The 2006 Little League Season and the Opening of Our Brand New Fields
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1 President’s Page Spring, 2006 It is with pride and gratitude that I welcome you to the 2006 Swampscott Little League season, during which we will open our brand new softball and baseball complex. When you visit the fields for the first time, you will see the result of an extraordinary effort and partnership between our league and the town. These pristine fields, set against rolling hills offering unique vantage points for spectators, will provide generations of Swampscott Little Leaguers with playing fields the equal of any in the state. Memories that will last a lifetime and be shared with future generations will be created in a setting that too is memorable and enduring. For that, we owe our town officials a debt of gratitude for it was their leadership, vision and commitment to the league and to the children of Swampscott that made this possible. For 52 years, Swampscott Little League has set a standard for excellence unmatched in the state. Beginning as a league comprised of four baseball teams and 60 boys in 1954, we have grown to a league of nearly 850 players, ages 6-16, boys and girls, playing baseball and softball. We are a healthy, vibrant and growing organization dedicated to teaching the values of teamwork, sportsmanship, competition and fair play. We are led by a dedicated and active Board of Directors and by a group of managers, coaches and other volunteers who give their time so others can benefit. I am very proud to be associated with each one of them. They deserve our thanks and gratitude. As we prepare to inaugurate these new fields, we do so ever mindful of the incalculable contributions made by those who came before us . some of whom remain deeply involved in this program to this day. Two people in particular require no last names. They are known simply as Al and Andy. It was their vision 52 years ago that created this league and it is their continuing participation, passion and leadership that helps give it not only a connection to a glorious past, but also its values. For that, we are very, very fortunate. We can only imagine the pride they must feel today seeing the results of what they created in the spring of 1954. To Coach Duratti and Coach Holmes, this program and the new fields are your enduring legacy and you have our most heartfelt thanks. On behalf of the league, I want to wish all the players, managers and coaches the best of luck and the best of times this season. And I want to again thank everyone who made this day and our new field complex possible. Sincerely, Larry Zabar President, Swampscott Little League 2 Swampscott Little League Board of Directors 2005-2006 Term President Secretary Treasurer Larry Zabar Ron Garner Brian Murphy BASEBALL Senior League Junior League Major League VP Mike Moran VP Bob D’Agnese VP Scott Faulkner Minor League Farm League Clinic League (8’s/6’s) VP Rob Reichert VP John Vinal VP Mike Moran VP Derek January Varsity Baseball Clinic League (7’s) T. J. Baril Scott Cohen SOFTBALL Senior League Major League Minor League VP Greg Miller John Wharff VP Lynne Bray Varsity Softball Farm League Softball/T-Ball Julie Ferguson Glenn Potter Kris Kennedy Player Agent (Baseball) Bob Kahn Safety Officer Gerry Perry Chief Umpire (Baseball) Chief Umpire (Softball) Mark Nemeskal Dennis Richard COMMITTEES Conflict Resolution Nominating Rules Howard Tripolsky Joe Valle, Chair Joe Valle, Chair Mark Nemeskal Bill Bufalino Joe Shanahan Tim Costin Mike LeBlanc Al Duratti Managers Equipment Auxiliary Mark Nemeskal, Chair Joe Shanahan (Baseball) Lisa Ledbury, Chair Bob Kahn Greg Miller (Softball) Paul Moran Member & Program Web Site Finance Jack Beermann, Chair Jim Kinchley, Chair Janell Cameron, Chair Mike Comite Scott Sagan District Tournament Audit Andy Holmes, Chair Joe Shanahan, Chair Richard Kane, Chair Coaching Clinic Property, Grounds & Equipment Jim Walsh,Chair Scott Faulkner Paul Cargill Charlie Gambale Mike Giardi John Wharff Joe Caponigro Nahant Advisor Sheila Hambleton This book was prepared by Jack Beermann with help from Roberta Bufalino, Andy Holmes, Al Duratti, Steve Williams, Barbara Klein, Bob Kahn, Kathy Marini, Tom Keenan and Larry Zabar. The book is © 2006. 