November 18, 2011
National pastime in Afghanistan
by Brett Rudy/
Kevin Bell (center) recruited fellow New Englanders and members of his 530th Engineer Detachment, including (from left) Joey Blais, Rusty Chesanek, Chris Elliott and Mike Bellizzi, to play ball. (photo: Courtesy Kevin Bell)
“What are you thankful for this holiday season?”
It’s a question asked quite often this time of year. Of course, we’re all thankful for friends and family. But this year especially, I’m appreciative for what our troops continue to do overseas as they fight for our freedom back home. Perhaps that is because one guy I’ve played baseball with for seven years was noticeably missing this past season.
Kevin Bell, affectionately known as “K-Bell,” has played in the Boston Men’s Adult Baseball League since 2004. He began his amateur career with the Quincy Grays, swapped to the Boston Orioles in 2006, and found a home with the Boston Blue Jays in 2009. This past season, even though he was still listed on the Jays’ roster, K-Bell missed the entire baseball season to serve as a specialist in the U.S. Army, a firefighter with the 530th Engineer Detachment stationed at Forward Operating Base SarkariKarez, outside of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The U.S. Army always has been a part of K-Bell’s life. At the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Kevin’s father, Tim, already had served 20 years in the Army. Bell was a freshman at Brockton High School, where he tossed three no-hitters for the Boxers and was heavily recruited to play baseball for Boston College. He turned down this collegiate baseball opportunity and others to start a family and stay with them at home. Today, K-Bell is 6,579 miles from home, and a world away from his wife, Abby; his 6-year-old daughter, Kaylee; and his 2-year-old son, Zack. His father also is home, having just retired from the service one month before his deployment.
It is only fitting that if Kevin isn’t throwing smoke in the MABL, he’s putting out fires in Afghanistan. Kevin explained via Facebook Chat:
“Other than playing for the Red Sox, becoming a fireman was just one of those childhood dream jobs that I’ve always had my heart set on doing,” he wrote. “The Army was an easy decision with my Dad having served for 27 years.”
In the desert, Kevin and his seven-man unit are first responders in charge of reacting to whatever happens on the airfield, ranging from containing chemical spills to putting out fuel fires to medical emergencies. Through it all, Kevin is thankful for his family and baseball.
“I follow Jays games and headlines on the website, and I still keep in touch with all the guys on Facebook and through email,” he wrote. “I do still feel like part of the team. The guys all keep in touch and send me random messages just to see how I am doing out here.”
K-Bell added: “Baseball and family gets our minds off the obvious. Going out and throwing the ball around is a real good stress reliever. That and keeping in touch with my family since we’re not with them to help out with anything that goes on back home.”
K-Bell even brought the national pastime with him to remind him of home.
“In coming out here, there was only so much room for personal items to bring,” he wrote. “My glove and a bunch of baseballs made the trip with me. We don’t have any baseball bats, but we did manage to make our own using broomsticks.”
Kevin and the guys in his unit play baseball whenever they can. While Kevin is the only member of his unit playing ball competitively back home, he was able to recruit Joey Blais (Campton, N.H.), Rusty Chesanek (Acworth, N.H.), Chris Elliott (Wilmington, Mass.), Mike Bellizzi (Candia, N.H.) and Arron Rochette of (Ashland, N.H.) to join him for a Kandahar-take on sandlot ball.
“Some nights we pull the fire truck out and put the scene lights on so we can play catch,” he wrote. “We have good games of Wiffle Ball and stickball a few nights a week. During the day, it usually doesn’t go much further than a game of catch, or throwing groundballs and stuff like that to each other.”
Kevin even kept up with the Boston Red Sox’ collapse.
“Unfortunately, we were able to keep up with the Sox in September. The fire inspector here is from New York and a Yankees fan, so he helped us keep up with it,” Kevin joked.
Of course, the Sox and Yankees are both home now with their families for the holidays, as are the rest of us local ballplayers. I’m thankful for guys like Kevin for allowing that freedom.
Friends and family are able to send care packages to the soldiers. It takes only about a week for packages to be delivered.
At least one company, Axis Sports, recently sent real baseball bats to support the 530th once they heard Kevin’s story. Lou Ledoux, the founder of Axis Sports, often helps raise funds for troops and other worthy causes.
“After hearing about local guys playing baseball with broomsticks because they didn’t have baseball bats, I immediately cut bats for them and put their bats ahead of every order on our production schedule,” Ledoux said.
Axis Sports provided each soldier in Kevin’s unit a camouflaged bat. On top of that, Axis is supporting the USA Military All-Star Baseball Team, and also is working on a specific type of bat that will be used by Wounded Warriors, a nonprofit that provides support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured or killed during combat operations.
Meanwhile, K-Bell expects to return home next spring.
“Neither Kaylee or Zack have made their way to Fenway Park,” he wrote, “so hopefully next season when I’m home for good, that will be their first time. As for the Jays, I plan on being there Opening Day, ready to pitch.”
Care packages
Those wishing to send care packages to Spc. Kevin Bell may ship to:
SPC Kevin Bell
530th EN DET (firefighters)
FOB SarkariKarez
APO AE 09313
This article originally appeared in the November-December 2011 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
Brett Rudy is the founder of the Boston Amateur Baseball Network. Follow him on Twitter at @bostonbaseball.
