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Monster crowd with over 50 pro and college scouts on hand saw the best pitchers in Malden and Revere history square off; called best-ever Greater Boston League game
By Steve Freker
On a warmer than usual late April afternoon in Revere, few knew they were going to be witnesses to what is known by all to be THE #1 high school baseball game in Greater Boston League history. There was never a better or more important high school game played in this area before it… and there has not been one to match it, since.
It featured the two most storied, recounted and remembered pitchers in the nearly 70 years of GBL high school baseball lore: Malden High School righthander Kevin McGlinchy and Revere High School lefty Mike Spinelli. Both are recognized universally as the best and most talented pitchers this area has ever produced, with McGlinchy well-known as Malden High’s finest pitcher of all time and Spinelli, Revere High’s top RHS Patriot.
At the time, the two teams — Malden and Revere — were among the most highly regarded in Massachusetts. In April 1995, Malden was 7-1 and ranked #4 in The Boston Globe’s weekly baseball poll, having started the season squarely in the top spot, #1 overall. Revere was ranked #6, 6-1 at the time.
Greater Boston League Baseball ruled the roost
Two other Greater Boston League teams were in the top 25 as well — unheard of these days, but a tribute to the overall strength and iron in the GBL for most of the 1980s and then 1990s. Peabody was #17 and Arlington High right behind them at #18.
This game was played at Revere High’s Tony Conigliaro Field, located directly behind Revere High School. By the time the yellow bus pulled in carting the Malden High players and coaches over from the next city, the spacious and expansive RHS parking lot was jammed, with few spaces to be had. It more closely resembled a Patriots-Dolphins game at what was then called Foxboro Stadium.
And why not? A lot of people had the date circled on their calendars as a “must see” game way before the season started, as Malden High and Revere High — led by McGlinchy and Spinelli, respectively — were viewed as two of the top teams in the state, same for the two pitchers. The pitchers were even called two of the top hurlers in New England, those days. Both of them would go on to be prominently featured in that year’s Major League Baseball draft, which took place on June 1 that year, just after the end of the high school regular season.
At the time of that April game, Spinelli, a 6-3, 205 fireballing lefty, whose fastball reached the low 90s in miles per hour, was regarded as the top professional pitching prospect in New England, projected as high as a possible second-rounder in the upcoming June MLB draft.
McGlinchy already acknowledged as best Malden pitcher ever
Malden’s McGlinchy had already established himself as the top pitcher in Malden High history, even before his senior year. At 6-5, 225, his fastball was clocked at just under 90 mph and his calling card was pinpoint accuracy. He didn’t have to throw breaking balls and never even threw a curveball in a game until college, since Malden’s first future Major Leaguer could spot any pitch he threw anywhere he wanted on the plate.
On this day, the two “Best of the Best” were facing off in Revere, and everyone came to watch, and we mean EVERYONE. It is said that every single MLB team had at least one scout there; some of the teams had two or more.
Also, check this out: How many times has THIS ever been said about a Greater Boston League game? Some of the many college baseball programs represented on that windy day in Revere (isn’t it ALWAYS windy in Revere?) were some of the top teams in the nation: UMiami Hurricanes, LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, University of Florida. ALL those programs had scouts at this game, at a GBL game in Revere! Unheard of, and never seen before, or since.
This ended up being a classic example of coming to see one player and end up getting a bird’s-eye view of another. The fact is, many of the scouts who journeyed to Revere High that day were Mike Spinelli watchers, coming to see him another time just weeks before the draft.
McGlinchy’s ‘stock’ soared that day
By the time they left, Malden’s McGlinchy’s “stock” had soared in their estimation, following one of the best games he pitched at the high school level. Considering he won 15 games as a high school hurler, some of them bigtime “Ws,” that is saying something. Spinelli threw gas that day, the radar guns multiplying as the game went on, directly behind the backstop, recording him at between 87-90 mph for most of his fastballs. He touched 91 on two pitches, scouts said afterward. The Revere lefthander also had two other deadly weapons in his arsenal: a classic 12-to-6 curveball (that was basically unhittable) to complement his fastball and his pièce de résistance, a killer pickoff move.
