Dot Rat Baseball – 1957

This is the time of year I start craving baseball. You know all those huge fields all over Dorchester? At one time, they were used for baseball instead of soccer. The Boston Park League was so popular at one time, 5000 people would show up for games at neighborhood parks. We even had our own local baseball hero that went by the name Dick Casey. Legend has it after helping form the BPL, his team kicked so much ass (11 championships) that the city named Town Field after him. He went on to scout for the Red Sox and he was even painted by Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post. Casey owned the huge brown 2 family on the corner of Ashmont and Train streets where he raised his family.

Check out this crew of old Dot Rats playing “Righty” in front of Dorchester High School back in 1957. I guess slacks and button down shirts were the athletic clothes of choice back then. The “D” letterman shirt the old timer is wearing at the end is pretty bad ass…I need one of those in my life. I was planning on showing my father this and asking where all the trees went…but I would probably get the war story about how they had to use them to make bats because they were so poor.

I think I could still put it over the fence at Hemey….maybe it’s time for a new Dot Rat league!