After 42 years of navigating life, he'll try to steer the Navigators
Peter Delani (right) presents the Jimmy Fund's Mike Andrews a check from Masconomet students in 2008.
By Julian Benbow
Globe Staff / January 18, 2009
A mutual friend connected Peter Delani, a lifelong baseball man, with Philip Rosenfield, a devoted baseball owner.
Delani's reputation preceded him. He was draped in awards as a 13-year baseball coach and a teacher at Masconomet Regional in Topsfield, and recently poured his life story into a well-received autobiography, "A Walk With Daimon."
Delani, for his part, was just as aware of Rosenfield and his attempt to anchor his New England College Baseball League team, the North Shore Navigators, in the city of Lynn.
When they finally sat down, baseball was only a small part of the conversation. "We talked mostly about philosophy about life," Rosenfield said. "He told me about how he got to where he was. He walked me through his life story." What struck Rosenfield, he said, was Delani's candor.
"He was willing to share his defeats as well as his victories," Rosenfield said. "The defeats that he described to me were of a personal nature, and they bothered him enough that he wanted to change the direction of his life."
Rosenfield hired the 42-year-old Delani as the new general manager of the Navigators because Delani was a good baseball man, but also be he was a good man.
"He's got some character," Rosenfield said. "I like that about him. Other than that, he's a really good baseball guy."
Delani, who over eight summers scouted for the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds, said the irony of Rosenfield offering him the position was not lost on him.
"My whole book is about navigating one's way through life's crises," said the energetic Delani, now vice principal at Masconomet. "I've learned a lot of lessons through baseball, how to handle success and failure, and how they apply to life. And this league is about tomorrow's stars chasing their dreams today. That's the one constant, chasing your dreams, even when everything else tells you to let go."
Rosenfield hopes those strengths will benefit a team that went 26-16 last year and qualified for the playoffs, but did so in front of crowds that occasionally filled the seats at Fraser Field, but generally left them empty.
With his second season on the horizon, Rosenfield plans to establish community nights for area towns, reaching out specifically to youth baseball programs.
Rosenfield believes that Delani's contacts in that world give him credibility and the potential to lure a younger crowd to games.
"I want people in the stands," Rosenfield said. "We had some nights last year where we had 2,000 people in the stands, and we had some nights where we had 200. Peter Delani's been able to bring that aspect, filling the stadium and putting people in the seats."
At least two area players are slated to suit up for the Navigators: Lynnfield product Jason Banos, a second-team All-Ivy outfielder who hit .389 in 44 games for Columbia last season, and
Danvers native Matt Boylan, a left-handed pitcher who struck out 10 batters in 18 1/3 innings as a sophomore at Brown last year.
But Rosenfield will focus as much as putting people in the seats as he will on putting players on the field
"When you have people in the stadium," he said. "Good things happen."
The Navigators will open the 2009 season on June 4, hosting the Sanford Mainers at Fraser.
