Enfield Families Have Connections to Washington Baseball

ENFIELD, CT — For the first time in history, a best-of-7 professional sports championship series concluded Wednesday night with the visiting teams winning all seven contests. Dating back to their founding as the Montreal Expos in 1969, the Washington Nationals captured the World Series for the first time in franchise history by upending the Houston Astros, 6-2 Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

The home teams may not have won any games during the Series, but a pair of hometown families in Enfield have special connections to Washington, D.C. baseball. One is current, while the other dates back to World War II.

Richard Schaefer, owner of Awards & More on Route 5, has a brother, Bob, who is an assistant to the general manager of the champion Nationals. Bob Schaefer played in the College World Series with UConn in 1965, finishing as the NCAA leader in home runs that season. The shortstop was drafted by the St. louis Cardinals in 1966 and played three years in their minor league system, but never reached the major leagues as a player.

He managed in the minor leagues for many years with the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals organizations, before finally making the major leagues as a Royals coach in 1988, serving as interim manager for a game in 1991. He went on to several different positions with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles before returning to Kansas City as bench coach in 2001.

In 2005, after another brief stint as interim manager, Schaefer left the Royals and signed on as a scout for the Atlanta Braves, then served as bench coach for the Oakland Athletics in 2007 and for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2008 to 2010, working under manager Joe Torre. He joined the Nationals' front office in late 2010.

A completely different connection between Enfield and the nation's capital dates back more than 75 years. Bill Repass, an Enfield resident and certified Connecticut swimming official whose daughter Tammie is a member of the Enfield Athletic Hall 0f Fame, had an uncle, Bob "Spike" Repass, who was a standout ballplayer at Bulkeley High School in Hartford who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1937. He played three games for the Cardinals in 1939, then got into 81 games as an infielder for the Washington Senators during the 1942 season.

Repass was drafted into military service during World War II, and briefly resumed his professional baseball career. He never played in the big leagues again, however, beginning a new career as a steamfitter. In 1963, he became the golf professional at Edgewood Golf Club in Cromwell, now the TPC River Highlands, home of the PGA TOUR's Travelers Championship. He passed away in 2006 at age 88.