June 13, 1955: Two-way threat Bill Monbouquette stars in high school game at old Braves Field

Bill Monbouquette was a tough customer at Fenway Park.1 The right-hander, who pitched mostly for the Boston Red Sox over an 11-season career, went 56-41 in 132 appearances at Fenway, including 12 shutouts. In 1963, his only 20-win season, “Monbo” picked up 13 of those victories at his home park; he won no more than one decision at any other major-league stadium.2

Less remembered is the time a young Monbouquette starred at Boston’s other major-league ballpark. After the Braves left town in 1953, the former Braves Field—purchased by nearby Boston University—hosted college games, as well as regional high school tournaments.3

It was in a tournament game there in June 1955 that 18-year-old Monbouquette rotated from center field to the pitcher’s mound not once but twice in key situations, helping suburban Medford High School to a 4-2 victory over Reading High School. This double-duty effort lifted Monbouquette and Medford into the Eastern Massachusetts high-school championship game, played at the same park the following day.

By the time the Medford and Reading4 teams faced off on June 13, 1955, the old Braves Field had been known as Boston University Field for more than a year.5 BU announced its purchase of the vacant park in July 1953, around the same time that it learned that its complex of athletic fields in suburban Weston, Massachusetts, would be taken by eminent domain for the construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike.6 The Braves’ fans during their years in Boston had included Monbouquette, who told SABR biographer Bill Nowlin: “I saw Jackie [Robinson] play over at Braves Field. We used to go there as Knotholers. That’s where I went. I never came here [to Fenway.]”7

Medford High’s path to BU Field and the Eastern Massachusetts tournament ran through rival Somerville High, which had pipped Medford in 1954 for the championship of the local Greater Boston League. Before the 1955 season, Medford coach Arthur Terrill—in his 23rd season of coaching—graciously called Somerville the team to beat.8

On June 4, Medford did just that, defeating Somerville 12-7 to clinch the league title ahead of runners-up Malden High. Monbouquette, playing center field, contributed two doubles and two RBIs to the clincher. It was Medford’s fifth straight victory, a stretch in which it outscored its opponents 43-13. The team had posted an 11-3 record in league play.9

Monbouquette, whose home neighborhood of West Medford is about five miles from BU Field as the crow flies,10 was far from his school’s only asset. Right-handers Santo “Sonny” Bernardo and Ron Lamb also shared mound duties. Their combined record was 7-1, and Bernardo had two-hit Woburn High School in the first round of the Eastern Massachusetts tournament.11 Other contributors included first baseman Leo Mericantante, second baseman Angie Marotta, and shortstop Charles Pagliarulo12—later the father of Mike Pagliarulo, who grew up in Medford en route to playing parts of 11 big-league seasons and winning a World Series title with the 1991 Minnesota Twins.13

Their opponent, Reading, earned the Eastern Mass. tournament berth by cruising to the championship of the suburban Middlesex League. Reading boasted a Monbouquette-style two-way threat of its own in pitcher-first baseman Don McGillicuddy, who hit .310 while drawing praise for his fastball and curve.14 In previous games, McGillicuddy had pitched a four-hitter and drove in two runs as Reading knocked off Wellesley High, 3-2, before the team eked out a 1-0 win over Boston English High School on a triple and run scored by lefty-swinging catcher Rusty Runge.15

Runge also hit above .300, while two unrelated Dohertys—second baseman Pat and center fielder Billy—were also key players. First-year Reading coach Al Bennett praised captain-left fielder Ronnie Ellis as “one of the most sensational outfielders I’ve ever seen.” Earlier that season, Ellis had dived into a patch of bushes to catch a ball hit by Winchester High star Joe Bellino, later a winner of college football’s Heisman Trophy.16

Medford and Reading played the second of two tournament games at BU Field on June 13, and the first one set a tough standard to meet. Newton High School’s Russ Halloran and Charlie Fogarty combined on the first no-hitter in the Eastern Mass. tournament’s 20-year history in beating Malden Catholic High, 5-0.17

