2004 Through 2020 Newsletter Review

 

2006    The first newsletter appeared in 2006, with weekly scores, standings, Geezer Kudos, and league news. Final team records in 2006 were 11-5, 9-7, 8-8, 8-8, 6-10, 6-10. We experimented with a hit & run play that never caught on. Coaches could send a hit & run signal; the runner at first could take off with the pitch; if the batter missed hitting the ball the catcher could throw to first and catch the runner off, with the runner out if the throw beat him back to first. We also had a season-long debate over whether to have runners stop at the base or allow them to overrun. Bob Clifford the Younger led the league with five home runs, three of them in a single game, one to each field. Ray Theriault led the league with nine pitching wins; Lenny Reno had eight.

            Memorable events include Gary De Coste’s hitting for the cycle, first time in the brief league history. Jim Sullivan crashed his car into the barrier at Lawson Field; apparently, playing loud music as he arrived wasn’t enough for Jim. With an already-broken finger, Bill Roman took a line drive off the same finger—of course. Lou Chin hit a foul pop-up that broke the windshield on Kevin McLaughlin’s car. Frank Murano’s athletic cup fell out of his pants as he rounded third base. Someone on the opposite team picked it up, took it home, cleaned it, and used it next game!

            Tom Edwards arranged to have a young, buxom woman, a physical therapist (very physical), come to the field on Wednesday pick up day to coach players on loosening-up exercises; her class was well attended. Wally Introne was inducted into the Braintree High Hall of Fame. Bob Maguire emailed league headquarters early one morning with the disturbing news that the field was covered with poodles; it had rained the night before and a lot of puddles were scattered about—not poodles. Bob Ciafardoni struck out while using Lenny Reno’s brand new, $300 bat, and threw the bat against the backstop, where it hit one of the steel posts. Good thing for Deaf Bobby that Officer Reno’s police-issued pistol was locked in the trunk. Rick Dangora bruised his ribs in a fall. The fall was in the field and not in the rush to get Joe Dominico’s lobster salad at the cookout; Joe, a lobsterman, always made a big tray of his salad for every cookout. After we had established “the Orange Circle” meant to provide a safe place for a player who might be less agile than the others, Tom LaGrasta was hit inside the Circle with a line drive off the foot, which was broken by the blow. So much for the Orange Circle.

 

2007    Only the 2007 final results sheet remains. Team records were 12-8, 11-9, 11-9, 10-10, 9-11, 7-13. Mike Giannangelo hit nine homers, Dave Joseph and Dennis Crowley eight each. Dennis had a skin cancer problem and even on the hottest days wore long sleeves and a slouch hat that covered most of his head, and he may be the fastest runner the league has seen. Joe Dominico won twelve games, Kevin Maher nine. Bob Ciafardoni had part of his lung removed after the season, and started bringing his portable oxygen bottle and mask to the games. He’d sit on the bench with his O2, step up for his at-bat, and return to the bench for a shot of gas. And we tried to organize a “second season,” ten games in five doubleheaders, with a widened plate to hasten the game. Like the Orange Circle, the idea was a flop.

 

2008    Team records: 14-6, 11-9, 10-10, 10-10, 8-12, 7-13. Home run leaders were Dave Joseph with eight, Dennis Crowley with seven, and Bruce Malone with six. Peter Andrew and Ray Theriault each had eleven wins, followed by Joe Dominico with nine. For the second season in a row, each team finished only one head-to-head win behind the team in front of it. Ray pitched both games in a doubleheader, won them both, and gave up only eleven runs in the two games.

            Former league player Tom Mullahy received a medal from Bhumibol Aduladej, aka “Rama IX,” the ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty of Thailand. No kidding. Tom remains to this day the only league player to be so honored. Nobody knows why Tom was awarded the medal. Rookie Bruce Wood got a lot of family support in his first game; two carloads, one all the way from New Hampshire, came to cheer him on. Roy Harris’s book Pulitzer’s Gold was published. He tried to get the guys in the league to read it, but it had no pictures. Remember Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump? Well, we went one better with our own Major Dan Kelly, who, after announcing that Congress had authorized former members of the military to salute the flag even in civvies, got all former military guys to line up on the base paths at Lawson on Memorial Day and made us all salute the flag. He outranked everyone. Dan served in a National Guard artillery unit and had some scary stories about where the NG gunners dropped shells on the Cape.

            We added Beechwood Field in Cohasset to our game venues. Beechwood was a beautiful place to play ball, with fences at 250 feet and a perfect infield. We got to use it for only a year because the neighbors complained about our early-morning activities.

            Personnel problems, almost always an issue every year, caused the addition of four players to one team that was down to eight; amazingly, nobody complained. By July 13 we had eighteen percent of drafted players no longer active for one reason or another. Over the course of the season ninety-eight different players saw some action on the field. Dick Mazzone had his knee scoped; Dave Joseph had a broken foot; John Bonner’s gall bladder was removed. To emphasize our ongoing health issues, the newsletter put out a partial medical history of the league: three cancer surgeries, two rotator cuffs, two cases of vertigo, drop-foot, Parkinson’s, two knee and two hip replacements, two heart attacks, three eye surgeries, a minor stroke, a m.e.r.s.a infection, polio, Legionnaires Disease, nerve ganglion damage, one kidney surgery, one aneurism, and one guy with nine fingers!

