 Good afternoon and welcome to town meeting television here. We are with Mack McDonald my good friend and resident expert I'm pretty much any topic and we are so glad you're here Mack. Nice to see you It's nice to be back long time. I really miss channel 17 We you know, it's been like a lot of those things still in the last couple of years You know, I've missed a lot and I've let the list, you know, I miss baseball as well I mean we had last year was our first season back and The lake months there started the last night was opening night. It was opening night Which is why we have hats. That's why I'm covering my fabulous hair just for in the honor of the occasion So I know that you have been deeply involved with baseball in Burlington for years and years Yeah, and before we start about the new season Just tell me a little bit about how you got involved in baseball in Burlington Okay, this is back in the 80s people might remember the Vermont Reds and the Vermont Mariners and My kids who are in their 40s right now Wanted to go to the baseball games a lot and I decided they needed help so I decided to help out and The Reds Probably fielded one of the greatest teams in baseball. They put a team on the field. I believe it's a 1991 That all players were from Vermont were from Burlington came through everybody on the roster came through Burlington and they won the World Series that year now in 1988 it was four years. We had the Reds and 1988 We had the Mariners This was a double-a-ball. This is high level about as high as you can go And King Griffith junior Played for our team that year again. We we were in the finals and I believe we lost that you're not sure anyway, you're in the finals So all five years that we had the double-a clubs. We were in the finals of the Eastern League We set the record at that time for the Eastern League as far as Number of wins and all this type thing It was an exciting time Yeah, so not only were you involved by bringing your kids to the park. Yeah, you also were kind of a scout Yeah, well talent spotter When the Montreal one in 90 or whatever that was I forget the year When Montreal came to town the Pitching coach was which he use and Which Asked he says, can you help us out? We need somebody to do the filming and My buddy had a camera and stuff and we said yeah, we can we're gonna help you out and The best advice I ever heard from anybody was Gailen Carr who has lived in Burlington as a Vermonter and He's with the Los Angeles Dodgers now, and I believe he has four World Series rings I'm not sure exactly, but I mean he has a lot and He said when somebody asked you To help them you say yep What do you want me to do? whatever the contract is and I was then offers a job and We were on the contract for 17 years with the Montreal Expos MLB Expos Washington Nationals for a few years Those those teams and so what did you do you had the camera at the videographer well, I was doing the pictures in the hitters and they may also have a assignment they want to Take somebody say the second baseman focus on the second baseman for say like the third inning or something like that, you know other things like that And but you always every day you started with the starting picture you started from the front and then you wait to get the open side And then they'd have four hitters You'd pick out the four, you know, whichever one you figured yet and shot that much and Or else, you know, there were just assignments sometime and and then after a while they get confidence, you know And so after the first year They told us that it would be a couple weeks and the front office made a blah blah blah They might get a guy and stuff and this is when it wasn't much else. So it wasn't too bad. You know, it's a little over an hour's drive So you would record them so that the coaches could look right how they were performing you exactly Yeah, and other other elements as things went on now in the beginning. It was obviously kind of rudimentary I mean we were using our own camera basically cameras. Yeah Tape So anyway Yeah, so that's got it, you know, did you develop Your own ability to look at them or no day. Yeah after a while that that's where it becomes confident like They ask a pinion and when I start doing that, you know, you're Kind of like being in the mob, you know, you're in it you're in into yeah, and so Actually the thing I think was Whatever So let me ask you about opening day. So yeah, I This is I mean I have the hat. Yeah, who's playing? Who are the lake? Okay, the lake monsters are a team Montreal as you remember Moved from Montreal to Washington, D.C. So we had to come up with another name and lake monsters is the one that was chosen by the people and fans basically and The affiliation Now, okay, the major league part major league was developed. I'm not gonna go into this. It takes really too long to go through it But minor league clubs have affiliations with a major league club and our affiliation was Montreal Expos and then Montreal moved to Washington, D.C. became a Washington Nationals and then the affiliation with a Washington National last of that thing was about four or five years and It switched to the ace and I was with the ace I think it's a year or two. I was getting all I wasn't able to really Do the jumping around like yeah doing you know Actually the stadium in 2012 the stadium had been rehabbed and put new chair and new seats and the science was I Couldn't jump over Yeah, so then I just I told him I couldn't you know my ankle was giving me trouble and It's called age It's like a lot of the guys That's the way it is you get to that point, you know and so I do other things now they offered Forget who the guy was a player development Anyway, I said we can your eyeballs are okay, right? Yeah, my eyeballs are good, you know, and it's in that other buddy parts you know, so We need you just to spot, you know See what's going on, you know and so they Worked out that and they also went. Oh, yeah, this is one the ease came on They had a camera system that was amazing is amazing It gets all the angles and it takes the important part like the thing that I've always wanted to see was velocity in and out and You know a lot of other elements to the game and with this computer system, they were able to hook it up pretty good I mean Centennial field look when they were doing it. I couldn't yeah my god So what do you look for it when you're spotting? What are you looking for a new player? Okay, when yeah, okay? You're you're looking first off the feet or the mound shift to having problems with a mound some a lot of time that happens You're also looking you want to get the overall Where the ball goes when it's hit, you know this kind of thing You When we first started we got the runner going through first going for the duration and For some reason they've got rid of that day There was another element there that we use I can't remember I can't get an holder But when you look at a player, yeah, what do you look what are your eyeballs looking for? First off you're basically taking the open side or behind the sometimes sometimes behind the catcher, but The open side lefty or righty, I don't have to switch it. That's another problem But because you got to run from one part of the stadium to the other I mean, it's almost I don't know what I thought that was a little proud But you know what a big crowd there you're not going to do it So that's one that you have a switch here comes in that's I try and figure out What side you really really you don't want to get and it depends on You know So you're looking for where the ball is placed? Yeah. Yeah, that's another that's another element That's another element. There's a whole bunch of elements here. They're going on You know cover the Foot landing the landing part And the other there's there's several other ones you're looking for there ways that you could improve About that's it. Yeah, that's a whole feet position right right direction of the ball Improving the velocity that with it with which it's thrown right things like that. Yep So now there's a news there's a starting pitcher on the lake monsters. Yeah, right? Tell me about him. Tell me about last night must yeah, okay last night was interesting Again continually started Lake Monsters and what the affiliations are and everything else And and the ownership Ray Picar is the one that did the work in a repeat or a time scene and much other guys and We got the X balls because close by you know and so the GM Kyle Was a GM for a long time CJ's back with us again. He went to he spent some time down in Norwich Connecticut and So the affiliation was with the X balls and national so that was pretty steady through there and then We got the ease which was there the A's were funny because they had a they have a Vermont connection and it goes back, you know thousands, I don't know it goes back a long time and You know we're in Philadelphia We had a minor league club here at one time that was affiliated in 1954 and they started out as a Philadelphia Phillies And then they moved to Kansas City and so they they ended up they had they were the athletics and they were the Provincial League it was called it was this Class C League and it was mostly much outtakes around the border, you know, the St. John Quebec and Tifford Mines up to a whole bunch of other places to have a history of Eastern League ball and Have you know quite a bit of history as a matter of fact they have a league Similar to Futures League in the census college kids and it's just the border of the border Runs right along the US border and aquatic hook St. John Sarish who Tifford Mines a whole bunch of other towns right along there a town that's always had a team is Actonville and I went so far to take a trip there one day look the place over yeah, and they have a mound that there's a field conditions Are really really good. So would you see the kids playing high school in these? Yeah, this is your high school ball Yeah, that on okay, and then so the A's the lake monsters are an ace. Yeah, they're uh, well, no They're not affiliated now, okay, they're the league is a collegiate Summer League with the calls the collegiate summer league. They're like the New England collegiate league Which plays a month here plays a white river junction And they have the same rules as as the some collegiate summer leagues Now the future is like a little bit different than others in the sense that it emphasizes It has a certain number of players that are either well, they're no England centric in other words either live here Born here or have all that connections go to school Little bird colleges You know had some players come through there really good. Yeah, so so it's not a double 18 No, it's not affiliate it and the thing is the affiliation changed Two years ago, so it's all in the state of flux right now a lot of the As a matter of fact, I had a pretty good discussion with one of my buddies last night About the current situation and we've only seen one game so I can't really tell me about the game Tell me about coming into the stadium and having the ballpark and it's really fantastic shape and and you know The front office we're very fortunate the front office is very Probably one of the best in business in my opinion. Okay. I'm slanted, you know, but When you look at other operations now the other one my peers really great they do a nice job there I haven't been I've been by the Hartford field But I haven't seen any games there white River. They have a new stadium there. They built it for this team a farmer Decided to retire and take a social security and dump that into a complex actually down there. So I mean Yeah, you got it Yeah, this is something we got stories around Vermont like that. I mean I could go on for days, but yeah Okay, yeah, we get the field It's raining. It's maybe snowing not sure it's coming in your face and You know all the guys are there the people the folks that you see and yet you wait in line This is the thing about the job when I had the filming as opposed to being just a fan I Get there quite a bit early like if they had special projects they wanted to do and and you know like the Player development guy comes in, you know Anyway, you get to know them real good and that's actually your go-between