Gerry Berthiaume was home over the holidays working as treasurer for his church when Mike Pfaff, co-owner of the New Britain Bees baseball team, called about his interest in becoming general manager.
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Gerry Berthiaume was home over the holidays working as treasurer for his church when Mike Pfaff, co-owner of the New Britain Bees baseball team, called about his interest in becoming general manager.
Ironically, Berthiaume, 61, was wearing a Bees cap he bought during the team's 2016 inaugural season.
“I said, 'Mike I'm sitting here doing bookwork for my church and … I'm wearing my Bees hat,' ” Berthiaume recalled. “He was like, 'Really? I swear to God, Mike, I'm wearing my Bees hat.' ”
Whether divine intervention or incredible coincidence, Berthiaume seems meant to “bee” the team's GM after 18 years away from the game. He started Jan. 23.
Berthiaume was executive vice president and GM of the New Britain Red Sox and New Britain Rock Cats from 1984 to 1999, until the team was sold, and oversaw the move into New Britain Stadium in 1995 from Beehive Stadium. The stadium was refurbished for the Bees and has never looked better, he said.
“How great it is that someone gets to do their dream job twice in their lifetime?” Berthiaume said.
Berthiaume, who is married to Jenny, a Bristol middle school teacher and has two grown sons, is grateful to return, but also loved his last nine years at Capital Workforce Partners teaching employment skills to youth. The nine years prior to that included several different jobs.
Baseball taught him resilience, he said, noting a Major Leaguer can fail in seven of 10 at-bats and go to the Hall of Fame as a .300 hitter.
“I think that's what I've learned … it's a game of failure, but getting up, brushing yourself off, trying it again and I think people see that you're genuine about that and they gravitate to you,” he said.
Pfaff said Berthiaume is passionate about baseball, genuinely connected to the community and a great face for the franchise.
“He's the right person in so many respects,” Pfaff said. “You always exit a conversation with Gerry feeling good, and that's something that's important.”
Berthiaume played two years of college ball in Maine and pro ball “for all of 22 games” with the Billings (Mont.) Mustangs of the Cincinnati Reds organization in 1975. A strong-armed outfielder, he convinced his coach to let him pitch two innings in a game the Mustangs led by 10 runs against an affiliate of the then-Montreal Expos.
The first three batters got hits, cutting the lead to nine runs with runners on first and third with no outs. He retired the next three batters and three straight in the ninth.
“That third batter who got the base hit and a single and the RBI was Andre Dawson,” Berthiaume said of the future Expo and Hall of Famer. “My claim to fame is that I held him to a single.”
Berthiaume is in the University of Southern Maine Hall of Fame as the first player to sign a pro contract and in the Maine Hall of Fame for his time in the game, including his New Britain roles.
He's thrilled to be back in baseball and believes there's room in the market for two pro teams. The Bees, an unaffiliated team in the Atlantic League, filled the void left in New Britain last year after the Rock Cats moved to Hartford as the Yard Goats, a Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
The Bees' talent is comparable, “possibly even better,” Berthiaume said. “We've got players with Double-A, Triple-A and some Major League experience on our roster, they've just been released, unfortunately.” The Atlantic League, while not affiliated, has a contract with Major League Baseball where MLB can buy out players' contracts, which happened six times last year on the Bees, he said.
Like before as GM, Berthiaume believes in trust, transparency, fun, being visible and working as a team.
“I basically told you what you were going to get for your dollars' worth,” he said. “I stood at the front gates every night to greet everybody. I made sure that there was positiveness and energy throughout the ballpark. That's what I want to bring back and I think that works for our fans and for our sponsors.”
Click here to watch a video clip of Gerry Berthiaume’s interview.
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