In 1995, Dale Plummer was an injury away from Major League Baseball.

The Boston Red Sox, the team he rooted for growing up in Bath, Maine, called to summon Plummer to the big leagues at age 30. But he'd pulled his groin two days prior, so Plummer could not accept the call. And 1995 turned out to be the final year of his professional baseball career, which lasted seven seasons and took Plummer from Little Falls, N.Y. to Pawtucket, R.I., and pretty much everywhere in between.

"I remember we took a school bus on our first road trip in pro ball," Plummer says. "I was a little surprised. We definitely had nicer buses at UMaine." 

Today, the 61-year-old Plummer is Bates College's coordinator of athletic equipment and operations. In the 1980s, he starred on the mound as a right-handed pitcher for the Black Bears.

Plummer was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. It wasn't an easy road; little in Plummer's life has been easy. His willingness to adapt to unexpected situations serves him well in his current role with the Bobcats.

From Bath to Orono



"I had two older brothers and I idolized them because they always played sports," Plummer says. "Baseball, basketball, football. Those are the three sports we played. We were fortunate. We had three baseball fields in the area, and the Bath YMCA also gave us lots of opportunities." 

A three-sport star at Morse High School, the six-foot-four Plummer was initially recruited to play basketball at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. He opted to attend the University of Maine, where he had a chance to play football. A quarterback, Plummer quickly found himself buried on the depth chart.

"I was the fifth-string quarterback, maybe even sixth string," Plummer says. "That was the writing on the wall. So in the spring I walked-on and tried out for the baseball team. I was the last guy cut."

Getting cut by the Maine baseball team in the spring of 1984 was made particularly painful by the Black Bears going on to play in the College World Series for only the sixth time in program history. 

Plummer wasn't done, though. He competed for the Auburn Aces in the Portland Twilight League and came back the next spring, ready to try out again. This time he was the last guy to make the team.

"It was a great experience after that," says Plummer.

In 1986, the Black Bears won 41 games and made the College World Series again. They haven't been back. Unfortunately, Plummer wasn't included in the travel party because the Black Bears didn't need as much pitching in a short tournament. He never got to make the trip to Omaha's legendary Rosenblatt Stadium while in college.

"One of my favorite memories in professional baseball was winning a game at Rosenblatt in 1990 when I was in Triple-A with the Mets," Plummer says. "I may not have made it there when I was at Maine, but I sure did in the pros. That was a great day."

Plummer's breakthrough on the mound came in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 1987. He pitched for the Wareham Gatemen and posted the lowest ERA in the most prestigious collegiate summer league in the country. 

But Plummer had to try out even to make the Gatemen. He drove to the Cape not knowing where he'd stay the night after the tryout, or whether he'd have to turn around and drive back to Maine. 

The Gatemen found a host family for Plummer and he roomed with future American League Most Valuable Player Mo Vaughn. 

"Mo was great," Plummer says. "We had a tiny room with twin beds and weights. Mo was obsessed with the movie Top Gun and we loved making late-night runs to 7-Eleven for burritos. It was so much fun!"

After his spectacular summer on the Cape, the Yankees wanted to sign Plummer as an undrafted free agent for $10,000. Plummer had graduated from Maine that spring with a degree in business administration. But he also had an extra year of college eligibility. He declined the offer from the Bronx Bombers and returned to school for one last season in Orono.

The road to the NESCAC 

Plummer was Maine's ace in 1988 and the Mets selected him in the 23rd round of June's MLB Draft. With his college career over, he had no negotiating leverage and signed for $1,000.

"I knew that I was going to need a job in the off-season," Plummer says. "I think I made $750 a month in Little Falls, all the way up to $1,400 a month in Triple-A!"

So, each year during his professional baseball career, Plummer took his talents to Bath Iron Works in the winter.   

"I loved my job there," Plummer says. "I was kind of like an intern. When I would come back in the off-season, I would always be in a different area within finance."

