Bill Kervan's memory should still be in a fair number of current and former CDMSBL players' minds. It's in mine, roughly seven or eight years after he retired about the age of 72. He was two years my senior, so he should be a hale and hearty 81 or 82 now. The internet, where we're all somehow listed, says he's doing fine. So, good.
My memory of Bill was especially sharp last Sunday August 2, at New Scotland field when the Capital Division trotted out four, count them, four really fine pitchers over the seven-inning contest between the regularly reshuffled Reds and Blues. I was a Red, and proud of it, even though we took a drubbing, of, I'm guessing, about 14-3.
I bring up Bill because the man, who was about 6-1, medium build, very fair and sunburned skin, blue eyes, and thinning white hair, had very strong hands and forearms and, lordy, he could throw a fastball. He had other good pitches, a fine change, slider and curve too, all of which he controlled, but it's his fastball I remember.
Hot mama, that hummed!
Bill and I mostly played on opposing teams in the over-40s and over-50s, but now and then on the same team.
I remember the one of the last times I faced him, about 2017: Bill seemed longer and taller on the hill than when we stood next to each other. He had a compact frame, not an ounce of fat, and he had long arms. So when he raised his right arm and I saw the ball high above his head, it looked to me like that ball was coming from far away, from some cloud, and the next thing I saw, or better felt, a white blur of a ball speeding my way.
The ball was in the air, it seemed, a half second before it landed a thwack in the catcher's glove. As a batter, you had a finger snap to decide and swing. How fast in mph was it? Not sure, but if someone there had a meter and said, 65, and 70, I'd have believed it. He was about 70 when he threw like that, and I wondered what it would have been like to face him when, say, we were both in our 30s or 40s.
As I say, Bill's memory was sharp when, on August 2, I saw and batted against four very good pitchers at New Scotland. The Capital Division is not noted for its remarkable play or its Ryanesque pitchers. It's more accurately, a "let's have fun, and see what you can do, league. See if you can surprise yourself."
The Cap is a league where guys in their 20s, many who've not played since high school, try to see what they can still do. There are other guys from their mid-30s to their mid-50s, who are poring rust remover on old skills that have been dormant for maybe 20 years, to discover if they can bring anything back, maybe make it good again, and two other guys like me, three of us in our late 70s, who are playing on pride and determination with the not-so-simple but still essential goal of playing well.
In baseball, playing well is everything.
So, Bill came to mind when I saw the Blues pitchers Anthony Nelson, Jerry Stalker, Luke burns and Mike Laney all between the ages of 20 and 45, bringing blurred hummers. The fastest had to be near 75. It was a treat and a challenge to bat against them. I thought, how many 79-year-olds get to see hummers that had to arrive easily as fast ones Bill threw?
We're lucky in Albany. Fortune, in the form of MSBL, is our 10th player.
-Mike
-- Edited by mikehart on Sunday 9th of August 2026 02:47:16 AM
-- Edited by mikehart on Sunday 9th of August 2026 03:38:40 AM
Mike, thanks for rekindling my memories of Bill Kervan, or Billy the "K" as we used to call him.
Bill was the ironman pitcher for the Damn Yankees in that inaugural season of the 53 division. The Yankees became the first undefeated team in CDMSBL history and Billy must have thrown 90 per cent of the innings.
I can still see him warming up pre-game with that weighted ball, and walking 10 feet to pick it up and throw it back. Once the game started he was all business on the mound. After each pitch he would get the ball back from the catcher, circle the mound and step back on the pitcher's rubber (almost as if he was re-fueling to unleash another dominating fastball). His pitching overshadowed a very capable bat at the plate. The second year brought another Yankees title as he teamed up with another flame-thrower, Pete Westfall, to give the Yanks a dynamic one-two punch. He later shared the mound with John Weber, who brought the Yanks a few more titles, and is still teasing batters in the 62s with his dancing off-speed pitches.
Hey, Tim, good to hear from you and thanks for your memories about Bill.
I found his name on AI and it seems things are going well for him in his retirement from state work. You're right: he was a terrific pitcher. And he was, as you suggested, a real gentleman, quiet, low key, smart, knew others existed.
I hope things are going well for you in your post-baseball retirement. You and Bill are both missed here.