and your pitching coach pitching coach and A lot of times what you'll do the other thing too is a lot of times I'll ask a question It's about what do you think we ought to see it tonight or whatever? Manager want to say something, you know, let's let's get Charlie in there You know, he had a bad outing last time or see what it you know So that's it's great in my opinion I must have been fun. So you get in the stands and the game starts and yeah, the highlights of last night's game Last night the interesting part is I don't have a roster with me right now, but I We have a closer Well, if it was a closer last night, you know, I finished the game out. He got to save That's a picture. Yeah picture. Yeah, and He's from a tiny island in The Pacific called Fiji and he goes to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, which is down on the coast Just north of Cape Cod in that area and He He got the he got the emit he get I know we got to save That's your no, you never got number got behind there was base runners on base But he didn't didn't get behind in other words So he got to save save is when you have a lead you enter come come in as a leader or tie or something different categories of scoring and The save is you don't let any runs come basically come in and You know so that was that we had to lead like from first inning They get four hundred first inning last night and some of them were on a couple of key errors But that's you know the weather being what it is, you know, you come up against that and who are they playing? playing Brockman, okay, and that's a team that's been in this this league's been the Futures league is probably you know, it's five or six years old I'm not sure because we've had we've been closed because of coven and Also, some of these teams were in other leagues and then came in like Brock They used to be in a league called the can am league, which was or is and and these are Like not solid right now because of the changes that have been going on and in the industry with franchises and stuff like that another Problem with this is there's a league called a frontier league, which has some franchises that were in are in Canada and The borders been closed or was closed for quite a few years So this is affected the game and the borders never been closed as long as it was close Yeah, and I'm figuring that it's yeah that goes back to the get go. So let me ask you a couple questions. Sure I Understand that there have been some changes in the rules. Yeah baseball. Yep to make the games go faster And are those played out in this collegiate? Well Yeah, that's that's two two parts there's the pros are majors major leagues and affiliated teams leagues that they've at the Major league level of teams are the same basically But the rules are different the size of base is different for example, they're trying to get away from pick off moves as throwovers or this kind of thing and you and Then to make it go quicker and they've been pretty successful at that But the big thing a lot of people said they haven't really noticed The changes that much and as we go along that that's the thing you're expecting a change and Gee, how's that look or like last night was a lot of you know, I had it quite a few ways, you know Couldn't they didn't register will put it that way and so they were subtle changes. Yeah subtle Yeah, like for instance, we'll throw overs and what's that when you throw over to first base man in first base You try to nail them the base is bigger now. So the runner is safe favorites and runner. Yeah, and so There's more of a game. Yeah. Yeah, so it's quicker till it goes along either is out or you think yeah, and you have to Like myself You have to get the feeling you have to get into the role. It doesn't I was kind of surprised It didn't take it doesn't we've only had the one game really in there weren't that many circumstances, but in a couple weeks Well, no more So how many games are in this season? This is 35 home 35 always 70 it is they get in in this league in the collegiate league They have a set day off, which is Mondays generally In you get it organized ball what they call organized ball or affiliated, you know Okay, it's supposed to disorganize ball, but yeah Monday's off. Yeah. Well, I have three three days off. Let me think no three days off a month They change that a while and they may have changed it again in in affiliated you'd have three days off in the Months, I think it is and and at each level it's a little different because it's more advanced You're getting ready for the bigs, you know, that means playing every day or whatever Yeah, and do the kids well the young men do they stay with I? Remember people. Yeah living with families. Yeah, that's that's basically a big program Yeah, that's a good one and the one that we have here gets Accolades they from what I understand it. Yeah parents and kids you get to know the parents. Yeah, yeah, and you You got to realize what's going on. I mean you got a You got to understand things and get you know people things, you know and Yeah, it's fun. How does this team stack up? I mean is this promising team for this year or compared to other years they've been in the league since Where are we we're 2003 so 2002? 