Little League Program Organized In 1952
Early in the Year of 1952, the . President of the Farmingdale
Youth Council appointed a committee of six members, for
the purpose of forming a branch of the Little League program
in Farmingdale. The committee, headed by Frank Marcella
and Rudy Weber Jr., after several meetings, appointed Gene
Leyendecker a long time semi- pro manager of local teams
as Commissioner.
In May of that year, the first four teams were organized,
in the Major and four in the Minor League. Two of the original
sponsors are still sponsoring teams, namely the Lions and the
Rotary Clubs.
On June 28, 1952 the Opening Day Ceremonies were held,
starting with a parade from the Main Street School to the
Technical School Fields on Cherry Street.
The parade was headed by now Justice of the Supreme
Court Howard T. Hogan, who was then Mayor, Gene Leyendecker
and Joseph Zureck, the present Mayor, who served
as Assistant Commissioner.
There were about 200 boys signed in the Little League
program, with four teams in the Major and four teams in the
Minor League.
The Republic Aviation Corporation was of great assistance
in this stage of the program, not only by sponsoring a team,
but also by lending the services of their Recreational Director
Oscar Frowein and his staff. They also hacked out a playing
field from a scrubby sand lot. Republic sponsored a team until
taken over by the present owners.
The Little League program caught on immediately and its
growth reached a peak in the years of 1962- 63- 64 when the
enrollment of boys reached an all time high of close to 2,400
boys.
By this time the organization of the Farmingdale Little
League Association had taken place and was enlarged to take
care of the boys who graduated from Little League. That is
Claire £ tu4ite
Specializes In
Portraits in black and white and portraits
in direct color and hand oil coloring of
portraits. A portrait makes a gift of a
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• • Candids
Weddings - Bar Mitzvahs - Confirmation
.. Store Interiors and Commercial Photography
serving Main Street, Farmingdale.
Industrial Photography serving East Farm-ingdale's
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„ „ Restorations of Old Photographs, Historical
Photographs Duplicating.
. . Commercial Photography Direct Color and
Black and White.
.. Identifications m,/ i i? ?
Sid Siegal fj'f
• member of the Professional Photographs Society
of New York
• member of the Long Island section of the PPBT
to sscy, those lads who reached the age of 13 were no longer
allowed to play Little League ball. The Babe Ruth League was
organized in 1954. This League consisted of four teams of
fifteen boys each. 1954 also saw the formation of a second
Little League, known as the American League. The original
group were known as the National.
Shortly after, both leagues, the National and American were
expanded from four teams to six teams each.
In 1956 a third league was formed, also consisting of six
teams. This brought the total number of teams in the Little
League group to 18 teams. There were also 18 teams in the
Minor league Class Triple A ( AAA) group, and 18 teams in
the Class A group.
At the present time the Babe Ruth League has been replaced
by the Pony- Colt program, which in the year 1965 consisted
of 12 teams in the Pony and eight teams in the Colt Leagues.
The age requirements for the Pony group is 13 and 14 years.
For the Pony group the ages are 15 and 16 years. Colt ??
The controlling group, formerly known as the Farmingdale
Little League Baseball Association is now known as the Farmingdale
Baseball League Inc. It is composed of 450 volunteer
workers, both men and women, who supervise and control the
operation of all phases of the baseball program.
Associated with this group is another group known as the
Ladies Auxiliary of the Farmingdale Little League, made up of
mothers and friends of boys playing in the various leagues.
At present, two teams have been entered in the Nassau
County Connie Mack League.
Eugene Leyendecker
LILC0 OFFERS LONG ISLAND FILM TO GROUPS
Long Island the beautiful, chronicled in all its seasons,
parading before the viewer in a 22 minute color and sound
motion picture, was unveiled recently at a special showing by Long
Island Lighting Company.
LILCO's film, entitled " They Called the Island Long," had
its premier which LILCO hopes will be the forerunner of many
showings to sommunity, civic and business groups not only on
Long Island but to those located near or far from the Sunrise
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6S Thursday, April 6 , 1967 Farmingdale Observer Supplement
