Play it again: 1939 pioneers of Little League Baseball to reunite at this year’s World Series

Play it again: ‘39 Little League pioneers reunite

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Bill Bair likes to tell people he was the very first batting champion of the very first Little League back in 1939.

To make sure no one forgets, it’s on his business card.

A spry 82, Bair’s memory is as sharp as ever when it comes to those days as a giddy 12-year-old playing baseball that magical summer in Williamsport. “I guess pitchers were just trying to hit my bat,” he joked about his .462 average.

He’ll get another chance to boast about his exploits when members of that first Little League reunite across the Susquehanna River in South Williamsport during this year’s World Series, which begins Friday. Officials plan to honor the pioneers in a ceremony the final weekend of the 10-day tournament.

That first three-team league founded by lumberyard clerk Carl Stotz has turned into an international organization with thousands of teams that plays host to the most recognizable youth sporting event in the United States.

“We went from 42 boys who played that first year to 3 million kids who play throughout the world. That’s mind-boggling,” said George Spooner Jr. The 81-year-old retired airline executive lives in Palm Bay, Fla., but plans to return to his hometown for the reunion.

Only Bair, Spooner and a handful of other men can say they were around for Little League’s humble beginnings on that dusty diamond in a residential section of blue-collar Williamsport.

“We were in the right place at the right time,” said Thomas “Tuck” Frazier, Bair’s teammate on the Lycoming Dairy team. The two old friends recalled their youth while visiting the brick building that now serves as headquarters for their childhood league.

Legend has it that Stotz organized the league for his nephews and other local boys, setting up the dimensions on a plot of land in 1938 that would later become the league’s home field. (The distance between bases in Little League is 60 feet, 30 feet shorter than in the majors).

Play didn’t start up until the following year, though. Bair and Frazier recalled getting word after Sunday school.

“We had a place to play. You didn’t have to play in the street. You had rules, umpires. … If the man said, ‘You’re out,’ you were out,” exclaimed Bair, whose business card reads, “First Batting Champian (sic) 1939.”

That first diamond, situated behind a minor league park known as Bowman Field, was initially used for softball. The first Little Leaguers didn’t have an outfield wall — unless you counted the Bowman Field fence hundreds of feet away that seemed unreachable for even the best 12-year-old slugger.

The infield was all dirt, while there was a notable obstacle in center field.

“The outfield was all grass, except for the beehive,” Frazier said.

The first field is now a grass parking lot for Bowman Field, and a monument behind what was once home plate is the only reminder of Little League’s beginnings.

“At this site, on June 6, 1939, was played the First Little League Baseball game,” reads the inscription below a statue of three boys reaching skyward with gloves outstretched seemingly to catch a pop fly. Led by Bair’s stellar hitting and managed by Stotz himself, Lycoming Dairy claimed the first championship.

The league moved in 1941 to its current location, a field across the street in a city park still being used today for baseball. Bair and Frazier never played there — they were too old for Little League by then — though pictures, awards and other memorabilia from their inaugural year are displayed in the office.

Many items commemorate Stotz, whom Bair still speaks of with reverence, often referring to him as the “founder.” They were friends for 53 years until Stotz died in 1992.

In the 1950s, a dispute split Stotz from his beloved organization. He severed ties with Little League in 1956, returning to his very first league — though a court order prohibited him from using the term “Little League” anymore.

He then chose “Original League” for its name, and that league remains independent from Little League to this day.

The bitter feelings have eased in recent years. Though Stotz never visited the current home of the World Series in South Williamsport, his wife, Grayce Stotz, dedicated a statue to her husband at the complex in 2001. Mrs. Stotz died in 2006.

Each summer, each day of the World Series, Bair staffs the Original League office to welcome World Series visitors curious about the Little League’s start.

“I certainly owe it to (Stotz) to keep his name in front of the people,” Bair said. “He started this thing, without him, we wouldn’t be standing here today.”

In local circles, Bair and his league mates are revered by baseball aficionados like Jim McKinney, the Original League’s vice president of operations.

“They’re honored to come back here. They’re honored for the anniversary they achieved,” McKinney said. “They’re walking history.”

Bair and other league members try to get together about every five years, though they don’t usually get quite the greeting that Little League plans to shower on them at this year’s World Series.

The reunion schedule used to include cruises on the Susquehanna, a nice dinner out and tours of Williamsport, but not anymore. With guys in their 80s, the activity “gets toned down,” Bair said, so this year it’s dinner at Frazier’s home followed by a trip the next day to South Williamsport.

Planning for the special weekend started three months ago, and since then, two more Original Leaguers have died. Besides the 10 who plan to return for the World Series, the remaining five surviving members cannot make the trip.

“We’re all older. It’s a tougher job,” Frazier said. “We’re going to get together, reminisce and do everything we can when they get here.”