It’s been an eventful couple of weeks for Mark Simeone.

The Northampton native has been racking up the honors and accolades, highlighted by last week’s induction into the Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame.

Simeone, who grew up in Northampton and graduated from Northampton High School in 1982, also earned the 500th victory of his coaching career on March 3 when his Springfield College baseball team beat Westfield State, 10-1.

It’s the 28th season in charge of the SC program for Simeone, who was also a four-year standout player for the Pride before graduating in 1987. 

“It means a lot to me that the players recognized it,” the humble Simeone told the Springfield Student newspaper of reaching 500 wins. “I’m proud of them for sure.

“You don’t coach baseball or play baseball by yourself,” he added. “So all the times that we win together, there’s a lot of people involved. And I think that’s been my biggest reflection, hearing from guys with congratulations, [an] email or text message. I immediately think about them and their careers in our program, and how they were part of those wins.”

Simeone starred at Northampton High School in both baseball and football before moving on to SC. He played in Springfield under coach Charles Roys, who was inducted into the Western Mass. Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.

Simeone’s induction last week at Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow headlined an impressive class. The 11th annual class to be inducted, it also included Jeff Reardon, Bob Taylor, Don Strange, Earl Lorden, the 1942 Turners Falls High School baseball team, and Ron Chimelis.

Reardon was a 16-year MLB relief pitcher, four-time All-Star, and 1987 World Series champion with the Minnesota Twins. The Wahconah Regional High School alum ranks 12th all time in MLB saves.

Taylor, of Springfield, played 16 professional baseball seasons, reaching the major leagues in 1970 where he appeared in 63 games for the San Francisco Giants.

Strange, another Springfield native, played collegiately at UMass from 1987-89, then spent eight years in professional baseball where he reached Triple-A in the Atlanta Braves system. His brother, Pat Strange, was inducted into the WMass HOF in the Class of 2021.

The baseball field at UMass is named after Lorden, who served as the skipper for the Minutemen from 1948-66. He won 189 games during his tenure, ranking third on UMass’ all-time wins list. Lorden, who passed away in 1984 at the age of 87, also coached the baseball team at Turners Falls High School to a state title in 1942.

Speaking of that ’42 team, the championship roster was inducted as part of the HOF Class following an improbable underdog run that culminated with a win over Arlington in the state title game at Fenway Park.

Longtime columnist with the Springfield Republican Ron Chimelis received the Garry Brown Sports Media Award. Chimelis, who was the Red Sox beat reporter during their 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series championship seasons, was the second recipient of the award, the first of which was posthumously awarded to Garry Brown in 2023.