2001 we missed 2021 yeah, and then 2019 was So it's hard to compare well, we've won the championship the last two years of league championship The first year and we lost That's a long story, but we lost last year For the championship and I find a walk-off Yeah And I was It was good game. I was Nashua, which is where my son lives. So they all family. Yeah, you have mixed feelings Yeah, and you got two grandsons are sitting there like eight and ten That was fun, but the League monster well the attendance is one of the things that really and has always Been hi here, right? People really patronize the game. Yeah, they Okay last year Vermont was number one at two years in the two years that we've actually played I had in the last year's numbers of 2022 yeah We drew 70 thousand six hundred and thirty five and thirty five home guys We haven't had a rain out in two years. So that's about two thousand people a game. Yeah, that's pretty good Yeah, two thousand seventy five now number two teams new Britain at fifty one thousand and they average seventeen hundred and Worcester Which there's a couple things that I say well what's there's pretty big? Yeah, but they got a triple a club for the Red Sox right across the street or whatever and So less people would yeah, we would figure their their numbers at forty eight thousand Which is sixteen hundred a game which they but they only had thirty Homegames because they have rainouts. We don't know what a rain out is here, right? We just keep playing Well, I can't I love that pull up anywhere exactly a new infield. It's glorious You know great good drainage and that damn things been there since the year night 2000 no 1906 yeah We graduated from there. Yeah graduation was yeah, that's right. So we're so we've got big fans here Yeah, people are very strong the Nashwood draws pretty good. They draw forty three thousand fourteen hundred and then you get Norwich Which I thought could do better, but but then again, they've only played 32 games because it's right rainy season all One pitchfield doesn't do they were the last they they only drew 25,000 The park and pitchfields my father played on that in there and it was Whenever we come up to the farm Christ we used to live in New Jersey. It's a little kid and We always used to have to go to back to Pittsfield to Wacona Park Well, Wacona Park is still there and this year well my sister passed away and The kids cousins or nieces and whatever They'll want to go to Wacona. I said, well, okay, I'll see what we can do when we drive up and the guy was here Well, I can't really But anyway seeing this, you know, so I said like they're not gonna step on anything So we did we gave us a tour of the place. Oh neat The thing is they still know who he is. Wow. And Wow, you know, and he was your dad. Yeah 1926 is when he 1927 something like that That's when he left and went to Brooklyn. His brother older brother died who he's really tight with and I My guessing and we had this thing from my sister. She takes all kinds of notes and she's this she's a she's a nurse, you know and so take all kinds of notes and We I kind of put two and two together there was a place called Cavali Sanatorium down in Pittsburgh. It's the state police barracks now. I mean the state police Academy basically and that's what they use it for now. But back then it was Cavali Preventorium It's where polio was discovered. Wow, and they figure There's a guy named Dr. Cavali that ran the place and specialized in polio. So the family history reads something like sickly and this and that But you couldn't get any pinned down thing, you know, so I don't know that's why I came back Maybe your uncle had polio. That could well be and then your dad moved when he died. Oh, he did Yeah, but they're still remember him. Oh, yeah in pits in pitchfield field Amazing He was I didn't realize the other thing about this part is how I found out about this was drinking beer with Ray Ray Collins Junior Ray Collins was UVM guy. I Wanted to play for the Red Sox with Larry Gardner third baseman and They were the last to win the World Series before The current set of Red Sox did a couple years ago. You know, they had the lousy years all the way through and then whatever anyway He lived to be a hundred and one. I believe he comes from Middlebury Excuse me and Carl Lindholm's son quite a bit of work on research on his family. Anyway Yeah He said I remember I Remember a guy named on McDonald ran track for St. Joe's in Pitsfield and see St. Joe's and St. Mike's They used to have a field day type of thing, you know And they put the head baseball games as well as to track the track ran around it was about a mile long I don't know how you go up to Centennial Field and figure a circle by track back then and Anyway He we He said yeah, I remember he was pretty good He was the first baseman to and he always put his gloves down with his shirt or Whatever run track and he'd come back and put the stuff on play first basers I'm like that and the old man used to have these every so often he He didn't want to pressure us. That's the thing. He didn't want so he just decided and Have my grandmother handle things All right, and that's my grandmother We took trips when I was a little shrimpy kid like to Quebec City See the baseball field there Best field you ever saw in your life. She's right Interesting so yeah We have a history of drawing really good in a double a We were like second and third in the league if you go back and look at the research in the Eastern League Same thing with the Penn League and we had some we were up against some big ones You know Staten Island and Brooklyn and you get this little dinky place up here, and well All right, well listen, we're gonna be really looking forward to the rest of the season So we're gonna check back in yep But we also have some more memories on memories with Mac that we're gonna be diving into So I hope you'll come back So I want to thank you so much Mac McDonald for being with us today Thank you Lauren Glenn for everything that you've done over the years and just to open it up Thanks for a person like myself that Really has a lot of things to You have a lot to say yes one final yes real Weird not weird, but unusual. I served in the United States Army between 1963 summer 63 and summer Winner of 66 I got extended and weird amount of time and I was a reconnaissance scout in Berlin and my grandson that goes to Bard College and They have an exchange program in Berlin Now my grandson's been over there and he wants me He's wants some of my old maps and stuff And I got I got a lot of stuff, you know and it's I don't know how that happened I just you know, that's what happens. I don't know how this happened. I just told the guy. Yeah, okay I hope yeah, you know Isn't life like that. It's just a lot of certain you're gonna take the chances you're gonna say yep Yep, that's right. Well, thanks for saying yep for the show and thank you so much for watching Yeah, stay tuned here for more memories with Mac. Thank you town meeting TV. Thanks a lot