Lamb started the second game for Medford but struggled, giving up three walks and a hit in 1 1/3 innings of work.18 In the second inning, Reading loaded the bases with one out. Monbouquette, riding a streak of 28 scoreless innings, came to the mound from center field and struck out the next two batters to end the frame. He then rotated back to center as Bernardo took over pitching duties.19

Bernardo and McGillicuddy kept bats settled down and the game scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning. Monbouquette started a rally by drawing one of McGillicuddy’s seven walks,20 then stole second base. A single by Pagliarulo advanced him to third, and Mericantante’s fly out to Reading right fielder John Vedder gave Medford a 1-0 advantage.21

In the seventh, Reading put two on with one out, and Medford coach Terrill went to the well a second time, again waving Monbouquette in from center field to pitch.22 Doug Beeman—sometimes a pitcher for Reading,23 today playing first base—singled in right fielder Curt Parker to tie the game 1-1. After a force play, Monbouquette handed Runge the only walk he issued that day, then surrendered another single to McGillicuddy that scored Beeman for a 2-1 Reading lead.24

Medford threatened in the bottom half, when Marotta was hit by a pitch and was sacrificed to second by third baseman Richie DiGiacomo.25 Monbouquette lined to center, where Bill Doherty made a disputed diving catch. Doherty threw to catcher Runge, who relayed to second to catch Marotta off base for an inning-ending double play.26

Monbouquette kept Reading off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth, and his mates mounted a winning rally in the bottom half. Pagliarulo led off with a single, and Mericantante reached on a fielder’s choice, bringing up catcher Tom Cangiano.27 Praised by coach Terrill as one of Medford’s best clutch hitters, Cangiano had driven in the winning run in the earlier tournament win against Woburn.28 The catcher entered the game with three home runs on the season, and he connected again off McGillicuddy, sending a 390-foot smash over the center-field wall to hand Medford a 4-2 lead.29

Monbouquette finished off Reading in the ninth to claim the win in 2 hours 15 minutes, with McGillicuddy taking the loss. Game coverage did not include an attendance figure, but major-league scouts were reportedly present, and at least one was impressed: “I haven’t seen a better game all season,” said Lennie Merullo, a Boston native, former big-leaguer, and scout for the Chicago Cubs.30

The next day, back at BU Field, Monbouquette faced off against Newton no-hit hero Halloran for the Eastern Massachusetts championship. Newton had beaten Medford, 3-2, at the season’s beginning in April.31 The two pitchers both turned in five-hit complete games, but Monbouquette walked seven, and Newton turned those opportunities into a 6-2 win.32 Newton completed a triumphant run on June 18 by beating the Western Massachusetts champion, Chicopee High, 5-4, to win the state title.33

BU Field still largely resembled its big-league incarnation during the Eastern Mass. tournament of June 1955. This began to change just two months later, when the university tore down familiar sections of seating in left and right fields.34 The park’s grandstand eventually was razed in November 1959, after which the university significantly reworked the property into a football and athletic facility, leaving few remaining traces of Braves Field.35

Medford coach Terrill was inducted into the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 1971, capping a 38-season career. A news report on his induction noted one fact about him—that he’d coached Monbouquette.36

Several participants in the Medford-Reading game later appeared in the low minor leagues. Pagliarulo and Mericantante signed with Merullo’s Cubs, and each played a single pro season in 1958. Runge played in the Red Sox chain in 1956 and ’57; DiGiacomo was also a Boston farmhand, in 1958 and 1960. Losing pitcher McGillicuddy was a first baseman in the San Francisco Giants’ chain from 1960 through 1962.

As for Monbouquette, he signed with the Red Sox about a week after the victory over Reading. By season’s end, he’d gained his first pro experience with Class D teams in Bluefield and Corning. He moved steadily up the ladder, making his big-league debut at Fenway against the Detroit Tigers on July 18, 1958, roughly three years and one month after he’d beaten Reading at BU Field.

