Holyoke welcomes Giants to town
Thursday, May 27, 2004
By MIKE BURKE

HOLYOKE - The crack of the baseball striking a wooden bat resounded through MacKenzie Field yesterday as Holyoke officially welcomed the Holyoke Giants of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
From Our AdvertiserTeam members took batting practice as Mayor Michael J. Sullivan and team owner Calvin A. Moffie of Wallingford, Conn., signed a memorandum of agreement allowing the team use of MacKenzie during their upcoming 21 home game schedule which begins Friday night June 11 at 7 against the Vermont Mountaineers. The team will play 21 away games as well and could add up to four games if they make the league playoffs.
The welcoming event yesterday culminated over nine months of discussion and negotiation to bring the team here from their former home in Middletown, Conn.
Nine members of the team, all college baseball players, attended the ceremonies, took batting and fielding practice for the first time and generally appeared impressed by the welcome.
Jeff Mayo, a junior catcher for Mars Hill College of North Carolina from Enfield, Conn., said he was "excited about getting started and we were all impressed by the welcome we received. I can tell the team is raring to go."
Sullivan said he felt the city and the team would form "a great relationship for years to come."
Moffie said he was impressed by the way the community has accepted the team.
"As I move through the community I hear nothing but cooperative voices," Moffie said.
The Collegiate League is a wooden bat league considered comparable to the Cape Cod Baseball League, the famed organization that has sent a number of players such as Mo Vaughn and John Valentin to the Major Leagues.
Teams in the NECBL are from Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts.
Moffie has also planned, in conjunction with the city, some major improvements in MacKenzie Field, most of which will be done by next year. "We just didn't have time to do them all this season," he said.
People going to games this year will see many changes including a pavilion on the third base side which will have a refreshment stand and an area for "family use" which will include places for people to bring blankets and chairs. There will be three entrances, including one off the Holyoke High School lot for handicapped access.
A lot of the changes will include a new infield surface and new pitcher's mound for this season.
Next season Moffie hopes to add batting practice areas, two bullpens in right field, add another entrance off the Roberts Field parking lot and other amenities. The team will foot some of the bill in cooperation with the city.
Several area players are with the team. They include: Joe Westcott of Holyoke, a junior pitcher at Trinity College; Jeremy Demers of Easthampton, a sophomore pitcher at UMass; Jon Davis of Ludlow, a sophomore pitcher at Springfield College, and Justin Vincent of Longmeadow, a junior outfielder at the University of New Haven.
Also attending the welcoming today besides the local players and Mayo were: Seth Gordon of Albany, N.Y., a sophomore infielder at Cornell; Jim Chapman from Bourne, a freshman infielder at Vermont; Dan Fournier of Worcester, a freshman pitcher from Franklin Pierce College; and Nate Moffie, Calvin's son, a junior outfielder at Pennsylvania University.