Big Leaguers: Central Mass/ players in the majors; Athol to Millville: Our towns proud of their MLB heroes.

Byline: Bill Ballou

There is nothing a Central Mass. person likes more than a bargain, but a couple of things come close.

Fried clams, a hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream, and baseball are not far behind.

For this region, baseball has been more than merely a spectator sport. Along the way, we've sent dozens of players to the major leagues. Some have been up for little more than tryouts, a couple have been Hall of Famers and many have had long, productive careers.

One of the beauties of computers is that they make it easy to create lists. One of the drawbacks is that computers don't know history and tradition and nuance. So, the list of the top home run hitters of all time says that Carlton Fisk is No. 1 from Vermont, but the reality is that Fisk spent a couple of days in a hospital in Bellow Falls, where he was born, and the next couple of decades learning to play baseball in Charlestown, N.H.

So it is with lists of major leaguers from Central Mass. Being born in Central Mass. is not the same as being raised here, and vice-versa. Ron Darling was born in Honolulu, but he is really one of us, having grown up in Millbury and attending St. John's. Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett spent either three weeks or three years in Woonsocket, where he was born, but his hometown was Millville, and everybody knows that.

The list that accompanies this story includes players who grew up in Central Mass. and played amateur baseball here, such as high school or Legion or sandlot in the early days. It does not include Holy Cross players who were from outside the region, or people like Jesse Burkett, who settled here as adults.

Geographically, we'll be narrow in our definition of Central Mass, defining it as including towns in which the Telegram & Gazette has traditionally covered high school sports and routine town affairs. So, Athol is in, Orange is out. West Brookfield, yes; Ware no. Southboro, yes; Framingham, no.

The list is also limited to those who played from 1901 on, or since major league baseball took on the landscape it retains today - two big leagues, American and National. It also includes the Federal League of 1914-15.

Many Central Mass. big leaguers played for the Boston Braves or Philadelphia A's, it seems. The Athletics were run by Connie Mack, an East Brookfield native who kept strong ties to the area and was willing to give almost any promising prospect a look. The Braves were a threadbare franchise whose home, the South End Grounds, may as well have been called Ballpark 19; they signed New England kids because they really couldn't afford traveling scouts.

Central Mass. players performed in every decade of the 20th Century and have been on big-league rosters already in the 21st, with Worcester's Bryan LaHair being the most recent. He played for the Mariners last year and is tearing up Triple-A this year, so he could be back. From 1940, when Oxford's Al Javery made his debut with the Braves, to 1970, when Marlboro's Ken Reynolds was called up by the Phillies, only two Central Mass. players made the majors.

They were Lou Lucier from Grafton in 1943 with the Red Sox and Milford's Ralph Lumenti in 1957 with the original Washington Senators. In recent years, the best season for Central Mass. was 1995 when Darling, Uxbridge's Tim Fortugno and Worcester natives Tanyon Sturtze and Mark Johnson were all in the big leagues.

The list eliminates several players who were born in Central Mass., but who did not grow up here.

Shaun Fitzmaurice, Steve Shea, Walt Ripley, and Keith MacWhorter were all born in Worcester but raised elsewhere - Ripley in Attleboro, MacWhorter in North Providence and Shea in Lexington. Shea became a banker and eventually lived and worked in Central Mass., but that was well after his baseball days.

Ray Tift, who pitched for the Yankees in 1907, was born in Fitchburg, but went to Somerville High; Eddie Eayrs was born in Blackstone but grew up in Providence.

Earle Mack, son of the Hall of Fame manager, was born in Spencer and is a hybrid of sorts. Connie Mack's first wife, Earle's mother, died young and while Connie was away playing and managing, his kids spent a lot of the year with their grandmother in the Brookfields. Earle Mack, though, played high school baseball in Philadelphia, where he was All-Scholastic, so Central Mass. can't really take credit for him.

Research for this story solved a few mysteries, but created some, also.

The most intriguing one involves Charley "Duke" Farrell, a great catcher around the turn of the century. Farrell wasn't quite Carlton Fisk, but he probably was the Jason Varitek of his time. Farrell grew up in Marlboro - there is no doubt of that - and his nickname came from being called "The Duke of Marlboro."

Every source there is lists him as being born in Oakdale, a village in West Boylston, in 1866. Every source except the West Boylston birth records, which show nothing at all in the 1860s for a Charles Farrell, only an entry in 1869 for his sister, Mary. Farrell's parent are listed as Irish immigrants, so perhaps he was born in Ireland and simply listed himself as being born in Oakdale. Even more possible - he lied about his age, and was older than he said, and not being born in the USA, nobody could prove otherwise.

Another somewhat mysterious man is Allan Collamore, a pitcher with the Philadelphia A's, then the Cleveland Indians. Collamore is a Worcester guy, for sure, one of a family of 12 who still has surviving relatives in the city.

Collamore sort of appears from nowhere in 1910 as a pitcher for the Worcester team in the New England League and was so good that Connie Mack drafted him for the Athletics and Collamore began the season with the defending world champs. He didn't last long with the A's that year, but returned to the majors later with the Indians.

If Collamore played high school baseball in Worcester, the trail has gone cold and his relatives do not know where he learned to play the game. Collamore died in Battle Creek, Mich. - the Telegram ran an item in 1977 saying he had died, then had to followup with a story saying he was still alive.

When Collamore died in 1980, however, we did not run an obituary.

Billy Burke, born in Clinton, was a southpaw pitcher who toiled for the Braves in 1910 and 1911. Burke pitched collegiately at Notre Dame and was very good, and settled in Worcester after leaving baseball, but there are no records of him having attended high school in Clinton, so there is some question as to whether or not he grew up there, or in Worcester.

Jack McCarthy was born in Hardwick - Gilbertville to be precise - and played at Holy Cross, but little else is known about him, other than that he from 1900 to 1907, he did not hit a single home run. Baseball is not even sure where McCarthy is buried. It is likely in Chicago, but there was another Jack McCarthy who had a career in the high minors, and he was from California, so some sources have the Hardwick McCarthy buried out there.

The evidence is pretty strong, however, that McCarthy settled in Chicago and worked for the city after baseball, and is buried there. If he indeed grew up in Hardwick - that is unresolved.

Andy Sullivan played one game for the Braves in September, 1904. He was born in the Southville part of Southboro, almost in Hopkinton, almost in Westboro. Sullivan was a hot prospect - just 20 when the Braves tried him out - who later played in the minors for a bit before settling in Westboro, where he died of appendicitis at age 35. Did he grow up in Southboro or Westboro? Research has yet to clear that up, so for now, Southboro gets credit for Sullivan.

Finally, there is Art Lavigne, a Worcester guy who played one season in the Federal League for Buffalo. Lavigne lived his whole life in Worcester and became active in candlepin bowling circles, but where he played high school ball - if he did - is a mystery to this point.

From one game careers to Hall of Fame careers - Central Mass. has provided more than its share of players to the major leagues, and with several prospects in the minors now, the list doesn't seem to be nearing completion.

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ART: PHOTOS; CHART

CUTLINE: (1) Former St. Peter-Marian pitcher Tanyon Sturtze of Worcester. (2) From top: Rich Gedman of Worcester caught for the Red Sox, Astros and Cardinals from 1980-92; (3) Gabby Hartnett of Millville caught for the Cubs and Giants from 1922-41 (4) Mark Fidrych (5) Ron Darling (6) Ken Reynolds (7) Glenn Adams (8) Bryan LaHair (9) Keith Reed (10) Mark Johnson (11) Rich Gedman

PHOTOG: (1) T&G Staff File Photo/TOM RETTIG (CHART) T&G Staff