Going to bat for mom

They may not get the same payday as Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez, but when Ryan Mueller, 9, and his brother, Andrew, 7, stepped to the plate at Fenway Park in late June, they had their own motivation for making contact - their mom, Ellen McCarthy Mueller.

At the 16th annual Fantasy Day to support the Jimmy Fund, the boys from Marshfield took 15 swings against Fenway's legendary Green Monster and racked up $2,000 for each at bat. Their team of 20 batters raised more than $50,000 as part of $500,000 raised for the day to benefit cancer research.

Ellen McCarthy Mueller has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston since moving back to the United States in March 2007 from Guatemala. Originally from Marshfield, she and her husband had been in Guatemala for 12 years, moving there to get into the real estate and furniture business.

"Our boys were just thrilled to be part of it, to get to wear a Red Sox uniform and go on the field," she said of the Fantasy Day.

The Muellers also have a daughter, Caroline, 5, and all will be moving back to Guatemala after Ellen McCarthy Mueller's treatment is finished Aug. 13. She had a lumpectomy and extensive radiation and chemotherapy to ensure the disease was in check.

The boys love baseball, she said, and both play Little League in Marshfield. The chance to go to bat - for their mom, no less - was an once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"They loved it, they got to go into the locker room, and they got their names announced on the PA system," she said. "We all had a great time."

BANNER YEAR FOR RELAY: The seventh annual Greater Plymouth Relay for Life had its best fund-raising year ever recently, with $207,000 raised for the American Cancer Society. That amount pushed the cumulative total for all seven relays over the $1 million mark, officials said. This year, the two-day relay featured 661 walkers on 33 teams trekking around the track at Plymouth South High School for 21 hours. Among the walkers were 121 cancer survivors.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: The 2008 Southcoast Hospitals employee recognition ceremony was held recent to honor employees who have reached the milestone years of service at the group's Tobey Hospital in Wareham, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. Earning awards for 40 years of service were: Myra Sweet of Freetown, Carol Palmer of Mattapoisett, Karen Oliveira and Cynthia Ziewacz, both of Rochester, and Bernice Veiga of Wareham; 35 years, Deborah Bolduc, Beverly Sadeck and Nancy Pequita, all of Freetown, Marjorie Ashley of Lakeville, Kathleen Langford of Mattapoisett, Frances Moszczenski of Rochester, and Catherine Phinney, Diane Allen, and Christine Dacci, all of Wareham.

Massachusetts Bar Association president David W. White Jr. of Westwood has received the inaugural President's Award from the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys for his leadership in fighting for meaningful sentencing reform. Since he began his term as head of the state bar in September 2007, White has strongly advocated for Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) reform, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and creating greater opportunities for treatment, education, training, and parole, said MACDL's president, Randy S. Chapman, former chair of the Massachusetts bar.

Alex Eaves (above) of Norwell was a winner of ideablob.com's monthly contest for the best small business idea, as voted by the ideablob.com community, earning $10,000 from the Advanta Bank Corp. Eaves's company, Stay Vocal, has a line of "ReUse" products, which include clothing and accessories made from used materials, and serves as a source of information about music, news, and current events. Eaves said he'll use the prize money to revamp his website, stayvocal.com

A Taste of Easton, sponsored by the Easton Chamber of Commerce, raised $3,000 for the Easton Food Pantry. The pantry serves close to 50 families a week, officials said, with its 25 community volunteers gathering every Monday to sort and distribute food to those in need.

The physician practice of Wareham Medical Associates has joined Southcoast Physician Services, part of Southcoast Health System. Wareham Medical Associates includes the internal medicine practices of Drs. Thomas Gleason and John Howard, and Thomas Spiro, certified physician's assistant.

Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at Kandarian@globe.com.