Batter up, Baseball’s Back: Winthrop Little League Prepares for June 30 Opening to 2020 Season

Who will hit the first home run of the Winthrop Little League season? Who will pitch the first no-hitter or complete game? And who will be thrown out at second base trying to stretch a gap-single into a double?

All of those questions and others will now be answerable as Winthrop Little League President Joe Murphy expects the 2020 season to get underway on Tuesday, June 30.

The Winthrop Little League (WLL) and Winthrop Senior League seasons had been put on hold due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. But with Gov. Charlie Baker releasing the new phases allowing for outdoor practices and leagues, Winthrop Little League will follow the guidelines and commence a schedule of games.

WLL will have an ‘A’ Division for players ages 10-12 and a Senior League for players ages 13-16. Mark DiGregorio is the commissioner of the Senior League that is making its return after a 15-year hiatus.

All ‘A’ Division games will be played on the ‘A’ Field, while all Senior League games will be played at Veterans Field.

Murphy said WLL tried to organize a league for the younger players (age 9 and under) but decided not to proceed with the ‘B’ and ‘C’ Divisions.

 â€œIt was a very difficult decision,” said Murphy. “We really went into it trying to get everybody involved, but due to the procedures and everything else that we had to follow, there just tended to be a lot of obstacles in the way to be able to do that with the younger kids effectively.”

Team managers are announced

Joe Murphy announced the list of managers for the new season. The ‘A’ Division managers are: Eric Mathieu (Royals), Greg Cassidy (Yankees), Greg Sullivan (Mariners), and Mark D’Ambrosio (Angels).

The Senior League managers are: Bob Andy (Cubs), Jim Merlino (Angels), and Jason Rockefeller (Twins).

Of course, the question we might be asking President Murphy, a South Shore guy and New England (Division 1 URI) college baseball player is: Where are the team names of the hometown “Red Sox” and David Tallent Sr.’s “Dodgers”, the league’s greatest all-time team that swept through the ‘A’ Division undefeated?

There hasn’t been a Red Sox team in Winthrop Little League for quite a while, we understand.

But with baseball returning for the summer, we’re just having a good time reminiscing, and Joe Murphy and the WLL Board of Directors deserve a lot of credit for their resiliency and their work in ensuring that those who want to play organized baseball this summer will now get the opportunity to do so.

Meanwhile, go take a look at the ‘A’ Field. Thanks to a large crew of volunteers, the field is looking like Little Fenway and ready to go.

“We had a huge turnout this past Saturday and we did a whole cleanup and the field looks fantastic,” said Murphy proudly.