Profile
MISSION:
The mission of The M Street Softball League is to bring a high level of softball to the residents of South Boston and surrounding communities. The league began play in 1970 when Ray Flynn and “Bucky” Feeney came up with the brilliant idea of starting a league for returning South Bostonians who had served in Vietnam. With the guidance of Flynn and Feeney, M Street Softball grew beyond belief in the late seventies and into the early eighties. In fact, the league was so successful that on many a night, one couldn’t find a seat in the packed grandstands. The league even received some national television exposure when they once donated a large sum of money to the Jimmy Fund before a Red Sox game.
ORGANIZATION OF THE LEAGUE
The M Street Softball League is solely funded by league dues/team sponsorship. The league commissioner is a volunteer position who is responsible for obtaining the field permit, collecting the dues, creating the schedule, obtaining umpires, and purchasing equipment. The Board of Directors is composed of a fair representation of league teams whose members are responsible for voting on league matters and working with the commissioner to better serve the league members.
M STREET PARK HISTORY:
M Street Park was an instant success, drawing many residents to its sporting events despite the huge mounds of black anthracite in the coal yards directly behind the playing fields. During the twenties, former New England League pitcher Bill “Twilight” Kelly promoted semi-professional baseball games at the park on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and during the weekday twilight hours of the late spring and summer months. Working men would get home from work in the afternoon, gulp down a quick supper, and enjoy six or seven innings of a baseball game before darkness closed in. Not only did Twilight bring in some of the most popular semi-pro teams in the country, including the Harlem Colored All Stars from New York and the heavily bearded House of David team from Salt Lake City, but he also fielded his own nine, Kelly’s South Boston All Stars. Games between these local favorites and groups from other neighborhoods (Cambridge, Dorchester) often attracted more fans to M Street Park than to Braves’ Field or Fenway Park.
Source: South Boston is My Home Town by Thomas H. O’Connor
