Hits For Harmon Heats Up With Vintage Sluggers’ Support

By John Voket

Randy “Pudgey” Dieckman remembers the first time he met the late Newtown Bee Sports Editor Kim Harmon.

“When I first encountered Kim he was kneeling down and trying to take my photograph during a vintage base ball game,” Mr Dieckman recalled. “I swung, and the bat let go out of my hands and over Kim’s head. He picked the bat up and said ‘If you didn’t want your picture taken, a simple wave of the hand would do.’”

Once that bond was established, Mr Dieckman and a group of other local vintage base ball lovers went on to play together with Mr Harmon on the Newtown Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Club until the celebrated sports editor died last December at the age of 45.

“Of all the ones I played with, he without a doubt [embodied] the perfect ‘vintage player.’ He had dignity, manners, and a passion for the game,” Mr Dieckman said. “We all will miss ‘Cool Papa’ Harmon.”

Now his team, and the entire fraternity of Connecticut vintage base ball teams are gearing up for a season full of hits, each one earning funds to be split between the Harmon Family Fund and the American Heart Association in a summerlong fundraising activity called Hits for Harmon. With the support of The Bee, the Parks and Recreation Department, and Newtown Savings Bank, anyone of any age who wants to get in on the fun of Newtown’s own vintage sport is invited to pledge.

By completing and returning a simple pledge form, which will soon be available at games, at the Parks and Recreation Department, or at the Newtown Bee offices on Church Hill Road, participants can commit a penny, a dime, a dollar, or any amount for each run the team scores this season. The form also serves as a single one-time donation receipt to the Hits for Harmon program.

One-time donors may return the form and their donation directly to Newtown Savings Bank’s headquarters on Main Street, and pledge forms will be collected in specially marked boxes at The Bee and Parks and Rec department offices beginning the week of May 12.

This promotion, conceived by his team, is an extension of the annual Hearts for Harmon community health event that raised more than $7,000 for the family fund and $500 for the Heart Association in March.

The Newtown Sandy Hooks are already celebrating their first successes on the field and with the Hits for Harmon fundraiser. In Waterbury Vintage Base Ball Tournament action at Chase School on April 27, the local nine dropped the first match 1 to 9 to the Meddow Club of Longmeadow, Mass. But the team came back to score a decisive 7 to 4 victory over the Bridgeport Orators in match two.

In match three the Sandy Hooks battled tooth and nail with the Waterbury club before collapsing in the closing frames to exit 3 to 8 in the tournament finale. The sum of the day’s hard fought battles accumulated 11 runs for Hits for Harmon.

The Sandy Hooks return to Chase School Sunday, May 4, to take another shot at their enduring adversary, the Waterbury Connors, for two matches beginning at 11 am.

While the Hits for Harmon program is still in its roll-out phase, organizers are currently soliciting prizes that will be part of an end of season raffle and pledge collection event that will commence at Newtown’s annual Labor Day Parade. A tally of runs and new details about the Hits for Harmon promotion is posted at the vintage team’s website, www.vbbnewtown.com.

Pledge forms should be available by May 9, and further details will be provided in follow-up reports in the newspaper. Anyone interested in donating to the end of season drawing should e-mail john@thebee.com with information.