At age 86, Frank Murano figures he has two choices. “You’ve got to keep active some way,” he said. “Unless you want to go home and sit in the rocking chair.”
It’s clear what side of the fence Murano is on. The only time you’ll catch him sitting down is if he’s in the dugout awaiting an at-bat.
The Weymouth resident was 1 of 10 players inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame this month. He’s been told he’s the oldest tournament-level softball player in the country.
“I don’t know of anybody else,” he said after a break from batting at Faxon Park in Quincy, where he practices with a Scituate-based team. One of his grandsons caught his fly balls in the outfield. If there is another 86-year-old ballplayer out there, Murano would have likely run into him. As a member of the Baltimore-based Hotel Tremont team, Murano and his wily teammates play all over the country and have won 10 national championships in the Senior Softball USA league. They won the senior softball world series tournament in Minnesota last month. Murano boarded a plane this week to Dalton, Ga., to play in another tournament.
“We’ve played some teams in Japan, we beat them,” Murano said. “We’ve been pretty good, a good ball club.” William C. Smith, sponsor of the Tremont Team, wrote a letter to the hall recommending Murano for induction. “There is little I can say that is not known throughout all of senior baseball,” Smith wrote. “The best senior softball third baseman ever. Please hurry and vote him into the Hall of Fame.” For all the plaudits, you won’t catch him bragging. “He’ll tell you what you need to know about all his rings, all his trophies, everything he’s given away to all his grandkids,” said his daughter Joanne Laubacher of Whitman, MA.
The son of Italian immigrant parents, Murano was born in South Boston. He and his future wife lived on the same street growing up. In high school, Murano played baseball, but also ran track and played hockey and football. He found his first pair of hockey skates in the trash.
As a young man he was impressive in the semipro Boston Park League, and even received a letter from a Red Sox scout after he joined the Air Force in 1943. He still has the letter. “Take good care of yourself and keep the faith,” wrote Hugh Duffy of the then-Boston American League Baseball Company. “I hope it’s a short war.” In addition to fighting in World War II, Murano played ball in the Air Force, where he was roommates with some major leaguers. Such connections got him chances to participate in pre-game warm-ups at Fenway Park.
“I went over there to pitch for batting practice,” Murano said. “I was throwing pretty hard, had a good arm, they couldn’t hit me. I was trying to make a good impression.”
Murano has always had a way of showing up at practice fields and finding his way into the action. When he joined the Boston Fire Department rescue squad, he umpired right into the department’s hockey and softball teams.
In addition to his 23 years in the fire department, Murano also worked as a mailman to help support his five children. He said he carried one of his daughters, Joanne Laubacher, in his mailbag when she was 2 to keep an eye on her while his wife battled health problems.
Elizabeth Murano has for years battled symptoms common to people with Parkinson’s disease and requires around-the-clock assistance. Murano visits his wife of 64 years in the Weymouth Health Care Center at least twice a day, unless he’s on the road playing in tournaments. “Of course that’s the most important thing,” Murano said of his wife.
It seems everyone who knows Frank knows his priorities. Tracy Shea, who works in the health care center’s laundry room, said Murano is “absolutely the most devoted husband I’ve ever seen.”
On a recent morning while his wife was resting, Murano toured the health care center like he was the mayor, shaking hands and catching up with every other patient he passed. He seemed to know a little about everyone. “I’m always giving you cookies, right? Anytime you ask,” Murano said to patient Bob Huntoon, a stroke victim. “I know, you’re very good to me,” Huntoon replied. Murano said he enjoys more than anything visiting his wife and other patients, but admitted it “takes quite a bit out of you.” Not enough, though, to slow him down.
“I just go from day to day, actually minute to minute at this age,” he said. “You just keep moving.”
Check out this video by the Patriot Ledger of Frank in action on the field.
