By Michael Muldoon, Eagle-Tribune
Original article
HERE.
On Sunday night when Tom Glavine became just the 23rd player in Major League
Baseball history to win 300 games, there were no mixed emotions from his former
high school rivals.
The 1984 Billerica High grad still has a slew of area admirers who competed
against the former schoolboy baseball and hockey sensation.
"I wasn't a good hitter in high school," said Central Catholic graduate Bill
Lane modestly. "I remember going to games and seeing 25 radar guns (when Glavine
pitched). One time I got a suicide squeeze call (from Raiders coach Dave
Bettencourt). I had never seen anything like it. The pitch went over the bat so
fast I didn't even see it! He just threw so much harder than everybody and was
pinpoint accurate. I want to say he hit over .600. He was an unbelievable
fielder. He was just a sick athlete."
Dean Borrelli, Lane's former high school teammate, was good enough to play
Triple-A ball. He still recalls fondly having a big game against the New York
Mets hurler, who is destined for the Hall of Fame.
"He definitely stood out and was uniquely gifted," said Borrelli, who owns Play
Ball indoor practice facility in Salem, N.H. "He was pretty special."
Could you have predicted a 300-game winner?
"You could never have predicted 300 wins," said Borrelli. "But he definitely
looked like a major leaguer with the 90 mph fastball, a nasty breaking ball and
great command. When he made it, I wasn't surprised."
Big talents often have big egos, but Glavine is praised as a regular guy who you
couldn't help but like.
"From what I've been told by (longtime Billerica coach) Jon Sidorovich,"
explained Tewksbury High coach Ron Drouin of Methuen, "he's as nice a guy and as
generous a guy as you'll ever come across. They needed help for the field and he
stepped up (Billerica now plays on Tom Glavine Field), they needed uniforms and
he stepped up."
When a player goes on to achieve greatness on a national stage, his former
rivals puff out their chests when they had success against him. Such is the case
with Lane and Borrelli.
"I remember I got a lucky hit against him," said Lane, who now works in the
mattress business in Lexington, Ky. "I remember thinking I'll be able to tell my
son some day I got a hit off Tom Glavine. As it turns out, I did."
Eight-year-old Will Lane was duly impressed Sunday night.
Borrelli made sure to point out, "I was 2 for 3 with a double and a three-run
homer" when the Raiders knocked off Billerica in a battle of 7-0 teams in 1984.
"That was pretty exciting."
As Borrelli recalled, the Raiders (then known as the Red Raiders) worked doubly
hard preparing for Glavine.
"We took extra batting practice from a close distance," he explained. "When we
got there, there were 15-20 scouts behind the backstop. We were so pumped to
face him."
One of those scouts might have been former Methuen High coach Walter "Skeets"
Scanlon, who was a scout for the San Diego Padres.
Scanlon, now 82, can't believe how fast the time has flown by.
"I was at the O'Connell Playstead and they had guns on him. Next thing you know,
it's 300 wins later," he said with a laugh. "I wonder if any other league in the
country can claim two Cy Young winners."
Scanlon, of course, is referring to the fact that Methuen's own Steve Bedrosian
won the 1987 National League Cy Young with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Some scouts wondered about Glavine's ordinary size (he's 6-1, 190), but Scanlon
didn't worry about that.
"No, because he had all the pitches and had great control," said Scanlon. "He
not only had the fastball, but he had the control and mixed up his pitches and
changed speeds."
Scanlon ranked him right up there with future Orioles star Mike Flanagan of
Manchester, N.H., the 1979 Cy Young winner, future first-round picks Jeff Juden
of Salem, Mass. (1989 draft), and Dennis Livingston of North Reading (1984
draft) and North Reading's Peter Quinlan (9th round 1971) as the best high
schoolers he ever saw.
Glavine was drafted in the second round by the Braves and in the fourth round by
the NHL's Los Angeles Kings.
North Andover's Rob Carpentier, who was a star at Andover High and UNH and was
drafted in the 26th round by the New York Mets, also remembers how special
Glavine was.
"He's the best that I remember, definitely," said Carpentier, who was a
sophomore reserve for the Golden Warriors when they faced Billerica and Glavine.
"You were kind of awestruck. I remember him being very calm and businesslike,
which is ahead of your time when you're 17 years old."