Like many young ball players, when Chris Jasgur was kid, he dreamed of playing in the Major League. Like a lot of other youngsters, Christopher Sullivan dreamed of being a Navy aviator. Jasgur never made it on to the professional field, and nearsightedness kept Sullivan from becoming a pilot. But years later, Jasgur would start his own local team, and Sullivan would enlist in the Army. Jasgur’s dreams take him to the ball field at least once a week. Sullivan’s brought him to Baghdad, but he never returned home.
Next weekend, the stories of the two Christophers will come together on Hanover Field at Holy Cross. With an American flag that flew over Iraq in two combat missions raised in the sky in theWorcester, Jasgur’s team, the Wachusett Nationals, will take on the Fitchburg Red Sox in the late soldier’s memory. Ticket proceeds will benefit the Capt. Sullivan Liberty Scholarship. They call it the Field of Dreams game – a dream come true for Jasgur, and a dream deferred for the Sullivan family.
Becoming the Nationals
Jasgur, who is General Manager of the Wachusett Nationals, says he’s “a baseball guy, through and through.” His love for the game started as a kid and lived on into adulthood. Age never kept him away from sport – in his late 40s he joined the Charlton Giants. Jasgur played for the Charlton-based over 40 team for two years, but felt there was something lacking. “It was a great group of guys but it was missing the element of competition that I liked. At the end of the last season I turned in my uniform and said to myself, ‘I think I can do this differently.’ I knew there was a bunch of guys in the region that would like to play.” The Rutland resident started the Wachusett Nationals three years ago, bringing together a group of 21 area guys to form a team in the Central Mass. Over 40 League. That first year they went 0-10, but by the next year, they made the playoffs. This year, there are 19 men on the team. All have that competitive itch and lifelong love for the game, but they say at this stage of life, sometimes playing ball requires a little more.
“I need icy hot a few days a week,” laughed Jerry Patraitis, of Auburn. “But really, I’m lucky to have this opportunity. I’ve got a few years left and my son gets to watch me play. He’s my biggest fan and my biggest critic.” The team has invested money and sweat into Klingele Field in Paxton to make it their home field – applying fresh paint to the dugouts, manicuring the grass, and installing distance markers that feature their signature “W.” “It’s a really nice field, and we have an announcer and music. We have home uniforms. We try to make it like a Minor League game experience,” said Jasgur. He has always wanted that feeling of playing in a stadium – the lights, the crowd, the noise. So when Jasgur happened to run into theWorcester Bravehearts owner at a fundraiser, he jumped on the opportunity.“Half joking I said, ‘hey, what are the chances of you letting a bunch of old guys play there when you’re out of town?’ A lot of these guys had big aspirations. It’s the opportunity to feel like big league ball players.” The Bravehearts gave the OK, and last year the Wachusett Nationals played their inaugural Field of Dreams game.
Honoring a Hero
Christopher Sullivan never played baseball, but he did have a calling. “He loved the military. He loved leading and serving,” said his mom. It’s something that about a half dozen Nationals players can relate to.“Quite a few of the guys are veterans,” said Jasgur, who served in the Army. “For me, it shaped the caliber of who I am.”
U.S. Army Cpt. Sullivan, commander of A Company 2-12 Cav, 1st Cavalry Division, was 29 when he died. He was killed by a roadside bomb on Jan. 18, 2005, eight days after he was promoted to company commander and just two weeks before he was scheduled to come home. He left behind his parents in Princeton, sisters, a wife, and a young son, David.After his death, his parents, Jim and Dolly, started a scholarship in his name. For four years they’ve awarded $1,000 annually to a Princeton resident pursuing higher education. “It’s about keeping my son’s memory alive,” Dorothy Sullivan said. The Wachusett Nationals have embraced the cause. They’ll play next week’s Field of Dreams game to raise money for the scholarship fund, and Jasgur has vowed the tradition will continue every year.
The Central Mass. Over 40 League has already given $500 to the scholarship fund and the Worcester Bravehearts have donated the field for the game. “The generosity is allowing us to fulfill a few dreams,” said Jasgur. “The dream of men playing at a stadium and reliving their dreams of being big leaguers, the dream of a young student pursuing his or her college education, and most importantly remembering and honoring a man whose life and dreams were taken far too soon.”
The Field of Dreams game starts at 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 5. Tickets are $5 and available at Specialty Sandwich in Holden,Spencer Savings Bank in Rutland and Mountainside Market in Princeton.
For more inforamtion, go to wachu40baseball.com.
