John Casey, who grew up in Jamaica Plain and has been head baseball coach at Tufts University in Somerville since 1984, was inducted this month into the Boston Park League Hall of Fame. The league is the oldest amateur baseball league in the country. Casey was considered one of its top players in the 1980s and one of its best umpires in the 1990s. He has continued his support of the league since retiring from the diamond. Read more
My shoulder is held together with fishing line, says veteran righthander Dave Worthley of the Boston Park League’s Towne Club. And he’s not joking. Doctors gave me a 50-50 chance of being able to throw again, but I made it perfectly clear that for me it was 99 percent. Read more
Mike Ranieri is in the midst of his longest waiting game ever.
This time, the slugging baseball player isn’t stepping out of the batter’s box and playing games with an opposing pitcher.
His wait is for a ring on the telephone at his Braintree home or a knock on the door. You see, Ranieri is on the outside looking in. He is waiting for a call from Major League Baseball.
Four nights a week he puts on a uniform and plays center field for the All-Dorchester Sports League baseball team in the Boston Park League. And he keeps his ears and eyes open. Read more
Open the photo albums and you can see the Stewarts. Turn the page and listen to their stories – you’ll begin to feel the family’s traditions.
Bill Stewart can remember his grandpa’s stories. Bill heard them time and again. Stories of big games, great athletes, magical stadiums. Sports are a big part of the family tradition. But while lots of families hand down stories of legendary athletic events witnessed, the Stewart family hands down stories of participation, beginning with Grandpa Stewart, “Bill Sr.,” who was a National Hockey League (NHL) referee and a National League (N.L.) baseball umpire.
Generation After Generation: The Boston Stewarts – A Lot To Live Up To, by Dan Herbst, as appearing in Referee Magazine.
Forty years have passed, but they are still in a League of Their Own. The sight of women on the grass at Fenway Park seems as foreign today as it did when they wore skirts and high socks in the 1950s.
But one can see why the popularity of the all-female Colorado Silver Bullets is growing as they criss-cross America and Canada, making a statement that is much stronger than the movie of the same name. Their 6-0 loss to the Boston Park League All-Stars yesterday was not unexpected. What was surprising was that 5,200 went home convinced they’d been a part of history. Read more
After 65 years of continuous existence, the Boston Park League has been many things to many people. The only thing that it remains for all those who have played and the present players, is family.
Read The Boston Park League, by John Hinds, as appearing in Boston Red Sox Scorecard Magazine.
The Boston Park League, the nation’s oldest amateur baseball league, begins its 65th season tomorrow, and as usual, Milton resident and Mass. Envelope general manager John Kelliher will be part of the proceedings.
When Mass. Envelope won the league title last year, it marked Kelliher’s 11th Park League championship as either a manager or GM in a career that dates back to 1939, when he played for the old Hurley Club of Roxbury after graduating from Roxbury Memorial High.
“I’m retired from the MBTA now, so I’ve got more time to devote to baseball,” said the former Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers farmhand, “and I’m really looking forward to this season. Each spring, I kind of get rejuvenated because of baseball.” Read more
America’s oldest organized amateur baseball league — the Boston Park League — begins its 64th season tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Kelly Field in Hyde Park when the defending champion Towne Club meets the ADSL/Avi Nelson team in the traditional league opener.
Nine teams will play a 32-game schedule, according to Park League president Bob Powers, who, despite optimism about the caliber of competition, expressed pessimism about the league continuing to stay afloat financially after the 1993 season.
“We’re still attracting some of the top players in the Greater Boston area and beyond,” said Powers, “but their opportunity to play in this league beyond this year may be in jeopardy. We’re facing serious financial difficulty because of major reductions in funding {from the City of Boston} and services.”
According to Powers, the league — which consists of former professional players, current college and past college players and a few high school standouts — will survive financially this year, “but if we don’t get a corporate sponsor or find an alternative method of funding, the chances of survival past next year are slim at best.” Read more
Chris Higgins pitched a complete game and catcher Tim Finnegan went 2 for 3, including a homer and single, to lead Towne Club to a 12-0 victory over Avi Nelson/ADSL and the Park League championship last night at Casey Town Field in Dorchester.
After losing the first game of the best-of-seven series, 3-1, Towne Club, rattled off four straight victories to take the title. Read more
The Boston Park League, the oldest organized amateur baseball league in the country, begins its 63d consecutive season tonight at Kelly Field in Hyde Park, where last year’s champ, Hyde Park Sports, hosts Triple D’s of Jamaica Plain, last year’s runner-up. Read more
