Baby’s Window Shatters As Mass. Envelope Wins It

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 pitcher Bill O’Leary was up. Mass. Envelope led, 6-5. Pitcher Dave McLean looked at his catcher, trying not to pay attention to the 4000 or so crowded around Casey Field in Dorchester. O’Leary hit a grounder to shortstop. He was thrown out by a step. The game was over and Mass. Envelope ran onto the mound.

“They won the three games and were tight,” said Mass. Envelope manager Mark McHugh, his arm around the big trophy. “It was like they were waiting for it to get over, and it just didn’t happen. They had to wait until their backs were to the wall. I’ve never been associated with guys like that.”

Mass. Envelope led, 5-3, when O’Leary was up with two on and one out against Mass. Envelope starter Ed Elliott in the fifth. O’Leary ripped a massive foul homer headed for an apartment building a good 400 feet away. He ripped another foul ball. McHugh replaced Elliott with McLean, and O’Leary hit into a double play to end the inning.

“He was tiring and McLean was throwing heat,” McHugh said. McLean struck out Dennis O’Connor to end the inning.

Mass. Envelope catcher Jim Mello tripled to right to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Harvey Krupnick followed with a roller off of O’Leary’s glove to third baseman Harry Moulis, who threw home to try to get Mello. It was a close play, and Mello was called safe. Triple D’s catcher Dan Henry almost knocked umpire Jimmy McNally over arguing with him.

“In a game like this, it’s hard to keep your temper,” said teammate JohnCasey. But it wasn’t a game, yet.

In the sixth, Triple D’s Mike Koffman doubled to center, driving in two runs to make it 6-5. Mass. Envelope had led the series, 3-0 in games, and Triple D’s had come back to force it to this. Mass. Envelope looked as if it had this game wrapped up, but now Triple D’s had Koffman on second with two out and there was an inning left.

Mass. Envelope’s Dave DiBenedetto led off the bottom of the sixth with a drive to right that Luch Petruzziello botched for a two-base error. Rick Stuart hit a fly to Petruzziello, who threw to cutoff man Koffman. Koffman turned around to see DiBenedetto trying for third. He threw him out by 10 feet. A brief argument followed. Both teams came off the bench. But the fight was stalled.

The teams went into the seventh and O’Leary grounded out and the game was over. They named O’Leary MVP, which was rare, considering he had lost the game. But it was right.

“What the hell,” said Triple D’s manager Leo Casey. “C’est la vie. What the hell.”

Copyright © 1982 Boston Globe, all rights reserved. Written by Ian Thomsen.