Mark Carrow. as always, has a story to tell abut the naming of Brighton’s baseball field in his honor on Saturday.
“My granddaughter, who lives in Chicago, told her mother ‘We’re going to see my field,'” Carow said.
After her mother told her that wasn’t the case, the little girl said, “It is my field because it’s named Carrow Field.”
The youngster’s mistake is understandable, but it’s her grandfather, who coached baseball at Brighton from 1973-2006, who will be honored Saturday when Carrow Field will be dedicated.
The Bulldogs are schedule to play a doubleheader against Ypsilanti Lincoln at 11 a.m., with the dedication ceremony at 10:45. The Livingston Post will broadcast the twin bill, beginning at 10:40 a.m. Click here for the link.
At least. that’s the plan. The forecast is for temperatures in the 50s with a chance of rain.
“I’d love to see some Brighton baseball,” Mark Carrow said. “I want my grandkids to see baseball being played because they know I coached this team for a long time. I’d love to see it happen.”
If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the ceremony will move indoors to the STEAM Center, located inside the high school next to the baseball field.
Carrow is the first person to have a field named after him, and it came after a change of p0licy by Brighton Area Schools, which previously had only renamed its facilities after the honoree had died.
That policy was changed recently, paving the way for Saturday’s ceremony.
“Mark was a longtime educator and coach fr us, and he’s a really good human being,” Brighton athletic director John Thompson said. “It’s a pretty high bar when you’re naming a facility or building after somebody, and I can tell you that Mark checked off all the boxes on the highest levels in all categories. He’s very deserving.”
Dozens of former players are expected to be in attendance as well, and Carrow was quick to note them when asked what the honor meant.
“I mean this from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “Although I will have my name up there, it should also be dedicated to all the ballplayers I had because without them, this never would have happened, from the kid who only got five at-bats to Drew Henson, who was the national player of the year. They all did something to make this happen. I’ve had great coaches at the freshman and JV levels who shaped the kids and the Brighton teams.”
Carrow won 823 games in his 34 seasons, with two trips to the semifinals, transforming a program which hadn’t had a winning season in a quarter-century before his arrival to a string of 34 winning seasons that even includes the year Carrow cut the season short after his team broke curfew during a team trip to Florida.
When Carrow retired, he theorized that he would be forgotten within a few years as time moved on.
On Saturday, the sign on the scoreboard will argue differently.
