Babe Ruth, Dunkin’ Park and the Savannah Bananas: The century-old history of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League
Bill Holowaty had a stem cell transplant six years ago to treat blood cancer. He had a stroke two years ago.
Today, he suffers from aphasia — forgetting the right word when talking — and minor cognitive issues. But when keeping track of his mounting health issues, he says it could be worse.
“I find my golf game is not as good,” Holowaty said with a dry sense of humor.
As president of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League in Connecticut, Bill goes to plenty of meetings. The Twilight League consists of nine teams, a figure that’s subject to change year-to-year based on enrollment in the small amateur league.
His wife, Jan Holowaty, attends every meeting with him. She helps fill in the blanks in his memory and articulate his words if he can’t.
“I certainly need her to try to support me, but she loves sports,” Bill said. “And she can communicate if I'm not here to you and make our program better.”
Bill, a 78-year-old Columbia resident, doesn’t drive anymore — not a doctor’s order, but a decision the couple made given his decreased reaction time.
So Jan is his Uber driver, wherever he needs to go.
“I’m going to heaven with a halo on my head,” she said with a smile.
Bill, a former Twilight League player and Eastern Connecticut State head baseball coach from 1967-2012, became president in 2018. As one of Connecticut’s most passionate and dedicated baseball minds, Holowaty happily took charge.
The league began in 1929 - the year of the stock market crash that signaled the start of the Great Depression. It has been a landing pad for a wide range of ballplayers ever since. That includes college players trying to stay in shape during the summer, pitchers in their 40s who can still through strikes with authority and a range of players who can't give up the game they love.
And somehow, they all get along.
Sebby Grignano of Meriden, 26, plays shortstop for the Meriden-based Record-Journal Expos and took the field between innings during a 2021 game. He looked up into the booth above home plate, a stilted shack 15 feet above the ground. He immediately recognized Weston Ulbrich, player and general manager for the Middletown Mets, and playfully razzed him for getting the inning wrong on the digital scoreboard. Ulbrich smiled back at him and fixed it.
Weston Ulbrich (center-left) on his wedding day with Bill Holowaty (center-right) (Courtesy: @GHTBL)
Weston Ulbrich (center-left) on his wedding day with Bill Holowaty (center-right) (Courtesy: @GHTBL)
That back-and-forth reflected the league’s combination of competition and camaraderie. Grignano was one of the more fiery and vocal players on the team when it came to the game, but filled in the downtime with his humor and personality.
Most amateur leagues represent that vibe. So what makes the Twilight League special? What makes it worth the trip on a hot, muggy summer night playing on a fenceless baseball field in a public park?
Playing on the same baseball field as Babe Ruth helps.
The Babe in Bristol
The New Departure Endees were a semi-pro baseball team in Bristol in the early 20th century. Sponsored by a division of General Motors, they were a powerhouse in the Eastern League.
But it wasn’t them that drew a crowd on Sept. 21, 1919. It was Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox who put 5,000 people in the stadium seats at Muzzy Field in Bristol for an exhibition game.
It was one day after the Red Sox swept the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader at Fenway Park — although the 1919 White Sox are now more infamous for their cheating scandal than their losses to the Babe.
The Bambino delivered. He homered over the right field wall, the first blast in Muzzy Field’s 110-year history.
Babe’s homer is commemorated with an 8x8 plywood sign on the outfield wall that couldn’t contain the shot just inside the right field foul pole. It reads “Babe Ruth” with his No. 3 below it. The left side is painted with Yankees pinstripes, the right side in Red Sox red.
"Every star has been through here"
In addition to playing and managing, Ulbrich, 36, serves as the league’s secretary and unofficial historian. He authors a blog on the Twilight League website called “The Bat and Ball,” an homage to a publication of the same name that began in Hartford in the 1860s.
“There’s so many hidden stories in Hartford, you wouldn’t believe it,” Ulbrich said. “Every star has been through here.”
Tom Abbruzzese, a 79-year-old Wethersfield resident, has been managing the M&T Bank team since 1976. He was inducted into the GHTBL Hall of Fame in 2022. Throughout his tenure, he’s worked with some of the most influential names in baseball at both the regional and national level.
