Edmund Brand Beyer was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1946. His mother Audrey (White) and his father Walter were from South Portland, and Cape Elizabeth, respectively. His father was a teacher at Milton Academy in Massachusetts when he was born and Ned (nickname) spent summers in Cape Elizabeth as he was growing up. Ned loved baseball from an early age and spent hours playing with friends in his grandmother’s apple orchard which was used by many of the kids as a neighborhood ballfield. Ned played a year of Little League and a year of Babe Ruth ball in Cape Elizabeth and a couple of years at Camp Timanous in Raymond, Maine. He played every year at Milton Academy from the 7th grade onward. His big break came in the summer of 1964 when he made the Morrill Post American Legion team from South Portland and played the outfield. He had played varsity ball at Milton earlier that spring and pitched and played the outfield and had hit well. The following spring in 1965 Ned went undefeated as a pitcher as Milton won the Private School League title in Massachusetts. That summer Beyer joined the Mon-ill Post again and the team tied for the League title during the regular season but lost in a playoff to a very strong Manchester Post team. Ned was awarded the Earl P. Bartley Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship at the end of the season. Ned was asked by Charlie Turner, manager of the Yarmouth Townies in the Portland Twilight League, to join his team for the end of the season and the playoffs. Ned was fortunate enough to single in the winning run in the championship game after the opposing team intentionally walked two hitters to get to him.
The following year. Ned played freshman baseball at Bowdoin and had an excellent season playing center field and batting .406. The team went undefeated. He was recruited by Fred Harlow to play on the Harris Oil team in the Twilight league that summer. That team went 24-6 in the regular season but lost in the playoffs because two of its top pitchers, Ed Phillips and Roger Farrar, signed professional contracts with the Red Sox during the season.
Beyer missed his 1967 sophomore baseball season at Bowdoin due to illness, an illness that would eventually be diagnosed three years later and force his medical discharge from the Army in 1971. In the summer of 1967 Ned played in the Portland Twilight. League again, this time for the Ametek team managed by Bob Philbrick, Ametek had an excellent team that year with strong pitching and hitting and won the Southern Maine playoffs. Joe Walsh, Bob Curry, and Dave Sprague were my teammates on that team and all are in the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. Ned returned to Bowdoin and had an excellent season in the spring of 1968 batting .359 and was voted to the State of Maine College All State Team as an outfielder.
Ned returned to the Twilight League in the summer of 1968 playing again for Ametek. Ametek won it all that year both in the Twilight League and the playoffs. Four future Maine baseball Hall of Fame players in addition to Beyer were on that team.
Ned’s final season at Bowdoin in the spring of 1969 was good and the team did well against strong competition. Ned was again voted to the Maine State College All Star team and his overall batting average for three years ended at .342. Ned graduated from Bowdoin and played again in the Twilight League in the summer of 1969 for the South Portland team. This was an abbreviated season, however, as Ned completed his military obligation at ROTC Army Summer Camp and was commissioned as a 2LT in the Army in August. Ned entered the Army in November of 1969 to serve his country in the Vietnam War.
Beyer returned in the summer of 1971 to play for the South Portland team again. The team won the 4th annual Southwestern Maine Invitational Baseball Tournament at the end of the season. Beyer played the outfield and had a good season.
Ned’s baseball playing days in Maine were over but Ned’s coaching, umpiring, mentoring, and managing were just beginning. Ned left the Army in the early fall of 1971 and entered graduate school to get an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston. Ned started to umpire baseball in 1972 and is now umpiring in his 47th season. In addition to his umpiring he has coached Little League for 5 years, Babe Ruth for 6 years, and the Milton American Legion team for 3 years. He was the President of the Milton Babe Ruth League for 11 years, Vice President for 2 years, and Treasurer for 3 years. He has umpired Babe Ruth Baseball, American Legion Ball, High School baseball, The Boston Park League, The Yawkey League, the Mens Adult Baseball League, Cranberry League, and Little League all over the eastern part of Massachusetts for the last 47 years. His relationship with the Milton Babe Ruth League lasted 25 years.
Ned has also had the pleasure of coaching, .mentoring and managing his sons Jim and Charlie as they played competitive baseball through high school and enjoyed their success in this great sport. Andrew played baseball briefly as other sports were more to his liking but he is an avid baseball fan and supporter of his dad’s love of the game. Ned is now starting to give tips to his grandson, Connor, a ten year old with a passion for the game.
In 1997 Ned stepped back into playing for a summer and joined two teams in different leagues. At the encouragement of has friend Paul Gleason, Ned joined the Orioles in the Over thirty league located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Despite being the oldest player on the team (50) he won the team MVP award and hit .580 for the season. He also played in the Yawkey League for the Al Thomas A’s, a very competitive baseball league in the greater Boston area. He had the pleasure of playing with his son, Jim, who was a pitcher for the team. By far the oldest player on the team Ned still enjoyed the competition and hit reasonably well...without striking out once the entire season.
Ned has been married to his wife, Joan for the last 44 years. They met at his first job after graduate school at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston where she was a nurse and Ned worked in administration. Joan loves watching baseball especially when a family member is involved. She has always been very supportive of Ned in his many baseball endeavors.
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