This article appears courtesy of The Lowell Sun
By Lynn Worthy
Lowell Sun Staff
TYNGSBORO -- Bronson Arroyo pitched in the game that clinched the Red Sox their first World Series Championship in more than 80 years. That pretty much makes him royalty in these parts.
Don Belley, owner of Belley Limousine, has been driving limos for 25 years.
From different worlds, perhaps, but the pair have become good friends in the past year.
“It's not just about him driving me. We hang out when we don't have anything to do. We just do whatever, ride around, go to the park. It's definitely just not about business,”
says Arroyo, 28.
Arroyo was in Tyngsboro yesterday visiting Belley and getting the full tour of his office, which Belley is remodeling.
The two first met last November when Belley picked up Arroyo for an event at the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington.
“I was nervous. I mean, I won't lie,” says Belley, 45. “I was nervous meeting him the first time, but we just clicked.”
The laid-back Arroyo quickly put Belley at ease and since then the two have been sharing laughs and car rides seemingly nonstop.
Belley says his wife Andrea jokes that he should move to Boston to make it easier for him to hang out with Arroyo.
“I trust him to do a lot of things I wouldn't trust other people to do for me, you know, picking up my family from the airport, and picking up a lot my friends who come into town from Florida,” Arroyo says.
Belley openly admits that he “knew nothing” about baseball when he met Arroyo. They both do share a love for music.
This summer Arroyo put out his first CD, Covering the Bases.
He says it mirrors his taste in music, with some of his favorite songs from the likes of Goo Goo Dolls, Alice in Chains, Fuel, and Stone Temple Pilots. (In the acknowledgments, Arroyo thanks his sister Serenity for not getting him into ‘80s music and ruining his musical taste.)
Arroyo started playing guitar in 1999. He was in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, pitching for their Double-A team in Pennsylvania, when he started playing with the clubhouse manager's guitar. The team's assistant general manager saw him playing and gave him an old guitar of his. Arroyo still takes that guitar on the road.
In 2003 he played one song at the Hot Stove, Cool Music Concert in Boston to benefit the Jimmy Fund. After that, the word got out about Arroyo's love of music, and eventually he was contacted by the same producer who put together an album with the New York Yankees' Bernie Williams.
Arroyo has taken steps to make sure his venture into the music industry doesn't become a distraction.
The album was put together during the off-season and most of his interviews during the season have been done in the Red Sox clubhouse, Arroyo says.
“I know in my heart if I'm too distracted or too tired to perform for the Boston Red Sox,” he says.
