Our true boys of summer

Originally published August 8, 1995, by Mike Barnicle for The Boston Globe

As the Red Sox returned home from Toronto last night, having brought us to the edge of a wonderful summer climax, the true magic of baseball was actually located in Bristol, Conn., where the Parkway National All­Stars ­­ the 1995 Massachusetts state champs ­­ were getting ready to face New Jersey in the Eastern Regional Finals. The game is at 2 p.m. today at Bart Giamatti Field, and for the hundreds going there by car, bus and train, it is an epochal event.

The Parkway team is made up of a bunch of boys from West Roxbury and Roslindale who are 11 and 12 years old. Yesterday, shortly before noon, they piled onto a charter and pulled away from their home field on Baker Street to cheers every bit as deep as those that rattle around Fenway when the Olde Towne Team goes head­to­head with the Yankees.

This is the second time in three years the boys of Parkway have grabbed the big baton. They won the state championship in 1993, finished second last year, then took the prize again Saturday by defeating Westfield South, 5­4.

In order to get that far, they first had to plow through a double elimination tourney. After that, they beat Medford, with Rob Lomuscio pitching a perfect game, sending them to the finals and Westfield where they emerged with a ticket to the truly big time: Bristol, the last stop before Williamsport and the Little League World Series.

The Parkway club carries the face of the city. The names off the roster give you some idea of why there ought to be optimism about the town despite the fact that grown­up public imbeciles seem unable to get out of their own way when it comes to things like building convention centers, ballparks or a school system that eases parents’ fears while also making children proud to attend and eager to learn.

Here are the Parkway All­Stars: The manager is Jim Galvin. The coach is Bob Lomuscio. The assistant coach is Bernie McManus.

The players are Billy Cuqua, Sean Fay, Tony Issa, Tony Guarino, Joe Hough, Brian Hughes, Jon Lawless, Rob Lomuscio, Miguel Magrass, Phil McGeown, Mike McManus, Matt Murphy, Mark Nicholas and Rob Ryan.

These kids, fielding flawlessly, taking the extra base, thinking principally about their team and their sport, are beyond hate, color or the petty prejudices that too often bust a spoke in the town’s wheel. All they know is that they are young and gifted and they like each other well enough to keep on winning while having a ton of fun.

They come out of a program that does not get nearly enough attention because we are too busy selling bad news and there sure is enough of that to go around. But Little League is alive and well. Baseball rules. And flourishes.

And not only with the physically gifted. There is another level to the sport in West Roxbury and Roslindale: the Challenger Program. Here, the kids range in ages from 5 to 18. Most are special needs students. Some have cerebral palsy. A couple have Down syndrome. And there are two or three autistic children in the three­team league.

But all of them play. And all of them get a turn at bat. And every one, one way or another, gets a hit and a taste of success. And if you are ever in danger of thinking you are having a difficult day because you can’t balance your checkbook or you got a flat tire, go see these kids play any Tuesday night and you will be thrilled.

That’s what people wore on their faces yesterday as the buses rolled toward Bristol: a look of thrills, a feeling of accomplishment, and the pride of being a parent.

The adults are postal workers and firefighters, teachers and nurses, delivery men and plumbers, housewives and third­shift maintenance guys. The kids, their very own sons, are living a dream, riding a thrill parade right down I­95.

Baseball is the simplest of all sports: You catch the ball, throw the ball and hit the ball better than the other team and you win. It is the only sport where you don’t have possession of the ball on offense; that’s because you have a bat, held in two hands in order to attempt the single most difficult thing in the entire athletic world: putting that bat on a baseball thrown at odd speeds in varying directions.

These kids may go on to do truly extraordinary things. Maybe there are potential scientists, authors, Nobel winners, poets and bankers among them. Maybe some will teach history or plow streets some day, but right now, this very afternoon, they will do something they’ll carry with them for the rest of their years: They will play their hearts out for a title, together, with the cheers of their home town ringing in their ears for a long time to come.

The Red Sox are home; but the true boys of summer are in Bristol, Conn.

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