19TH ANNUAL OLDTIME BASEBALL GAME TO BE HELD MONDAY, AUGUST 13TH AS BENEFIT FOR AMERICAN RED CROSS
(MEDIA DAY TO BE HELD MONDAY, AUGUST 6) (Information on Media Day below)
Dazzling oldtime uniforms . . . music from the 1940s . . . a large crowd in a snall park on a warm summer night . . .raising money for a great cause.
Put it all together and you have the 19th Annual Injured Workers Pharmacy Oldtime Baseball Game, which will be played on Monday, August 13, at 7 p.m. at beautiful St. Peter’s Field on Sherman Street in North Cambridge. This year’s game is being played as a benefit for the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts.
The Injured Workers Pharmacy Oldtime Baseball Game is a celebration of our national pastime. From its humble beginnings in 1994, the game has grown considerably over the years yet has remained loyal to its mission of offering a glimpse of what it was like in the old days, when hundreds of fans would turn out to root for their “town” team in various local semipro leagues.
Funds raised for this year's game will be used by the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts to purchase Emergency Response Vehicles to respond to disasters in our area. The goal is to get 10 new vehicles -- newer cars needing less maintenance and therefore less money for upkeep -- for its disaster teams.
WEEI talk-show host Lou Merloni, who played nine seasons in the major leagues, including six seasons with his hometown Boston Red Sox, will once again come out of retirement to play in this year’s Oldtime Baseball Game. And he will be joined by some very special teammates:
Peter Frates of Beverly, who played four seasons of baseball at Boston College before graduating in 2007, was diagnosed this year with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Frates, now director of operations for the BC baseball program, will be the starting first baseman for the home team in this year’s Oldtime Baseball Game.
Skip Flanagan of Framingham will become the first deaf player to appear in the Oldtime Baseball Game. Flanagan, who was born deaf and uses American Sign Language as his primary means of communication, is entering his sophomore year at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is on the Dean’s List. He is both a pitcher and an outfielder on the school’s baseball team.
Frates, who always wanted to play in the Oldtime Baseball Game, will make a symbolic one-pitch appearance in this year’s game. He will then come out of the game and be replaced at first base by 2012 Lexington High School graduate Chris Shaw, who will be a freshman at Boston College this fall. Shaw was recruited to play baseball at Boston College by none other than Peter Frates.
To lend support to Peter Frates, he will be joined in the lineup by Boston College baseball coach Mike Gambino, and by former Boston College basketball star (and current WEEI college basketball analyst) Malcolm Huckaby.
Gambino played two minor-league seasons with the Red Sox before embarking on a career in scouting and coaching. Huckaby, though he chose to take his athletic talents to Chestnut Hill, was a onetime baseball star at Bristol Central High School in Connecticut. He was selected by the Houston Astros in the 1990 amateur draft but did not sign.
What makes the Oldtime Baseball Game so special is its dazzling collection of flannel uniforms that represent virtually every era in baseball history. Used just once a year for the Oldtime Baseball Game, the uniforms represent such long-ago teams as the Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns, Homestead Grays and Kansas City Monarchs.
Although the Oldtime Baseball Game includes players from schools throughout the Boston area, more than 40 past participants have gone on to play professionally. Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, who played in the 2008 World Series and the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was a participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 1996 and ’97.
During pregame ceremonies this year, the second annual Greg Montalbano Award will be presented to former Framingham State College star Orazio Azzarello.
The award is named in memory of Greg Montalbano, a former Red Sox minor-league pitcher who was only 31 when he died of cancer in 2009. A native of Westborough and later a standout at Northeastern University, Montalbano was a participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 1997 and ’98. Selected by the Red Sox in the fifth round of the 1999 amateur draft, Montalbano played six seasons of professional baseball before illness ended his career. In 2001, he was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year by the Red Sox.
The award, instituted in 2010, is presented to a former participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game who best exemplifies Greg’s spirit, competiveness and good nature. Azzarello played in seven editions of the Oldtime Baseball Game, from 1995 to 2001.
As has become custom in the Oldtime Baseball Game, Azzarello plans to come out of retirement to play in this year’s game. The award’s inaugural recipient, former Northeastern University outfielder Todd Korchin, began the tradition by playing in the 2010 game. Last year’s recipient, Boston Red Sox scouting coordinator Steve Langone, also played in the game.
Admission to the Oldtime Baseball Game is free. Fans are asked to bring a beach blanket or chair and camp out along the foul lines, as it is the crowd that makes the game so electric.
The rain date for the Oldtime Baseball Game is Tuesday, August 14th, also at 7 p.m.
For more information about the Oldtime Baseball Game, visit oldtimebaseball.com.
INFORMATION ON MEDIA DAY
Media Day for the 19lth Annual Oldtime Baseball Game will be held, rain or shine, on Monday, August 6, at 2 p.m. at St. Peter’s Field on Sherman Street in North Cambridge.
Most of the players selected to participate in this year’s game will be in attendance at Media Day, wearing their throwback uniforms.
All participants in the Oldtime Baseball Game who attend Media Day will be available for interviews and photographs. Peter Frates and Skip Flanagan will be in attendance for Media Day.
DIRECTIONS TO ST. PETER’S FIELD
St. Peter’s Field is located at 59 Sherman Street in North Cambridge, not far from the Fresh Pond Traffic Circle. From Route 128, take Exit 29A, picking up Route 2 East. Continue on Route 2 about 6.3 miles, to Route 16 East, being sure to bear left at the fork, following the “Arlington-Medford next left” sign. Follow to Massachusetts Avenue and turn right. Follow to Rindge Avenue and turn right. Follow to Sherman Street and turn left. Follow to St. Peter’s Field, which is on the right.
From Harvard Square, follow Massachusetts Avenue north about one-quarter of a mile, turning left on Linnaean Street. At the end of Linnaean Street, turn right onto Garden Street. Bear right at the firehouse onto Sherman Street and follow to St. Peter’s Field, which is on the left.