Scarborough resident Dan Warren received the President’s Award from Maine Baseball Hall of Fame and was honored at induction banquet Aug. 17 at the Holiday Inn in Portland. The following is a question and answer session with Warren done by Bernie Zimmerman.

Q:  You have been chosen to receive the President’s Award from the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame this year. What is that all about?

A:  The Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes a person each year who makes significant contributions to the game of baseball in Maine.  Basically, as a friend of mine told me, if you sell enough raffle tickets, they give you a gold watch.  

Q:  The announcement said you had been involved in youth baseball.  Tell us about that.

A:  For about 20 years, I have been involved in the American Legion baseball program in Scarborough, which is sponsored by the Libby-Mitchell American Legion Post 76. I was an American Legion player for three years back in the 1970s. I did some coaching in the 1980s and 1990s, and returned to Legion ball in the year 2000. I took over this team as general manager, and was an Assistant Coach for the first five seasons. I have also coached in part of the little league program for the past seven years.

Q:  Do you have a background in the game as a player?

A:  I played at Scarborough High School in the early 1970s, and also played American Legion baseball from 1973 to 1975. At that time, Scarborough boys were teamed with Saco boys and played under the banner of the Owen-Davis Post. I was primarily a pitcher but also played infield. I played at the University of Maine at Orono for about one week in the fall of 1975. I quit, however, because I realized my future was probably in English literature 101 and not on the baseball diamond. The next spring, the UMO team went to the College World Series in Omaha. Everything in life is timing.

Q:  Have you been away from the game as a player?

A:  No. In 1989, a nationwide over 30 hardball league started. I played on one of the teams in the greater Portland league. I played over 30 ball for ten years.  Oddly enough, I was a catcher in that league for 10 years. We recruited some great pitchers to play with us – guys who had pitched professionally and in college. Dave Schoppee, Tom Griffin, Stu Lacognata, Steve Martel, George Greenwich, and many others.

Q:  I hear you have a baseball field in your backyard. Is that true?

A:  Yes. I had it built by Steve Card of Maine Turf and Greenery about 10 years ago. I always thought it would be fun to have a baseball field in your backyard.

Q:  What do you use it for?

A:  Some years we have had a ton of little league games out there.  In the past few years, we have had a lot of games in the Kids Travel Baseball league out there. We also have a lot of clinics that we put on where different coaches come in and provide skills instruction for players. They are great clinics, but it is sometimes tough to get kids there; certain kids reach a certain age, and they think they’ve learned all they need to learn. Unfortunately, they find out in high school that that approach is a non-starter.

Q:  What is kids travel baseball all about?

A: That is a league that several of us started three years ago.  It is modeled after Travel Soccer. We have had about 10 or 12 teams from Cumberland and York counties playing in this league. There is one division for kids ages 7 to 8. There is another division for kids ages 9 to 10. There are two reasons we started the league:  one is to give kids a chance to play baseball during the warm weather months of June and July; little league ends in mid-July.  The other reason we started it is to provide a place where kids can play, have fun, be competitive, but also learn and improve their skills; we constantly have instructional clinics for players; we want players and coaches to keep getting better all the time.  This is a culture we need to establish for every kid in Scarborough, ages 5 to 18.

Q:  Who else is involved in travel baseball?

A:  The board of director members are Ross Burdick, Dave Kane, Jere Michelson, Sue Posey, Neal Pratt, Kurt Turner and Eric Tanguay. It is a good bunch of baseball nuts. Nice people willing to work hard to benefit kids.

Q:  What are the long-term goals of KTB?

A:  We want to build a little league size field. We desperately need another baseball field in Scarborough for kids. That would allow us to do a lot – clinics, schedule games ahead of time knowing we will have a field available for the games. We can also schedule many more practices; we need to establish a 3-1 practice ratio of practices to games in baseball. Soccer does this very well. My son was on a little league team once that had 15 games and only one practice. You are never going to improve if that is your ratio.  

Q:  Looking back on the time you spent in baseball, what would you say is your happiest moment?

A: I don’t think I’ve had it yet. My constant daydream is that kids who I have worked with the past few years at ages 5, 6, 7 and 8 will grow up to be very good baseball players, and have a blast playing 10 years from now in high school. That will be a pleasure to watch.

Q:  Have you had any bad moments in baseball over the last few decades?

A: No such thing as a bad day on a baseball field. It reminds me of those fishing tee shirts I’ve seen – a bad day on a baseball field is better than a good day at the office anytime.