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MANCHESTER - About 10 minutes before the game, Gene Johnson is
filling out his lineup card, jotting down names and positions as
quickly as he can. He has other work to do. His main priority is the
field, which had been soaked by rain for nearly two hours. Concerned
about having to reschedule the game, Johnson scribbled names on the
white sheet of paper, briefed his players, grabbed his rake and
headed back to the pitcher's mound.
For Johnson, 70, who has been affiliated with the Twilight League
for 54 years, it was business as usual. Patrolling the field in a
white T-shirt - soaked with a combination of sweat and water - and
his baseball pants, he tried to fight off anything that might give
him reason to cancel the game. When the umpires found such a reason
in the mud that had been caked around home plate, they sent home
both teams, but not before Johnson returned to the field with his
rake to try one last time to save the night.
That competitive, hard-working spirit has made Johnson one of the
league's top managers, earning him, by his count, 33 regular season
titles and 17 playoff championships. He has put together another
first-place team this season, keeping Foss Insurance at the top of
the standings with an 18-3 record.
Rather than concentrating solely
on some of the top college and local talent, Johnson looks for
success by sticking to the players he knows best: his sons and
grandsons.
"It's the greatest thing in the world," Johnson said. "We've always
been a baseball family. The boys have always been baseball rats.
They've always been at the ballpark, following me around."
Early Exposure
After taking his first swings in the Twilight League as a
17-year-old in 1953 and graduating from Manchester High School in
1955, Johnson signed with the New York Giants. The contract launched
a seven-year tour that would see him stop in Muskogee, Okla.; Lake
Charles, La.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then continue on to Eau
Claire, Wis., and Austin, Texas, as a member of the Milwaukee Braves
farm system.
He left the Austin Senators in 1960 after refusing a demotion to
Class B. He was hitting .331 at the time and had just gone 3-for-5
with a home run, double and three RBI when he got the news. He went
home to the only competitive league in Connecticut he knew of.
Johnson played five years in the Twilight League before becoming a
player-manager, a role he filled until becoming a manager full-time
10 years ago.
"At that point, it took me two triples to score from first base,"
Johnson said. "Only in the most dire emergencies [will I play]. I'll
go hide somewhere."
Now, he tries to mimic the professionalism and compassion of his
former managers, including Hall of Famers Travis Jackson and Earl
Weaver, by refusing to be called coach and looking past his players'
mistakes. Still, Johnson hasn't put away the bat and glove for good
- his most recent appearance came last season, when he chose to
avoid a forfeit against Simsbury by suiting up as the team's ninth
player. Although he went 0-for-3, he was pleased that he still made
contact.
"I hit three ground balls to the third baseman," he said. "But if
the ball ever got to the outfield, he would have thrown me out at
first base."
Child's Play
Despite the uncertainty of player availability, Johnson has known
for years he could count on his son Jeff to make an appearance at
each game. At 40, Jeff has been around the Twilight League for
nearly his entire life, starting as a 4-year-old batboy and taking
his first at-bats for his father at 13. After playing for Rockville
High School and at Eastern Connecticut State, Jeff pursued a
professional career by signing a free agent contract with the
Atlanta Braves in 1988, following his brother Mike, who was drafted
by the Texas Rangers in 1981.
He spent two seasons with the Braves' minor league affiliate in
Greenville, S.C., then moved to California for three years, where he
met his wife, Nichole. Jeff decided to return to Connecticut in 1993
to be closer to his family and, rather than let go of his passion
for the game, went back to the ballpark to play for his father.
"He comes and picks me up before every game," Jeff said. "When I get
in that truck, I feel like I'm 10 years old. That's the best part
about it, I feel like a kid."
That enthusiasm nearly died out two years ago when Jeff felt like he
could no longer play at a competitive level. After being invited to
play in a vintage Negro League baseball game in Birmingham, Ala., in
February 2006, Jeff spoke with his manager, former Yankees pitcher
Jim Bouton. When Jeff confessed to Bouton that he was considering
giving up playing, Bouton told him he continued to play in a league
in Buffalo at 57 simply because the passion never died inside him.
"It was a wonderful experience on every level," Jeff said.
Adding Insurance
Jane Foss, who runs the Twilight League along with her husband,
Mark, has known Johnson for more than 30 years. Johnson originally
sold the two a car as a salesman at the Moriarty Brothers
dealership, beginning a relationship that would strengthen in 2004
when Gengras Motors declined to renew his team's sponsorship and
Foss stepped in.
"I was at spring training in Florida and he called me and said, `I
don't have a sponsor, what should I do? Should I try to sell it or
just disband it or what?'" Foss said. "And at that point, I said,
`I'll do it.' Get me at the Red Sox game and I'll do anything."
Since that point, Johnson has grown even more connected to his
family. This season, Foss Insurance's roster includes three of his
grandchildren. Dan, 19, who finished his freshman year as a pitcher
at the University of New Haven, and Sam, 15, who is a catcher at
South Kingston High School in Rhode Island, are the sons of Gene's
son Mike. Nick Rimsa, 16, who plays baseball at Loomis Chaffee in
Windsor, is the son of Gene's daughter, Helen Rimsa. Evan Bailey,
the son of Gene's daughter, Mary Ellen Bailey, has been known to
help out his grandfather's team on occasion, and Jeff's son, Jack,
6, is following in his father's footsteps as the team's bat boy.
Through it all, Johnson said he was especially thankful for the
support of his wife, Helen, to whom he has been married more than 50
years. As any longtime manager would, Johnson also reverted to the
adage that a manager is only as good as his players, and he knows
his family is a reason he has been able to do what he has in the
Twilight League.
"Thankfully, they all ended up liking baseball," Gene Johnson said.
"I never pushed them, but they were exposed to it and they just kept
coming in and hung in there. It's great. It's beautiful."
Contact Zac Boyer at
zboyer@courant.com
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2007,
The Hartford Courant
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