Nashua and New Britain.

Believe it or not, besides the current Futures Collegiate Baseball League semifinal series that began last night with a huge Nashua 11-3 win at New Britan Stadium, there’s a connection.

New Britain, Conn. was the home for several years of the Boston Red Sox Double A Eastern League affiliate, and they almost became the Nashua Red Sox.

We’ve chronicled this before. An effort led by local youth baseball guru Fred Lajoie and some city officials back in the late 1980s-early 90s, Nashua attempted to lure the franchise to Holman after the Pirates had left in 1986, courting New Britain owner Joe Buzas. Yours truly can remember staking out Nashua City Hall while Buzas met with officials, and finally got a few comments in the parking lot from Buzas and his right hand man, longtime NB general manager Gerry Berthuiame, who retired a few years ago but was with the franchise through a myriad of changes.

But the Board of Aldermen shot down a proposed lease that called for $200,000 worth of renovations to bring Holman up to what were then the current standards (imagine those costs around the country now). It would’ve paid for itself over a three to five year period. Ouch.

The late Buzas of course was trying to pressure New Britain into a new stadium, which he eventually got, but the Red Sox bolted for Trenton and NB became a Twins affiliate. The old Beehive Field is still here, next to New Britain Stadium.

The franchise became known as the New Britain Rock Cats. Even more of a local connection, former Bishop Guertin baseball standout Chris Flint served in the Rockcats front office for a season in 1995. Flint is now the head women’s soccer coach at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

Alas, the Twins and Rock Cats severed ties in 2015 after 20 years and the Rockies hooked on for one. But alas, New Britain lost its grip on affiliated ball as a new stadium was built in Hartford, Conn.,home of the Eastern League’s Hartford Yard Goats that compete against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Our old friends in the Atlantic League tried New Britain for three years, from 2016-19, and they, too, were named the New Britain Bees. In October of 2019, it was announced the Atlantic League was bolting and the Futures League was coming. The ownership group headed by old friend Frank Boulton – who gave Nashua an Atlantic League franchise in 1997, another connection – sold the franchise to Brad Smith, who had been the Bees general manger.

And there you go. Of course the Bees’ first season was a tough go thanks to COVID in 2020, but NB and Nashua were the only FCBL franchises allowed to have fans in the stands. But New Britain Stadium certainly isn’t Holman. Last night we all stared at a soggy infield under sunny skies for an hour as the game was delayed thanks to a 4 p.m. shower that hit an apparent uncovered infield. It was borderline ridiculous.

And the buzz has been with these Bees ever since 2020, as they finished the regular season second in attendance in the FCBL, averaging a robust 1,702 fans per game. Last night was their first FCBL playoff game as they finished the regular season 37-26 as the No. 2 seed and plenty of fans — 2,132– showed up on a Monday for what was the first post season game for NB baseball team since 2007.

And after last night’s game, the buzz continues. But Nashua would love the connection to have a much better on field outcome than the self-inflicted off-field wound of 30-plus years ago. Last night was a great start.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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