There are baseball fans and there are “baseball guys.” To the bone, Dan Gallagher is the latter. For him, the dugout is as much his home as any house with a roof. Baseball is his life and has been for as long as he can remember. “Skip,” as he’s called affectionately, wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s a wonder that Gallagher ever left the friendly confines of the first base dugout at Fordham, where he coached for 21 years, piling up a record of 518-468-10 to go with seven league championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2003, he had knee replacement surgery; difficulties with his rehabilitation forced Gallagher to make a tough decision. Ultimately he believed the surgery affected his ability to do his job. Following the 2002-03 season, Gallagher stepped down. “Whether it was a mistake or not, I don’t know, but I miss it,” he said.
He called around to local colleges and high schools to see if they needed an bench coach, a bullpen coach, a consultant, “a guy to hit some fungoes.” Without anything firmed up, he made a call to Sal Agostinelli, the international scouting director for the Philadelphia Phillies, and was appointed an associate scout position in 2005. He can spot a prospect with the best of them but he can’t deny that his role is different from that in the dugout. “I like scouting,” he said, “but I love teaching the game.”
He’ll do that with one of his former players alongside -- Dave Walker, a longtime pitching and hitting instructor on Long Island. Walker not only played for Gallagher at age 13 but eventually married his daughter. Two of Gallagher’s grandsons, Chris and Kyle Walker, currently play at Fordham and C.W. Post; both were members of the flagship Hampton Whalers (now Sag Harbor) last summer.
Gallagher has his work cut out for him though. The Hamptons Division is loaded with high-quality coaches from all over the country – former major leaguer Bill Pulsipher (Southampton), former Adelphi manager Ron Davies (Riverhead), Santa Clara assistant Shawn Epidendio (North Fork) and Brown assistant Jason Lefkowitz (Sag Harbor). The team managers are being paid a fraction of what big-league or even college coaches rake in. While young guns like Epidendio and Lefkowitz will benefit greatly from the managerial experience, Gallagher has toured the country many times over already. He’s in it because he flat-out loves it, and he’d like to think his experience gives him an edge.
“I believe in letting kids play their game and having fun like they’re playing Little League,” Gallagher said. “I’ll teach them the things that they should know about the game, but I want them to go out and play. I can’t wait to get it started.”
It’s not as though he’ll be twiddling his thumbs and tapping his feet in the meantime. Last summer, Gallagher was named the vice president of baseball operations, and with Walker helped recruit the approximately 125 players who will call the East End home for two months. They hail from schools as far away as Stanford, San Francisco and Notre Dame, while some return home to play on the same field they played high school ball. It’s a fine mix, all with the design to bring major league scouts as well as the community to the park. According to Gallagher, there’s nobody who would rather be there than him.
“You’re going to see some great, great players from all over the country, and the league is only going to get better. It’s in its infancy. Will we ever compete with the Cape? Who knows? It doesn’t matter. This gives scouts in this area to see kids play ball and it’s an avenue more kids to display their talent. There were no college leagues really on the Island to speak of; now there are six teams and we’re still growing. That’s what it’s about.”
