Nashua Pride photo The 2000 Nashua Pride players celebrate their Atlantic League title after catcher Jose Reyes, bottom row second from right, homered in the top of the 14th inning to enable the team to complete a sweep the Somerset Patriots. Glenn Murray is seen holding up the title trophy.

(Editor’s note: The 2000 Nashua Pride season was one of the best in the city’s minor league baseball history. Throughout the summer and into the early fall, The Telegraph will feature the memories of those who played on or coached that team 20 years ago in winning the Atlantic League title.)

NASHUA – Glenn Murray could tell in spring training in Haines City, Fla. In mid-April of 2000 that the Nashua Pride, the local independent minor league team, was far different than its 1999 predecessor that finished a combined 52-67 in the split season Atlantic League.

And far better. And he knew the difference.

The manager.

In the off-season, the Pride fired ’99 skipper Bobby Tolan and replaced him with former Red Sox manager and third baseman Butch Hobson. Hobson became a fan favorite, directing the team to the first half title (44-26) and overall 82-58 record. The Pride eliminated Bridgeport 2-1 in the best-of-three semis, winning the last two at Holman Stadium. And they swept the Somerset Patriots in three games, winning the thrilling clinching game 6-5 in Bridgewater, N.J.on catcher Jose Reyes’ solo homer in the the top of the 14th inning on an early October Monday night.

“Our 2000 team had really good players, but we also had really good chemistry in bringing Butch in there,” he said. “I think that was the topper.

“No matter what talent level you have, without somebody like Butch to lead it, you’re not going anywhere. But we had a really good team. Guys moved on (during the season) and we replaced them with guys who were just as good or better.

“But you had to have somebody like Butch in there to put the right pieces in there at the right time. … The difference in spring training from one year to the next was the attention to detail. And way more emphasis on hitting. Butch is a hitting guy. And the little things on defense that can win games. Cutoff relays, our bunt defenses. Those were the things we focused on. … We had a veteran defense. We talked a lot out there.”

Murray is the only Pride player still living in Nashua, and hit .288 with 28 homers and 94 RBIs that season. His good friend, John Roper, another former Major Leaguer (Giants, Reds) was the ace fo that staff (14-5, 4.90) and lived here until moving back to his home state of North Carolina.

Murray back then still spent his off-seasons in South Carolina, but paid attention to the off-season signings.

“You could sense,” he said, “something was happening.”

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It was a veteran team. In the off-season, Murray knew Pride general manager Billy Johnson and owner Chris English were gunning for a title in the Atlantic League’s third season, signing former Major Leaguers Casey Candaele (second base), Pete Incaviglia (first base, DH), and reliever Ken Ryan. But ironically none of those three were with the team in the second half. Candaele got signed by the Florida Marlins, Ryan by the Yankees, but Incaviglia suffered a season-ending leg injury in a game at Holman.

But the Pride didn’t blink, and capably replaced all three. Ryan had a dominant 24 saves but his replacement, Kevin Lovingier, led a bullpen by committee at 8-2, 2.55 and 12 saves.

But the biggest – literally and figuratively – move was bringing in former Red Sox slugger Sam Horn, who has always been a home run threat throughout his minor and Major League career. Horn met the team in a late June day-night doubleheader in Bridgeport, when he hit a booming home run to help the Pride sweep the twinbill. Winning at Harbor Yard for Nashua was tough enough for just a single game, let alone two in one day.

“They were tough,” Murray recalled. “But Sam was that one guy who could push everybody to that next level. That night he hit that home run over the train tracks.”

Murray remembers that the Pride were focused on hitting. “Somebody always in that order picked up the other guys,” Murray said. “That was our advantage.”

“Butch was really good in the clubhouse, was really personable with the players,” Murray said. “He knew when to push, when to pull. Some guys you push, some you pull, some you push a little bit harder, and others not too hard because you don’t want them to turn on you. … We’d all been there, it was a plus.”

Hobson had his clubhouse leaders that he used to set the tone, and Murray was one. “He did that from day one,” Murray said. “But we hung out. Not just on the field, but off the field. It was like a bunch of brothers.”

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The playoffs had their dramatic moments. Nashua lost to the Bluefish in Bridgeport, with a controversial call that angered Murray leading to a 6-3 Bridgeport win. But Nashua captured Games 2 and 3 at Holman, 2-0 with Roper getting the win, and then 6-4 in the deciding game, starter Daron Kirkreit, who went 10-6,3.92 during the season, getting the win.

