By Marc Thaler
Staff Writer

SUMMER SIGHTS – American Legion baseball will return to Goffstown after a 20-year break. (Marc Thaler Photo)

GOFFSTOWN – After a two-decade absence from the New Hampshire American Legion baseball scene, Goffstown will finally field its own team.

“It’s official,” said Pete Kiro, manager of the newly formed squad. “We received the news from the Legion board of New Hampshire the day before Christmas to play in the 2005 season.”

This summer, Goffstown Legion Baseball will give local athletes from Goffstown, and surrounding areas such as Dunbarton and New Boston, the opportunity to compete at the highest level of amateur baseball available to young men from 15 to 19 years old.

The new Goffstown club also hopes to welcome Weare residents, Kiro said, pending the restructuring of districts from which respective Legion teams can draw talent.

Traditionally, a number of Goffstown athletes along with players from the Queen City and neighboring towns represented Jutras Post No. 43 of Manchester.

“I spent two years coaching with Tom French at Jutras, and I enjoyed the opportunity he gave me,” said Kiro, a standout athlete at the University of New Mexico in the early 1980s who later played minor league baseball. “Legion baseball wants the best towns to have teams. It’s a national program that wants the best towns in the state supporting teams.”

According to Kiro’s count, roughly one-third of players on the Jutras roster came from Goffstown. Now, with the creation of a Goffstown-based team, nearly three times as many openings will be available to local athletes.

“I will not encourage kids (who committed to and played for Jutras in the past) to play for me,” said Kiro, who was a member of the ’03 coaching staff that helped Jutras win the state championship. “I want those kids to fulfill their obligation to Jutras. I don’t want Goffstown Legion Baseball to deter from the Jutras program at all.”

Kiro added that he’ll likely have a young team in Goffstown Legion Baseball’s inaugural season, but is excited at the prospect of helping to develop talent.

While his coaching staff is in the process of being assembled, Kiro already named Dave McGee as the team’s pitching coach.

“Dave is well known in the Goffstown community and he’s been a pitching coach to many, many players,” Kiro said. “I want him to serve that matter exclusively for us.”

Hitting is Kiro’s specialty, an area of concentration where he’d like to continue to offer instruction in addition to the responsibilities he’ll have as manager. That said, the Goffstown skipper wants every member of his staff to remain involved in the day-to-day operations of the summer baseball club.

“This club will be run like an organization,” Kiro said. “There’s no ‘I’ in team and there’s no ‘I’ in coaching, either.”

Before the team can take the field, several off-field matters need attention, namely issues of fundraising. GLB needs to raise approximately $5,000 this winter, Kiro said.

In an effort to raise those funds, GLB plans to hold winter baseball clinics as well as a golf tournament in the spring. The new manager added he’d like to keep as much of this project “in town” as possible.

Kiro hopes to purchase uniforms through a local business and plans to ask students in the Goffstown High School art department to create a team logo.

“I’ll be everywhere now – my work has just begun,” Kiro said. “My goal as a coach has always been to get players ready for the next level.”

For more information on Goffstown Legion Baseball, e-mail Kiro at goffstownlegion@aol.com.