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It was actually hockey, the old Hartford Whalers in fact, that brought present New Britain Rock Cats President/CEO Bill Dowling to Connecticut. The Holyoke, MA native has become one of the state's sports treasures; a vital part of its baseball culture.

The odds are very good that spending just a few minutes with the glib Dowling nets a story worth remembering. He delivers it with the skill of the lawyer he is and with a style worthy of his Irish heritage.

"I had a guy back in the mid 90s who wanted to buy the Hartford Whalers when they were on the market," begins Dowling. "We needed a law firm in Connecticut to represent us. So my client and I came up and we got together with John Drowney and Coleman Levy. We met with Lowell Weicker and all the right people but the deal had been done already for the Compuware people to buy the team so it didn't work out."

The NHL announced the sale of the Whalers franchise to Peter Karmanos on June 23, 1994. Three years later, it moved to North Carolina. Dowling and Levy, however, had developed a solid bond and a definite objective.

"I said to Coleman, 'let's get us a baseball team,'" continues Dowling. "Then I started talking to New Britain owner Joe Buzas who was getting along in years. I met with him for at least a couple of years. I called him every three months or so just to let him know I was still interested."

Dowling, who pitched for Holyoke's first Little League championship team ("we won 27 games that year") swears to a lifelong addiction to baseball. When he got out of law school he wrote letters to all the major league teams and only one responded - a "thanks but no thanks letter from the Cardinals."

A "serendipitous" meeting with George Steinbrenner resulted in his well-documented tour as the New York Yankees Council. It remains a key part of Dowling's career.

"Finally Buzas called me one day," Dowling returns to the story. "Joe said 'you know, I'm just sick of this traveling from Salt Lake City (when he lived and owned a Triple A team) and New Britain. I think I'm going to sell the team and the price is $6.5 million and that's' it. That's the price and there's no negotiating.'"

Buzas had owned the franchise a long time. It had played in a number of cities. It came to New Britain from Bristol in 1983. It had a Red Sox affiliation. The Minnesota Twins replaced the Red Sox in '95.

"Joe had three other groups who were also interested," Dowling goes on. "He selected us I think partially because Joe used to play for the Yankees and knew my Yankee connections and he was convinced we'd keep the team in New Britain. There was a little bit of concern that the other groups weren't really loyal to the city. Joe's sense was they were going to move it and he didn't want that to happen."

After "a long and tortuous process" Dowling, Levy and other investors, took over in 2000. The team had drawn a pitiful 177,000 the year before.

"Joe had a different philosophy than we do," understates Dowling. "Joe bought the team for something like $20,000. He figured he had a beautiful stadium and if the people came, fine, and if they didn't that was OK too. He had no debt and a handful of employees, most of whom he laid off after the season ended. He was sort of the old school. Obviously we brought a different sort of prospective to the situation."

The attendance reached 220,000 in Dowling's first season. Every year since, the Rock Cat have been able to claim a positive be it total attendance or average attendance. Last year, the Rock Cats claimed 22 sellouts.

"As long as the Lord allows," Dowling plans on meeting his customers. Practicing law, which he still does makes him a good living but it is "not always fulfilling." Operating a minor league team almost always is. The fans, he insists, "want to see the leadership" and Dowling "loves shaking every hand, trying to find out what motivates people and making them happy."

He's where he wants to be. "At my age (66) to be involved with this, to become somebody in this community, is fantastic, its wonderful," he sums up.

The Clinton Historical Society's baseball exhibit will run through the summer and into the fall in the history room at Andrews Memorial Hall. Ted Neely, the major force in the effort, told the attendees at the opening that one Walter Johnson, who was signed off the summer team by the New York Giants in 1901, is most likely the town's first "pro player." Jason Grabowski is clearly the best-known Clinton pro.

Grabowski, who played with both the Athletics and Dodgers, was a standout at both Morgan and UConn. Keith Dauer who taught Grabowski, was also one of the display organizers.

Dauer, who played on two Shoreline championship teams (1959, '62) under Dick Schermerhorn, was not without a few stories as well. He did "get a look" while playing at William & Mary. Dauer also "got to shake General Mark Clark's hand" after a big game against the Citadel where Clark was the commandant. A leg injury ended Dauer's hopes.

The San Francisco Giants complain about how big Norwich's Dodd Stadium plays and the lack of home runs hit there. It is interesting because the Giants' A&T Park is one of the biggest in major league baseball. The Connecticut Defenders' contract with the City of Norwich goes through 2012 while the agreement with the Giants ends at the end of the year. The attendance in Norwich has increased with the warmer weather. There are more than a few folks who see Norwich as an ideal "short season" location.

Pete Zanardi, a freelance writer from Chester, writes about a variety of subjects for Shore Line Newspapers.

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