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Sports

Baseball Lifer

Concord-Carlisle's Coach Kelly signs on with Brockton of the Can-Am League to continue a long baseball career, and add to an already hectic schedule.

It doesn’t require much thought for John Kelly to answer the question of whether or not he ever gives himself a break from baseball. In about as much time as it takes to react to a liner back to the mound, Kelly chuckles and shrugs off the thought with a quick, “No.”

There’s really no such thing as a break from baseball for Kelly. No matter the month, he’s involved in some capacity with the game that has been a big part of what he’s known for much of his life.

In the spring, Kelly serves as the varsity coach for . By summer, his schedule is chock full of games and clinics as a player and instructor, and the fall and winter months are spent preparing to do it all over again.

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“Every week of every month I’m doing something with baseball,” Kelly said by telephone Wednesday night.

On Thursday, the 38-year-old pitcher from Leominster signed a contract to rejoin the Brockton Rox for his 18th year of professional baseball, ninth in an independent league. He’s also spent time playing internationally, in Mexico, Taiwan and Italy, among other locales.

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The past six years have come in the Can-Am League with the Worcester Tornadoes and Rox. He also pulled double duty with the Rox in 2008 and ’09, serving as both pitching coach and staff ace. In 2007, Kelly was the pitcher of the year for the Rox.

Initially, it appeared his professional days wouldn’t extend past last summer when he went 9-5 in 19 starts for the Tornadoes with a 3.61 ERA, good for seventh in the Can-Am League.

But, after pitching in a local league for a team in Lunenburg, Kelly felt the time wasn’t right to walk away from the game just yet. He had a tryout with new Rox manager Bill Buckner — yes, that Bill Buckner — earlier this summer and is poised to join the team for the remainder of the Can-Am schedule.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to play,” he said, “and then the timing was right. … I threw well [for the local team] and a position opened up in Brockton.”

Add in the fact that Kelly is also in the midst of holding clinics for youth players, and summer becomes the most hectic time of a very busy baseball-filled life.

The clinics — the last of the summer runs Aug. 8-11 — are held in the morning so Kelly can satisfy his urge to coach long before he takes the mound.

There’s little time for much else besides baseball and family, Kelly has three children, but it’s all he’s known since beginning his professional career nearly two decades ago. Since then, Kelly has spent time in the organizations of the Mets, Pirates and Mariners, reaching as high as Triple-A for Seattle in 2004. He was originally drafted by New York in the 11th round of the 1994 MLB Amateur Draft.

In ’04, his final year in the minors, he went 1-2 in seven appearances for the Tacoma Rainiers with and ERA of 5.23.

Baseball has been such a big part of Kelly’s life for so long that it’s only normal the sport consumes much of his time. Spending time at the ballpark is also something he’s come to share with his family. This summer, before he signed on with Buckner’s Rox, Kelly said his kids were asking when they were going back to the stadium.

“I’m very lucky,” he said. “My wife is very supportive and my kids love going to the games. It’s fun for everybody, and until it becomes difficult and an issue for the family, then I’ll play.”

Even while still playing, Kelly has always kept a close eye on coaching. Five years ago, he applied for open positions at C-C, Acton-Boxborough Regional and Bedford High School. A-B declined, Bedford offered him the pitching coach’s job. Only the Patriots wanted the local pro to become their head coach.

While he could have continued to focus on his playing career, Kelly said the timing felt right to join C-C. Much like he felt the right thing to do this summer was to keep playing professionally.

There haven’t been too many wins for the Patriots in recent years, they went 7-13 in 2011, but that has done little to deter Kelly’s love of coaching and interacting with his players.

“The Concord-Carlisle baseball players have been fantastic,” he said. “They’ve been fun to work with, they’ve been great to be around and they’ve worked hard. We’ve had a couple losing seasons in a row and it’s been a lot easier because of the kids that we’ve had.

“Concord was just the better fit from the beginning,” Kelly continued. “I felt comfortable from the beginning with the athletic director [Barry Haley] and the school.”

Then there are the clinics. Including the upcoming session, Kelly had four weeks of camps planned beginning in late June. Geared toward teaching younger players the fundamentals, the clinics are open to children ages 7-12.

Not directly tied to CCYB, Kelly said he relies on the “really people that work really hard” within the organization to get the word out about his clinics. The goal is to teach kids to learn the game the right way at young age while still having fun.

That way, Kelly said, they’ll remain interested, stick with the sport and just maybe become baseball lifers — something he’d know a thing or two about.

“Just to get the kids involved with baseball, get them to enjoy baseball and give themselves the proper instruction along the way, while making it fun for them also,” Kelly said.

Did we mention he also offers private instruction to teenage players? Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that now, but somehow, Kelly does.

“You can’t play forever, the body won’t let you,” he said. “but I’ll always be involved in some way, whether it’s coaching the youth levels or giving lessons and clinics or being the head coach at a higher level. Who knows?”

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