Jim Chakulski, Sr.

#26 - P, DH (profile)

In case you couldn’t figure it out by their names, Jim is the father of DRS captain Jim Chakulski, Jr. It would be to avoid confusion that fellow teammates began referring to them as “Senior” and “Junior,” a la the Griffeys, the major league father-son duo that for a short span both played for the Seattle Mariners at the same time.

Senior started playing with the team strictly on a part-time basis beginning with the 1998 season. He had long thought his playing days over, last taking the field for a DRS softball team over twenty years earlier. But joining the taxmen as a part-time pitcher and designated hitter, Senior would go on to play in 21 games over the next seven seasons before playing his last game in 2004.

Beginning when the DRS captain was only eight years old, Senior would bring him along with a few other DRS co-workers for a Friday spent playing hooky from work in Boston. The day included riding the Green Line to Government Center, visiting Quincy Market, and eating at Durgin Park. Later, there would be a ball game at Fenway Park featuring Sox greats Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. Years later, the fond memories prompted the DRS captain to begin organizing his own trips to Boston, which are how the team’s annual Fenway Park bus trips came to be.

In 1998, Senior batted .667 (10-15) in limited plate appearances. In his eight seasons and 22 games, Senior totaled 24 base hits, 14 runs scored, 17 runs batted in, and 3 doubles. With the bat, Senior was a true switch hitter who could hit both lefty and righty equally well. His best outing came in 1998 against the Department of Economic Development in which he went 4 for 4, with 2 runs scored and 4 ribbies.

Senior left DRS in 2003 and has been too busy enjoying retirement to make many games in recent years. He’s wondering how he ever found time to work, as the saying goes.