The Concord-to-New York Yankees pipeline has always been strong: Red Rolfe, Joe Lefebvre, Bob Tewksbury, to name a few.

In late 2019, the Yankees added pitching coach Matt Blake to that list, and on Jan. 3 this year, it was Brian Sabean’s turn to head to The Bronx for his second stint with the organization.

Though neither will be taking the field on March 30 when the Yankees open the season against the San Francisco Giants, two Concord natives will be playing an integral role in the day-to-day operations of a franchise that once again has World Series aspirations.

It’s been nearly 50 years since Sabean roamed the hallways at Concord High School, but in the time since then, he’s had a storied career in Major League Baseball. In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, he was a scout for a Yankee franchise that drafted and signed Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and other key cogs to the team’s late-’90s dynasty; then from 1996 through 2015, he was the general manager for the Giants, who won three World Series championships during his tenure (2010, 2012, 2014).

Now, he’s returning to the organization where he started his Major League career. In this new role as executive advisor to the general manager, he’ll report directly to GM Brian Cashman and be involved during spring training and the draft; he’ll also have a voice in trades, free agency, minor league development and scouting international players.

Even though Concord might technically be enemy territory for Yankees fans, it’s nothing new to Sabean.

“I can’t say I ever really grew up as a Red Sox fan,” he said. “I loved the game, and I’d follow certain teams, but when I got a chance after spending time as a college coach at the University of Tampa to become a scout with the Yankees, I got to experience what New York, (and) the organization was like. There’s nothing bigger. Nothing has more esteem, more history, so to be able to do it the second time around is really gratifying, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity.”

The tradition to it

While Sabean joins Blake as a second Concord native with the Yankees, the two had never crossed paths until now.

Blake graduated Concord High School in 2003 and has been with the Yankees as the pitching coach since the 2020 season. Growing up in Concord though, he constantly heard about the city’s athletic lineage.

“It really meant everything because it was a strong sports culture that had the tradition to it,” he said of playing sports in Concord. “People talked about Bob Tewksbury and Sabean and Joe Lefebvre. … Just knowing that there are people that are ahead of you that have done this, even though it’s a small state, small town, fostered a vision that you can be good at this sport. Whether you end up being a pro or not, I don’t know, but at least there was a vision going forward that this could be done.”

He’s recently had an opportunity to reminisce with Sabean about different anecdotes from their time in Concord. Though they straddled different generations, they’ve shared in that athletic bond the community has.

“Just to hear his experiences, which kind of mirror mine to a certain extent, just 20, 30 years ahead of me, is really interesting,” Blake said.

One mutual connection? Tewksbury, who played for Sabean and has since done clinics with Blake at the Concord Boys’ and Girls’ Club and around the community over the years.

Tewksbury played for the Yankees in 1986 and 1987 but hasn’t forgotten playing for Sabean in American Legion Baseball and during his first year of college baseball at St. Leo University in Florida.

“He wasn’t big-time at all. He was a Concord kid that loved baseball,” Tewksbury said of Sabean in the late ‘70s. “He was hard on you. He had high expectations. You didn’t have a lot of wiggle room for mistakes.”

Since retiring from the game, Tewksbury’s become heavily invested in the mental side of baseball, working as the mental skills coach for the Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs and the Giants (overlapping with Sabean).

Leaning on some of that work has been integral to Blake’s development as a pitching coach. On a daily basis, he’s managing a number of different personalities, performance anxiety and other stressful situations for his pitchers.

“I majored in psychology in college, and people are always wondering what you’re going to do with that. Are you going to be a psychologist? Are you going to go to grad school?” Blake said. “I didn’t know where my path was going to go, but where I ended up as a pitching coach in the major leagues, I use my psychology degree every single day. … Having someone like (Tewksbury) that I can relate to and talk to and his network that I’ve grown to know over the years is really helpful.”

It’s possible

It might seem like pure coincidence to have two Concord guys working for one of the largest franchises in professional sports, but to Sabean, it’s part of a bigger picture.

“Somewhat ironic, but I’m not surprised,” he said. “The state of New Hampshire has a lot of good folks in the athletic world and especially in baseball.”

The path to professional baseball certainly isn’t a linear one, and most who try to get there ultimately come up short, but Sabean and Blake’s careers show that it can happen, even hailing from a state that’s not usually recognized nationally for its baseball talent.

“The main thing is it’s possible,” Blake said. “I wouldn’t say it’s easy. Things have to go right for you. You have to put yourself out there in a lot of different ways, but the fact that you’ve seen it twice now and we’ve seen other people who have done it, like Bob Tewksbury, this is definitely something that is possible for you if you’re willing to go after it.”

The Concord-Yankees connection also serves as a reminder, in Blake’s eyes.

“It’s obviously a fun story that these two guys that have made it to the Major Leagues separated by 30 years but now at different points in their careers,” Blake said. “I’m excited to get to know Brian and share my experiences along the way and things that I’ve had help me from Concord and hear his stories of growing up in the Concord area and playing for Warren Doane. Just to hear that the tradition is so strong in Concord, I don’t think people necessarily realize it all the time.”

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