17th Annual Oldtime Baseball Game August 26

Medford Natives Monbouquette, Pagliarulo Named Managers

Story Updated 6:09PM Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Medford natives and former major leaguers Bill Monbouquette and Mike Pagliarulo, along with former Red Sox player Lou Merloni, will participate in the 17th Annual Injured Workers Pharmacy Oldtime Baseball Game on Thursday, August 26th, at 7 p.m. at St. Peter’s Field in North Cambridge. The three players have a combined 31 seasons in the major leagues.

The game was postponed to Thursday from Wednesday due to the rainy weather.

Monbouquette and Pagliarulo, who have been named managers of this year’s game, are natives of Medford. Monbouquette won 114 games during his 11 seasons in the majors, including a 20-10 record for the Red Sox in 1963. He also threw a no-hitter in 1962. Pagliarulo played most of his 11-year career with the New York Yankees, hitting 32 home runs in 1987, but he was a key member of the Minnesota Twins’ World Series championship team in 1991.

Merloni, a native of Framingham who will be playing in his third Oldtime Baseball Game, enjoyed his best season in 2000, hitting .320 in 128 at-bats. He was also Boston’s starting shortstop in Game 3 of the 1999 Division Series, going 2-for-3 and driving in a run.

The Injured Workers Pharmacy Oldtime Baseball Game is a celebration of our national pastime, played each year at beautiful St. Peter’s Field on Sherman Street in North Cambridge. From its humble beginnings in 1994, the game has grown considerably over the years yet has remained loyal to its mission of offering a glimpse of what it was like in the old days, when hundreds of fans would turn out to root for their “town” team in various local semipro leagues.

What makes the Oldtime Baseball Game so special is its dazzling collection of flannel uniforms that represent virtually every era in baseball history. Used just once a year for the Oldtime Baseball Game, the uniforms include such long-ago teams as the Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns, Homestead Grays, Kansas City Monarchs and San Francisco Seals.

This year’s game is being played as a fundraiser for the The Marley Jaye Cherella Memorial Fund, which is dedicated to supporting research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome being done at Boston Children’s Hospital. Marley Jaye Cherella was just five months old when she died of SIDS in 2008. The goal of the Marley Jaye Cherella Fund is to one day eliminate the tragedy of SIDS and guarantee that every baby has a chance to survive and thrive.

Additionally, a pregame ceremony will be held in memory of the late Greg Montalbano, a former Red Sox minor-league pitcher who was only 31 when he died of cancer last summer. A native of Westborough and later a standout at Northeastern University, Montalbano was a participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 1997 and ’98. The first Greg Montalbano Alumni Award will be presented to a former participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game who best exemplifies Greg’s spirit, competiveness and good nature.

Although the Oldtime Baseball Game includes players from schools throughout the Boston area, more than 40 past participants have gone on to play professionally. Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, who played in the 2008 World Series and the 2009 All-Star Game, was a participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 1996 and ’97.

Admission to the Oldtime Baseball Game is free. Fans are asked to bring a beach blanket or chair and camp out along the foul lines, as it is the crowd that makes the game so electric.

The rain date for the Oldtime Baseball Game is Thursday, August 26, also at 7 p.m.

Other Medford Oldtime Baseball Notes…

– Medford’s Orazio Azzarello (1995-2001) and Haverhill’s Alfredo Nunez share the record for most appearances in The Game, each playing seven times.

– In one of The Game’s great moments, Azzarello struckout former New York Yankee (and fellow Medford native) Mike Pagliarulo in 1998 after serving up a home run to “Pags” in 1997.

– Information from www.oldtimebaseball.com. Photo Mike Pagliarulo courtesy MLB and Bill Monbouquette courtesy www.baseballreference.com.