On August 11, 2014, David Bachner will have been deceased five years. As per your naming requirements he will meet the criteria that you imposed in October, 2012, with regard to naming a facility. Please consider this a formal request to name the North High School varsity baseball diamond the David Bachner Field.
My son T.J. was in sixth grade when David passed in 2009. We talked about David’s funeral and the number of people who attended. My son was fortunate to be able to play freshman and junior varsity baseball at North. He proudly wore his North baseball uniform hat with its embroidered 16. These days as a junior at North, while he’s not on the baseball team he continues to wear his “unhittable” t-shirt and sweatshirt all the time.
He and I visit David’s marker out by the bullpen at North every year on David’s “Angelversary.”
I never met David nor had an opportunity to watch him play. My son T.J. never met David and never had the opportunity to watch him play. We have been fortunate to be part of the baseball community and meet and talked to baseball players like P.J. Silva and Scott Feryus and others who have talked to other players who knew David. His legacy lives on because he was able to touch so many people in and outside of baseball.
I have been fortunate to meet and get to know Rhonda Bachner and Steve Bachner, David’s parents. They are of course deeply invested in continuing David’s legacy. They provide scholarships as part of their foundation, the David J. Bachner Memorial Fund. They raise money by holding a yearly North-South hockey game that grows in popularly every year. They sell “unhittable” wear at the North-South baseball games every year. Their Facebook site is vibrant with friends posting pictures of “unhittable” around the world and continuing to reminiscence and tell stories about David.
So after all this information you may ask: why am I so personally invested in supporting the Bachners and asking you to name a baseball field after their son David? Because I love the sport and community of baseball. Because I have a son who loves baseball and if anything ever happened to him I don’t know if I would have the strength of Rhonda and Steve to continue. Because baseball doesn’t always seem to get the attention and support as much as other sports. Because from CPLL T-ball to WW-P Senior Babe Ruth and both North and South high school baseball teams I have made a lifetime of friends in the sport of baseball. Because in the sport of North baseball there may never be another athlete with the talent and potential of David Bachner, and ensuring that the North field bears his name alongside his marker is a fitting tribute.
Because it’s the right thing to do. For baseball. For David.
Tim Hitchings
Plainsboro
