Back in the day there was the Dorchester Little League, which had real
uniforms and cleats. But that was a pretty expensive proposition for many
folks, and for us Catholic kids there was the St Matthews Parish Little
League. Our uniforms were teeshirts with the team name and a matching
cap. Most of us wore jeans for the pants, and sneakers instead of cleats.
I was on the Dodgers and our teeshirts were bright yellow with blue letters
and our caps were blue with a “D” on them.
When my Dad took me to the parish hall on Norfolk St to sign up he ended up
signing up himself as an assistant coach on my team. The manager was a great
guy named Mike Delorusso who lived one block down from us on Fuller Ave
which ran into Capen St. His wife was named Nettie and though they were older
than my parents my folks soon were friends with them. I think maybe Cheryl and
myself thought of them as sort of grandparents. Mike worked for the Boston
Public Library and gave me some old books that had been damaged and taken
out of circulation. One was a hardcover book on the history of the Pittsburgh
Pirates baseball team and the other was a Little Golden book Guide to Mammals.
Most importantly Mike gave me a small bookcase that I kept well into my 30’s.
(I know I gave it someone else eventually but I can’t remember who it was!)
Despite my Dad being the assistant coach and our being friends with Mike and
Nettie, neither of those connections could keep me from being cut from the
Dodgers and being sent down to the minor leagues until I learned how to
catch a fly ball with my glove instead of letting it hit me in the face!
((307 words))
Written for the Family History Writing Challenge
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