In 1960 “Monbo” started and lost the first of two All-Star Games. He pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox on August 1, 1962, and wrapped up his career in September 1968 with a 114-112 record. He later served as a scout, minor-league manager, and major-league pitching coach with several organizations.37

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for general player, team and season data.

Neither Baseball-Reference nor Retrosheet provides box scores of high-school games, but several Boston-area newspapers published box scores following the game. The author particularly consulted those in the June 14, 1955, Boston Globe (which offered the most detail on pitching information) and the June 16, 1955, Reading (Massachusetts) Chronicle (which printed players’ last names in full).

Image of 1959 Topps card #173 downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 And not just on the mound. Shortly after Monbouquette signed with the Red Sox in 1955, he and his father were briefly detained by police at Fenway Park after fighting with two drunks in the stands who spilled beer on Monbouquette’s mother. Front-office staff got father and son released from police custody. Bill Nowlin, “Bill Monbouquette,” SABR Biography Project, accessed April 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-monbouquette/.

2 Monbouquette also posted the highest game score of his career, 96, at Fenway in a start against the Cleveland Indians on April 11, 1962. He pitched 12 innings of four-hit shutout ball, walking three and striking out five, in a 4-0 Red Sox win.

3 One example of a college game played there: On April 22, 1955, Boston University and the University of Vermont tied 7-7 as BU outfielder Joe Stoico hit a home run into the section of right-field seating known as the “Jury Box.” “Stoico Belts Homer into Jury Box, B.U. Ties Vermont, 7-7,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1955: 6.

4 A search of the hometown Reading (Massachusetts) Chronicle weekly newspaper archives from the spring of 1955, conducted in April 2026, turned up no instances of the baseball team being referred to by a nickname. Reading’s high school teams later became known as the Rockets. A search of Boston newspapers from the 1950s in Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com found that nickname occasionally being applied to the school’s football team, but not to other sports. Meanwhile, several Boston Globe articles about Medford’s baseball team from the spring of 1955 referred to them as the Mustangs.

5 The name change was announced in April 1954. “Braves Field Now B.U. Field,” Boston Evening Globe, April 13, 1954: 1.

6 “Braves Field Bought by Boston University,” Boston Globe, July 31, 1953: 1; Jerome Sullivan, “Toll Route Ends at 128, Weston,” Boston Globe, August 4, 1953: 1. More information about BU’s old athletic fields in Weston and the school’s purchase of Braves Field can be found in Kurt Blumenau, “April 19, 1952: Boston College wins hard-fought ‘Battle of Commonwealth Avenue’,” SABR Games Project, accessed April 2026, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-19-1952-boston-college-wins-hard-fought-battle-of-commonwealth-avenue/.

7 Nowlin, “Bill Monbouquette.”

8 Fred Ciampa, “Newton-Medford Tilt a Tradition,” Boston Traveler, March 31, 1955: 21.

9 “Medford Tops Somerville, 12-7, Takes League Title,” Boston Sunday Globe, June 5, 1955: 60.

10 As measured with Google Maps in April 2026, using Nickerson Field (the renamed Braves/Boston University Field) as the starting point and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s West Medford commuter rail station as the ending point.

11 Ernest Dalton, “School Tourney Pairings: Newton vs. Catholic, Medford vs. Reading,” Boston Globe, June 13, 1955: 9.

12 Ciampa, “Newton-Medford Tilt a Tradition.”

13 Marvin Pave, “Generations of Diamond Gems,” Boston Globe (Globe West section), May 21, 2009: 6. Mike Pagliarulo’s son, also named Mike, later played on an Ivy League championship baseball team at Dartmouth College.

14 Francis Rosa, “Reading Coach Thanks Predecessor,” Boston Globe, June 2, 1955: 19. This story reported that Reading had been champions of the league “for a fortnight” – that is, two weeks. A news item in the May 21, 1955, Globe reported that Reading “crept closer to” the league title with a win the previous day.

15 Ernest Dalton, “Medford Wins 6th in 7 Days, 2-1; Southie’s Murphy Beats Williams, 4-3,” Boston Globe, June 7, 1955: 16; “RHS Baseball Team Plays Good Ball but Is Eliminated in Semi-Finals,” Reading (Massachusetts) Chronicle, June 16, 1955: 1.

