By Michael Letendre
NEWINGTON – When Bristol’s Adam Peters was inducted into the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League Hall of Fame on November 18 from the Indians Hill Country Club in Newington, it was an overdue honor.
Peters played different sports growing up but his true love was baseball and the outstanding player, who was a staple in the GHTBL for two decades, earned several awards while he belted balls out of parks, turned in big pitching performances and was an elite shortstop.
But baseball for the likable Peters was more than just hitting balls with a bat.
“I really love baseball,” said Peters. “I think we all really, really love baseball. And I think the Twilight League for me was baseball loving me back. It’s done more for me that just home runs and RBI.”
The dapper Peters strolled to the podium in a slick black blazer, a near pink hoody and sneakers.
If you know Peters, that’s exactly how you should have expected him to dress for the event in the first place.
And it was only fitting that his teammate Bunty Ray – one of Peters’s best friends – was his presenter that night.
“There’s a lot of RBIs, there’s a lot of home runs, there’s a lot this and that, there’s a lot of things” said Ray. “[But ] his value to this league isn’t in statistics. His value to this league is pure entertainment.”
And there was plenty of entertainment on a nightly basis from the athlete.
Peters, on any given night, could perform a long home trot that even former New York Yankee Deion Sanders would have deemed as excessive.
Or drill a pop-up to the shortstop of Hartford’s Rising Stars one night in Bristol, a play Peters decided to not run out.
He was already halfway to the dugout, only to watch the player drop the ball – leading to Ray, Peters’ longtime coach with the Bristol Merchants, to yell “would you run everything out?!?”
Over his twenty years in the league, Peters had more success than the average player in the GHTBL typically enjoyed.
Once he finished with college, Peters wanted to play baseball in the league and coach Tony Maselli told Peters that he was going to play for him at Herb’s Sports Shop.
“I loved Herb’s,” said Peters.
When Herb’s eventually folded, the East Hartford Jets took “the crazy guy from Herb’s but my deal was I’m not going anywhere without Bunty.”
“That forged a relationship with Bunty and, to this day, he’s like my brother. He’s the godfather of my son, the best man at my wedding.”
Peters is the godfather to Ray’s daughter Sydney, proving that baseball forges friendships that last a lifetime – one of the goals their high school coach at Bristol Eastern, Mike Giovinazzo – who was also in attendance that night – always preached to his players.
From 1998-2001, the Peters/Ray duo enjoyed plenty of success while playing for the Jets.
Peters batted .409 in 1997 to go along with eight homers and 23 RBI.
But when Bristol coach Ed Smith Jr., gave Ray the opportunity to coach and play for the Merchants, Ray came over – bringing Peters with him.
For the second half of his career, Peters was able to play the game he loved in a Bristol uniform, competing at Muzzy Field – a place where he had so much success at over the years.
But no matter what was happening on the field, in the dugout and especially after the game, Ray wouldn’t have anyone else but Peters on his team, on his bench or, frankly, in his life.
“I’m going to tell you right now, he made this league fun,” said Ray of Peters. “He made our team fun.”
But, despite the antics or tomfoolery Peters was seemingly always involved in, the teams he played for found ways to win.
He was a model shortstop that could dominate the game with his glove or go into pitch and mow down the opponent.
He was a leader on the club and if any young player would emulate his swing, the ability he displayed in turning a double play or the way he handled himself in the dugout, that youngster would know what it’s like to be a baseball player.
“He was the captain of our team,” said Ray of Peters. “He got me into the league.”
When Peters made his way back to Bristol, along with Ray in 2002, the twosome quickly put the Merchants on the GHTBL map.
In 2003, under the Merchants’ banner, Peters carried a .409 batting average and posted 24 RBI.
Peters has been either First or Second Team GHTBL 12 times over his glorious career – playing on five regular season championship teams and added four postseason titles as well, mostly for Bristol.
He took home the Outstanding Playoff Performance Award in 1996 and was a Jack Repass Gold Glove winner in 1997.
Peters was grateful for all the friendships he made with the countless teammates he was able to suit up with over the years.
“It made me friends with forty animals that I call cousins,” said Peters of the GHTBL. “Because to this day, I can’t believe the relationships that we still have ongoing [whether] it’s godfathers of people’s kids, in their weddings and everything else. We stuck together this entire time and you guys talk about family and sacrificing and stuff but no one really knows when you play forty games in sixty days and you’re driving an hour through traffic, putting your cleats on while [umpire Dave] Bindas is yelling at you ‘you’re up, you’re up!”
The GHTBL was more than just an after hours way to stay connected to the game of baseball for Peters.
That’s where he met and began his second family, meeting a young lady in college who came to his games while Peters was yelling at umpires, clowning with Bunty and even playing a 19-inning showdown against Peoples Bank over an epic postseason encounter in 2009.
It might have taken a minute of two to start that new team, however.
It took a little doing but one day, with future wife Kristina watching his game, Peters finally came over to talk to her and (eventually) the rest is history.
“His best accomplishments are those two beautiful children that he has, his wife, his family, his friends,” said Ray.
Kristina and his two kids, Milo and Georgia, make up a team Peters is proud to call his own.
Peters was a popular draw by teammates, opponents, fans and even officials alike.
No one has forgotten the larger than life Peters when he was on the field, strutting his stuff and giving an umpire a quizzical look when a ball, clearly off the plate, was called a strike.
“You’d be surprised,” said Ray. “I still coach high school baseball. All the umpires, they miss him. They ask ‘how’s A.P. doing?’ He had that effect on people.”
Peters is a special person, a tremendous player you’d want to copy while he made the city of Bristol very proud with all his accomplishments.
His induction into the GHTBL Hall of Fame didn’t happen overnight but, sometimes, those types of honors are worth the wait.
In the case of Peters, it certainly was.
“It was frustrating because it was a lot of work but we still did it for each other,” said Peters. “This game really made this more about relationships than baseball. Baseball I actually felt was very easy and going back to that, Coach Giovinazzo and coach Spec Monico over at Bristol Eastern, made this league very easy. They made it so mentally and physically so easy for me to compete at the next the level, taught me how to keep my [poop] together.”
Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League
2023 Hall of Fame Inductees – from Indian Hill Country Club, Newington
*Kevin Beaudoin
*Steve Cannata
*Jack Champagne
*Bill Holowaty
*Scott Jeamel
*Tom Kirby
*Walt Nakonechny
*Adam Peters
*Bunty Ray
*Dave Sacco
*Bobby Stefanik
*Mike Susi
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