Plummer's professional baseball career was impressive. Pitching mostly at the Triple-A level and mostly in the Mets organization, he posted a 3.81 ERA over seven seasons. Plummer appeared in 239 games, starting 25. He won 38 games and saved 25, pitching 517.2 innings in total.

A cancer diagnosis in 1992 slowed Plummer down, but didn't stop him. After sitting out the 1994 season, Plummer made a comeback with the Red Sox in 1995. It was one last shot at "The Show," and Plummer got to work with his childhood heroes.

"Jim Rice was one of our coaches during Spring Training," Plummer says. "Yaz, Johnny Pesky, Rico Petrocelli, all those guys. Meeting major league coaches and players during my career, seeing how they carried themselves. What they did, I always did that. I was like, 'He's a successful person and player. What does he do? What do I need to do?'"



For many baseball players, it's tough to figure out what to do when their careers come to an end. Plummer had multiple avenues to choose from after his time with the Red Sox.

Following the 1995 season, Plummer became a lobsterman for a couple years (as one does in Maine), ran baseball camps throughout the state via his company Professional Baseball Experience, and eventually found his way back to Bath Iron Works for the next decade.

Coaching is in Plummer's blood. His uncle, Westbrook's own John Cumberland, had a long and distinguished career playing and coaching in Major League Baseball. Most famously, Cumberland helped the great Dwight Gooden develop a changeup. He also coached Plummer in Triple-A with the Mets.

"John was old school," Plummer says. "He didn't sugarcoat things. He told you how it was, so you knew exactly what you needed to work on."

In 2001, Plummer made his way to the NESCAC, becoming an assistant coach at Bowdoin. He also served as an assistant equipment manager with the Polar Bears, his first taste of his current role at Bates.

But it was at Colby College where Plummer met the man who would influence him the most moving forward.

An equipment manager and a coach
 
Plummer arrived in Waterville in 2006 as an assistant coach to the legendary Tom Dexter. In 2007, Dexter stepped back to an assistant role and Plummer was named the head baseball coach. 

The Colby baseball coaching staff at the time also included Chappell "Chappy" Nelson. A beloved equipment manager within the NESCAC, Nelson died in 2024, but not before he left a lasting impact on everyone he met, including Plummer.

"Chappy was one of my best friends and we spent a lot of time together on a daily basis," Plummer says. "I also coached football at Colby, so I knew what he did for the football program as an equipment manager. Just paying attention to detail and knowing the things that you need to have ready and prepared. He taught me that."

The two worked closely together for the next decade before Nelson took a job at Bowdoin. When Plummer was hired by Bates in the summer of 2023, he connected with Nelson to make sure he had all his i's dotted and t's crossed.

"All the equipment managers in the NESCAC have kind of this little club, everybody knows each other," Plummer says. "If you need anything, you certainly can bounce ideas and get some advice from a lot of these people who've been at these jobs for many years. So I'm a big proponent of taking advantage of that."

While Plummer experienced success as the Mules' head baseball coach (leading Colby to 20 wins in 2015, their most in one season since 1973), he eventually felt burned out and stepped away following the 2018 campaign.  

"Recruiting was really tiring," Plummer says. "You're basically the CEO of the program, constantly on the phone with kids and constantly fundraising. It's 24/7, it really is."

After leaving Colby, Plummer was happy working as an electrician and running his baseball camps. But when the opportunity arose in 2023 to apply for the coordinator of athletic equipment and operations at Bates, he jumped at it. 

"Of the CBB schools, Bates is actually closest to my home and I've always liked Bates," Plummer says. "I've always felt comfortable on this campus. I always enjoyed the coaches. I had connections over here and I knew what kind of school it was. I liked the style of kid that came here and I thought it would be an easy transition."

"It was great to come here not as a coach. I felt free."

But once a coach, always a coach. When head baseball coach Jon Martin learned that Plummer would be coming to Bates, he felt it would be dumb not to ask him to join his staff. 

