Daily News

Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame to Induct Eight

SPRINGFIELD — The Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame will honor a diverse class of individuals, as well as an all-time great team, in its class of 2016. The inductees will be honored during the Hall’s third annual banquet on Thursday, Jan. 28 at La Quinta Inn & Suites on Congress Street. The keynote speaker is former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee. The inductees, in alphabetical order, are:

• Carl Beane, who served as Boston Red Sox public address announcer from 2003 until his death from a heart attack in 2012. An Agawam native, Beane was active in broadcasting for 40 years, and a well-known broadcaster at WARE radio in Ware before his Sox gig.

• Howie Burns, a one-time Greenfield High School catcher who coached for more than 40 years. He won state titles at Springfield Tech (including a record 44 straight games), and American Legion state and regional crowns for East Springfield Post 420.

• The Chicopee High School squad that won three straight titles from 1961 to 1963. The 1962 team perhaps topped them all with a 21-0 record that was capped by a 7-3 victory over Somerville in the state final. Pitcher Al Stanek was 11-0 for a staff that allowed just 20 runs all season. On offense, outfielder Alex Vyce led all hitters with a .387 average.

• Leo Durocher, a West Springfield native who was a major league infielder for 15 years but made his mark as a manager with 2,008 victories, which still ranks as 10th all-time. No stranger to controversy, “Leo the Lip” had run-ins with authority both on and off the field. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

• Ray Fagnant, a Chicopee native who played at Holyoke Catholic, Assumption College, and as a minor-league catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Red Sox. He became a Sox scout when his playing days were over and has been in charge of the Northeast territory since 1994. He has three World Series rings from his years with the Sox.

• Wayne Granger, who, as a Huntington High School junior, once struck out 30 in a single game in 1961, over 14 innings. He went 10-1 as a senior and led Western Mass. with a .512 batting average. He spent nine years in the major leagues, earning Fireman of the Year honors in 1970 with 35 saves for the pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds.

• Dave Grills, who has coached in seven different decades, and won more than 300 junior varsity and varsity games at Hampshire Regional High School and its predecessor, Williamsburg High. A member of the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, he currently serves as assistant coach at Northampton High School.

• Fran Healy, a Holyoke native and a catcher with for nine major-league seasons with the Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, and New York Yankees. He won a World Series with the Yankees in 1977 as the backup to Thurman Munson. He moved directly from the playing field to the broadcast booth, first with the Yankees and then with the Mets, and won four Emmy Awards.

The master of ceremonies for the Jan. 28 event will be local media celebrity Scott Coen. Tickets are on sale through the Valley Blue Sox website, www.valleybluesox.com. The cost is $45 per person, with tables of eight available for $320. The banquet begins with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m.