3 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2005 MASSACHUSETTS STATE CHAMPION LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL TEAM!!! 9-0 State Tournament Record! Finished among the top 20 Little League Softball Teams in the world!! Front row (in front of the flag from left to right): Angela Dandreo, Lisa Gambale, Carley Hayes, Carly Wile Behind Flag from left to right : Coach Scott Bragan, Danielle Goldman, Lauren Sullivan, Roberta Bufalino, Kiley Bragan, Heather Tevrow, Lindsay Walsh, Manager John Vinal, Nole Landry, Coach Eve Gambale & Kirstin Vinal Not Shown : Michaela Jancsy Eastern Regionals in Albany New York ( July Game 1 : Swampscott 2 Salem 1 30 – August 5 ) Game 2 : Swampscott 19 East Lynn 0 Game 3 : Swampscott 11 Wyoma 2 Game 1 : Swampscott 7 Vermont 3 Game 4 : Swampscott 14 Salem 3 ….. Win Game 2 : Swampscott 6 New Hampshire 5 District 16 Championship!!! Game 3 : Maine 12 Swampscott 2 Game 4 : Swampscott 3 Rhode Island 0 Game 5 : Swampscott 6 Wakefield 3 Game 6 : Swampscott 5 Ty Cobb (Worcester) 4 Advance To Eastern Regional Final Four Game 7 : Swampscott 5 Wakefield 3 ….. Win Game 1 : Connecticut 7 Swampscott 1 Massachusetts Sectional Championship!!! Game 8 : Swampscott 7 Westfield 0 Connecticut went on to the World Game 9 : Swampscott 7 Westfield 1 ….. Win Championship Game in Portland, OR Massachusetts State Championship!!! 4 President Bush in his Little League Uniform On opening day 1950, before the game between the Washington Senators and Boston Red Sox, ambidextrous President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice; once right handed and once left handed. 5 A Brief History of Swampscott Little League In 1938 a resident of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Carl E. Stotz initiated a baseball program. The next year, he founded Little League Baseball as a three team local league, with the help of a $30 donation for uniforms. Little League remained a small organization through the years of WWII, reaching only 12 leagues, all in Pennsylvania as late as 1946. In 1947, a league was founded in New Jersey, marking the beginning of Little League’s remarkable expansion to its present status as a worldwide organization with nearly 200,000 teams, in all 50 U.S. states and more than 80 countries. In 1954, Swampscott resident Maury Hirshenson, who became the league’s first president, placed an ad in the newspaper seeking like-minded people to establish a Little League program in Swampscott. The league formed with four major league (10-12 year old) teams and promptly became a member of District 15 (each state is divided into District for purposes of conducting post-season tournaments) together with East Lynn, West Lynn, Marblehead National, Saugus American, Nahant, Wyoma and Saugus National. Soon to join were Marblehead American, Lynn Central, West Lynn National, Lynn Shore and Pine Hill. These teams, plus Lynnfield, minus Marblehead and Lynn Central, make up the present District 16 Little League. By this time, Little League had grown to more than 3,300 leagues. Early LL Officials Pictured left to right: Fran Kelleher, Al Duratti, Al Bruno (first umpire-in-chief), Andy Holmes, Al Cerone, Maury Hirshenson, Jerry Kaloust. Not pictured are the first Player Agent and Treasurer Tony Pierre and first Secretary Ginny Ellis. The managers that first year were Andy Holmes (Indians), Al Duratti (Yankees), Al Cerone (White Sox) and Ernie Leger (Red Sox). Al Duratti, who has been a manager ever since, became a manager that year somewhat by accident. He was planning on being a coach for his uncle Al Cerone. (Al Duratti played baseball for Swampscott High School and was bullpen catcher on the state championship team that had as its shortstop future federal judge Joe Tauro.) What happened was that a local resident named Fred Johnson had answered Maury’s ad and volunteered to be a manager. Everyone assumed it was Fred Johnson, Sr., but at the meeting it turned out that 15 year old Fred Johnson Jr. showed up, and the 19 year old Al Duratti was made manager with coaches Fred Jr. and another 15 year old named Dick Jeffers, both of whom later coached baseball at the high school level. Al Duratti’s Yankees were the first champions of the Swampscott LL. 6 (And the second, he says, and only lost in the finals in the third season to his uncle’s White Sox team.) The 1954 Swampscott All-Star team was allowed to play other all-star teams but could not advance due to league rules restricting participation of new programs. (The District Commissioner, now referred to as District Administrator, was Swampscott Resident Ed Shubb.) That year, future Orioles great Boog Powell, played in the LL World Series, as did future Cubs pitcher Ken Hubbs, who was National League Rookie of the Year in 1962. Little League Baseball had by then expanded to more than 3,300 leagues. The members of that first Swampscott All Star team were George Pleau, Ed Loveday, Ken Stein, Bob Berry, Bill Bufalino, Tom Santanello, Tom Sentner, Frank Cahoon, Tony Athanas, Mike Poor, George Arrington, Davie Cobbett and Carl Jaffee. Bill Bufalino went on to manage the LL Tigers for many years and was the manager the 1983 State Champion All Star team. Little League baseball in Swampscott quickly became a big community affair. Al Duratti says that one of the secrets to a successful All-Star program is to get lots of people involved. That has always been the case in Swampscott.