It’s All-Star time tonight.

Been a while, right? Way back in 2018.

All-Star Games are about a lot of things, especially at Historic Holman Stadium.

In 2003, it was about the popularity of the Nashua Pride, trying to cement itself in the city with a Double A team set to arrive in Manchester the following year. And it was also about making history. Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson came to town and it was likely the largest crowd to see a baseball game in the modern era of Holman.

The low-key game was on July 26, 2012, the first ever Futures Collegiate Baseball League’s All-Star Game. Yours truly won’t forget that because we owe current Lowell Spinners part owner Marc Deschenes one. There was no Home Run Derby but they had a celebrity hitting contest with Deschenes, a former Pride pitcher and Red Sox minor leaguer, threw yours truly 10 pitches – all cutters. We only managed to foul one off. Miss New Hampshire followed, Deschenes may as well have put it on a tee and she mashed.

All kidding aside, it was a big event because it was landmark for the Silver Knights franchise and the FCBL.

“It was fun,” said former Knights team president Tim Bawmann, now in the same role with the Spinners, the other day. “I continue to go back to the guy who said we were going to be short-timers, and then all of a sudden here we are, we’re hosting the All-Star Game.”

In 2018, a well planned event was held a day late thanks to an all-day rain, but it still was superb. The FCBL, the Knights and the city made it a celebration of Holman’s 80th birthday, and it was fabulous. The Home Run Derby was held, and no celebrity hitting contest, thanks goodness. Speeches, baseball, and just an event. Then-Knights general manager Rick Muntean had a lot of help, but was the right guy to pull it off.

And now it’s in the capable hands of the always creative Knights general manager Cam Cook and team owner John Creedon, Jr. It’s definitely not easy.

You often give up something when you host the game. You have to pay so much attention to a mountain of details, that your day-to-day may suffer.

Bawmann’s previous stint with the Spinners saw them host the NY-Penn League All-Star Game in 2011.

“It does hurt,” Bawmann said. “When we did it, our sellout streak (with the Spinners) had ended. When we bid on it, the inclination is ‘Oh, you’re going to sell it out’. We didn’t, and we had to work real hard to sell it out.

“It’s tough. It’s another home game on the schedule, it’s added expense, it’s a lot more work for your staff, it’s not easy. So I’m sure they’re working hard as best they can.”

Bawmann feels that having the game during the week makes it hard. No owner, etc. wants to give up in any league a weekend date – the Majors included.

It’s all good. Each game will have its own legacy. The 2003 ALPB game will go down as the leader of the pack, obviously, with the kind of talent on display. Current Vermont owner Chris English was the Nashua Pride owner then and he’s a guy who has had as much to do with how Holman looks today more than anyone – and should someday be honored for it, hint, hint.

“We were second in line for the All-Star Game, and every year we passed, because we hadn’t felt we could host it at the caliber and level that we wanted to,” English said that night in 2003. “So we had our renovations, we’re more experienced, and so far most everybody has told us this is the best one put on.”

History.

“I never really thought of it, to be honest with you,” then-Pride general manager Todd Marlin said that night. “But you know, I’d like to think so.I’d like to think it’s something that’s going to happen six years down the road again. And six years after that. And you know, make this more of a tradition, as opposed to making it history.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the Pride were no more six years later. But their legacy lives on. Former Pride manager Butch Hobson will be a special guest tonight. He managed in that 2003 game, and gave a video message to the fans in 2018.

But here’s the feeling an All-Star Game can give you.

“The fact that they (the fans) came out and supported this game makes me even more proud to be a part of the city,” Hobson said that night in 2003. “Outstanding. Outstanding.”

Yes it was, and we think tonight will be the same. It’s a 4:30 Home Run Derby with special guest Jonny Gomes, and 6:03 p.m. game time.

See you there. Come on out, and see more Holman history.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X, formerly known as twitter, @Telegraph _TomK.