Harry Nelson Is Inducted Into The Cape Cod Baseball League Hall Of Fame

Harry Nelson, a Hampton Bays resident and Southampton business owner, was inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame in a ceremony that was held at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Harwich, Massachusetts, on November 21.

Nelson, 78, was one of eight class of 2020 individuals inducted last month, joining fellow former and current professional baseball players such as Charles “Buzz” Bowers, Kevin Newman and Cliff Pennington, among others. He was presented at the induction ceremony by his two younger brothers, Ed and Rob Nelson.

“It was an amazing day,” Harry Nelson said. “I never saw anything so classy — the whole operation. The resort up there was beautiful, it was really breathtaking. They gave me what looked like a World Series ring, but it’s a Hall of Fame ring, and it’s kind of a big deal. It’s like a world wrestling belt, it’s got some diamonds on it. And, of course, I had a little entourage of family and friends up there with me — about 18 people or so, just to have them there and enjoy the moment with me.”

John Garner, who is on the selection committee for the Hall of Fame, said he nominated Nelson based on his numbers in the one summer he spent on the Cape in 1964, in which he won the league batting title while playing for Bourne, finishing that season with a .390 batting average, collecting 39 hits in 100 at bats. Of those 39 hits, seven were doubles and seven were home runs and he drove in 27 runs.

Garner said he remembered Nelson when he came down to be an honorary captain for one of the Cape’s All-Star teams about nine or 10 years ago.

“The selection committee feels very strongly about former batting champions and top pro prospects who dominated their seasons, and it’s really more about what you do while you were playing with the Cape. Everything before and after is frosting on the cake,” he explained. “And Harry had a good pro career, but it’s all about what he did in the Cape League, not so much what he did at college. That summer he went .390 in what was still a wooden bat league … and he was a two-way player, he pitched and played outfield. I think Ron Darling, the broadcaster and former New York Met, was one of the last to be a two-way player while playing in the Cape.”

Nelson said he asked both of his brothers to present him for multiple reasons. One was because he couldn’t ask one and not the other — both have had their fair share of success over the years. Ed was a team captain and MVP lacrosse player at SUNY Geneseo during his playing days and Rob became a professional baseball player himself and was the creator of and still owns Big League Chew, the bubble gum substitute for chewing tobacco.

But Harry also wanted to let his brother Ed in on a family secret. While Harry and Rob were strong baseball players growing up, Ed was not, so their father had asked Harry to lose Ed’s baseball mitt so that maybe he would try a different sport.

Sure enough, Harry lost Ed’s mitt as his father asked him to, and after a while, Ed was turned on to lacrosse, which he became very successful in. But the family secret wasn’t revealed until last month at the induction ceremony.

“Thanks to you, Harry, I don’t think I’ve ever given you your proper thanks, you changed my life in a great direction and I appreciate it,” Ed Nelson said during the induction ceremony. “I’m very proud of you, I’m very proud to be your brother.”

“You know, the fact that Harry had lost Eddie’s glove has only emerged this weekend. He’s held it in for like 70 years,” Rob Nelson said, with a laugh.

“I know dad was an idol to you, Ed, like he was to all of us, but I have to tell you, he told me leave it on the bus and lose it,” Harry said during his speech. “Ed didn’t know until this day. I’m sorry, Ed.”

Originally from Massapequa, Nelson was invited to play for Bourne by then player-manager Lou Lamoriello, who is the current president of hockey operations and general manager for the New York Islanders and who has made a name for himself with a very successful executive career in the National Hockey League. But prior to that, Lamoriello, a 2009 CCBL Hall of Fame inductee, cut his teeth on the Cape.

Nelson both pitched and started in the outfield for Bourne and was eventually selected for the Upper Cape All-Star team. He was then invited to a workout at Fenway Park by the Boston Red Sox, but signed with his hometown New York Yankees in 1965 as a pitcher. Nelson won 18 games in two seasons of Class-A high ball with Binghamton and Greensboro before injuring his rotator cuff, which cut his career short.

Nelson returned to Long Island where he taught math in Massapequa and then returned to Wagner where he worked in admissions before making his move to the East End, where he operated the Lobster Inn and Indian Cove restaurants before becoming owner of Southampton South Fork Realty.

“Harry is kind of a legend on the East End of Long Island for being a kind and generous guy,” Rob Nelson said. “He ran a restaurant like he was the manager of a ball club, he kept the people who really liked him away from the people who really didn’t. But he had compassion, not only for his staff, but for the people there — and he was just beloved.”

Rob continued and said that when Harry blew out his rotator cuff, he was pitching against the likes of eventual greats like Johnny Bench and Rod Carew in the Carolina League. But at 25 years old, he returned home to Long Island and Rob always gave credit to his older brother for learning to make adjustments after not being able to play the game he loved anymore.

“That was a real life lesson for me and my brother, whatever happens you deal with it and find a way to make things work,” he said. “And before I give way to Harry here, I’d like to end with a good Jackie Robinson quote that said, ‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,’ and anybody who’s ever met my big brother Harry will tell you he’s the man. He lived for other people and we all love him for that. You’re the best, Harry.”

Harry ended his speech with another famous baseball quote, from one of his favorites: Yogi Berra.

“I just want to thank everyone who made this day necessary,” he said, with a laugh.