At 57, Franz Strassmann is the second-oldest active player in the Boston Park League in addition to playing for two teams in the Men’s Senior Baseball League and Boston Amateur Baseball League. Read more
The annual Red Sox Foundation-run program brings young Bostonians to Japan or Japanese youths to Boston for a 10-day exchange of baseball and culture. The guests stay with local host families — an experience that literally transforms their view of the world and their place in it. The program features baseball clinics and scrimmages with local youth leagues along with visits to educational and cultural attractions. Harvey Soolman and the BPL hosted.
Louie DiTullio, BPL Hall of Fame pitcher 1997 passed away on April 28, 2014 in Florida. Louie was an outstanding left handed pitcher for the Carlevale Braves and the Supreme Saints. He also played for the Easton Huskies of the Cranberry League and later became the League Commissioner.
A memorial service will be held for BPL Hall of Famer Louie DiTullio at St. Joseph’s Church, Holbrook, Tuesday, May 13th at 9am. Read more
In May of 1973, the Dick Conley Club of West Roxbury and the Supreme Saints faced off in the Boston Park League opener. But this was no opener to take sitting down.
On this particular Monday night at Roslindale’s Fallon Field, the Park League introduced the designated hitter to sandlot baseball. Dick Paster didn’t get to play the field this day. But his at bats were historic. Read more
Boston Park League legend, John Tedeman, passed away on February 6, 2014 in his home surrounded by his loving family. The Class of 2004 Hall of Famer was 69 years old.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, March 14th, 2014 at the Granite Links Golf Club at Quarry Hills, 100 Quarry Hills Dr., Quincy from 11:30am-2:30pm. Read more
Five Mansfield baseball players who started together in Little League who are now either in college or recent graduates are still playing ball together in the Boston Park League, the country’s oldest amateur baseball league.
Robert and Chris “C.J.” Johnson, Michael Perillo, Dan Gad, and Ben Blaisdell are all members of the of the TJO Sports team in the Boston Park League. They play third base, first base/pitcher, infielder/outfielder, catcher, and shortstop, respectively.
The team is coached by longtime Mansfield Little League coaches Bob Johnson, Robert and C.J.’s dad, and John Perillo, Michael’s Dad. Read more
J.P. Songin is a perennial all-star in the Boston Park League. He also has a love-hate relationship with baseball.
“I love the game, especially hitting,’’ said the 36-year-old Norwood resident, a player-manager for the Palmer Club, “and I hate to strike out.’’
That motivation, according to league records kept since the 2007 season, has indeed brought out the best in Songin, who has fanned just 33 times in his last 651 at-bats while hitting .346.
A star at Walpole High who belted two homers in one game against Bay State Conference rival Natick his senior season in 1995, Songin went on to record a .402 average in his final year at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Ga. Read more
Medford’s Harvey Soolman couldn’t make the Northeastern varsity baseball team, but he quickly found a home in the Park League.
Somewhere under the crumbling cement bleachers at Kelly Field in Hyde Park, Harvey -Soolman works his way through a sea of equipment and benches in the dark, finds a fuse box on the wall, and flicks a switch. The lights towering above the baseball diamonds begin to flicker in the twilight as the Little League field across the way enjoys the last few splashes of sunshine that the day will offer.
Soolman appears in the outfield, strolling out from behind the bleachers like a legend pushing his way out of the corn fields and onto the warning track of Ray Kinsella’s field in Iowa. He is in full uniform, with number 11 emblazoned in red on the back of his JM Force jersey, the team he manages in the Boston Park League. Read more
Kevin McGlinchy made his Major League debut at age 21, in April 1999, with the Atlanta Braves. That October, he was on the mound at Yankee Stadium, pitching in the World Series. But his last big league appearance came when he was just 23.
Still, he has no regrets.
“Nah, I wouldn’t change anything,” said McGlinchy, drafted out of Malden High by the Braves in the fifth round of the 1995 first-year player draft. “Because then it would screw up the evolution of my life.
“But I feel like I could have done more. That’s why I’m still playing. I got four years in the majors and six years in the minor leagues. That’s a pretty good career so far.”
After several years of coaching, helping out alumni camps for the Major League Baseball Players Association, and giving private pitching instructions, the 34-year-old McGlinchy is pitching again. He was undefeated for Carlson of the Boston Park League. In 10 regular-season games he went 8-0 with a 0.76 ERA, racking up 76 strikeouts and just six walks in 59 1/3 innings. He allowed just one home run for the season. Read more
It’s a sultry summer night, and the collision of wooden bats and hurtling baseballs echoes around the cozy grass amphitheater of Fallon Field in Roslindale.
“Nice throw, Danny!’’ barks Franz Strassmann, the coach of Grossman Marketing, which is battling to wrap up a playoff berth. Scattered applause ripples from the metal bleachers behind home plate and from lawn chairs perched along the foul lines.
This is the Boston Park League, the oldest continuing amateur baseball league in the country, and a throwback to a slower era when neighborhood and company teams drew rabid fans to simple ballparks without towering video screens, luxury boxes, and gourmet concessions.
They also had pretty good ballplayers, too. Read more
