(Photo Credit: The Sachem Report)
When a legendary member of the Long Island baseball community bases, we mourn together.
One of the most successful and longest-tenured coaches on Long Island, Bill Batewell, passed away this week at the age of 79. He was currently the head coach of Bellport HS, but made his impact on the Sachem community. He began his career as a JV coach in 1970 and became the varsity coach in 1975 and held that position until 2004.
During that time, he led Sachem to 452 wins and county titles in 1979 and 1987, which remained the only two in school history until 2011. During his tenure with Sachem, Neal Heaton and Mike Parisi went on to become big leaguers. Additionally, more than 20 of his former players went on to become head coaches. This may be even more impressive than the big league players, because this shows how his coaching tree will live on for decades to come.
Batewell was also known for his time coaching the Empire State Games. He was known for his knowledge of the game, his passion and was respected by players and coaches alike.
Whenever I spoke with him, he was always a gentleman and granted me as much time as necessary for our interviews. He will be missed.
