Westfield State's Ray Arra calls it quits after 50 years

May 24, 2013

By Scott Coen, Springfield Republican

In the classic baseball movie 'Bull Durham', baseball was characterized as a simple game.

You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.

And for more than 50 years, no man saw more games, or had an effect on more of the area's young baseball players, than Ray Arra.

Last week, after 11 years as the head baseball coach at Westfield State, Arra announced that he was stepping down from coaching. The announcement came and went so quietly, it almost seemed unfair. After all, what other baseball man in WMass could say he won more than 400 high school and legion baseball games, and close to 200 collegiate games?

"I've been very fortunate," Arra said. "It's been really great. I've been talking about this for years, but last September I said that this past season would be my last. After all, 51 years in baseball is a long time."

Ray Arra was a three-sport star at Needham High School. He excelled at baseball, and in 1960 was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and immediately sent to Hobbs, New Mexico. Hobbs was an outpost on the Texas-New Mexico border that ended up changing Ray's life.

"After my stint in the minor leagues I went to Westfield State and was captain of the baseball team," Arra said. "After Westfield State I coached high school baseball and basketball at Westfield Trade, then at East Longmeadow, and also at Minnechaug. Then I started my college coaching career at AIC. AIC was a great experience, but I always had my eye on returning to Westfield State."

And so in 2002 Arra returned to Westfield State. After two years as the Owls' pitching coach, he was promoted to head coach in 2004. Arra brought with him an old-fashioned work ethic, and a hard-nosed determination that hasn't mellowed even after all these years.

"Look, I may sound like some kind of old-timer," Ray said with a laugh. "But I look at the game the old-school way. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I think it's important to learn how to win properly, and at the same time, how to lose properly."

Under the watchful eye of their leader the Owls did more winning than they did losing over the last decade. This past season at Westfield might be Ray Arra's most memorable. In March a goodwill mission was arranged that took the Owls to Cuba, where a group of American college kids played professional baseball players from Cuba in a series of exhibition games.

"The trip to Cuba was phenomenal," Ray said. "We stayed in a five-star hotel. The stadium we played in was in Old Havana, and it held 55,000 fans, just like Yankee Stadium. People made a big fuss over the kids. Our guys signed autographs. It was something really special."

Something special. That's how you'd describe Ray Arra. His career, his love for the game. Something special.

"I'm all done now," Ray said. "It's time for somebody else to take the new generation of kids and try and work them as hard as I did."

With a big laugh he added, "Kids can be a pain in the ass.

"But I'm lucky, I have two great daughters, and I've been married to my wife Judy for 45 years. I'm going to spend time with them, and I'm going to spend my time fishing on Cape Cod."

A member of the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, Ray Arra leaves a lasting legacy on the baseball diamonds all over Western Massachusetts.