Longtime PA voice Baird dies at age 73

At DeLuca Field in Stratford for any kind of softball game, at area hockey arenas, on numerous answering machines or reading to the blind, Hal Baird was “The Voice.”

“He was the best,” said Bob Baird, no relation, who employed Hal Baird as public address announcer for countless high school and amateur softball games over the year.

“Everyone who came to DeLuca left knowing who Hal was.”

Hal Baird died Dec. 22 at age 73, survived by his wife, Martha. He had been in declining health this year and had contracted COVID-19, Bob Baird said.

Hal Baird had a career in radio, an on-air presence at several stations in the area. He later worked for SNET and at Sterling House Com

munity Center in Stratford.

He took over Brakettes games in 1986, when the team still played at Raybestos Memorial Field, and came with them two years later to the park that eventually became DeLuca Field. He’d work high school games and softball tournaments there, too, often singing “O Canada” if a Canadian team visited, and he worked other events at Stratford High and St. Joseph, often with Martha sitting nearby.

He was the PA voice of the American Hockey

League’s New Haven Nighthawks in the 1980s, putting a siren-like ‘u’ in Hubie McDonough’s first name and delivering the likes of “Sylvain Couturier” with a perfect accent.

Baird later worked roller hockey and UHL games at the New Haven Coliseum and filled in occasionally at Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL games.

An accomplished musician and singer, Baird sang tenor and played the organ at several churches around the area, often running between DeLuca Field and one Sunday service or another. He was music chairman at his own church, Stratford United

Methodist Church, where he is also, pastor Simeon Law noted Saturday during Baird’s funeral service, the voice on the church’s answering machine.

He was also a justice of the peace and would sing “Ave Maria” at a wedding for an extra $25, Bob Baird said.

Bob Baird was athletic director at the University of Bridgeport and Stratford High and is also the Brakettes’ longtime general manager; Hal Baird and others came along at each stop to work their games.

The coincidence of their last names usually caught newcomers to their circle by surprise, at least if they

found out it was a coincidence. Bob Baird said he has been receiving condolences on the passing of his brother. He doesn’t correct them: The Bairds go back over 60 years to games at the YMCA or the Boys Club.

“All the time, Hal’s wife Martha said if we go back far enough, we were probably related,” Bob Baird said.

“If you think about it, basically, I’ve seen him more over the years than my brother who lives a street away.”

Hal Baird