            After two years ace reporter Little Jimmy Olsen finally started spelling Rick Reimer’s name correctly, and not as “Rimer.” Wes Hahn’s shorts fell down to his knees as he was running the bases, exposing is slinky black—possible silk—drawers; nobody got close enough to tell for sure. But even funnier, and probably the funniest event ever to happen on the field in this league, was the horrible scorpion attack on Jim Moore.

            It was a peaceful and pleasant day at Lawson and the game was in full progress when suddenly Jim let out a scream and started grabbing at his pants leg. He fell to the ground and started yelling that something was in his pants attacking him. The game came to an abrupt halt as everyone on the field ran to Jim’s aid as he rolled and writhed on the grass, yelling in pain, clutching at his pants in a frantic effort to get the terrible creature off his leg. Nobody had any idea what was attacking poor Jim. Was it a scorpion, a tarantula, a snake, a rat? Quick-thinking Jim Keeley started to pull down Jim’s pants to let whatever it was escape, but now Jim resisted the aid; maybe, unlike Wes Hahn, he wasn’t wearing underwear! And then—suddenly—the creature appeared, causing nearby players to recoil in horror at the sight of . . . . . . . . . Jim’s batting glove! Somehow the glove had fallen down Jim’s pants, and the Velcro on the glove had become entangled in the hair on Jim’s leg so that every time he moved the Velcro pulled loose, only to get re-stuck somewhere else. Jim survived the ordeal, but probably has yet to recover from the embarrassment.

            Kenny Longo made the play of the year on June 8 when he initiated a game-ending triple play, 5-4-3, Kenny to Dennis Ballou to Art LeMay. Later in the season Joe Dominico pitched an 8-0 shutout, followed a month later by Kevin Maher who threw a 9-0 shutout.

 

2009    Team win totals were 15, 11, 11, 8, 7, and 5. Ken Schneider led the league with seven home runs, with Mike Giannangelo right behind at six. Tom Kennedy had twelve pitching wins, and Ray Theriault was second with seven. A league-wide vote was held: 44-20, players could courtesy run once an inning; foul ball third strike was kept, 43-20; establishing age divisions was shot down 51-13. No mail-in ballots, no hanging chads, no ballot harvesting.

            We had a cold, wet June, and Dave LeCam, attempting to field a ball, fell flat on his back into a mud puddle; he looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator. On July 5 Jim Keeley cut the entire infield at Gates with his own lawn mower after Lou DellaValle had driven to Jim’s home—in Scituate—to load Jim’s mower into Lou’s truck. A group of league volunteers painted and repaired the front of the Council on Aging building as a gesture of thanks for the COA’s support—including financial support—for the league. Those were the days when we could offer premiums like league sweatshirts and windbreakers, thanks to the financial assistance from the COA.

            Plans by the town for a new softball field in front of the high school were nixed by an environmental group who said that the “vernal pool,” originally just a big hole dug to get fill for another construction location at the high school, was environmentally sensitive; so it was actually a home for slugs, worms, frogs, snakes, dragonflies, and probably rats.

            Kevin McLaughlin hit line drives off the feet of Tom Kennedy and Joe Dominico while they were pitching, and did the same to Bob Maguire at third. All three looked as if they had a broken foot, but luckily that was not the case. Bob also suffered a bad hop that struck him near the eye. He drove himself to the ER, where doctors performed a CAT scan on his head; they found nothing. Brian Sullivan, standing in foul territory, was hit in the belly by a Ken Schneider line drive, and the ball bounced thirty feet; guys at the other field could hear the impact. Joe Dominico accidentally (we think) hit Jim Sullivan in the temple with a thrown ball; luckily, it was Jim. Dick Hines missed every game until August 2, when he finally returned after a health issue. During his recovery, Dick made every game, kept score, called out the batters for every inning, and did everything he could to help his team.

We switched teams with two players to bolster a failing team that was 1-9 mid-season, and had 500 business cards printed and distributed to a number of players to give to any likely recruit for the league. We got one recruit, Mike Panarelli.

On August 23, Frank Pumphret intentionally started an unusual unassisted double play. He caught a hard one-hopper right by the base, first tagged the runner still standing on the base, and only then stepped on the base to put out the batter. A long-time umpire, Frank later explained that even though the runner at first was still on the base, the force was on. If he had stepped on the base, he would have removed the force, enabling the runner to attempt to get to second, requiring a throw and then a tag play, always iffy propositions in this league.

            Herb ”Bucky” Cohen showed up sporting cowboy boots, and Mike Giannangelo, attending a party, spoke to a woman who, when she found out Mike played senior softball, asked if he knew Joe Marmai. Mike said he did, and the women commented on Joe’s “nice buns.” Joe is not a baker.

            At one point in the season exactly seventeen home runs had been hit at each of our three fields.

