After Roman Anthony's debut, it's an especially Happy Father's Day for dad Tony, and other thoughts

Boston Globe

18 hours ago

Along with Roman's older siblings, Anthony and Lia, Tony and Lori Anthony have been enjoying our town since they arrived from Florida just in time for their son's first big league hit, a two-run double against the Rays Tuesday night at Fenway Park. They've enjoyed Roman's first week at Fenway with family and friends.
It must be interesting when Tony makes North End dinner reservations for Anthony Anthony.
Roman Anthony's great-grandfather, father, and brother are all Anthony Anthony.
'Everybody jokes about it,' said Tony Anthony, a 61-year-old money manager from West Palm Beach. 'That was my dad's dad's name and he died before I was born. I went to Catholic schools and was always teased about it, but I was a big kid and could handle myself. When my wife got pregnant with our first, we had no plans on naming him Anthony, but we couldn't agree on another name, and ultimately my wife wanted to name him Anthony so we did. That's the story.'
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Tony's second son, 21-year-old Roman, is Boston baseball's new phenom, splashing down at Fenway this past week after a meteoric rise through the Red Sox farm system. Part of a trio of big new talent along with Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer (two homers Wednesday), Anthony wears No. 19 — same as Fred Lynn — and his call-up injected some excitement into a thus-far dreary Sox season.
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Nothing fires up the local baseball fans like a promising, humble, kid prospect. I'm old enough to remember Yaz's rookie year, replacing Ted Williams in left. And Swampscott's Tony Conigliaro hitting a homer in his first Fenway at-bat. And Jim Rice and Lynn, the Gold Dust Twins in 1975. And Brady Anderson. And Nomar. And Jackie Bradley Jr.
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After Roman's big league debut Monday, I heard from a number of Sox fans observing that Roman looks like a young Anthony Conigliaro. Or a young Steve Lyons. Or a young (gulp) Teddy Ballgame.
It's been quite a ride for Tony and Lori Anthony.
'It's surreal,' said Tony. 'Roman's been really good since he was young, but we know every parent thinks their kid is really good. We were never those parents. We were always understated about it. But it just looked different when he got to be around 13.'
Indeed. When Roman Anthony was 13 he hit three grand slams in one game in a highly competitive travel tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y. Tony and Lori figured their son was something special when they saw other 13-year-old kids taking Roman's photograph and asking him for autographs.
'That was kind of the beginning and it just went like a rocket ship from there,' remembered Tony, who grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., and is a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan.
After two seasons at Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach, sophomore Roman drew early college scholarship offers and committed to Ole Miss. That's when his folks decided it might be worth having him play high school ball for Florida amateur coaching legend Todd Fitz-Gerald. Roman transferred to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, one hour south of his parents' home.
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'I had to get a place down there to make it legal,' said Tony Anthony. 'It cost me a small fortune. My wife and I split time with him there, but my wife is a physician's assistant, and all I need to do my work is a laptop and a phone, so it was easier for me to spend time there.'
Roman and his teammates won back-to-back state titles at Stoneman Douglas and Roman was Gatorade Florida Player of the Year in 2022. The Red Sox drafted him with the 79th overall pick (compensation for Eduardo Rodriguez) and three years later he's in the big leagues.
'None of this seemed real until now,' said Tony Anthony. 'Tuesday it felt real when we got to Fenway and looked in the dugout and he was standing next to Alex Bregman. We were overwhelmed by it. I cannot believe that this actually is true.'
Happy Father's Day, Tony Anthony.
And to the rest of you dads out there.
⋅ Quiz: Twenty-eight big leaguers hit 500 or more home runs. 1. Name seven who also compiled at least 3,000 hits; 2. Name six who never struck out 100 times in a season.
⋅ One of my readers refers to the Indianapolis vs. Oklahoma City NBA championship round as the 'Cornhole Finals.'
⋅ Ceddanne Rafaela drives me nuts when he overthrows the cutoff man in a futile effort to erase a runner at home plate. Rafaela recently cost the Sox a game against the Angels with an airmail throw home (allowing runners to advance) that had no chance to catch the runner. Rafaela was lectured by his manager, then
did the exact same thing
at Yankee Stadium four days later. Maybe he needs a chat with Tom Hanks, a.k.a. Jimmy Dugan from 'A League of Their Own'.
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⋅
⋅ Amazing that the Red Sox can annually lead the league in errors when official scorers throughout baseball, especially at Fenway, go out of their way to call everything a hit.
⋅ Jarren Duran turns 29 just after Labor Day.
⋅ The third weekend in September will be wacky at Gillette. On Saturday, Sept. 20,
⋅ Shawn Thornton won the Stanley Cup with Brad Marchand in Boston in 2011. Today Thornton, now 47, is the Florida Panthers' chief revenue officer. Gregory Campbell, Thornton, and Marchand were the original 'merlot line' in 2010 and played together briefly before Marchand was moved up to play with Patrice Bergeron. 'I was surprised he was on my line for that long,' Thornton told The Athletic. '. . . That year was my only year I had 10 goals, 10 assists, and I think a bunch of those came playing with Marshy in our 20-something games together.'
