By JON BAKER

PAWTUCKET — It was about a month ago when Joe “The Pie Man” Sadlier discovered he had been selected to throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Pawtucket Red Sox-Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees contest on Fourth of July eve.

“Ken McGill, the president of the Pawtucket Fireworks Committee, called me and said, 'If you'd like to, the ball's all yours,'” Sadlier reminisced. “I was stunned, but thought it would be a great thrill and honor. My five kids were always into sports, and naturally the Red Sox, so I told Kenny, 'You better believe I'll do it!'”
On Friday night, there stood Sadlier, who calls himself at 77 not only “The Pie Man” but also “a lifelong Pawtucketer,” on the McCoy Stadium hill. And, as promised, he one-hopped the catcher, though it did have some “oomph” on it.
While being on the diamond meant a great deal to him, Sadlier admitted there was something more special about the evening — having his wife of 52 years, Vivian — at the ballyard watching him.
Sadlier, you see, has won numerous awards and citations for his volunteerism as a cook and baker, and traveled all over the country to accept them. He did so alone.
“She never wanted to go, and never has,” Sadlier explained while relaxing under the barbeque tent near McCoy's right-field line about 75 minutes before the pre-game ceremony. “She was an introvert, and just wanted to stay home. She's doing much better now.
“When she said she would come to this, I was ecstatic,” he added. “We knew it was handicap-accessible, so I didn't have to ask her twice.”
Stated Vivian, who has been confined to a wheelchair after suffering an allergic reaction to lithium 19 years ago: “When he told me, I wasn't shocked. I was just happy and pleased for him.”
Fact is, like throwing out the ceremonial pitch, Sadlier mentioned he never could have forecasted his illustrious career, one that has included jobs as a cook and baker for all sorts of organizations, and the same as a volunteer.
His mom, if she was still alive, perhaps could have.
“I never would have thought, when I was a kid, that I'd end up doing the things I've done, what I've accomplished,” he said while feeding free macaroni salad and barbeque chicken and
pink to his wife. “I just didn't like my mom's cooking – it was too plain  – and everybody else liked it. I kept complaining, I guess, so she went out and bought me some pots and pans, and I made my own food. I was maybe nine or 10.
“It just happened upon me,” he added. “It became a way of life for me, and something I grew to love.”

**

Call that a massive understatement.
Sadlier well remembers entering the U.S. Army at the tail end of the Korean War, on Dec. 8, 1952. He said a sergeant pointed at those in his First Army's 25th Infantry Division and assigned them jobs.
“He looked at me and said, 'You're a cook,' then pointed at others and said, 'You're a mechanic, you're a gunner, etc.,'” he laughed. “It was freak luck, I suppose.”
After two years in the service (he finished as a corporal), Sadlier headed home to Pawtucket and landed a job cooking sweets at Dyson's Bakery on Mendon Avenue, then – three years later – became a cook at the then-Pawtucket Memorial Hospital, where he spent seven. When he was about 30, officials at Lincoln School in Providence lured him to be a chef manager for another seven years, and – amazingly – left the all-girls' institution to cook on a Mobil oil rig located 200 miles off the New Jersey coast.
“We had to get there by helicopter, and – I'll tell you – that was a fun job,” he said. “No, I wasn't nervous. I enjoyed it. I had that for 3 ½ years.”
Following the rig stint, he became a cook at the University of Rhode Island, serving up hot and creative meals at every fraternity house on campus “at one time or another,” he noted. While working other odd jobs following his retirement in 1992 – he called it being a “freelance cook” – he decided to help out The Times Summertime Fund, which offered youngsters the opportunity to attend summer camp, by creating meat pies in 1997. (He did the same for the newspaper's Christmas Fund).
“It was about 10 years ago, and (former Times' reporter) Doug Haddon walked into the Jenks Junior High kitchen and asked, 'So, who's in charge here?'” Sadlier chuckled. “The school (officials) used to let me use some of their ovens to prepare and cook the pies. The Times and the Salvation Army took the orders, and all the money from sales went into the fund.
“Anyway, my friend, Amy Breault looked at him and said, 'Talk to the Pie Man,' and that was the first time anybody had called me that,” he continued. “That's how it happened. I think Doug just took that phrase and ran with it. I've used it ever since.”
Actually, Sadlier has been a volunteer for years now. He and Vivian used to send their children to an exclusive summer camp in Roxbury, VT, and he was asked if he would provide food for the campers back in 1972.
“I was so grateful to get the job, I made a promise to myself,” he offered. “I figured if I ever got the opportunity to help kids go to camp, I'd do it.”

**

On his 33rd wedding anniversary – Sept. 2, 1990 – doctors gave Vivian the bad news: She had lost some motor movements in her arms and legs because of that allergic reaction.
“I was on it because of anxiety, and that day, I'll never forget,” she said. “My family took me to Memorial (Hospital), and they treated me like a stroke victim. I had all kinds of therapy, and I was finally diagnosed correctly. Joe wanted to stay at home and take care of me, and I said, 'Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself. You go out and cook, make some money.'”
Sadlier made his wife breakfast and “unmessy lunches, like calzones,” then ventured out. He returned every night to make their supper.
“I followed her orders,” he laughed.
Because of his unselfish volunteerism over the years, Sadlier received the Concerned Citizens Committee's Citizen of the Year Award in 1998 and the Pawtucket Substance Abuse Prevention Committee's Humanitarian Award in 1999; the following year, he was named to the Pawtucket Hall of Fame.
In 2001, he garnered a National Point of Light Foundation citation from Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and, the next, another honor during the Washington Times' 25th Anniversary Celebration, one he attended.
In Washington, D.C., he met someone intrigued by his volunteering, and asked him if he wanted to go anywhere to do the same, where it would be. Sadlier admitted to an Indian reservation. The man flew him to New Mexico, where he acted as a cook. In 2003, he snagged an award issued by the Navajo Indians.
He also has been honored by The Times, Salvation Army, Knights of Columbus, Pawtucket Senior Citizens, St. Mary's Church and Sacred Heart Church, to name several, and for years volunteered at local soup kitchens, Toys for Tots (30 years) and Toys for Joy.
When asked if he had practiced for the first pitch on Friday night (he was joined on the mound by Fireworks Committee member Annemarie Mullaney and Joe Cordeiro of Cordeiro Insurance of Fall River), “The Pie Man” admitted he had thrown a couple earlier in the week, then stated, “Heck, I'm not going to throw my arm out for pride. I get all the pride I need in volunteering. I owe it all to Vivian.”
Said his son, Joe: “We're so proud of him for all of his work, but also how he takes care of Mama.”