            On August 27, Jim Moore, who must have made up his mind to become the league’s version of “Curly” of the Three Stooges, got caught in the “Run-down Without the Ball” incident. Jim rounded second, but retreated when a devious third baseman came at him with the glove hand. Jim thought a ball must be in the glove, but it was actually empty. The third baseman and shortstop both pretended they were tossing the ball back and forth, causing Jim to constantly slam on the brakes and reverse course. The ball eventually showed up and Jim was tagged out, which was an incorrect call because the fielders had been engaging in obstruction by pretending to have the ball. When Jim retired, we lost a great source of hilarious stories.

 

2010    Team records: 15-5, 12-8, 12-8, 9-11, 7-13, 5-15.  Ken Schneider led the league in homers again with eight, and Mike Giannangelo was runner-up again with six. Rick Reimer won thirteen games, one game better than Dave Hockman; Joe Dominico and Kevin Maher each won eight.

            On a chilly spring day, Ray Theriault, who almost always wore shorts, weakened and showed up with long pants, prompting Glenn Tedford to comment “I’ve never seen Ray Theriault with his pants on.”

            Dave Joseph got an infected leg after being hit by a batted ball. George Mallett, with a body mostly made of replacement parts, hit a grand slam. On a particularly cool morning with a low, hovering fog, Bill Roman, after his team lost badly, quipped “I guess we’re not a fog team.”

            Brian Sullivan appeared on Fox News talking about the film he narrated and the various problems with air travel safety, and he also had his “Johnny-On-The-Spot” incident. The ride from Plymouth can be long, and breakfast can weigh heavily upon us, so Brian usually made a final pre-game stop at the port-a-potty that was at Lawson at the time. He must have been a Boy Scout, because he always brought his own toilet paper. He put his keys on a truck—not his—parked nearby, used the men’s room, and when he emerged he realized that his keys had driven off with the truck, leaving Brian standing in the middle of the road holding his roll of toilet paper! And he was a federal security agent, a member of the “Red Team” that tested airport security measures.

 

2011    Team records were 11-9, 11-9, 10-10, 10-10, 9-11, 9-11.  Ed Fegreus stepped up big time. While some of his teammates could only complain about not having a pitcher available on Opening Day, Ed did something about it, went home, and practiced pitching. He then went on to lead the league with ten wins. Bill Roman had nine. Andy Prasnal led in homers with six, followed by Dave Joseph, Mike Giannangelo, and Ron Bagnulo with four each.

            Tough guy retired cop Ralph Ricci was spotted tenderly and quietly singing a song to his ailing wife in the car. Frank Sinatra had nothing to worry about.

            Lucien Rousseau for some reason dangled his head over home plate just as Lou DellaValle was taking a practice swing, and “Whack!” Lucien took a shot to the head. Seems like we survive a lot of head injuries in this league, for some reason. The bat was not damaged. Tom Edwards was bitten by a Jack Russell terrier, which is one of the smartest dogs, so it must have had a good reason; no one knows if the dog lived or died. Joe Dominico backed his car into a young woman’s vehicle, causing a small dent. The woman called 9-1-1, and two Scituate patrol cars and two fire engines, sirens screeching, arrived on the scene; being a Scituate cop can be boring. Bruce Malone fell on the lip at home at Lawson and broke bones in his wrist.

            Some Puritan complained about a player smoking on the bench. Games were cancelled for Hurricane Irene, and a few guys showed up at the field, Don Young one of them. He offered the opinion “We could have played in this!” Mailmen. Come to think of it, Jim Moore was a mailman, too.

 

2012    Records were 14-3, 10-8, 10-9, 7-11, 7-12, 6-11. On a couple of occasions coaches chose not to play on a wet field, while other coaches played, hence the unbalanced numbers of games played. Giannangelo hit four, Schneider three home runs. M. Bob Condon (the “M” for Methuseleh) won thirteen games, Hockman nine, Fegreus eight. Fred Greer was robbed of a tremendously-struck home run when the runner in front of him stepped on the wrong home plate for the third out, ending the inning. Probably another mailman.

            EMass started requiring pitchers to step behind a screen after several pitchers were hit by batted balls. We were worried about pitchers getting hit, too, but for other reasons. Pitcher Joe Dominico, watching for a potential play at home, was hit in the back of the head, not by a batted ball, but by a throw home. The ambulance came and Joe was carried off to the ER, where they put four staples into his head; they had run out of nails. Joe later told everyone “They gave me a head scan and a chicken salad sandwich.” Probably wanted lobster.

            The Patriot Ledger did a story on Kate Wilson, the first woman to play in the league. The theme of the story was “there is no story” because the crusty and cantankerous male chauvinist pigs in the league (the paper didn’t actually say it that way, but that was obviously the idea) all accepted a woman player without any ado at all.

            We had our first VFW pizza party, John Mann’s idea after he became co-commissioner after the retirement of Tom Edwards. Steve and Chris Morris drove all the way up from Duxbury (often referred to as “Deluxebury in the news, where people drink Evian and not Poland Springs like the rest of us) to groom the fields, in secret, one Saturday evening after a rain storm. But the league has hidden cameras in the trees and we found out who did the good deed.

