What if a boy grew up in a small town playing baseball and soon knew he had found the passion of his life; what if his neighbor, a year younger, felt the same way?

What if a third boy moved a stone’s throw from the other two and, yes, went baseball-mad too?

What if all three of them coach the Bellingham High baseball team one day, starting with TJ Chiappone, who gave the job to Doug Houston, who stepped down for Andy Nolan? All from the same neighborhood. Talk about keeping it in-house.

Three coaches, best friends and a baseball-centric umbilical cord.

They are now fathers, which is why Chiappone, 50, and Houston, 49, are spectators, not coaches. Chiappone’s son Corey pitches at Assumption College; Houston’s son Jake is an infielder at Mass. Maritime. Chiappone took the first step two years ago, realizing that it was essential to attend his son’s matches. TJ had been a successful coach at Bellingham for 22 years. Houston took over, but had the same desire as Chiappone to follow his son’s college career.

So it shook up Nolan, at 46, the youngest of the trio. He gets his shot this spring. Nolan had been JV’s coach. The change did not surprise him.

“Doug had indicated that he would follow up on what TJ had done,” he said. Nolan’s son, Ryan, is part of the current Bellingham squad.

Chiappone was just a kid, aged 25, when he took over from the legendary Jim Bonnollo. “Jim loved the game and he was always ready,” said Chiappone, who played for Bonnollo and coached with him for a year.

A pitcher/outfielder, Chiappone did college as a freshman. The following season, the Blackhawks won the Tri-Valley League title. In his senior year, he hit over .500, stole 39 sacks and hit five homers.

Chiappone was also a good basketball player. In fact, that’s what he played at Bridgewater State. How come it’s not baseball? “Good question,” he said, even now, although a Tri-Valley League guy from Medfield, Mark Champagne, was Bridgewater’s baseball coach and recruited Chiappone.

“I couldn’t do both sports,” Chiappone said.

He chose hoops.

At Bellingham High, he had a way of coaching baseball and never swerved. “Playing defense, throwing strikes, bunting, making runs,” Chiappone said. “Small ball.”

Corey Chiappone wasn’t blown away when his dad revealed he was quitting training. It wasn’t exactly an ongoing dialogue between them, but there were hints, and Corey was starting to think that “when I started playing in college, he would retire.”

Still, when Assumption wasn’t playing, TJ dropped by Bellingham training to help out. He was an itinerant, a fixture in high school baseball.

“He was always a knowledgeable guy, capturing other people’s brains,” Corey said. “He knew all the coaches.

The connection between Chiappone and Houston goes back to their childhood paradise, Richardson Field. Houston served as Chiappone’s assistant for most of TJ’s long stay at Bellingham.

“I was the best man at his wedding,” Houston said. “We were yin and yang for a long time.”

Houston’s son was 4 years old when he discovered baseball. When Jake was old enough to play on a team, “he slept with his uniform and hat on,” his dad said. In high school, Jake was a TVL All-Star shortstop and did college as a freshman. “We needed a glove, and he did a good job on the court,” dad noted.

Like Chiappone, Houston wondered what to do when her son left for college.

“I could still be involved (with the Bellingham team) but other things are more important to take care of,” he said.

Blood being thicker than water. On top of that, Houston has an eighth grade daughter, Jacobi, who is totally addicted to sports. “I have to watch my children play,” he said.

When it comes to Blackhawks baseball, Houston has participated before. He hosted a golf tournament at the city’s New England Country Club, with proceeds going to the team. It was a quick sale: four hours, 144 listings. That should pay for a few bats and balls.

Mass. Maritime was the only school Jake Houston had applied to.

“He was always a structured kid,” his father said. Jake will play for Mike Kelley, son of football coach and Framingham State University athletic director Tom Kelley.

“It means a lot to me that my dad wants to watch me play,” said Jake, who described his dad as “he would do anything to help us win. He knows his stuff and would look for other teams. He did his duty.”

And so, it’s Andy Nolan’s team now. Do you remember him, the kid who moved into the neighborhood? He learned a lot by being around Chiappone.

“TJ is a phenomenal coach,” Nolan said. “He is strong, but he will also put his arm around a player. And Doug had a ton of success coaching the Franklin Legion team.

It wasn’t always easy for Nolan to become a coach at Bellingham. He works for a construction company in Brighton. The good news? His uncles own the business. A schedule has been favorably drawn up.

Nolan looks at Bellingham’s work with an open mind.

“I’m just the guardian of the program. I’m just trying to carry on.”

Any questions, well, there’s a few guys in the neighborhood, walking distance in fact, he can pass. Whenever

Lenny Megliola can be contacted at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @lennymegs.