Longtime Springfield Baseball Coach Retires

AA Springfield Baseball Coach Ron Fahnestock is retiring after 30 years of teaching baseball to young men in Springfield.

The last 26 years of his volunteering has been with Springfield Blue, an elite travel team made up of boys 13- to 15-years-old.

“I’ve always been quick to tell them if you want to play baseball at its highest level this is where it’s done here,” Fahnestock told Springfield Patch.

The Springfield native played baseball as a child and as an adult until he was 45. He even played on two teams with his son, Jesse, at one point.

Now at 64, Fahnestock said he is ready for new adventures in the “third” part of his life, he said. Fahnestock’s father is 96 (and still flying planes), so the coach said he figures he has another 32 years to travel the world and accomplish new goals.

“Passionate” about coaching baseball, Fahnestock said he sees it as “a great way of teaching young people a game that was and continues to be a model game for Americans.” Baseball “requires a commitment to a team and relies heavily on individual performance. America asks those two things of its citizens,” he said.

The game is also a great way to teach young people how to respond when their goals are at cross-purposes, Fahnestock said. “Sometimes we ask players who want to hit home runs to bunt… and they don’t like it. But they learn to like it and appreciate its purpose.”

So what has made him such a beloved and successful coach? “Good luck,” Fahnestock said. He credited his 20 years working with local coach Nick Spennato, who “taught me everything.”

Although some Springfield Blue players have gone pro, “The point isn’t to make them professional baseball players, but help them enjoy the game.”

“The point of the whole thing was the boys – it always was,” he said.