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Shawn Thornton, who won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011, is now chief revenue officer of the Florida Panthers.
CHIN, BARRY/GLOBE STAFF PHOTO
⋅ Marchand and Bergeron each had two goals in Game 7 in Vancouver when the Bruins beat the Canucks, 4-0, to win Boston's only Stanley Cup title since 1972. The Canucks' goalie, of course, was Roberto Luongo, who is a special adviser to Panthers GM Bill Zito. After Marchand scored the game-winner in double overtime against Edmonton
⋅ Marlins catcher Nick Fortes beaned his own pitcher, Ryan Weathers, before the bottom of the first inning of last Saturday's Marlins-Rays game in Tampa. Weathers had completed his warm-up tosses when he turned away and took one off the coconut as Fortes routinely fired a throw to second base. Weathers remained in the game and pitched a scoreless first. Boomer Red Sox fans were reminded of Sox catcher Bob Tillman beaning reliever John Wyatt when Al Kaline was stealing second base in May 1967. The ball clanged off Wyatt's head and rolled all the way to the batter's circle between home and first as Kaline scampered to third. Wyatt stayed in the game, allowed Kaline to score on a sacrifice fly, and Detroit won, 5-4.
You ever seen this before?
Ryan Weathers makes his final warmup pitch of the first inning.
Nick Fortes' throw down to 2B hits him in the head.
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst)
⋅ Classy Tom Thibodeau took out a full-page ad in Wednesday's New York Times to thank Knicks fans.
Tom Thibodeau with a full page thank you to the fans and players in The NY Times today.
— Steve Popper (@StevePopper)
⋅ Architect Janet Marie Smith, who changed major league baseball with the creation of Camden Yards, then rebuilt Fenway Park, and is still rebuilding Dodger Stadium, hopes the old Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is somehow preserved. 'It would be good to have one round stadium left,' said Smith.
⋅ Congrats to Bay State League baseball powers Braintree (Division 1) and Walpole (Division 2) on making it to state finals this weekend.
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⋅ The Pioneer Valley Panthers baseball team takes a 25-0 record into Saturday's Division 5 state final vs. Boston English at Polar Park. Situated in Northfield, the tiny public school (36 seniors graduated last Friday) features players from the towns of Bernardston, Northfield, Warwick, Erving (all in Massachusetts), and Vernon, Vt. There are only 62 boys in grades 9-12. Incredibly, Pioneer Valley won the Division 5 boys' basketball championship in March, beating Hopedale, 49-28, in the final at Tsongas Center. Pioneer's hoopers finished 25-0. A glance at the rosters indicates that six of Pioneer's boys played both basketball and baseball, which would make this group 50-0 going into Saturday's final in Worcester. There are two sets of brothers on the Pioneer baseball team. The starting catcher, senior Braeden Tsipenyuk, was team manager for the basketball champs.
⋅ There won't be many sports stories better than that which unfolded at the
Carlos celebrating his championship with the ball kids is too wholesome🤣❤️
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)
⋅ The New York Times reports that attendance at next year's North America-hosted World Cup could be impacted by President Trump's immigration policies. Headlined, 'Many Fans, Fearing Immigration Raids, Choose to Stay Home,' reporter Tariq Panja wrote. 'Fans routinely go all out for once-in-a-lifetime trips to the World Cup . . . For some, the possibility of such a trip might already be doomed.'
⋅ Did you know that Gillette Stadium will be known as Boston Stadium for the World Cup?
⋅ The Cape Cod Baseball League 2025 Hall of Fame induction class includes Gary Alexander (Orleans, 1986), Nick Gonzalez (Cotuit, 2019), Travis Jankowski (Bourne, 2010-11), Pat Pinkham (Wareham, 1999-2000), player/coach/administrator Bob Stead (Yarmouth-Dennis, Bourne), and Bill Walker (Chatham, 1957-58). The induction ceremony is Nov. 16 at Wequassett in Harwich. For information, call 508-922-7388.
⋅ Presented by Lowney Sports, LLC, featuring travel teams from the Northeast in two divisions, the Boston Amateur Basketball Club will host the 53rd Boston Shootout at Catholic Memorial Saturday and Sunday. Leo Papile's BABC comes into the tourney 33-0. 'A team for the ages,' according to Papile.
⋅ The Joe Andruzzi Foundation, which helps New Englanders battling cancer, raised $350,000 at its 17th annual golf tournament at Black Rock last Monday. Matthew Slater, Ivan Fears, Dante Scarnecchia, Russ Hochstein, Patrick Pass, Max Lane, Ted Johnson, and Ronnie Lippett were among the participants.
⋅ Congrats to Taunton's Samantha Lincoln, former Massachusetts softball state champ, who pitched in the College World Series for Texas Tech last weekend, blanking Texas in a three-inning relief stint when the Longhorns beat Tech for the title.
Former Taunton High softball star Samantha Lincoln pitched for Texas Tech in the College World Series.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
⋅ Check out
⋅ RIP Beach Boys team captain Brian Wilson. He didn't surf, but he played quarterback and ran cross-country at Hawthorne High in Southern California. Wilson's cousin, Beach Boy Mike Love, is the uncle of NBA star Kevin Love.
⋅ Quiz answers: 1. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols; 2. Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Aaron, Gary Sheffield, Pujols.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at