New England Roots: Dan Duquette on Dalton, catching Jeff Reardon, delivering papers to Mark Belanger and first visit to Fenway

Dan Duquette is part of a long line of New England natives who have grown up to serve as Major League Baseball general managers, a list that includes -- but is hardly limited to -- Roland Hemond, Harry Dalton, Dick O'Connell, Lou Gorman, Jim Beattie, Theo Epstein,  Jed Hoyer, J.P. Ricciardi and Mike Hazen.

Duquette was one of the game's youngest executives when he was named GM of the Montreal Expos in 1991 at 32. He later served seven seasons as the Red Sox GM, and after a 10-year absence from the game, became GM of the Baltimore Orioles, a post he continues to hold.

We spoke recently with Duquette about growing up in the western Massachusetts town of Dalton, his time in youth sports and his memories of being a fan of the four Boston teams.

BSJ: What are your earliest memories of participating in sports?

Dan Duquette: We had a good Little League team. My brother (Dennis) and I were on it and we lived on a dead-end street and (former major league reliever) Jeff Reardon and his brothers lived nearby. All the kids who we played ball with in the neighborhood -- tennis ball, whiffle ball — we all played on the same Little League team together. Reardon was a year older than my brother, who was two years older than me. I was a catcher on Reardon's team for his last two years. We had a good rivalry with another team in town. There were bragging rights at stake. If you had the best ballclub, you had some status in the town. Reardon was a really tough competitor and he could throw really hard. I couldn't catch Reardon that well, because he was the oldest kid on the team and I was the youngest. He could throw really hard -- at that distance of 45 feet, with a (future) major league arm, he had a terrific advantage. My goal was to just catch the ball and not hurt my hand. I had a sponge in the glove, a handkerchief — anything to protect my hand. And Reardon used to get really aggravated if I missed the ball. The fewest balls I allowed to the backstop in a game was, like, four balls. He used to give me a hard time.

BSJ: What role did sports play growing up in Dalton?

DD: Sports were important. It gave you a sense of community, but it also gave you status in the community if you could perform. My father and all the dads in the neighborhood volunteered their time to build another baseball field so we could play. We played some street hockey, we played basketball, we played Pop Warner football. My brother broke his wrist in high school football, so he played soccer. I played mostly baseball and football. I played both in high school. I also coached youth basketball at the youth center. When I  was in the eighth grade, they needed coaches, so I coached a third-grade team there. I did that all the way through high school (Wahcona Regional High School). I liked coaching. I caught some in high school, and some outfield and first base. I played American Legion ball in the summer. I was a much better football player than baseball player. I was a starter in football (at Amherst College) for two years. My last year, I made All-New England by the Boston Herald American. In baseball, I didn't play that much. I was on the team, but I wasn't a regular player.

BSJ: Did you compete much against your cousins (former Mets GM Jim Duquette, now a network analyst and Pat Duquette, head basketball coach at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell)?

DD: Well, they lived one street over, but they were quite a bit younger. Jim was a terrific basketball player and a really good baseball player. Pat was a scoring guard. We used to go on family picnics all the time, pool parties, things like that. But because of the age difference, we didn't really compete against one another much.

BSJ: What are earliest fan memories growing up in New England?

DD: My dad used to bring us to Fenway Park once a year. We'd get in the car and go down the Mass Pike. The first time he brought us, I was between second and third grade. We went to Fenway -- my brother, me and my dad -- and he took us to a Sunday doubleheader. We went with this guy, Ky Hamilton, who was a sporting goods rep for a local company. He sold baseball spikes and gloves. My dad said he was going to introduce us to some people. We got to Fenway and they were playing the Orioles that day. We went over to the visiting team dugout and Ky had a glove for Brooks Robinson. This was 1966 (when the Orioles became world champions). Then we went over to the Red Sox dugout and met George Scott. He had played in Pittsfield in 1965 and won the triple crown in the Eastern League, so we had seen him play a lot of games in the minors. He was playing third base in Pittsfield, but when he got to the big leagues, they moved him to first. The Orioles had first and second in the first inning, no outs and Hank Bauer started the runners. There was a line drive to (third baseman) Joe Foy, who snared it ... second base, first base, triple play. So that was a big day: we saw a doubleheader, met a Hall of Famer and saw a triple play. I told Brooks later about that day; he thought I was making it up.

BSJ: Did you have a favorite player on those Red Sox teams?

DD: On those early Sox teams, I followed George Scott because we had seen him in Pittsfield. Reggie Smith was the center fielder on that same Pittsfield team, so when he got to Boston, that was another guy I followed. We used to go see Pittsfield play every chance we got. It was right next door to Dalton. We'd go to games all the time. We'd probably see 15-20 games a year. We'd see (former Red Sox third base coach) Eddie Popowski, who was the manager of the Pittsfield Red Sox. Richie Conigliaro came through there, and I think Carlton Fisk did, too. Mark Belanger was on my paper route. I delivered the paper to his house, so I got to meet him, and of course, he played with Brooks (with the Orioles). Pittsfield had a really good baseball tradition.

BSJ: How did you get your start working in baseball?

DD: I went to Amherst and the career counselor there asked me what I wanted to do and I said that I really liked baseball and football. She told me to contact some Amherst alums working in baseball. (Springfield native) Harry Dalton was an Amherst alum and he was from West Springfield. I contacted Harry, who was with the Milwaukee Brewers. I had a family friend recommend me to Harry. He had just joined the Brewers from the Angels. I told him I was looking for a job. The Brewers were playing in New York in April 1980, and I drove down and met with him at Yankee Stadium. I met him in the visitor's dugout. He introduced me to some players. I had a fellowship at Amherst to work in the Sports Information Director's office and I was going to UMass to get my master's degree. He told me, 'You don't have to do that — I'm going to offer you a job.' I said, 'Really?' He said, 'Yeah. You went to Amherst College, you're from western Mass, and you grew up in a town called Dalton. How can I not give you a shot?' ''

BSJ: What about the other Boston teams?

DD: I remember watching the Bruins win the Stanley Cup (in 1970) with my dad, with Bobby Orr scoring the winning goal in overtime. Not long ago, I was looking at houses on the Cape (where Duquette now owns a home) and I was in this development. We looked at seven different houses and every single one of them had a picture of Bobby Orr, flying through the air after that goal, all signed by Bobby. So, after about the third one I said, 'Why do all these people have this picture of Bobby Orr?' And they told me, 'Well, he lives right there (across the street).'

BSJ: Did you go to games?

DD: My Dad was friends with people who had season tickets to the Patriots. And we'd watch games when they played at Fenway, with Babe Parilli. We'd get Jets and Giants games on TV in western Mass. We were big Joe Namath fans. We'd go out and play football in the neighborhood, we'd be the Jets because of Namath. When we played whiffle ball, we'd be the Orioles or Red Sox. We knew all the Orioles lineups because of Belanger. And of course, the great year Yaz (Carl Yastrzemski) had in '67 captured everybody's interest. All the kids wanted to be Yaz. We went to Foxboro when it was Schaefer Stadium. We used to watch the Celtics. They were so good then. It's humbling to go through Logan Airport and see all those (Celtics) banners. We'd listen to games on the radio and try to imitate Johnny Most.

BSJ: Any other announcers you remember?

DD: Well, Ken Coleman and Ned Martin. I used to sneak my transistor into class to listen to the World Series in '67. I got caught, so I was thrown out of class. I was 9-years old, third grade. I mean, c'mon, it was Red Sox in the World Series. It was an historic event!