            On July 29, Airborne trooper Bob Maguire celebrated the anniversary of his first parachute jump. The news joked “He made two dozen more, all but one successful.”

 

2013    Records: 11-9, 11-9, 10-10, 10-10, 9-11, 9-11.  Pretty good balance, and the standings exactly duplicated those of 2011. Andy Prasnal led in homers with six, followed by Dave Joseph, Giannangelo, and Bagnulo with four apiece. Ed Fegreus notched ten wins, Roman nine, Condon and Maher seven each. A league-wide vote kept the single game elimination playoff format, 62-22, and decided to keep the catch-up rule, 55-29.

            Frank Shaughnessy had some scary anemia issues, but doctors figured out the problem. Bill Roman was hit in the face at pitcher, his glasses driven into the skin, cutting his nose. Sam Manian dislocated his shoulder making a spectacular game-saving, game-ending diving catch in the outfield. Dave Gilman drove Sam to the hospital. Bill Spooner and his eighty-six-year-old father went ridin’ on their motorcycles on July 21.

            Hamish McLeish hit for the cycle on June 9. Mike O’Neil started a triple play from RCF, making the put out and firing home to George Mallett to cut down the runner; then George threw to Bob Taylor to nab the runner trying to sneak into third. That summer George also topped his previous Senior Olympics feat of six gold medals, winning eight this time around.

            And for the second year in a row the last place team won the playoffs, Brian Sullivan’s team in 2012, and Duke Schneider’s in 2013.

 

2014    Records: 17-7, 17-7, 12-12, 11-13, 8-16, 7-17.  We scheduled additional doubleheaders, which did not go over well, and players clamored for fewer next season. Dave Gilman and Bill Thorne each hit nine home runs, Dave Joseph six. Bill Spooner won seventeen games, as did Ed Fegreus. Ed also won two in the playoffs, giving him a 19-7 record for the season, the best pitching record by any pitcher in the history of the league. Many years ago Ed Schroth also won seventeen. Ed had been injured severely in a car accident and always wore a football helmet when he pitched. Kevin Maher and Bob Condon each won eight. And we held another vote: No game on July 4 won 38-23, go back to Humarock for the end-of-the-year party won 40-22, and starting single games at 9:30 won 40-21.

            Dave Hockman, standing on 2B, tried to leap over a liner hit straight at him off Kevin McLaughlin’s bat, but got hit by the ball and was called out. Ironic, because our own “Hockman Rule” stated that a runner hit by a batted ball while ON a base is NOT out. If Dave had stayed on the base and was hit by the ball, he would have been safe. They don’t teach that kind of thing at Harvard. Dave was unhurt, but Lenny Reno suffered that summer from Legionnaire’s Disease.

            Bob Taylor’s grandson, Brian Gibbons, made his NHL debut.

            Dave Joseph hit the flagpole at Dreamwold for a HR. That may be the only time this has happened.

            On August 8, one of our apparently less agile players committed interference by running into the fielder at the very same moment he got hit by the batted ball, so committed two acts of interference simultaneously. We’re a creative bunch, at least when it comes to messing up.

 

2015    Teams went 14-4, 13-5, 8-9, 7-10, 5-12, 5-12. Hockman won ten games, Ken Robbins eight, Maher and Reimer six each. Dr. Mike Kelleher his eight homers, Joe Cummings seven, Duke Schneider six.

            Ken Longo, who rants and raves against “Geezer Kudos” got teased when it was reported that he had hit three triples and a homer, scored four and knocked in seven, stole three bases, and had three outfield assists and an unassisted triple play.

            Joe Dominico died during the 2015 season, but managed to make one final social event, the VFW Pizza Party. Joe’s graveside service later in the summer was attended by about forty-five of his former teammates, a wonderful showing of love and respect. The best Joe story (Old Men and the Sea) was about his lobster boat with the empty gas tank. Joe took Dick Hines and Kenny Longo out on the high seas with a mostly-empty gas tank, ran out of fuel, and ended floating helplessly on the waves. An eighty-year-old man passing by in his kayak had to tow Joe’s boat back to the harbor. Picture the scene: A little old man in his plastic kayak paddling away to tug a thirty-five foot lobster boat with three grown men on board. You couldn’t make up a story like that. Even Hemingway couldn’t imagine these old men and the sea.

            Joe won a total of forty-five games, including one shutout, and had twelve wins in 2007. They don’t make them like Joe anymore.

            John Mann stepped down as commissioner, replaced by Bob Gibson.

            Duke hit for the cycle on May 10, joining Hamish McLeish and Gary DeCoste in the elite group of three who have accomplished that feat.

           

2016    Team records were 14-5, 12-7, 10-9, 8-11, 8-11, and 5-14. We approved the use of senior bats for players seventy-five years old or older, and the newsletter had to issue warnings about a near fight at Lawson, and later chided players for “chirping” at umpires, and each other. Birdbrains chirp. Jim Carmody and Bob Condon returned to the league after serious health issues, and Fred Greer, returning from an injury, hit a triple in his first game back; he later hit two triples in a playoff game. Two of our players, Bill Spooner and Andy Prasnal, lost their Greatest Generation World War Two veteran fathers. And the league voted 31-30 to keep the catch-up rule.

