You can take the Mayor out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of the Mayor.
Longtime Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be leaving office at the end of his term, capping off the longest tenure for any mayor of the state’s capital. Menino has presided over nearly 20 years of Boston history, and while his oratory hiccups have made him the butt of some good-natured ridicule at times, his dedication to the city of Boston and it’s culture is without fault. Now, he’ll have a symbol of the city to take with him everywhere.
After Menino recovered enough from an April leg injury to move around without the aid of a wheelchair, he still required a cane — the late Ted Kennedy‘s cane, actually — to go about his daily duties. Thanks to the generosity of Gary and Lynne Smith of Wellesley, two Red Sox diehards who attended every game, home and away, of the 2013 playoffs, Menino now has a much more stylish way to get around town — a baseball bat fashioned into a walking stick.
“I use it as a medical device,” Mayor Menino quipped to the Boston Globe’s Andrew Ryan, “but if somebody gets fresh with me, I use it as a weapon.”
The Smiths got the idea for the gift when they traveled to Comerica Park in Detroit.  During their trip, the couple spied a man using a similar-style cane, which Florida-based craftsman Rick Just makes out of his garage and sells at baseballbatcane.com. Just takes Little League-sized bats and adds a maple handle and rubber foot to create a look that already has citizens of Boston complimenting Menino on his style.  The Smiths presented Menino with the cane on Sunday.
Menino’s bat cane bears a special inscription to the Red Sox, as well: “Mayor Tom Menino, World Series Champs, 2004, 2007, 2013.”
“The three years I was mayor,” Menino said.
Check out some photos of Mayor Menino’s new cane below.
[tweet https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/401702532265046017 align=center]
[tweet https://twitter.com/asmamk/status/401418636180475904 align=center]
[tweet https://twitter.com/BostonMagazine/status/400669262416588800 align=center]