16 Rosa, “Reading Coach Thanks Predecessor.” Bellino, a multi-sport star at Winchester High, went on to the U.S. Naval Academy. After his required military service, Bellino played several seasons with the Boston Patriots of the American Football League.

17 Ralph Wheeler, “Gains School Final Today Vs. Medford,” Boston Herald, June 14, 1955: 25. Halloran went on to play two seasons of lower-level minor-league baseball in the Red Sox organization in 1958 and 1959.

18 Based on the box score printed on page 18 of the June 14, 1955, Boston Globe. Lamb is credited in all printed box scores with appearing in right field, as well as pitching. However, he is not credited with an at-bat, suggesting he was rotated out of the game after the second inning. Box scores credit four different players with appearing in right field for Medford during the game, making it difficult to track who was in at any given point.

19 Pat Horne, “Big Switches Put Newton 9 in Title Game,” Boston Evening American, June 14, 1955: 33; Ernest Dalton, “Newton, Medford Nines Play for Esmass [sic] Crown Today,” Boston Globe, June 14, 1955: 18. Bernardo’s entry as pitcher is based on the Boston Globe box score, which is more detailed than others in listing innings pitched and other pitching statistics. Game accounts—which paid more attention to the Newton High no-hitter than the Medford-Reading game—do not specify how Reading loaded the bases in the second.

20 Seven walks as per the Boston Globe box score.

21 Dalton, “Newton, Medford Nines Play for Esmass Crown Today.”

22 Again, game accounts do not specify how Reading’s runners reached.

23 Rosa, “Reading Coach Thanks Predecessor.”

24 Dalton, “Newton, Medford Nines Play for Esmass Crown Today.”

25 Dalton. DiGiacomo’s sacrifice is extrapolated from the box score: He hit between Marotta and Monbouquette and is credited with a sacrifice.

26 Dalton.

27 Dalton’s story in the Boston Globe referred to the catcher as Tony Cangiano; in other papers he was Tom Cangiano. A search of other news coverage of Medford baseball from that time period confirmed that Tom is correct.

28 Francis Rosa, “Newton, Medford Nines Bring Unexpected Wind-up,” Boston Globe, June 14, 1955: 40; Wheeler, “Gains School Final Today Vs. Medford.”

29 Rosa, “Newton, Medford Nines Bring Unexpected Wind-up.”  Wheeler, in “Gains School Final Today Vs. Medford,” gave a slightly longer distance of 400 feet for Cangiano’s homer.

30 “Schoolboy Sidelights,” Boston Globe, June 14, 1955: 40.

31 “Schoolboy Sidelights.”

32 Ernest Dalton, “Halloran Stops Medford on 5 Hits; Meets Chicopee for State Crown,” Boston Globe, June 15, 1955: 12. Monbouquette also tripled and scored a run.

33 Ernest Dalton, “Newton Tops Chicopee in 9th to Win State Title, 5-4,” Boston Sunday Globe, June 19, 1955: 56.

34 “’Jury Box’ Doomed as B.U. Remodels Old Braves Field,” Boston Globe, August 10, 1955: 14.

35 Ray Miller, “Braves Field (Boston),” SABR Biography Project, accessed April 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/park/braves-field-boston/. As of 2026, an athletic and convocation facility called Nickerson Field still stood on the former site of Braves Field.

36 “Mass. Baseball Coaches to Meet Saturday at MIT,” Boston Globe, February 4, 1971: 32; “Hall of Famers” (photo and caption), Boston Sunday Globe, February 7, 1971: 88.

37 Monbouquette was named the New York Yankees’ pitching coach on August 3, 1985, replacing the fired Mark Connor. His final visit to Fenway as a uniformed major-league staffer occurred between August 9 and 11, 1985, when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in a three-game series. The Yankees replaced Monbouquette with Sammy Ellis for the start of the 1986 season.