(EDITOR’S NOTE - This is the first in a series of articles that will appear in the Times News on Thursdays during the summer, highlighting former area coaches and athletes as they reflect on their careers and discuss their current endeavors.)

Ted Plessl has been good for baseball, and baseball has been good to Ted Plessl.

If you have lived in the Lehigh Valley for the better part of the past 40 years, you recognize the name, and may have an anecdote or two. The former Allen High and Rider University standout was the longtime Palmerton and Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup head baseball coach.

“He’s one of the brightest guys I know in regard to the game and other issues,” said longtime friend and former Northern Lehigh manager Frank Carazo. “I have known Ted for 35 years, and he has always been a consummate gentleman and a very knowledgeable baseball man.

“He knows so many intricacies of the game, and he always has looked at the game the same even though the kids have changed.

“He loves and breathes baseball.”

A baseball life

When Lehigh Valley was eliminated in its opening round game of the Carpenter Cup last month, Plessl announced he was retiring from his post there, where he had been involved for the past 31 years, 25 years as manager.

It marked the end of a 48-year, hands-on association with the game he has cherished and respected – and valued.

“I knew it was time,” said Plessl, who had a successful 30-year run at Palmerton. “I told (Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup general manager) Joe Pirro after the game, but my mind was made up before the game.

“I have coached at a number of different levels, from Little League to the Blue Mountain League, and made hundreds of friends over the years. It has been a huge part of my life, and I have enjoyed giving back as much as I can.”

One may be hard pressed to find the level of devotion he has pledged to the game.

Plessl never missed a game in his life.

His wife, Maria, didn’t even want him to spoil his record when his daughter Tonya was born.

“I remember that day fondly,” recalled Plessl. “I took off from school that day. We had a game and I told my JV coach to handle it, because I wanted to be with my wife and newly born daughter in the hospital.

“When I got there, she asked me if I had a game. When I said yes, she said, ‘Well, what are you doing here? Go.’ I managed to call my JV coach and made the game.”

That was among a drove of anecdotes, life lessons, and historical and timeless moments around the game that have filled a lifelong resume intertwined between baseball and life.

Like a lot of kids growing up, Plessl collected baseball cards. He estimated that he had roughly 70 cigar boxes of baseball cards at one time.

However, it isn’t a totally happy memory.

“That’s a sore subject,” he mused. “I had my cards stacked up against one wall. My mom decided to clean the attic and tossed out my baseball cards. I remember looking in the attic one day, and they were gone. There was probably quite a bit of money that was carried out.”

His son, Tom, who played at Parkland, was a batboy, player, and coach for the Carpenter Cup team. He always has understood his father’s passion.

“He was my coach when I was young,” said the younger Plessl about his father. “It may sound biased, but you’re not going to find someone else who knows more about the game.

“He taught me about baseball and about life at the same time, and how to handle failure, which you have to do most times in baseball. He has had his championship teams, and has been able to bring teams all the way back up from bad years.”

As a player and coach, Tom also was able to distinguish the father-son relationship on the field.

“We always were able to separate that,” said Tom. “We respected each other when we were in those roles. That was special for both of us, but I always thought of him as my father first.

“He is like a dictionary of baseball. He had the ability to teach about baseball and life.”

He was named Ted Williams Plessl by his father Edward, who also had a burning desire for the game.

“When I would come home from a game, or even in college, my dad and I would just talk baseball,” reflected Plessl. “There wasn’t any pressure about how I did, it basically was just about baseball.

“My dad was my first coach, and the best one I had when I was young. My mom blamed him for me being so engaged in the game. My dad told her that he introduced me to it, and I took off with it.

“I really enjoyed being able to share that time. It helped me mold my values for both the game and life.”

Bomber beginnings

After his graduation from Rider where he played the outfield, Plessl took a teaching job at Palmerton in the summer of 1973. He began a 35-year teaching career that involved World Cultures and Civil/Criminal Law. Around Thanksgiving the following year, the baseball job opened, and he became a candidate.

“On the blackboard in my classroom, I would keep a daily tab of how many days it was before the first practice,” he said. “We talked about baseball often in the classroom.”

His Bomber coaching career spanned from 1975-2004 - ending to watch his son play high school baseball when he was at Parkland.

Over time, Plessl’s teams captured three Centennial League crowns (‘76, ’83, ’87) and one Colonial League (‘96) title. One of his more memorable ones was in 1996 when they held off Catasauqua, 8-7, after they took an 8-1 lead. Catasauqua would win the state title the following year, and remains the last District 11 team to achieve that feat.

“That group was special,” said Plessl. “My first year was also special, and I remember guys like Smokey Everett, and Jim and George Kurtz, who were cousins.

“We had some good years, and we had some bad ones. But the kids always came to play. That’s all I ever asked.”

Plessl - who is a member of the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame - relied on some simple and well-known adages for success.

“To me, there was no substitute for hustle,” he said. “I also believed that practice made perfect, and perfect practice can help make a perfect game.”

Many saw Plessl as a “keeper of the game,” and he also shared the same view.

“I’ve been called ‘Mr. Baseball’ and it’s just about passion and desire,” he said. “I have enjoyed coaching at all levels, and I have scouted the past few years. This past year, I scouted 39 games, and watched three on one Saturday. I liked to watch kids play to see if they have the talent.

“It’s all about getting the message to the younger kids and players about getting involved and staying involved, because if you don’t get people to carry it forward, the game is going to struggle.”

Plessl isn’t sure what the next phase of his baseball life will bring, but he’ll continue to be humbled by his opportunity.

“I know the talent of the coaches around the Carpenter Cup, and they will be in good hands,” he reflected. “It was time for me to step back, and let someone else take over.”

For Plessl, there couldn’t have been a better ride.

“Baseball has been a blast,” he stated. “It will always be a big part of me, and my wife was a big part of it, allowing me to engage in so many things. I had a lot of fun coaching at Palmerton.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I did, and I don’t have any regrets.”

The greater Lehigh Valley baseball community feels the same way.