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Dennis "Oilcan" Boyd with young fans in Cambridge last
night photo by Dowbrigade
A
couple of old Red Sox pitchers were in the news in the past 24 hours.
First, baseball eccentric and 1986 world-series pitch Dennis "Oilcan" Boyd appeared
last night in North Cambridge with former New York Giant and Superbowl
winner Steve DeOssie at a charity "Old Time Baseball Game".
It was with mixed memories that the Dowbrigade approached
St. Peter’s Field on Sherman St. in North Cambridge last night, attracted
by the news of the Old Time fundraiser, and especially by the news that
The Can would be taking the mound for the home side. After all, the field
had been the scene of the Cambridge Little League All-Star game during
the famous "no win" season of our younger son’s team, the Cardinals,
who managed to not only stay in last place the entire season but NEVER
WON A GAME. Since league rules mandated that each team send at least
two players to the All-Star game, our son was chosen. Of course, both
Cardinals struck out when they were inserted in the late innings.
Last night, however, St. Pete’s field was hopping. It
had the air of a neighborhood sporting event and block party, with plenty
of families camped out on the grass in foul territory, some with picnic
baskets and blankets, others gathered around a box of take-out pizza.
In keeping with the "old-time" theme, the players, largely
college and minor league recruits, were wearing uniforms from the 1920’s
and 30’s, and the loudspeakers were pumping out Roaring 20’s jazz tunes.
Behind the screen, where the good views and the serious
fans sat, the crowd was more male, although still typically Cambridge.
Old time Cambridge "good guys", bald and bowling ball shaped, upscale
young fathers with and without kids, and the occasional goofy geek who
stops while pedaling by and stares as if he had never seen a baseball
game before.
There was food and soda, and on a warm summer night kids
who couldn’t care less about baseball ran lose in adjacent areas and
darted under the stands. Near the exit we spotted a trio of young boys
jumping around like they had St. Vitas Dance. Whether they were over-sucrosed
or in need of the facilities we were unable to ascertain.
The game was scoreless until the 4th inning when local
hero SS Zack Farkas hit a home run, making the score 3-0. But the
scoreboard was not the focus of attention in a laid-back local event
which raised a bunch of money for a worthy cause.
Then this morning we discovered that today’s Boston Globe
featured an extensive
article on another all-time favorite Red Sox eccentric,
1975 World Series pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Lee was known for his
unique perspective on the game, epitomized in quotes like: "I think about
the
cosmic snowball theory. A few million years from now the sun will burn
out and lose its gravitational pull.
The earth
will
turn into a giant snowball and be hurled through space. When that happens
it won’t matter if I get this guy out."
He now apparently lives in a house he built with his
own hands after retiring from baseball. His spread is located in the
mountains
of Vermont, near the Canadian border, in a wild area called the Northeast
Kingdom. The natives, notoriously reluctant to accept any outsiders,
have taken a shine to Bill, recounting anecdotes like: "Did you
know Bill got a new haybaler?" says Otten, leading into a favorite
Bill Lee joke, one Lee tells on himself. "We had to explain to him
you don’t bale hay to smoke it."
Lee appears happy lost in the North Country, and is still
a source of quotable quips, like:
"One thing I love about Vermont is you can take all back roads so
you can drink." Lee stays in shape and can still bring the heat,
throwing in the low 80’s in Senior League games, which is coincidentally
about
what we figure the Can was throwing last night in Cambridge. Of course,
we are no expert, despite the time we spent as a South American scout
for a major league team which must go unnamed as a result of a nasty
contract dispute.
Baseball and summer go together like lemon, sugar, water
and ice.
read the Lee
article from the Boston Globe
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