Hopkinton’s inaugural Little League champions in 1954 were the Tigers. First row (from left): Dick Deleo, Bob Farnsworth, John Devers, Harry Hamilton, Bill Carey, Barry McKenney and Bob Blake. Back row (from left): manager Paul Phipps, Frank Jolly, Bill MacMillan, Jim Pyne, Bill Hamilton, Bill Thomas, Doug Walker and coach Max Carey. Missing from picture: Russ Ellsworth.
Early spring 1954, and word of Little League Baseball coming to Hopkinton spread rapidly among all the guys in town between the ages of 8 and 12.
There were many questions: Where to sign up, where are we going to play our games, is 12 too old?
The answers: We signed up soon after we heard the news, we had no field yet, and I was eligible to play — although about half the guys in my class were too old.
Tryouts were held at the old ball field where the new high school would be built starting that summer. Home plate for that field was about where the shower in the boys locker room is now, with the third base line parallel to the road that is still there, and left field being in front of the white building that remains there.
We were a motley crew at the tryouts. One good thing, though: There were lots of new baseballs and bats.
The league consisted of four major league teams — the Tigers, Giants, Braves and Red Sox — and four minor league teams — I don’t remember their names.
The major league teams had full uniforms, while the minor league teams wore T-shirts.
When a player from a major league team went on vacation, they turned in their uniform, and a minor league player was called up to take their place. The season was divided into two halves, with the winner of each half playing one game to determine the champion for that year.
Our field was built by a group of our fathers, who got together in front of where the new high school was being built. The old tennis court was next to Hayden Rowe and the field was built to the west of it. If you hit a ball far enough to left field, it would end up in Terry’s cow pasture. Surrounding the whole field was wood slat and wire “snow” fence. There was even a built-up pitcher’s mound, but no dugouts — just benches.
I will outline one team, the Tigers — because I was on it. Our manager was Paul “Skipper” Phipps, assisted by Max Carey and Mr. Schneider.
We had a secret weapon: our pitcher, Doug Walker. He pitched real fast and was just wild enough to be scary to bat against. I’m glad he was on our team; I didn’t like to bat against him, even in practice.
We had a great bunch of guys and won both halves of the season, so there was no need for a playoff game. We were the champions.
A couple of notes: My father was the head umpire. He made sure there was a home plate umpire at all games. He also umpired some games. I hated it when he umpired our games. I had a lot more strikes called, it seemed.
We had an All-Star team and played about 10 games up until the night before school started. I don’t think we won any games, though.
Little League was a great introduction to organized sports. Our sandlot games weren’t bad, but we didn’t have as many good baseballs or bats.
Doug Walker! Unfair!
I do not recall that he was wild though. That is what was terrifying. You had to stand in there or your were going to watch three strikes go by.