The Sox played two exhibition games in Springfield, in 1951 and '52.
The program cover for the 1952 Springfield Cubs, The "1952 Centennial Program,'' refers to Springfield's incorporation as a city in 1852. Imagine being 14 years old and sitting starry-eyed in a clubhouse among Boston Red Sox players. Ted Williams to your left, Bobby Doerr to your right, Vern Stephens and Johnny Pesky across room, pitchers Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder a few lockers down.
That’s how it was for Paul Whitlock, a retired Cathedral High School cross country/track coach who lived his own “impossible dream” as a teenager in the springs of 1951 and ‘52.
Whitlock, now 75 years old and living in Florida, had the unique honor of serving for three seasons as visiting batboy at Pynchon Park when the Springfield Cubs played in the Triple A International League.
In 1951 and ‘52, the Red Sox came to town to play the Cubs in exhibition games prior to the opening of their American League season.
The Red Sox visit to Pynchon Park on April 12, 1951, drew a paid attendance of 10,736 – to this day the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in Springfield.
The second Red Sox visit on April 9, 1952, also was a very big deal and drew 9,160.
Now, in this 60th anniversary month of the last Red Sox visit to Springfield, Whitlock looks back on a time he will never forget.
“It was so long ago, yet I can remember so many details. That was one of the most wonderful times of my life,” he said.
How did he wind up serving as batboy for the Red Sox on those two wondrous April days?
“It all goes back to a contest run by the Springfield Daily News,” he said. “You filled out an entry blank, and if your name was picked, you could be batboy during a homestand for the Springfield Cubs.”
Whitlock won one of the contests in the summer of 1950.
“I got there early for the first game, and I was sitting in the Springfield dugout alone when one of the Cubs players came out. He walked over to me, shook my hand and said, ‘Hi, I’m Smokey Burgess.’ I thought that was great,” he said.
Burgess hit .327 as Springfield’s catcher that season, and went on to an 18-year big league career.
Stan Hack Jr. – son of the Springfield Cubs manager – served as home batboy for most of the ‘50 season, but had to leave near the end to get back to school.
“I got a call from somebody at Pynchon Park asking if I wanted a batboy job for the rest of the season. I jumped at it, and stayed with it for two more years,” Whitlock said.
When Hack’s son left, the regular visiting batboy took over his role as home batboy. That left the visiting team job to Whitlock.
“Little did I know then that the first game I would work in 1951 would be with the Red Sox,” he said.
“I remember being in the clubhouse before the game, listening to Red Sox players talk back and forth. And they talked to me, too.”
Whitlock has a dear memory of kneeling near the on-deck circle as Williams awaited his first turn at bat.
“He was swinging to warm up, and he told me I’d better back up so I wouldn’t get hit. Then, when he was at the plate, he fouled several pitches back to the screen. I had to chase them down, and I remember thinking, ‘I’m picking up baseballs that Ted Williams hit.’ It was quite a feeling.”
After the 1951 game, Whitlock remembers being in the Sox clubhouse, watching the team prepare for its trip to Boston.
“Vern Stephens (then the starting shortstop), handed me a bat. ‘This bat is cracked, and I can’t use it any more. It’s yours if you want it,’ he said. I was really thrilled that he would take the time to do that for me,” Whitlock recalled.
During both Red Sox visits, Whitlock had the opportunity to shag balls in the outfield during batting practice.
“Imagine me out there with Dominic DiMaggio and Jimmy Piersall? What an experience,” he said.
The 1951 game drew such a crowd that an area in left field had to be roped off to accommodate standees.
“I went to a 50th reunion of my Tech High class, and one of my classmates reminded me that he was in that crowd. He thanked me for getting him some Red Sox autographs,” Whitlock said.
For the record, the Red Sox beat the Cubs 5-2 in 1951, and 6-1 in 1952.
Williams and Walt Dropo had two hits each in the ‘51 game. In the ‘52 game, Doerr and Dropo hit home runs and Williams went 3 for 4. A month later, he would be back in the Marine Corps, recalled for service in the Korean War.
Holyoke’s Ed Hurley, an American League umpire for 19 years, worked first base in the ‘51 game.
In 1953, after Whitlock gave up his batboy job, he went to a Cubs game and sat in the left field stands.
“Jack Wallaesa, one of my favorite Cubs, was playing left field. He saw me and gave me a wave. I loved it,” Whitlock recalled.
The Chicago Cubs had placed their top farm club here in 1950, and stayed through the 1953 season, when their Springfield club lost 102 games, finished last and drew an average of 1,107 fans per home game. All of that led to the city losing Triple A ball.
The Springfield Giants came along to operate in the Eastern League from 1957 through ‘65 before dwindling attendance ended their time here. In August 1966, Pynchon Park burned to the ground.
Pro ball has been gone from Springfield for 47 years, but for Paul Whitlock, his Pynchon Park days remain precious – especially those two afternoons in April, when the Boston Red Sox came to town.