A Baseball Life Comes Home to Bates

LEWISTON, Maine — The first call was to Cooperstown. When Deb McCleery , granddaughter of Harry Lord, Class of 1908 , later captain of the Boston Red Sox, wanted to clean her basement of old boxes, she contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame. But when Bates, which had previously published original research on Lord, reached out, she agreed to, at least, listen. At June 2024 reunion, Bates hosted Deb and her husband Jack, and made a pitch for a different landing spot for Lord’s memorabilia. They toured the Muskie Archives, viewed renderings of the new Stoddard Fitness and Well-Being Center…