And the tightest game in the best-of-five finals over Somerset was the last one.

“We really weren’t worried about Somerset,” Murray said. “Not once we got past Bridgeport. They (the Sparky Lyle-managed Patriots) were good, but just didn’t have the firepower to go straight up guns with us. They had thrown their best two in the first two games and came up with L’s (4-1, 11-1, both at Holman) and we had Kirkreit set for Game 3. That was a strategic move on Butch’s part.”

Reyes had entered Game 3 at catcher for starter Chad Epperson as a pinch-hitter late. His homer as time had soared past midnight in the top of the 14th “was one of the farthest balls I’d ever seen hit,” Murray said. “It was his second at-bat. Either he was going to do something big or he was going to strike out. He hit that ball, it disappeared.”

And fireballing reliever Ned Darley – who graduated high school together with Murray as the pair had formed a battery back then – pitched the bottom of the 14th for the save. “Ned in high school was throwing 92,” Murray said.

What was the feeling after winning? Murray had been part of the 1993 Harrisburg Senators Eastern League title team. But this was different.

“It was a more accomplished feeling,” he said. “Toward the three-quarter in the season, we had guys get hurt and ups and downs. But after that Bridgeport Game 1, we said ‘We can’t end the season like this.'”

And they didn’t.

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Murray made Nashua his home in 2004. “It was either going to be New Hampshire or South Carolina,” he said. “I was welcomed here, and I built a lot of relationships off the field. It was the logical thing to do. Why not New Hampshire? I had a real good support system here, a no-brainer type deal.”

Murray was always thought of as managerial material. He was interim manager in Lancaster, Pa.toward the end of his career. But he wanted to be around his family, and not spend his summers on the road.

“I didn’t want to miss another kid grow up,” he said. “I loved baseball, but the relief of not having to leave my kids was better. I’m a family guy.”

At one point he was helping out former Pride bullpen catcher Anthony Perry, now the Rivier University head baseball coach. But full time he works for a national delivery company, and is on the front lines during the pandemic. He’s lost two family members already to COVID-19.

“It’s been scary,” he said. “Nerve racking. Just unpredictable. We got busier then we did during the Christmas season. … When we first started, we didn’t know how long this virus would be around, so I was ‘Yup, I’ll help’. But I worked myself into the ground the first two or three weeks.”

He’s been appalled at the number of products being ordered on line for deliver, including furniture, during the crisis. “You try to protect the customer, and protect yourself,” he said. “I tell the customer, ‘Spray it down, leave it out for a couple of days, or if you need it right away, put some gloves on, get what’s inside out.’

It’s high stress. I’m learning you can’t be a hero by yourself.”

Ironically, that’s something that was typical of that Pride team in 2000. When Murray drives by Holman, he says it still feels special when he looks over there.

“Oh yeah, every time,” he said. “There were a lot of friendships, a lot of memories that were made there. Lifelong relationships. … Everybody that came here, even the visiting teams, loved Nashua.”

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There were a couple of other standout things from 2000. During the playoffs, the team had adopted the hit song at the time by the Baha Men, “Who Let The Dogs Out”. It was played at Holman as the starters would take the field, and fans would always be yelling it out. In fact, Murray remembers lefty reliever Jeff Kelly yelling that catch phrase out late one night during the extended title celebration on Main Street. “He was bout 6-foot-8 and he’s yelling it out. … A lot of memories.”

Johnson and English must have had a premonition, as they hired a film crew to follow the team all season, producing a video called “Stolen Bases” that was narrated by the late Curt Gowdy. The Pride appropriately stole 150 bases, fourth in the league. The title season gave the Pride its best attendance, as it averaged just under 2,000 fans a game – 1,973. It arguably enhanced the relationship between the team and the city, leading to the renovation of Holman Stadium a year later, buying the franchise likely eight more years. “They loved it,” Murray said of the Nashua fans, adding that the season may have spurred Manchester to get its own team, the Double A Fisher Cats. “It brought a lot of pride to the city, to the stadium. New Hampshire had something to call its own.

“You had Butch Hobson, a former Red Sox. That was a great move by Chris English right there. Everybody loved Butch.

“And he brought the right team in to win a championship. It was a perfect storm.”

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