Little League Wants to Name Field for Founders

Little League representative Dan Santanello opened talks with selectmen last night on a plan to name the league's in memory of Al Duratti, Andrew Holmes and Alfio Cerone.

will continue the naming talks with Town Administrator Andrew Maylor and Public Works Director Gino Cresta before returning to selectmen with a formal proposal.

Santanello told selectmen Wednesday that Duratti, Holmes and Cerone had 140 years service to Swampscott Little League and helped shape the lives of generations of kids who played ball in town.

"I think we owe it to these gentlemen to remember them," he said.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Strauss said that, in general, he'd rather see monuments installed at fields as opposed to naming them.

To start naming fields could lead to numeorus requests on numerous fields, Strauss said.

"It gets to be a bit much," he said.

Santanello, a former selectmen, said he knows the board has been reluctant over the years to name fields for people but this is a special circumstance.

"I don't think you are going to find people like them," he said.

The town administrator suggested that he and the Public Works director meet with Santanello to cobble a proposal and bring it to the board.

League officials would like to have their memorial in place by spring on opening day.

Al Duratti died this summer. He had been involved with Swampscott Little League since it started in the mid-1950s.