Fenway Magic

For any college baseball player, sinking cleats into Fenway soil is a bit like oggling Elvis' gravesite at Graceland.

With its Green Monster, quirky outfield, antiquated left-field scoreboard and famous bleacher seats, Fenway is perhaps more baseball than baseball itself--possessing an aura of authenticity shaming modern megabuck parks like Toronto's SkyDome and Baltimore's pseudo baseball-ish Camden Yards.

But for eight Harvard players who hail from the Boston area, Wednesday's chance to play in Fenway against Boston University at the Beanpot Baseball Tournament was more than a mere baseball pilgrimage: it was (start the violins) the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

"It's just an incredible place--without a doubt one of the best places in all of baseball," Harvard first baseman Dave Morgan said. "Every time I'm on the field I just always think of all the great players who have been there. It's amazing."

Morgan surely did the memory of those greats proud, too. In his third appearance in the "pahk," he went 3-for-6 with three RBI's, including a seventh inning shot over the Green Monster.

In addition to Morgan, who comes from Roxbury Latin High School in Needham, other local Crimson players starting the game were James Crowley, a sophomore outfielder from Boston College High in Milton; Mike Giardi, a junior shortstop from Salem High in Salem; and Mark Levy, a freshman outfielder from Sharon High in Stoughton.

In addition were substitutes Dom Giamarco, a sophomore catcher from Boston Latin High in Boston; Bill Madden, a sophomore infielder from Swampscott High in Swampscott; Scott Parrot, a freshman catcher from Belmont Hill High in Belmont; and Stephen Sadoski, a sophomore catcher from Salem High in Salem.

"I've been to Fenway many, many times, but its weird when you're actually out there playing," Crowley said. "I've been a Sox fan for so long -I even cried when they lost the '86 series--that its really an incredible feeling. I just wish I could've hit the Monster."

Crowley hit just about everywhere else. He went three-for-four with two RBI's in the contest.

But it didn't take a start or even a multiple-hit game to appreciate the place. Just take sophomore infielder Bill Madden, for example.

Last season, Madden was cut from the varsity team and placed on the junior varsity squad. He was disappointed, he said, in large part because he wouldn't be able to play in Fenway in last year's Beanpot: "I've always been a huge Sox fan," he said.

This year he got his chance. Substituting at third-base, Madden went one-for-two with one RBI and a couple smooth snags at the hot corner.

But his performance was really incidental.

"It was such a thrill," he said. "I got out there and jogged all around and imagined playing there with a full crowd. It was weird. I was just giggling the entire time I was so happy--just like a little kid. I couldn't believe I was actually there."