            The newsletter cracked a few jokes: Jimmy Johnson lost a Luminex watch and was offering a $5000 reward. And one newsletter stated “If you didn’t get the email news, please email to let us know.” A running joke concerned Frank Shaughnessy’s friend, Bob Mullis, who nobody ever saw, knew, or met, although rumors have it he showed up for one game. Some thought Frank had multiple-personality “friends” and Mullis was one of them. On August 28 Wally Introne arrived at the field in a Yellow Cab.

            Charlie O’Donnell had five hits, including the game-winner, and also leaned over the barrier in right at Dreamwold to steal a home run away from the opposition. Bob Clifford the Younger had an amazing August. At one point he had nine straight hits between 8/1 and 8/8, on 8/14 hit a grand slam, and on 8/21 had four hits and five rbi. On 8/14 Kevin Maher notched league career win number seventy five, which includes two of the four shutouts we’ve experienced. Dave Joseph had seven hits in a game on July 31.

            Kevin Maher was hit on the shin with a liner and had to be helped off the field; Brian Sullivan stepped in as relief pitcher and finished the inning. But Kevin iced down and then returned to finish the game. Tom Heffernan took twenty-four consecutive pitches for balls, and walked six straight times. Dave Joseph hit two doubles over the barrier in right at Dreamwold.

2017    Team records were 12-4, 9-7, 8-7-1, 7-8-1, 7-9, 4-12. We had our second woman player in the league, Sandra McMahon, Rod Hemeon’s daughter, who lived on Cape Cod. Eventually, Sandra had to drop out because of the long drives and crazy Cape traffic. We also had to play two seven-inning games involving four different teams every Sunday at Lawson as the town hired the slowest-moving construction company they could find to rebuild Dreamwold. No more than two men were ever observed actually working on the field. The “crew” building the field apparently never played ball, because they ended up planting home plate backwards, with the point toward second base. The distances between bases were all different.  Players and coaches were very cooperative and considerate, and after a few stumbles and glitches early on we pulled off the two games without inconveniencing the teams scheduled for the later game.

Goose started his Orange team with the assistance of Joe Cummings, who went out and bought orange-striped pants to go with his orange cleats. Rick Wilcox at 1B had a throw tick off his glove, but he managed to squeeze his thighs together and catch the ball; it was self-defense. Rick hasn’t moved that fast since 1964. Bill Spooner pitched and won a game in which he held the opponents to three runs; he got five hits, too. George Mallett (the “George” in the news) had four hits, including a walk-off double to win the game. Not bad for a guy who’s 25% titanium and Teflon.

            Dick Mazzone took a four-straight-ball walk and became the first player to “bat himself in” under that new rule when he doubled. Steve Young in RF barehanded a bouncing ball and threw out the runner at first; probably forgot he had a glove on the other hand. Wally Introne hit a game-winning home run in Austria, of all places. We had an unauthorized batter called out for the second use of a senior bat, but the two coaches agreed it was inadvertent, a word now universally used in the league for “dumbass.” Roy Harris and Billy Spooner combined five times during the season on 3-1 plays, a play otherwise unheard of in the league. We had rainouts on April 29, May 13, and May 20.

            In early July we had the sad news that Bob Edlund and Pat Thompson had died. Bob was a dentist and volunteered his time to perform dental work on inmates at Mass. state prisons. Pat routinely engaged in loud game-long spats with Joe Dominico, but then they rode home together to Marshfield.

Dave Hockman’s Purple team, aka “the Purps,” leading 19-7, generously offered to flip-flop, and the Neons ungratefully responded with twelve runs to tie the game. Jerry Hubeny, who had wanted to quit and had to have his arm twisted to play this season, knocked in the 20th and game-winning run, saving Dave’s bacon. Imagine the griping about Dave if the Purps had lost that one.

            Tim McAlarney must feel like a ninety-year-old woman cashing her social security check in a bad neighborhood, because he gets robbed more than any player in the league. Tim was at the receiving end of the biggest robberies of the season, both by Orange team players. On July 23 he hit a rocket deep to left toward the telephone poles at Gates, but Alan Swiman sprinted back and speared the ball over his shoulder for a great catch that Willie Mays would have admired, ending the game. And on August 6, Kevin McLaughlin made an impossible diving catch only inches off the ground on a typical McAlarney deep, hard hit liner with the bases loaded to end the inning and rob Tim of a grand slam. Tim’s team lost both games.

            The road race was its usual pain, screwing up traffic and parking at the field.  Jim Carmody was trapped in his driveway for twenty minutes. The Me Now crowd attending the race even ignored yellow police tape put in place by the town to reserve spaces for the seniors. A passenger would pop out and lift up the tape so the driver could go under it. Dave Joseph even told one of the attendees trying to park at Dreamwold  “Ah wooden pahk there if ah wuz yew,” and, of course, the Me Now driver parked there anyway. Later, Dave drove a ball out of the field at and hit the car! He warned her. Don’t mess with Dave. Dave is from Norwell, by the way, where he picked up that Southern accent. Norwell was once called “South Scituate.”

