AUBURN – Barry Hackett’s cordless phone rings incessantly, when he can hear it over the whir of pitching machines and the ping of aluminum bats.
Hackett is co-owner of The Winning Edge at 664 Washington Ave. His business: Giving baseball and softball players of all ages a year-round environment to learn and hone skills.
And, c’mon, look out your window or visit your local diamond and lament the three feet of snow between the baselines and calf-deep mud that has besieged the parking lot.
Business is booming.
“We pray for rain until June. I’m not usually a big fan of the snow,” Hackett said, “although it isn’t bad for us right now. Saturday and Sunday were just crazy.”
Friends and fellow entrepreneurs suspected Hackett was equally crazy when the Mechanic Falls man visualized a skills-and-drills center in a vacant warehouse.
Hackett said another corporation conducted market research to assess the potential of a baseball fieldhouse in the Twin Cities. They deemed it a financial gamble and backed away.
But Hackett surrounded himself with two like-minded sports nuts as business partners – his nephew, Dan Coleman, and Central Maine Community College athletic director Dave Gonyea – and opened the doors in November 2003.
“You look around and there isn’t anything in this area, and there hasn’t been,” Hackett said. “The closest place was Portland (Frozen Ropes Training Center), and they were busting at the seams. We took a chance. We knew there would be interest. We just didn’t know if it would be enough to pay the bills.”
Weather or not …
The prime skiing and snowmobiling conditions didn’t give it away, but Monday afternoon was the official start of the high school spring sports season as sanctioned by the Maine Principals’ Association.
State regulations allow baseball coaches to work with pitchers and catchers this week, with full team practices permitted beginning Monday, March 28.
At least five prospective Edward Little High School players spent time at Winning Edge this winter, according to Hackett. He’s seen students from Lewiston, Oxford Hills, Leavitt, Poland, Oak Hill and Monmouth, as well.
Many of those players, especially from Class A schools in Androscoggin and Oxford counties, are tired of playing catch-up.
Deering, Portland and Sanford have combined to win the last seven state baseball championships. Sure, the snow melts a week or two earlier down there. But it also doesn’t hurt to have a training facility within easy driving distance.
“Some people probably wonder, What’s the difference between their program and ours?'” Hackett said. “Then you watch a team like Deering take batting practice and you say, Oh, well there’s one difference.’ Every player in the lineup, one through nine, has the same swing.”
Players who want to commit those mechanics to muscle memory may schedule one-hour or half-hour private lessons with Coleman. Or they can rent a cage on their own.
“A lot of people call and want to know what someone’s credentials are,” Hackett said. “Dan learned how to hit from Bruce Lucas (former EL coach, now an instructor in Massachusetts), and Bruce learned from John Winkin (at the University of Maine). Some guys can be in the Hall of Fame and not know how to pass that on to kids. There’s no better teacher around here than Dan.”
Waterford’s Aaron Easton, a pitcher in the Florida Marlins organization, is a part-time clinician at Winning Edge along with former Milwaukee Brewers farmhand Jeremy Shorey of Lisbon and Turner native Joleen Blue, a former Gordon College softball player.
Never too young
On Monday afternoon, Coleman, the CMCC baseball coach and an Edward Little High School graduate, spent his first hour drilling a junior high player on the finer points of fielding, throwing and hitting.
As that lesson wound down, four precocious Little League players showed up for their weekly ritual in anticipation of a big day next month.
“They’re all eight or nine years old, trying out for Little League for the first time,” said Darryl Coombs, a youth sports coach and a member of the Turner Athletic Association. “We just signed up for four more weeks here. Dan does a great job with them.”
Coombs played baseball at Livermore Falls and the University of Southern Maine. Although he and another Little League coach merely sit outside the cage and observe, Coombs said the refresher course is as valuable to them as it is for the budding players.
“We can take it back home and reinforce what he’s teaching them,” said Coombs, quickly adding, “if we ever get outside.”
Winning Edge limits its instructional sessions to a maximum of four players. Larger groups often rent time in the cages, however.
Hackett said he saw the same six Oak Hill players walk through the door every Sunday last winter. Later this month, Auburn Middle School will conduct the hitting portion of team tryouts here.
But individual memberships (see www.thewinningedge-sports.com) remain the lifeblood of the new business, thanks to word-of-mouth referrals.
While the Turner farm league graduates prepared for their 4 p.m. tutorial, Hackett was on the phone with the parent of a seventh-grader from Poland. Her son is a member. He wanted to reserve a block of time on Wednesday or Thursday.
“Pretty soon he’ll be a freshman,” said Hackett, “and everyone will be able to tell there’s something different about his swing. And he’ll be wearing a Winning Edge T-shirt.”
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