Bangor John Glenn coach's passion for baseball has him on verge of history

by Lee Thompson | The Bay City Times

Thursday May 07, 2009, 7:59 AM

Jeff Hartt is a baseball extremist.

So don't come to his diamond unless your bat bag is excessively stuffed with heart, hustle and fervor for the game.

Hartt's passion for baseball is over the top - always has been, always will be.

"He was the kind of player who would rather take a baseball off the face than let it go through," said former teammate and fellow coach Tom Merkle. "And he brings that same attitude to coaching."

That mentality has driven the Bangor John Glenn coach to 25 seasons of success. And, now, with just three more wins, Hartt will become the winningest coach in the tradition-steeped history of Bay County high school baseball.

Hartt takes a 492-289 career record into Friday's home doubleheader with Caro, needing two wins to match former Essexville Garber coach Roger Pfundt's standard of 494 victories. He could surpass the mark as early as Tuesday when the Bobcats host Ogemaw Heights.

That remarkable accomplishment may catch many by surprise - only because of Hartt's low-profile nature. During his quarter-century in the dugout, he's never stolen the thunder from his players, never asked for eyes in his direction.

Instead he goes to work cranking out a yearly winner. With stunning consistency, his Bobcats have won 24 or more games in seven of the past eight seasons.

But don't mistake low-key for low-intensity. Hartt's motor is his most memorable quality for 25 years worth of ballplayers.

"He's a ball of energy and he brings that to the practices and games every day," said 1994 graduate Anthony Holyszko, who went on to play at Western Michigan University. "You see all that excitement and love and passion he has. His eyes light up when you talk baseball with him, and that makes you enjoy the game even more.

"He was a huge influence on me. He gave me that extra motivation to always keep striving to be better."

Without that zeal, Hartt would never be where he is today.

He's not the biggest guy on the ball field, "but he's a feisty little dude who has no problem standing nose-to-nose with anybody over something he believes in," says Merkle. And that inner spark drove him to be a 1977 John Glenn standout, a captain on the Saginaw Valley State College team he helped found and a longtime competitor in the Northeast Michigan men's league.

And it's been the cornerstone of the Glenn baseball program for two and a half decades and counting.

It's a career that would have ended early without his exorbitant dedication. Glenn had nothing to show for its baseball history when Hartt stepped to the helm in 1985 - not even a single winning season. And when his first five teams went a combined 62-71, he could have walked or been pushed out.

But he chose to stay, chose to fight.

And today the 49-year-old Hartt is a Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer, sitting on the verge of becoming the state's 33rd 500-game winner all-time - and Bay County's first.

"He's not a flashy guy. If you didn't tell me about this (record), I never would have heard it from Jeff Hartt," Merkle said. "He's in it for the game of baseball and to pass that passion on to the kids. And that's exactly the guy you want at the top of the list."

As of Tuesday, the John Glenn diamond that has had Jeff Hartt's stamp on it for years now has his name on it. As of next Tuesday, so too may a hallowed record in Bay County baseball history.

"I can't imagine doing anything for that long - he's been in baseball his whole life and he's still going strong," said Phil Hartt, the coach's son who grew up with John Glenn baseball as part of the family's way of life. "He just loves the game. It's his life."