            We had a triple play on June 25, our third ever. Rich McLeish fielded a ball up the middle just to the third base side of second, tagged the runner off second, stepped on second to force the runner coming in, and fired to Roy Harris for the putout to complete the play. We had a twelve inning, 13-12 game that ended at 1:18. Kenny Longo had two-out run-producing singles in three consecutive games.

            Steve Mansfield suffered some serious injuries when he tripped on the berm around home at Gates. EMTs showed up and Steve had to go to the hospital. The Town of Scituate fixed the berm immediately. Joe DeFelice tripped on his lawn mower (all that money spent on ballet lessons totally wasted) and injured his shoulder. The newsletter cracked that his teamed chipped in to buy Joe a goat so he wouldn’t have to mow the lawn any more.

            We participated with other senior leagues in the “Gloves for Soldiers” program. Players donated old gloves and bats, and a cash total of $350 to help our military personnel with equipment. Nice gesture by the league. BUT, Rich McLeish left his glove and bat in a location close to where the collection was being made, and someone, thinking the glove and bat were donations, put them in with the actual donated equipment. A mad multi-town scramble ensued, with a happy ending eventually. No good deed goes unpunished.

            We ended the season with one of the best playoff series we ever had. Of the first four playoffs, three were one-run games. Goose & Joe Cummings and their Orange team tied the first round game in the 9th, but gave up four runs in the top of the tenth; undaunted, the Orangemen scored five in the tenth to take the game. In the semis, Orange won 11-10 after holding off their opponent in the 9th with two runners cut down at home to super geezer Steve Young at the plate; he even remembered to use his glove this time. And in the final, the opponent scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 12-11 lead. But Orange again pulled off a rally, scored seven times in the top of the ninth and went on for the win. In two playoff games Orange scored sixteen runs in two ninth-inning rallies and one ten-inning rally. The Orange team was no lemon.

2018    Standings were 16-4, 12-8, 10-10, 9-11, 8-12, and 5-15. We had our fourth triple play, second in two seasons. Steve Morris made a diving shoestring catch in left, rolled around, and came up displaying the ball. Then he threw to Dave Hockman at third, who threw to Howie Fisher at second for the second out; Howie threw to Charlie O’Donnell at first for the third out. The big question, however, was “Who the heck was the guy running (and we use the term running loosely) to first?”

            Equally remarkable, we had two batters hit for the cycle in the same season: Billy Thorne on June 24, and Rich McLeish on August 12. Bill became the fourth, and Rich became the fifth league player to get the cycle, one of whom was big brother Hamish, so forty percent of our cycles were hit by the two brothers. The first three were Gary DeCoste in 2006, Hamish on June 9, 2013, and Duke Schneider on May 10, 2015.

            At the annual Pizza Pig Out at the Scituate VFW we consumed thirty-one pizzas at $350, and wolfed down $240 worth of drinks at the open bar.

            Jim Carmody wore a “Make America Great Again” hat to one game. He sat on the fence at Lawson, but nobody sat with him—everyone was afraid of getting shot. Earlier in the week Jim had been kicked out of three restaurants, and as the game broke up and everyone headed for home, Jim was almost run down by a Prius.

            Dave Joseph had four hits, including a double and a triple, and went in as a relief pitcher. Pat Grasso had seven hits in a doubleheader. Someone named Antonio had a good day at the plate, but we had no Antonio in the league. Just Little Jimmy having some fun trying to get everybody confused, which, in this league, doesn’t take much. Joe DeFelice had a four hit, four rbi game, and Bud Dodge, aka “the Marlboro Man,” had five hits, five rbi, and two doubles, with one double soaring over the right field fence at Dreamwold. Joe and Bud also had a six-hit doubleheader.

            Brian Sullivan had a three hit day, and apparently stopped to admire one of them. A teammate later said he thought Brian was going to pull out his phone and take a photo (that was probably Rick Wilcox). Of course, in the background, George was heard hollering “Don’t look! Run!”

            The Blue team won three straight games in their last at bat. Mike Giannangelo at SS ranged deep into left to make an over-the-should catch, dived and rolled over, and held his glove up to display the ball. For the twenty-third year Phil Scorgie ran in a seven-mile race in Falmouth.

            On July 16 three eighty-year-old-plus players got notice for their plays: Ralph Ricci grabbed a sharply-hit grounder, stepped on second, and completed a double play to first base. Herb Cohen made a nice catch on a foul pop at home. It’s the cowboy boots. Charlie O’Donnell had a key two-rbi triple.

            Anticipating the need to replace coaches, the news ran an appeal with the words “The work load is light, you’re universally respected by your players, nobody ever complains about you, and the job is rewarding and relaxing. Plus you get free hot dogs at the cookout.” Except for the last sentence, that was all fake news! And for the new guys, hot dogs and everything else at the cookout is kinda free, too--paid for by your dues.

 

2019    Records: 15-3, 13-5, 11-7, 7-11, 5-13, 3-15.  Rich McLeish led the league in HR with five, followed by Thorne, Ignagni, and Souza, four each. M. Bob Condon had twelve pitching wins, Reimer & Robbins ten each.

