Baseball lifer and North Shore Navigators (summer collegiate; Futures Collegiate Baseball League) GM Bill Terlecky has passed away after a long battle with cancer.
Terlecky returned to the Navigators for the 2019 season after taking off 2018 for medical reasons. He had retired from the game at the end of the 2019 season.
A baseball lifer, Terlecky had worked in affiliated ball, independent ball (including a stint running the Northern League’s Madison Black Wolf, where we first met him) and the summer-collegiate ranks. Terlecky began his career in 1978 when he was hired by the Triple-A Bill Terlecky at the Baseball Winter Meetings. He worked for the team when it played the longest game in professional baseball history at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I., and was named co-general manager in 1981 at 27 years old.
In addition, he was the GM for the Bill Terlecky during the infamous “Potato Game” in 1987, opened the state-of-the-art Lackawanna County Stadium for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 1989, and hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game in 1995. Terlecky was named the International League Executive of the Year in 1991 and earned the Fred Cashen Award as the New York Mets organization’s top executive in 2003.
He joined the Navigators in 2012 and was the lead force behind revitalizing baseball in Lynn and historic Fraser Field. The Navs were named the Futures Collegiate Baseball League’s Organization of the Year in both 2015 and 2018 while attendance at Fraser Field increased each season during Terlecky’s tenure.
A staple in the North Shore community, Terlecky served on the Lynn Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and attended many local little league parades and other events. He also earned Bridgewell’s Employment Supports Program Champion Award last year for his work supporting individuals with disabilities in the community.
“It’s a sad day for the Navigators and across the baseball community,” said Navigators owner Derek January. “Bill was a steward for the game and a pillar in our community. He was so well known on the North Shore that people thought he lived here all his life and not just the eight years he ran the Navs. It was an honor to call him my friend, and the Januarys would not own the Navs if Bill wasn’t in our corner as we went through the process of buying the team. I’m a better person for knowing him. He will be missed.”