Ted Williams hit a home run in his last at-bat — and so did Frank Boulton, the Long Island Ducks owner.
Boulton poured his heart and soul into running the ball club for 25 years and turned a diamond in the rough into the crown jewel of Atlantic League Professional Baseball. Thanks to him, Long Island fans and families have flocked to see the league’s beloved winningest team nearly 10 million times.
The born-and-bred islander, who was a varsity catcher for Bay Shore in the late 60s, is leaving the nest and putting his pride and joy in good hands — Rev Entertainment, which partners with the Texas Rangers.
“A lot of people have been knocking on my door for a long time,” he tells me.
“I finally bumped into the right people, and they’re young, they’re well-funded, they’re not private equity.”
Boulton, who used to pull the field’s tarp with the grounds crew during rain delays, added, “They’re in it for the long haul.”
And he’s no quack.
The cleats-on-the-ground approach did much more to turn the Ducks into a fantastic catch beyond the team’s four championships since the inaugural 2000 season.
It was the postgame fireworks shows that felt like a scene from “The Sandlot,” or unfiltered access to baseball greats like Boulton’s dear friend and partner, the late Bud Harrelson, who would never leave a game or event until every kid — and perhaps parent — got an autograph.
Just walking around single-tier stands filled with those excited children, many of whom were seeing their first baseball game and catching their first ball, or watching fan contests in between innings like dance for your dinner and sing for your supper, made you feel right at home — plate, that is.
The only thing foul, or rather, fowl, was having to leave. I know because I was there.
I was one of the millions of kids lucky enough to grow up in the heyday of Ducks baseball, thanks to Boulton, who for years tried bringing a team to Long Island.
He owned the Double-A Albany-Colonie Yankees and attempted to move them in the 1990s, but the Mets blocked that, according to the one-time Wall Street ace.
Despite showing up to an appeal with “a map and an architect’s ruler,” his proposal struck out.
So, Boulton used some gamesmanship; he founded the ALPB in 1998.
“Some people accuse me of creating a league so I could have baseball on Long Island,” says Boulton.
“Guilty.”
If he hadn’t stepped back up to the plate, Harrelson would have never taught me how to throw a baseball at camp as a little boy or given me my passion for the game at such an early age.
It’s only fitting to know that the owner’s origin is somewhat similar to that of Williams. Boulton’s all-time favorite player was his camp mentor half a century ago as well.
(Boulton maintains that he is a “kick- ass” 75 now).
Without him, I wouldn’t have seen my first no-hitter, a lights-out Rod Henderson affair against the Atlantic City Surf in 2001 as a 6-year-old — and later a spirited bench-clearing brawl, too.
I found my voice at age 10 thanks to being picked as a guest on-field host, singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” atop the third-base dugout with QuackerJack — one of the nation’s most cherished mascots named by the elementary school students of a staffer’s spouse.
That moment led me back to the feathered confines during a high school broadcasting camp, where I reported on Roger Clemens joining the league from outside the press box.
Without any of that, I wouldn’t be writing this today.
Nor would I have insisted that my Westchester-born wife couldn’t call herself a Long Islander until she went to a game — and bought a boisterous, bright yellow souvenir quacker as a rite of passage.
Boulton made his Ducks a local staple and flew them beyond what anyone could imagine, and the best part is, it was all out of love for us Long Islanders.
He had often been nudged to take his talents to the major league level, but like Casey at the Bat said, it wasn’t his style.
“This is what I was supposed to do,” Boulton, who will remain as an advisor, proudly said.
Williams may have homered, but you had a waddle-off, Frank.
Thank you.
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