Date: Fri 19-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Hayward-Homers-Cooperstown

Full Text:

Hayward Homers In Cooperstown

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

COOPERSTOWN, NY - Dick Allen did it three times in one game. Ted Williams,

Bill Mazeroski and Orlando Cepeda all did it twice in one game. Mickey Mantle,

Duke Snider, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Willie Stargell all did it once.

That is, homer at Abner Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York.

The long roll of players who hit homers there - including Graig Nettles and

Carlton Fisk, George Brett and Bobby Bonilla - will now have to include the

name Chris Hayward.

Hayward, 17, of Newtown, traveled to Cooperstown, New York, last week with the

Ridgefield Nighthawks for a Connie Mack baseball doubleheader against xxxxxx

and in the 7th inning of the second game, the righthanded slugger took one

deep.

"It felt good . . . and I won five bucks on it, too," said Hayward. "The team

made a bet with this kid, five bucks for anyone who hit a homer. The pitcher

threw me a fastball, sort of outside and high a little bit."

Maybe it was close to the spot where Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit

his pair in the 1940 Hall of Fame Game against the Chicago Cubs. Maybe it was

close to the spot where Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit his in the

1954 Hall of Fame Game.

"It was nice," said Hayward. "I thought a lot about the old players, all the

people who played on the field."

This is Hayward's second year with the Ridgefield Nighthawks. Matt Zavatsky,

Newtown High captain and South-West Conference Most Valuable Player for 1996,

joined Hayward on the Connie Mack team this summer with Grant Werbeck.

Amd when Henry Rodriguez of the Montreal Expos or Tim Salmon, Chili Davis, and

Jim Edmonds of the California Angels step onto the Doubleday Field next month

for the 1996 Hall of Fame Game, they will be dreaming about doing what

Williams and Mantle and Aaron - and Chris Hayward - have already done.

Reach the seats.