Frank Carey sendoff one for the books

As retirement parties go, Frank Carey’s sendoff at Hillview Country Club last weekend was one for the books.Carey, who grew up in Lynn and was a star baseball player at St. Mary’s High School, retired at the end of the 2014 season after 49 years and more than 700 wins as the North Reading High baseball coach. His former players decided to throw a little party/roast for him and what a night it was.Carey knew one of his former players, Peter Hill, (captain of his state championship 1970 team) was picking him up to take him to Hillview, but the veteran coach’s first surprise came when Hill pulled up to the house in a limousine. The second was the police and fire escort (the sirens wailing) that greeted them as they entered North Reading. The route to Hillview fittingly included a drive by the North Reading High baseball field that bears Carey’s name.”It was a phenomenal, phenomenal night,” Carey said. “Every retirement party is memorable, but I was telling the manager of Hillview that I can’t imagine anything in the past or the future being topping this.”When Carey arrived at Hillview, he was greeted outside by a throng of people, most of them former players. Some of them he hadn’t seen in decades. More than 300 people filled the room at the country club.”I was just floored,” Carey said. “I asked these guys if they were here for a class reunion and they said no.”Carey’s former players, as they say, came from near and far. One flew with his wife from San Francisco to be there, four came up from Florida. There were also guys from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, New York and throughout New England. Many who couldn’t attend sent emails with their regrets and their well wishes.”I’ve been answering emails since Sunday,” Carey said. “I told them don’t worry about not being there. Their gift was that they were able to put up with me during those years.”It was an evening for swapping stories and given that it was also a roast, Carey had to weather a few zingers. Although he’s coached hundreds of players over the years, Carey said he could tell a story about each and every one of them and not every story involved hitting a walk-off home run or some other such heroic feat.Carey recalled how years ago, around the time the legal drinking age dropped to 18 years old, he was out to dinner. He ran into one of his senior players (who was legal) having a drink.”I told him ‘I’ll see you at practice.” Carey said.The next day the player knew he was in some hot water. Carey told him to go do some laps and when the player asked how many, Carey asked him the name of the restaurant. It was the 99.”I said I’m in a good mood. You can pay me off over time (and he did),” Carey said.Carey said what amazes him about the guys he has coached over the years is how many have done well in life. One who took part in the roast was on the 2000 team. He went on to become a major in the army. His tank was blown up in Iraq and two guys were killed. The former player, who suffered serious burns, talked about how well prepared he was mentally for the military after having played for Carey.”These guys have all been successful in their own right,” he said.