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Towne Club Wins Championship By Forfeit

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Towne Club became the Park League baseball champion last night after Conley refused to take the field, thereby forfeiting Game 4 of the teams’ best-of-seven series. Game 3 on Thursday night also was decided by forfeit, Towne Club getting the win when Conley used an ineligible player – designated hitter Jeff Clinton, who batted once in the game. Conley went on to a 6-4 victory, which was later reversed when Towne Club manager Skip Landry took issue with Clinton’s appearance in the game. Park League playoff rules prohibit the use of a player who has not played in at least 11 regular-season games. The Conley team refused to take the field for last night’s game after being informed that use of Clinton would result in another forfeit.

USA Olympic Team Home Runs Hammer Park League

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Fenway Park served as a compatible facility last night for the US Olympic baseball team’s free-swingers. The Park League All-Stars served as nine statues. Practice fodder. A light practice, at that. The touring Olympians raised their record to 16-2-1 with a 17-2 mismatch before a crowd of 5000, and mercy was accorded after six innings because of a curfew. “Do you ever get bored playing teams with noticeably less talent than yours?” Olympic designated hitter Will Clark was asked. “The only thing I get tired of is getting up early,” Clark said. “Everyone is dragging.”

A Whall-To-Wall Encounter; From Park League To Fenway Park, Big Green To Green Monster

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The Jolly Green Giant will meet the Green Monster today. It’s not a Godzilla movie, just a 6-foot-6, .576 hitter from Dartmouth debuting in Fenway Park. “I’ve always had a dream of playing in Fenway,” said Tim Whall, 23, of Roslindale. “Dreams of sliding in the dirt, of touching the Monster.” Whall is a part-time lifeguard, a one-time high school math teacher, a full-time job-seeker and a spare-time first baseman in the Park League. He picked the right time to hit .576, because his Park League All- Stars will play the US Olympic team tonight at 5.

New Era Begins For Park League; Mortimer Directs The Show

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Back in the late 1950s, he was a spindly kid playing first base for Boston English High and for various Park League clubs at night. Today, after many years in both sandlot and organized ball, Walt Mortimer is the new executive director of the Park League. “Some of the happiest days of my life were spent playing in this league,” Mortimer said. “Along with a lot of other interested alumni,’ I’m trying to help in any way I can to keep it going.” Mortimer acknowledged that the league has had some rough sledding in recent years, particularly since the onset of Prop. 2 1/2 . “But with a lot of dedicated people pitching in, we have kept going, and I feel that this year I can say the outlook is better than it has been for some time.” Mortimer said that the league will have nine solid entries, the same number as last year, with the season’s opener pitting defending champion Mass. Envelope against the Dick Conley Club on Monday, May 21, at 7 p.m., at Caseytown Field in Dorchester.

Mass Envelope Rebounds, 10-6

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Mass Envelope did just about everything it could last night to lose the opening game of the Park League championship baseball series. It walked 12 Conley batters. It committed four errors. It threw infield ground balls into left field. Mass Envelope, the defending Park League champion, should have lost. It didn’t.

Park League Gets A Commissioner: Hal Kallenberg

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For Hal Kallenberg of West Roxbury, there will be more responsibilities this summer than last, but otherwise his lifestyle will be about the same – he’ll be attending a Park League baseball game, or two, just about every night. The difference is that Kallenberg – ex-player, ex-umpire, ardent fan – has been named “commissioner” of the Park League. It’s the first time that the league, at age 54 the oldest sandlot league in the country, has established such an office. It is part of a continuing effort by current and former Park League participants to keep the league operative.

Baby’s Window Shatters As Mass. Envelope Wins It

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There were two outs last night in the seventh inning of the seventh game of this long Park League championship series. The league sponsor pushed his way into the crowd behind home plate to pick up the trophies from the scorekeeper for the quick postgame presentation. A woman pushed her way through the crowd to the scorer’s table. “I live in that green apartment building over there,” she said. She was very upset. “Someone hit a ball through my window. There’s a baby in the room, glass everywhere . . .” “Report it to City Hall,” the scorekeeper told him, and that was that. This was a baseball game!

Triple D’s Prevent Sweep, 14-4; Seven-Run First Staves Off Mass. Envelope In Park League Final

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Pitcher John Casey had just beaten Mass. Envelope, 14-4, last night to keep Triple D’s alive in the Park League playoff finals, and he had looked good doing it. Well, he looked good if you excluded the four triples he gave up. And the seven-run lead his teammates gave him after the first inning. And a fastball that wouldn’t draw a speeding ticket from an Alabama state trooper. “That’s what happens when you lose your fastball after three innings. You pitch and duck,” Casey said. “What the hell, you either win or lose, and if we beat them every inning we’re not going to lose the game.”

Kelliher Keeps Park League Hopping

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The Boston Park League has been on the brink several times during its sometimes stormy 52-year existence, but John Kelliher is one guy who never has feared that it would go over the edge. Kelliher, the dean of league managers, always has been the ultimate optimist, fully confident that there are enough people who cared and that somehow the league would stay alive. And, despite some squeakers, so far he has been right. “The Park League means so much to so many people that I can’t believe they would ever let it go down the drain,” Kelliher said. “There are so many men successful in business and the professions, who remember and appreciate their own pleasant years in the league, that they will pitch in and help out.” Kelliher himself obviously is of that ilk. Except for three years of service during World War II, he has been affiliated with the league for 40 years, as player, manager, general-manager – and helpful recruiter of talent for other teams as well as for Mass. Envelope, his own ballclub.

Park League Planning Clinics

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The Boston Park League owns the national record for longevity of sandlot baseball leagues and is taking steps to prolong the mark. The league, which opens its 52d consecutive season with four games tomorrow, is planning a series of clinics for teen-aged players, many of whom may eventually play in the league. “We’re trying to do everything we can to keep baseball interest in the city alive, especially among the young fellows,” said John Kelliher, the general manager of the Mass. Envelope entry and a man who has been involved in the Park League for more than three decades.