            It was a tough year for the health of our players. Fred Greer fought cancer all summer, but came to watch most games and root for his teammates. Fred died later in the year, followed by former Marine and all-around great guy Charlie O’Donnell early in 2020. Joe DeFelice coached but did not play because he was recovering from heart surgery.

            Steve Mansfield was hit in the head by a bad bounce at 3B at Lawson despite the town’s efforts to repair the field. Phil Scorgie had a broken finger that required surgery.

            Rod Hemeon finally surrendered to Father Time and retired at age ninety.

            Ken Robbins, after hip surgery in November 2018, bounced back nicely, scooting to first base on Opening Day on a base hit. Steve Mansfield’s bump on the head may have led to a funny hip-related event when Steve asked Kevin McLaughlin’s wife, Dottie, “How’s Kevin’s hip?” After getting a reply, Steve than asked “How are your hips?” to which he got the reply “That sounds kind of personal,” which elicited a round of chuckles from players on the sidelines.

            We had some other funny or odd—or both—occurrences. Kenny Longo got a hit into center field, but for some reason stood at home and was put out at first; an extended senior moment. Assistant Coach Joe Guiducci quipped that he made his Head Coach, Joe DeFelice, sign five standards of behavior to keep Joe in line. Jim Keeley emailed the news correcting the inaccurate reference in the newsletter to a “flock” of crows. Jim informed Little Jimmy that crows congregated in what is called a “murder.” Bet you didn’t know that lots of bird enthusiasts grew up in Southie.

            The funniest event was the “Butt Cleavage Incident.” Little Jimmy said he wished he had had a camera with him so he could record the incident, the exposure of at least five inches of butt cleavage, for posterior, or posterity. Butt he didn’t have a camera. The offender once wore cowboy boots to the games.

            Individuals had some good games. Herb Cohen had a three-hit game, the last hit a walk-off game winner. In a doubleheader Joe Guiducci had seven hits. At one point in the season Dave Gilman had thirteen consecutive hits in thirteen at bats. John Kiely disdained using his glove and knocked down a ball with his body, then made an unassisted double play. Rich McLeish went four-for-four with two homers, two doubles, and six rbi. We had three grand slams in three weeks, Souza, Sweeney, and Rich McLeish.

            Kelly Green had a triple play, Giannangelo at third to Jordan at second to Hamish McLeish at first. In one game the Red team had five double plays and twelve players with multiple-hit games, but lost 8-9. Jade Green and Orange battled ten innings but had to settle for calling the game at 11-11 to be finished later; on August 4, Orange finally prevailed 12-11.

            Joe DeFelice’s Kelly Greens were shut out 15-0 by Rick Reimer on June 30. Some players speculated that this was our first shutout, but we had actually seen three previously: 7/7/2007, an 8-0 whitewash by Joe Dominico; a little over a month later Kevin Maher shut out his opponents 9-0; and Maher again shut out a team on May 13, 2012 by a score of 5-0, so is the only league pitcher with two shutouts under his belt.

            One Saturday night we got an inch of rain, but the sprinklers were going when we arrived at the field Sunday morning. On a couple of occasions Mike Giannangelo (Canton), Bob Gibson (Brockton) and Ed Fegreus (just ten minutes away in Cohasset) arrived early to groom the fields so the guys would have a good surface to play on.

            We collected “Gloves for Soldiers” again, but this time Rich McLeish’s glove did not get put into the donated pile accidentally.

 

2020    Won/lost records were not kept because of the unusual circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 lockdowns. The season did not start until July 12 because the state had restrictions on various activities, indoor and outdoor. We also had lower numbers of participants than usual, but the new Executive Board did outstanding work coping with the vagaries of the decisions made by the governor and managed to put together six competitive teams.

            Opening Day featured two one-run games, and out of 45 total games in 15 weeks, thirteen were one-run, six were two-run, and two were three-run games; that’s twenty-one games out of forty-five decided by three runs or fewer, 47% of the total games.

            Before the season even started we got a pleasant surprise when Gary DeCoste showed up at a small BP at Dreamwold Field. Players were very happy to hear that Gary had beaten bladder cancer and looked great. Art LeMay had a screw loose, not where you think, but in his foot, and had it repaired; rumor is they used Gorilla Glue on the foot. Mike Giannangelo also had surgery.

            We lost Ed Greenlaw to pancreatic cancer. A friendlier and more generous softball buddy would be hard to find. A number of our players go back forty years with Ed, and he was a good guy then, and a good guy all the way.

            Bob Maguire took a bad hit from a hot line drive and had to leave the game momentarily, but came back next inning. His coach commented simply “Iron Man,” but did not specify what part(s) were made of iron. Continuing on injuries, Ken Parks bruised ribs early in the season and sat out a while. The Newsletter commented that since Kenny was a Marine, he still should have played.

            George Mallett suffered through a bout with pneumonia and missed several games, but George never misses a beat and when he returned to action he had two gappers on Friday for a double and a triple, and then got two more hits that Sunday.

            Herb Cohen retired after the July 26 game at age eighty-seven. Who could ever forget Herb’s showing up one day with cowboy boots, earning the nickname “Bucky” for a while. Then he started wearing suspenders. And a good thing, too, because Herb was the perpetrator of the “butt cleavage” incident of 2019.