"I've known coach Plummer for a long time," Martin says. "I knew once he arrived at Bates I would want him on my staff. With his energy, knowledge of the game, experience, and overall love for coaching, I knew he would bring something we needed in our baseball program here at Bates. He's a tremendous addition to Bates baseball, but also to the college campus in general."

Plummer wasn't exactly itching to get back into coaching. But he's loved his time on the diamond with the Bobcats. 

"I'm trying to teach them everything I experienced, from childhood growing up, all the way through pro baseball, all the way through my time coaching," Plummer says. "Any information they need, all the information that I have as a baseball coach, I want them to have so that they can improve as fast as they can. I hope they're listening to me! I think they are."



He's following in the footsteps of his late friend Chappy Nelson from Plummer's Colby days, who also simultaneously coached baseball while serving as the football team's equipment manager.

"Chappy showed me the way," Plummer says. "Being an equipment manager is not the most glorious job. But whatever job I've had in life, I've taken pride in it."

Plummer's enthusiasm for his job is clear. The day before the football team reported to camp this fall, he was eager to show off the team's locker room in Underhill Arena. 

"Look at this place right now, because it's not going to look like this the rest of the season," he says with a grin. 

Indeed, in the calm before the 83-player storm, the locker room is pristine. Every Bobcat's locker has their jersey hung with care, surrounded by the necessary gear. 

But of course, there's a number 3 white jersey that appears to be missing. Plummer and his student workers are hoping to track it down. 

"It's always something" could be the motto for an equipment manager or, really, anyone who works in college athletics. But Plummer is always at the ready to handle the unexpected.

"Once the game starts I'm there for the players in case they need anything," Plummer says. "I have extra uniforms. I have extra helmets. I have extra shoulder pads." 

His work does not go unnoticed.

"Dale is a tremendous asset to our athletic department and our football program," Bates head football coach Matt Coyne says. "It takes so many individuals giving their time and effort to make sure our student-athletes are properly prepared to compete. Dale shows a tremendous amount of care for our players, making sure we are properly equipped and supported. He is a vital part to our operation."

Bates has 31 varsity sports and two full-time equipment managers, Plummer and Ryan Hafford. The latter has been at the college since graduating from Husson in 2021. Hafford has a passion for coaching as well, serving as the offensive coordinator at Winthrop High School. Both rely on Bates student workers to help lighten the load.

"A lot of the day is devoted to doing the laundry," Plummer says. "Bates does a great job with allowing us to have student workers and I would say that they handle 80% of the laundry. Ryan and I do all the uniforms, but the kids do the loops [numbered, reusable straps that keep an individual athlete's clothing together during washing and drying] and the towels." 

As a walk-on at the University of Maine, Plummer always respected the people behind the scenes, such as athletic trainers and long-time Black Bear equipment manager Steve Jones. "Jonesy" retired in 2023 after 43 years with Maine. 

"I felt so much appreciation for guys like Jonesy," Plummer says. "For me, I always tried to model my behavior as an athlete after Larry Bird, who made sure to get the equipment manager a championship ring. And the athletes at Bates get it. They show a lot of respect for the work being done." 

Bates football offensive lineman and senior captain John Antolik (Phoenix, Ariz.) is one of those athletes. He enjoys chatting with Plummer and knows that life would be a lot more difficult without Plummer's presence.

"Dale always brings great energy to our games and practices with his own sense of humor," Antolik says. "Dale is always making sure we have everything we need in-season and we all are thankful for everything he does for us."

Generally speaking, no one who works or competes in NCAA Division III athletics is in it for the glory. If they are, they're probably in the wrong spot. That goes double (or maybe triple) for equipment managers, at any level. A true passion for sports and higher education is needed, and Plummer, a father of two and a grandfather, has that in spades. 

"I really enjoy being around the Bates athletes," Plummer says. "They are grinders. They never complain. It's a great bunch."