Among those players is Mike Riemer, who played in the GHTBL while playing for Eastern Connecticut State — remember who coached there? Branch Rickey Jr., son of the man who signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers, came to a Twilight League game to scout him for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Tom Abbruzzese (left) was inducted into the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League Hall of Fame in 2022 (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Tom Abbruzzese (left) was inducted into the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League Hall of Fame in 2022 (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
“At the time, there were two diamonds, and Diamond Two did not have a fence in the outfield,” Abbruzzese said. “You just would hit the ball, and if it ended in the trees it was a home run. Well, Mike hit a ball in the trees, and it was a home run while Branch Rickey Jr. was watching his performance. After the game he signed (with the Pirates).”
MLB Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell is one of the stars who passed through the Nutmeg State, making a brief stint with the Malloves Jewelers in 1987. Longtime Yankee and four-time World Series champion Bernie Williams played for Katz Sports Shop in 1985.
Those are just examples. Ulbrich knows them and just about everyone else who played in the GHTBL since the mid-1970s. He’s as close to a historian as one gets without an academic credential, from his thorough blog posts about Babe Ruth’s car crashing in Connecticut to his 45-minute explainer videos on YouTube about Hartford’s first organized baseball teams.
The video took about six years to produce. The narrative is centered on the life of Bill Savitt, the legendary owner of Savitt Jewelers on Asylum Street in Hartford that opened more than 90 years ago. He started the Savitt Gems. Ruth played for the team during a charity game.
Savitt’s story is important to Ulbrich because of what he represented to the city of Hartford, which means more to him as a Wallingford resident. Savitt donated his time and money to the community, often speaking to crowds at rallies and events and donating money to numerous charities throughout his life.
“He was such a good citizen, he was so community-involved and brought everyone together,” Ulbrich said. “He’s a model citizen. And I think that kind of struck me to get the league back into playing benefit games and using Dunkin' Donuts Park for the benefit games that we’ve been doing.”
Brian Peer, who played in the Twilight League from 2004-18, died of cancer in 2019. A scholarship in his name is awarded to a baseball player from his hometown Windsor High School who will be attending college.
The Twilight League hosts fundraising events to support a scholarship that honors Peer.
Every year since 2018, the Twilight League has played a series of doubleheaders at Dunkin' Park, home of the AA Hartford Yard Goats. The fundraisers usually raise around $5,000 for a different charity every year.
The 2022 series benefited Sandy Hook Promise, a Connecticut-based non-profit that aims to prevent gun violence among youths. Parents of the children killed in the 2012 shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, started the group. It has since grown into a national organization with a staff of more than 100 people.
Weston Ulbrich (left) and Bill Holowaty (center) presenting a check for $4,500 to benefit the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in 2018 (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Weston Ulbrich (left) and Bill Holowaty (center) presenting a check for $4,500 to benefit the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in 2018 (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
As most of the players in the Twilight League are Connecticut natives, it’s a cause that hits close to home.
“We all kind of grew up during that,” Ulbrich said. “Plus school shootings have been a big deal the last couple of years, I think that’s why we did it. There’ve been so many lately, and we wanted to give to a charity that’s nearby.”
The league raised over $5,000 for Sandy Hook Promise, which funded the organization’s intervention programs. Vanessa Sanchez, senior manager of development at Sandy Hook Promise, said that in recent tragedies, 100% of school shooters tell at least one person of their plans before committing an act of violence.
Two of the organization’s main programs are the Know The Signs campaign that teaches people the warning signs of gun violence and the Say Something feature on its website that allows anyone to make anonymous reports of potential violence.
Since Sandy Hook Promise debuted the Say Something campaign in 2018, it has successfully intervened in 14 confirmed school shootings, according to Sanchez.
“It's always very heartwarming to be able to go back into the Connecticut community and see that support, the community coming together to support our work,” Sanchez said.
Raising money for a local charity is the league’s favorite thing about the Dunkin’ Donuts tournament, but all those involved love the opportunity to play on a professional-grade field. After all, it does cost $6,600 for the two-day, four-game tournament.
“It serves a dual purpose, you've got teams playing, their players like to go there to play,” Abbruzzese said “Usually, everybody shows up. But it also shows that our league has this desire to be of service to needy organizations.”
"I hit a home run off him one time"
It was late March. The weather was growing warmer by the day, and daylight saving time had kicked in. The sunset was just after 7 p.m.