            John Anjos caught a mean liner off the leg in BP one Sunday, but limped back and pitched the game.

            Offensively we had some unusual events. Both Ken Parks and Dave Gilman hit for the cycle, and Steve Morris hit a one-hopper over the green tarp fence at Gates. But the most unusual was the “Signs of the Apocalypse” Sunday, August 9. Dave Hockman’s hitmen entered the 9th ahead 30-19 over Phil Scorgie’s Greys, but the Greys put twelve runs across the plate in the bottom of the ninth to pull off the unlikely comeback. The only out in that half inning was the sac fly that won the game. Scorgie’s comment “Defensively, not our best game.” The other games were 24-14 and 31-21. The six teams combined scored 151 runs, with 33 extra base hits, including 22doubles, 5 triples, and 6 home runs. Ten players had 2+ extra base hits.

             On August 23 we all celebrated the announcement that we would no longer have any games at Gates, a softball field that resembled an obstacle course more than a venue for sports: track running from right to center threatening any outfielder with the possibility of stepping down five inches just as he was about to catch a line drive face-high; berms that caused Steve Mansfield’s nasty injury a couple of years ago; deep grass; goose droppings; poison ivy; a long walk from the parking lot as you carried bat, glove, cleats, and cooler. Now we could play on turf at Scituate High.

On August 23 we had an eleven-inning, 11-10 game that went back and forth all game. Leo O’Donnell hit the scoreboard at the high school. Rookie Darryl Richter, the farm boy from Iowa, hit a liner to right center at the high school that everyone on the field thought would bounce for a ground rule double; but it rocketed over the fence to the amazement of all. Didn’t go higher than maybe twelve feet all the way.

Games played at the high school averaged half an hour shorter, and much cleaner. Everyone started believing that we were actually not that bad as they fielded perfect bounces they’d never get at the other fields. No more outfield hits soaring twelve feet on the third bounce, or bouncing away at a forty-five degree angle.

            Phil Scorgie got eight consecutive balls with the bases loaded, so drove in two runs, then a third when he hit a fielder’s choice; three rbi and never got the ball out of the infield. Teammate Jim Keeley had a four-ball walk, a double, two runs and an rbi in the same inning.

            Rick Reimer and Kevin Maher provided some drama in a race to 100 pitching wins. The season started with Rick having 92, Kevin 90, and ended with Kevin ahead 95-94. Be prepared for a stoppage in some games next year for a game ball for both of these guys, who will undoubtedly finish 2021 with 100+ wins.

            Outfield throw of the year: John Kirby at the high school. Peter Belval laced an off-field curving liner down the right field line and the ball bounced up against the fence ‘way past the dugout. John chased down the ball as Pete, with excellent speed, cruised confidently around the bases figuring on a triple. Well, he would have been right on any of our other fields, but John caught up with the ball, pivoted, and fired a three-bounce strike to Pat Grasso at 3B that put out Pete by ten feet. Amazing play.

            We had one pretty good “senior moment” for a guy who barely qualifies as a senior. Bob Gautreau was coaching third when he was asked to run for a player who had just reached third. So Bob took third. The next batter got a base hit, but Bob, apparently still in coach mode, just watched the play and stayed on the base. Oh, well. It will happen to all of us someday.

            Dave Joseph came by the fields to say goodbye before moving to the South. He’ll be missed. One of our scarier hitters. And that Southern drawl he has—he grew up in Norwell, y’all.

            Can’t end the year’s review without a Bob Maguire story. He bought himself some underwear (Thank God!) but when he opened one of the packages found it was silky and shiny with no opening. Wonder if he tried it on in front of the mirror, anyway.

 

           

 

Team wins by season, 2006-2019, first place to last, left to right

2006     11         9          8          8          6          6

2007     12         11         11         10         9          7

2008     14         11         10         10         8          7

2009     15         11         11         8          7          5

2010     15         12         12         9          7          5

2011     11         11         10         10         9          9

2012     14         10         10         7          7          6

2013     11         11         10         10         9          9

2014     17         17         12         11         8          7

2015     14         13         8          7          5          5

2016     14         12         10         8          8          5

2017     12         9          8          7          7          4

2018     16         12         10         9          8          5

2019     15         13         11         7          5          3

2020     No official standings kept because of Covid-19.

 

 

Triple Plays

1. 2008 Longo 3B to Ballou 2B to LeMay 1B

2. 2013 M.O’Neil RCF to Mallett C to Taylor 3B

3. 2017 R. McLeish tagged runner off 2B, stepped on 2B, to Harris 1B

4. 2018 Morris LF catch to Hockman 3B to Fisher 2B to C.O’Donnell 1B

5. 2019 Giannangelo 3B to Jordan 2B to H.McLeish 1B

 

Hitting for the Cycle

1. 2006 Gary DeCoste

2. 2013 Hamish McLeish

3. 2015 Ken Schneider

4. 2018 Billy Thorne

5. 2018 Rich McLeish  

6. 2020 Dave Gilman

7. 2020 Ken Parks