Hands down, there simply has NEVER been a better pickoff move by a lefty pitcher in GBL or state baseball history. Saying it was “nasty,” a common baseball adjective, does not even scratch the surface. Consider this: That April 25 game was only Revere’s seventh of the season. Spinelli had already picked 13 runners off first to start the season!
Remarkably, “Spinna” only picked off one, lone Malden baserunner all game that day, and even that move sparked a lengthy “did he balk, or did he not?” powwow by the umpires after a challenge from the Malden bench. “No balk, he’s out” was the final decision.
Overall, Malden had a decent day at the plate, managing seven hits on the day and drawing several walks off Spinelli to take a 2-1 lead after four innings. McGlinchy, meanwhile, was setting them and knocking them down, punching out seven Revere batters for strikeouts over the first four innings.
McGlinchy surrendered just three hits, one of them a run-scoring double by senior Revere catcher David Lightbody to score Mike Popp in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to one run. This was probably no surprise since Lightbody, in four years of varsity baseball against Malden maybe made just one or two outs and hit close to .900 when facing the Blue and Gold at the plate.
Spinelli pitched into the sixth inning — striking out nine — before giving way to a reliever, and McGlinchy finished seven innings complete, piling up 11 strikeouts and walking just three batters. One of those walks ended up scoring and tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning for Revere at 3-3 on a high chopper over the pitcher’s mound, an RBI infield single by Revere’s Dennis Diaz.
The “history in the making” game had ended in a fitting tie after seven regulation innings with both of the “big gun” pitchers now departed from the mound. Extra innings, “free baseball,” followed.
The excitement was far from over and a winner still to be decided. Malden got runners on second and third, one out in the top of eighth inning, but could not get the run in, a popup and strikeout ending the threat. Malden’s own senior lefthander Joe Souza, who finished the season with a remarkable 9-5 overall pitching record, came on for Malden and got two quick outs, bringing one of Revere’s top hitters back to the plate in Popp and the score still tied at 3-3.
Revere’s Popp launches game-winning homer
Popp worked the count to 2-1 and then on then next pitch turned on a Souza offering and drove it on a rising liner that never came down until it has cleared the left field fence for a classic, two-out, game-winning home run. As the Revere team mobbed Popp in celebration at the plate in the eventual 4-3 win, everyone knew they had just seen history made.
The postgame handshake was genuine. Two rival teams full of GBL baseball stars wished each other “good game” on a spirited day of top-shelf competition. For Revere it was Head Coach Al Blasi, Mike Spinelli, David Lightbody, Mike Popp, Dennis Diaz, Frank Candela, Brian Spagnoulo and others. Malden featured Kevin McGlinchy, Joe Souza, Rich Griffin, Ronnie Repoza, D.J. Cunningham and others.
After the game the scouts wanted to talk with both of the two primetime pitchers. Many of them had already sat at Spinelli’s kitchen table talking about the upcoming draft.
UMiami Hurricanes pitching coach — and future LSU and Florida International University Baseball Head Coach — “Turtle” Thomas had already offered Spinelli a full baseball scholarship to come to Coral Gables. After this game, he wanted to know McGlinchy’s future plans. As fate would have it, Coach Thomas that day ended up getting McGlinchy’s contact info and passed it on to a former Hurricane lefty who happened to be the pitching coach for the College of Central Florida Patriots. The CCF Patriots ended up recruiting and signing McGlinchy for the next school year after the Malden star declined to sign with the Atlanta Braves six weeks later.
Three GBL players selected in the 1995 draft
In the draft on June 1, a lot of local dreams came true as Revere’s Mike Spinelli was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round — the 102nd player selected — and ended up signing for $325,000. In the next round, two more GBL players were selected, the most in any MLB draft ever, three total, when Peabody High catcher Steve Lomasney was picked in the fifth round at number 130 overall by the Boston Red Sox. Then Malden history was made when Kevin McGlinchy was selected by the Atlanta Braves with the 141st pick in the fifth round.
Lomasney signed with the Sox and began his professional career, along with Spinelli, while McGlinchy went the “draft-and-follow” route, opting to forgo the Braves’ last offer, attend college for one year and then ultimately sign for $425,000 in June 1996. He would go on to a five-year career with the Braves, including a National League pennant 1999 and two appearances in the 1999 World Series against the Yankees.
But on that fateful April day in 1995, all the seeds were sown when the best game ever played in the Greater Boston League made history.
