money Dubben grew up playing baseball at Doubleday Field, on Thursday he coached his Dover team there
COOPERSTOWN - Dover High School baseball head coach Scott Dubben spent a lot of his childhood days playing baseball in Cooperstown, New York and frequently played on historic Doubleday Field.
On a trip back to Cooperstown this past Wednesday and Thursday, Dubben shared the experience of being in a dugout at Doubleday, this time as a head coach, and not as a player. This time he enjoyed watching the Green Wave team take to the field for a game, the same way he did in his youth.
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"You have to soak it up, there is so much history here," Dubben said. "When I watched our guys play out there, the way the ball bounces there, the sound of the ball hitting the bat in that stadium, it just brings flashbacks right back to when I played. It was a really cool experience for me."
Dover's Jacob Lapierre has been playing baseball his whole life and it was his first trip to Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame. Lapierre said knowing Cooperstown was Dubben's old stopping grounds added even more flare to the trip.
"It's even more special because that's literally where he's from," Lapierre said. "It's kind of funny that, maybe the baseball capital of America is what you can call Cooperstown, our baseball coach is from there. He played (at Doubleday), and we got to play on that same field."
Lapierre added, "when (Dubben) told me that (Doubleday) was his home field for high school, I was like 'you're joking right?,' he's like 'no, this is where I played'," Lapierre said. "I couldn't imagine what that's like for him, probably really cool for him."
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The Dover team left for Cooperstown bright and early Wednesday morning at 7 a.m., arrived to Doubleday around noon, and stayed to watch the final inning of a game between Colebrook Academy and Littleton High School. Then, Dubben and the team hit the village and visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and walked the strip for a few hours, visiting a few local delis and souvenir shops.
Following a visit to the Hall of Fame, the team caught the final two innings of Concord and Souhegan, before leaving for the team hotel ahead of a team dinner at Upstate Bar and Grill with some of Dubben's family, and a few parents of some of the players.
Dubben, originally from Roseboom, N.,Y., about 10 minutes from Cooperstown, said Cooperstown is where he fell in love with the game of baseball.
"I fell in love with baseball in Cooperstown growing up and playing at Doubleday Field as my home field for many summers," Dubben said. "Having a chance to go back and share that experience and share it with the boys about how I grew up, it's an awesome experience for me to be able to do that."
As a youngster, Dubben was on the diamond making plays and swinging bats, but on this visit he closely and strategically watched from the first base dugout - much like he saw his father did as Dubben was growing up.
"My dad coached baseball for 25 years out there, so I grew up on a baseball field," Dubben said. "I watched him coach games at Doubleday from the grandstands when I was a little kid, and found my way in the dugout with him. So, when my whole family comes to watch my high school team from New Hampshire play, it just brings back all those awesome memories of growing up playing. It's a really cool experience."
"It's a really cool area"
Following Thursday's game against Concord and before making the 4-and-a-half hour drive back to Dover, Dubben took the team to the farm he grew up on.
'Dubben's Cross Road' the green sign reads as a turn is made to beautiful green pastures and a few houses of the Dubben family.
"That was really cool, all of the country and stuff," Lapierre said. "It's a lot different around here. We think we live in a rural here. I mean, I live what I consider in the middle of the woods and there's two houses next to me. These houses are really spaced out, a lot of mountains, it's a really cool area."
The team didn't get off the bus as they were able to see out the window, and the specific animals some of the players were looking to see were inside.
"We were hoping the cows were out in the pasture because the boys wanted to try to tip them, and I've been telling them that's not possible," Dubben laughed. "We had good jokes, I think this whole trip was a really good bonding experience for the group. I wanted to show them my actual home and the farm I grew up on. Hopefully, that was cool for them to see. Maybe next year the cows will be out."
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Dover baseball coach brings team to Doubleday Field in Cooperstown
