they played a championship series at the end of the season. I’m assuming if the same team won both halves, that team won the outright title. The Eagles team won the first half of the season that year.
Rotary opened the seven-game, second half of the season with a 10-9 win over Doran’s, in which Dick Heath tied the game in the top of the sixth with a bunt, before Stan Garbiel doubled and scored on an RBI single from Jerry Welcome in the seventh for the win. The next game saw Rotary defeat St. Kazimierz, 11-10, as it once again came from behind to win. In that game, Bob Grimard hit a bases-loaded double and then scored on a home run by Garbiel as part of an eight-run sixth inning for Rotary in the win. Both Rotary and the Eagles were 2-0 after the second game.
Rotary followed that up with a 11-4 win over the Knights of Columbus in which Ed Garbiel struck out 13 and had two hits and three RBIs, and the team improved to 4-0 the next game with a 15-10 win over Turners Falls Athletic Club, which included a home run and three hits from Tom Currie.
Rotary suffered a 3-2 setback to Crocker Bank in the fifth game of the second half, but bounced back by knocking off previously unbeaten Eagles, 2-1, in the sixth game of the second half. Jeff Heath went 3-for-3 with a two-run triple for Rotary in the win, and Ed Gabriel struck out seven to win the duel with Eagles’ pitcher Ricky Dobosz, who struck out eight in the loss.
In the final game of Rotary’s regular season, the team was tripped up by St. Stanislaus, 12-8, in eight innings, but the team got some help that night as Crocker beat the Eagles, 11-8. Rotary ended the second-half 5-2 overall, and the Eagles edged St. Kaz, 4-0, in the final game of the regular season (which was played a couple days later after previously being rained out) to finish 5-2 and tie Rotary atop the league. The two teams met in a one-game playoff to determine the second half winner. Rotary had to win the game in order to force a best-of-three playoff with the Eagles for league champion.
In the one-game playoff, Rotary tied the game 8-8 in the fifth on a Stan Garbiel home run. Stan then came on in relief to pitch in the sixth inning after Rotary starter Ed Garbiel loaded the bases with nobody out, and Stan struck out Mike Himeleski before getting both Jim Burns and Mark Barber to pop out to end the inning. Rotary scored twice in the seventh inning to win 10-8 and force the championship series.
The Eagles got some revenge in the first game of the series with a 15-5 pasting of Rotary as Russ Laramie went 5-for-5 and drove in three runs for Eagles, but Rotary responded in Game 2 with a 16-9 win in which Stan Garbiel and Ed Garbiel each swatted home runs. That set up a winner-take-all Game 3.
Tim Mackin got the call in Game 3 for Rotary and the Eagles quickly got to him for a run in the first inning as Mark Galvis tripled and scored on a Dobosz single. The Eagles then threatened to pull away in the third as it loaded the bases with one out, and Himeleski followed with a liner to center that Dargis snared for an out and threw to home plate to cut down Laramie for an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the third, Eagles’ starter Dobosz got wild according to the article in the paper, as Billy Allis and Dargis led off with walks, and Ed Garbiel singled in the tying run. His brother Stan followed with an RBI single to put Rotary ahead 2-1, and Ed Garbiel came home later in the inning on a groundout that made it 3-1.
The score remained that way until the sixth when the Eagles got a double from Dobosz and an infield single by Himeleski put runners on the corners and the Eagles cut the deficit to one run when Jim Burns grounded out to score Dobosz. With two outs and Himeleski at second, manager Larry Grimard called upon Stan Garbiel to relieve Mackin and he responded by getting Paul Sikora to line out to left on a nice backhanded catch by Mackin, who had moved to left after being lifted from the mound. The out was the final of the game and gave Rotary the Newt title.
A few days later the Recorder reported Grimard spoke to Bob Larabee, the manager of Nick & Al’s, about playing a two-game series to determine “which has the better teams — the Greenfield Minor League of the Newt Guilbault League.” What a fun idea.
Tim Mackin started the first game, which took place at Lunt Field in Greenfield, and hurled a no-hitter as Rotary won 5-1. The lone run for Nick & Al’s came courtesy of Mike Larabee, who walked and scored when Greg Call reached on an error. Mackin struck out 10 and allowed just one ball out of the infield in the win.
Game 2 was not close, as Rotary swept the two-game series with a 11-4 victory. The that appeared in the Recorder stated the following:
“The big Garbiel boys — Stan and Ed — led the Rotary lads in their Unity Park slugfest before 250 fans. Stan doubled and homered, driving in five runs, while brother Ed held the Greenfield crew to six hits, fanning 12.”
After getting all the stories from that season, Larry Grimard reached back out to thank me and let me know how much the family appreciated it. He concluded our correspondence. “For these young men, it was THREE WEEKS TO NEVER FORGET.”
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What an unfortunate circumstance for the Mohawk football team on Friday night as it ended the game against Franklin Tech with just 10 healthy bodies.
It’s something people were concerned about heading into the season, knowing that the Warriors had just 15 players on the roster. It only shows the jeopardy that several local programs are facing due to number shortages.
Good news for Mohawk fans, however, as coach Doug McCloud reports that two players will be back this week, which will allow Mohawk to field a team as it plays its home opener against Pathfinder Friday at 7.
Here’s to good health in Buckland.
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native and Recorder Sports Editor. His email address is jbutynski@recorder.com.