Friends of Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr., the “;father of baseball,”; (1820-1892) celebrated his 189th birthday April 17 at his Oahu Cemetery gravesite. “;Game time was 11 a.m. and about 50 hearty baseball souls showed up on the hallowed ground,”; said Bob Corboy, a key organizer. Some of the men wore baseball uniforms and carried gloves, balls and bats. Among the attendees and speakers were: Jim Donovan, Jim Leahey, David and Lew Matlin, Jack Sullivan, Don Robbs, Lyle Nelson, Korky Gallagher, Walter Ikeda and Corboy. Historian Nelson gave a vivid description of Cartwright's funeral of 1892 as he told of thousands of citizens and 20 horses marching from downtown up Nuuanu Avenue to the cemetery. Cartwright was an advisor to Hawaiian royalty who was known for his civic accomplishments. He was Honolulu's first fire chief, is credited with helping to start Queen's Hospital, starting the Honolulu post office and the library system, and he co-founded a bank. A first-time guest at the birthday tribute was A.J. Cartwright IV, a descendant who flew in from Seattle. He was touched and impressed with the ceremony. “;I'll be back every year from now on,”; he said. Corboy said about a dozen of the faithful had lunch and drinks at Murphy's after the event ...

OH MAMMA!: The national tour of “;Mamma Mia!”; opens here May 12 and members of the cast are known for raising funds for charity. Opening night is a benefit for the Women's Cancer Center at Kapiolani Medical Center, with VIP seating at the Blaisdell Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. A post-show cast party follows at Romano's Macaroni Grill. The post-show party is sold out but there are tickets for the opening-night show. Party organizers are hoping Pierce Brosnan, who has a home on Kauai and who starred in the movie version of “;Mamma Mia!”; will make an appearance opening night. Lynne Wooddell and Kim Gennaula of Kapiolani made sure a letter was sent to Brosnan asking for his support. He lost his first wife to ovarian cancer, which is one of the major diseases the hospital fights and treats. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS was the beneficiary of a fundraiser last week in LA at which the “;Mamma Mia!”; cast members performed. Queen Latifah was there ...

BUMMER: Bum sports news about “;Sunday Night Football”; TV broadcaster John Madden throwing in the towel and hanging up his microphone. He and his co-broadcaster Al Michaels were at the top of the heap when it came to broadcasting NFL games. (Michaels broadcast Hawaii Islanders games and other sports here in the late 1960s.) Besides having the knowledge of Super Bowl winning head coach, which he was at Oakland in '79, Madden had a flair for comedy and would always come up with funny stuff ... Speaking of funny stuff, I like Wood Craft appearing next to the funnies in the Star-Bulletin's handy, dandy tabloid format. My boyhood pals Tim Smythe, Hank McKeague and Frank “;Steiny”; Steinmiller, who were also in my wedding party years ago, always described me as “;funny.”; But somehow, I don't think they meant it in a comedic way ...

Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things Saturdays. E-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).