DANVERS — If only he had been here to see it himself.
The late Derek Lyons, beloved son of Danvers, a hometown baseball legend and as much a part of Champions Pub as their legendary steak tips, was honored Sunday by the organization he represented so well, the North Shore Baseball League.
‘Derek Lyons Day’ was held at Lyons’ beloved Twi Field, where 10 of the NSBL’s 11 squads played against one another while keeping his memory alive. All teams wore special T-shirts with ‘Lyons 5’ and ‘NSBL’ on the front.
Even the one team that wasn’t playing an actual game, the North Reading A’s, were involved in the festivities, with manager Mike Dardeno manning the concession stand.
“We’d been talking about doing something like this for quite a while where we could all get together and honor Derek in some way. Matt Mello first suggested it and we couldn’t make it work last season, so we really make it a point of emphasis to get it done this year,” said Champions manager Mike Giardi, who was celebrating his 52nd birthday Sunday.
Giardi recalled having Lyons live at his place in Salem while the latter was finishing up his degree at Salem State. Lyons repaid him by helping Pub win seven NSBL crowns and going to the finals seven other times.
“Derek was such a quality individual, a guy who had over 600 hits with us and is a league Hall of Famer,” he added. “He’d never, ever miss a game, either; it was always 24 regular season games, then every playoff game. A lot of people realize how much he meant to this league, and to be able to play here at his home field, with his parents and so many friends on hand, is really a nice tribute to him.”
‘The guy you wanted in the foxhole with you’
Champions Pub, who Lyons played shortstop and second base for nearly two full decades, had a full bench on Sunday, with past and many-part time players joining the current squad to remember and tell stories about ol’ No. 5.
They stenciled his name into their starting lineup as the second baseman, batting second, and took an automatic out when his first turn at bat came up. In the bottom of the first inning, they played without a second baseman in his honor. First place Champions then went out and handled the Rowley Nor’Easters, 12-1, in the second of five games played Sunday at Twi, improving their record this summer to 13-2.
“Derek was Champions Pub baseball,” said Brian Marshall, a long-time teammate of Lyons’ both with Pub and at Danvers High. “He was just a staple, a guy who gave the same consistent effort every single game. He was so well respected; such a well-liked guy.
“I was lucky to play with him for as long as I did; Derek was just the ultimate competitor. He was the guy you wanted in the foxhole with you.”
Another long-time friend, Andrew O’Neill, grew up next door in Salem, went to Salem State with Lyons and played with him on Champions for 17 seasons. He got emotional when trying to properly put into context how much Lyons meant to him and the league.
“He loved playing here at Twi Field, and to see everyone honoring him today, wearing his name and number on the back of their shirts … to speaks to what a good person he was, the character he had,” said O’Neill.
“For as good a baseball player as he was, Derek was an even better friend.”
Zach Keenan took the year off from Pub since his wife Melissa gave birth to their daughter on May 16. But the 42-year-old new father wasn’t going to miss this tribute game for his friend going all the way back to Danvers American Little League.
“I played with Derek my entire life, and the first thing anyone in this league would say to describe was that he was a gamer,” said Keenan, himself a pretty fair ballplayer at both St. John’s Prep and Boston College. “He never missed a game, was so consistent and the very definition of a winner. Quiet off the field but hard-nosed and competitive on it. He was such a great ambassador for the league, and everyone in it — not just our team — was devastated when they found out we had lost him.
“Derek’s legacy will continue for decades,” said Keenan. “Hopefully this is something we can continue each year, where the younger guys here the stories and learn what Derek helped build. The baton being passed on to the next generation and keeping his story alive is so important.”
Made you want to keep coming back
Pitcher Scott Weismann was a high school ballplayer at Acton-Boxboro High School in the late 2000’s when he first started playing for Champions Pub. His AAU coach Steve Gridley (the beloved co-manager of Champions who passed away in 2020) told him to come down if he’d like to play some ball in the NSBL, and it’s one of the best things Weismann said he’s ever done.
“My junior year of high school (A-B) made the playoffs for the first time in a long time, but I got crushed in that playoff game. Grids told me ‘Come on down here with us and we’ll get you right’, and sure enough I was throwing too long on my arm angle and these guys fixed it. That’s when my career took off,” said Weismann, who went on to pitch at Clemson University and play in the Chicago Cubs’ organization as well as some independent ball.
“That’s when I met Derek for the first time, too,” he added. “He was obviously a great baseball player, but an even better guy, just so consistent on and off the field. We play games 2-3 times a week, and it’s a commitment for sure. But when you’d see a guy like Derek loving it every single night, he’s a guy that made you want to keep coming back and playing year after year.”
Like Lyons, Mike Moroney wore the Blue-and-White of Danvers High on the diamond, donned the Orange-and-Blue at Salem State, and has played for Champions for a quarter-century.
Now 50 years old and with his oldest son on the team, Moroney said “he can’t break free” from the team because of its camaraderie, of which Lyons played a huge role in.
“The biggest thing about Champs is family because once you’re a part of the team, you always are,” said Moroney. “That’s certainly what Derek was all about, and a day like this, where everyone in the entire league is honoring him, shows the respect they had for him. He loved the game and had so much pride wearing that Champs uniform.”
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN