FROM THE FENWAY HOTSEAT TO CAMP FOR FUTURE CHAMPS
KEVIN KERNAN, NEW YORK POST

July 25, 2004 -- HINSDALE, Mass. - When you love the game, that's all that matters. You gotta have heart.
While the Yankees and Red Sox are taking care of business a few hours east of here this weekend, ex-Sawx GM Dan Duquette, the man who made Nomar Garciaparra his first Red Sox draft pick in 1994 and twice traded for Pedro Martinez, is taking care of business this moment by driving an injured player to the training room on his golf cart.

This player is no pampered millionaire, he is a youngster who is spending a week in the beautiful Berkshires, playing baseball, swimming and being a kid. The injury is just a bruise and the young man is soon back on the field, smiling and playing the game.

Back home in the Berkshires, Duquette is smiling too, proud of what he has accomplished here after being fired when new ownership took over the Red Sox before the 2002 season.

Duquette spent eight years with the Red Sox, but in the treasure hunt of life, new discoveries have been made.

The Dan Duquette Sports Academy is an incredible facility located on 100-plus acres in the Berkshire Mountains adjacent to the crystal clear Plunkett Reservoir. There are bunkhouses, a major-league style clubhouse, a full-service conference center, basketball courts and some of the most picturesque baseball fields you could imagine. There is also a softball program for girls.

Dan and Mets GM Jim Duquette are cousins. They grew up two blocks from each other in nearby Dalton. Jim's brother Pat, an assistant basketball coach at Boston College, runs the basketball component of the camp.

Children 8-18 from all over come to experience the first-class accommodations here (www.duquettesportsacademy.com). Through his foundation and working with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Duquette also makes sure inner-city kids get a chance to enjoy this summer paradise.

Duquette's dream was to beat the Yankees, but dreams detour. Younger brother David, who owns an excavating business, was the general contractor on the project and won a design award for the complex. Dan's jobs include everything from grounds crew to running the Berkshire Dukes, a team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League who play here.

Duquette is proud of his days with the Red Sox, bringing the organization back to the playoffs while building a future. "When they bought the team they said they didn't have a farm system, but guess what," Duquette explains, "they've traded 30 guys from that farm system that they said was bankrupt to help the major-league team."

At 46, you can be sure it won't be long before Duquette is back where he belongs in the majors. "I've been busy doing this," he says of getting the academy up and running. "So we're just about done with this. I'll start looking to work for the big leagues again."

As for those Damn Yankees, yes, last year Duquette played Benny Van Buren, manager of the Washington Senators, and sang "You Gotta Have Heart" in a local production of the play, Duquette is impressed with what Brian Cashman and Joe Torre have built.

"The Yankees are a complete team," Duquette says. "They have depth, power, pitching, bullpen, [Flash] Gordon was a great pickup. Joe's got two closers."

Gordon was another player Duquette signed as a free agent with the Red Sox. He also signed Javier Vazquez as an amateur when he was GM of the Expos, a young guy named Vladimir Guerrero, too. Obviously, Duquette knows his talent and is quick to credit Harry Dalton, who was his mentor. When Duquette was with Milwaukee early in his career, he helped draft a youngster out of Tampa, Gary Sheffield.

Like another ex-GM, Steve Phillips, Duquette also has a radio show, on Mondays in Boston, and he keeps an eye on what cousin Jimmy is doing.

"Jimmy has a lot of patience, he's very steady, very dependable," Dan says. "He did some good things in the offseason to help the team and he picked up [Richard] Hidalgo for nothing."

As always, this hibernating GM knows the art of the deal.