But despite the extra vitamin D, a group of a dozen GHTBL players gathered inside D-BAT Bloomfield, an indoor training facility with 18 batting cages. It was the second official Winter Workout of the year, which UIbrich coordinated.
Ulbrich played catch and stood next to 26-year-old Meriden resident and reigning league MVP A.J. Hendrickson, who had just hit .448 with a 1.259 OPS while pitching to a 3.02 ERA in 20 games for the Expos.
“I hit a home run off him one time,” Ulbrich said, clearly trying to get Hendrickson’s attention. Hendrickson didn’t acknowledge.
“Your whole family was there. You were just a youngster,” Ulbrich said, still not evoking a reaction. “I don’t really remember individual games that well, I just remember that one because I went deep off you.”
Weston Ulbrich (left) and A.J. Hendrickson (second-left) were among those at the Twilight League's second winter workout (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Weston Ulbrich (left) and A.J. Hendrickson (second-left) were among those at the Twilight League's second winter workout (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Hendrickson had enough and went to take some swings in the cage. Meanwhile, Ulbrich chatted with Steve Blinn.
Blinn is the owner of ProBats, the GHTBL’s official bat sponsor. He’s a former player, pitching for the Mr. G’s of South Windsor. He had a rack of demo bats, available for any player to swing in the cage as many times as they wanted.
He bought the company a year ago, and has watched it grow beyond Connecticut’s borders. He ships bats for high-profile clients across the country. He used to provide bats for America’s most popular amateur team, the Savannah Bananas.
Alex “Ziggy” Ziegler is the Bananas’ bat trick guy. Every parlor trick that the one talented kid on your local travel team could do while their teammates looked on in awe, Ziegler does it.
And he does it with Blinn’s bat.
Dakota Albritton, better known as “Stilts,” registered his first hit as a Banana (while on stilts, of course) while using Ziegler’s ProBat.
Ziegler’s bat was custom-made for his videos to weigh evenly between the barrel and the handle — some players like a heavier barrel, but they’re more motivated by exit velocity than views on an Instagram reel.
Now that the Savannah Bananas are on a national tour and have a deal with Wilson Sporting Goods as their exclusive equipment provider, Ziggy can’t swing Blinn’s bats on the big stage anymore. Though the extra exposure would be nice, Blinn knows he always has a place to sell his bats.
“It’s like an extension of my family doing this, and to come back and do it with the Twi just makes me happy,” Blinn said. “I don’t really have any other big exclusive leagues, I did it with the Twi. It just made sense.”
"I find my golf game is not as good," Bill Holowaty said about his recent health struggles. (Photo courtesy: ghtbl.org)
"I find my golf game is not as good," Bill Holowaty said about his recent health struggles. (Photo courtesy: ghtbl.org)
"This is like lifetime connections"
Bill Holowaty is sitting in the rocking chair of his living room on a crisp December afternoon. Jan yells to him to make sure he’s awake. Their living room has pictures of the two of them, stacks of magazines and books, and a colorful Christmas tree in the corner.
Their 3-year-old granddaughter Ella’s favorite tree ornament is a camera — not a real one, but she likes to pretend it is. The ornament looks heavy enough to snap a branch clean off, but it’s somehow floating harmlessly above the armchair of the couch, at perfect arm’s length of a young child.
There’s no baseball paraphernalia or plaques on the wall. You might not recognize it as the home of someone who coached college baseball for 45 years and won four Division III national titles.
But anyone who knows the Holowaty family understands that baseball is in their blood. The connection between the Holowatys and the people they get to know last for life.
One of Bill’s former players visited him a few days before to help him fill in his walkway. Some of the stone was slanted one way, so they packed dirt in the cracks to even it out.
“This is like lifetime connections,” Jan said. “The people that have supported him, and come back as adults, they’ll say ‘I’m talking to my kids and I sound like you.’ Or we’ll see them out somewhere and they’ll say ‘Come here, we gotta get a picture with coach.’”
While Jan was talking, a young girl’s voice echoed through the house. “HELLO?”
It was Ella.
“Come on in here and take your camera, we haven’t had any pictures all day,” Jan yelled back.
Ella was accompanied by her father Jared Holowaty, Bill and Jan’s youngest son. The pair visit every Tuesday, about a 45-minute drive from their home in Mystic.
Bill’s love for baseball extended to both of his sons. Jared was the head coach at Montclair State in New Jersey for seven years, deciding to leave when Ella was born. Jason, the older of the two, worked for Major League Baseball as a marketing director in Europe and Africa for 15 years.
Jared was a spectator of the ECSU program with his father ever since he was 6 years old, and his position as a batboy made it easy to learn without interfering.
“You’re kind of in it, but you can separate yourself from it,” Jared said. “(Bill’s) enthusiasm, intensity, people watching take it for granted.”
While he spoke, Jan and Ella sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the background.
“It seems easy learning, it seems easy when you see success. But then once you get rolling, everybody just wants to beat you,” Jared said. “Because you're chasing Patrick Mahomes. But what happens when you become Patrick Mahomes is everybody's chasing you. That's how we lived life for 45 years. Everybody wanted to kick our butts.”
Bill watched on as his son gushed about his coaching talents and likened him to one of the NFL’s greatest talents. Meanwhile his wife and granddaughter were off singing and enjoying their weekly visit as if it were any other Tuesday.
Bill Holowaty (center-right, seated) posing for a holiday photo with his family (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Bill Holowaty (center-right, seated) posing for a holiday photo with his family (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
What was originally supposed to be a weekly visit from his son turned into a passionate expression that made the house feel richer, fuller.
Bill’s journey from player in the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League to head coach at Eastern Connecticut State for 45 years to president of the league, has treated him to his own American Dream.
He did what he loved for a career. Bill and his family traveled all around the world, from Africa to Australia to Germany, to give clinics and teach his iteration of the game of baseball. The game formed his family to the point where Jared scoffed at the idea of baseball running in the Holowaty blood because it was an understatement.
Bill’s journey wasn’t without its obstacles. His health scares have limited him, but when asked if it frustrated him that he can’t do the things he was once able to do, he didn’t hesitate.
“No. I don’t let it hurt me or bother me, and make sure I can do what I’m capable of doing. And thank God I have my wife that will drive me,” Bill said. “She’s been super, and my sons and my daughter, and my friends. To have a good life, you need people with you. And I love to help kids. Very simple thing — surround yourself with good people and good things will happen.”
As president, Bill is in charge of the annual Buzzy Levin Golf Tournament at Blackledge Country Club in Hebron. Former and current participants of the league meet up for an informal day on the links to raise money for the league.
“It's a part of our socializing, getting our former players involved with the league,” Bill said. “What that does is bring the older golfers, older players who can't play baseball anymore, in a golf tournament. And so they stay in touch with our game.”
The unofficial council of the secret-yet-inclusive club meets every year at the tournament as a reminder of what the league can provide.
It’s a social setting for baseball lovers, old and young. It’s a means to stay in shape and remain in touch with the great pastime. It’s a benefactor of charities that address some of the country’s most important issues.
For the players, the muggy summer nights are worth it because they become a thread in the fabric of a tale that has been told for 93 years. And the tale is still progressing.
“Within (the players’) growing families, I think they like to show their own children that they have a team to look forward to,” Abbruzzese said. “It’s not just about baseball, it’s the lifetime experiences you make. I’ve had players who have gone on to be teachers, plumbers, carpenters, even doctors, lawyers, a whole bunch of people who have made real contributions with their professions.”
Bill’s joy for baseball is infectious. He is now royalty, the head of one of Connecticut's most prestigious baseball families.
“I love the game of baseball, it's been a very positive part of my life and my family,” Bill said. “And it's the whole state of Connecticut, not just Hartford. It's all over. So I'm trying to promote it. I'm trying to make it better.”
Once touched by Babe Ruth and passed through the hands of some of baseball’s greats, the Twilight League has landed in the grasp of Bill Holowaty, its newest president. His fingerprints were on it long before he sat in the president’s chair, and they’ll be on it long after he leaves.
But as Holowaty maintains, he’s just a small cog in the machine that quietly reflects the community’s most flattering assets — the machine that churns so quietly, you might not have known it existed if you lived right next to it.
Bill and Jan Holowaty (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
Bill and Jan Holowaty (Courtesy: ghtbl.org)
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