Soon, the sounds of Little League baseball will be with us again. The infield on my team would chant in chorus, “Hey, batter, batter, batter, swing! Hey, batter, batter, batter, swing!” We were trying to entice the batter to swing at a bad pitch and get out. Granby Little League is about to begin its 73rd season, and that brings back fond memories of when I played.
The fields at Salmon Brook Park were first used in 1971. The first championship played there went into extra innings between the Rams and the Blues. The title was decided by a best two-out-of-three series. There were eight teams, and the team with the best record in the first half of the season would play the winner of the second half to determine the champion. The Blues won the first half, and my team, the Rams, won the second half with a record of six wins and one loss.
After two games, we were tied with one victory apiece. The Blues won the first game, and we rebounded to take the second. Little League games are six innings long, but game three went nine innings. I was given the ball as the starting pitcher and threw four innings before being relieved by Scott Werner, who pitched the next five. I moved to shortstop. In the top of the ninth, with two outs and the bases loaded, Bob Sokolowski hit a line drive over my head, and three runs scored. In the bottom of the ninth, we were unable to score. We lost the first championship at Salmon Brook Park, 8–5.
We had a strong team. Ian Hay was our catcher, Damien Rohr played first base, Billy Keenan was at second, I played shortstop, and Scott Werner handled third. Ray Lyons was in right field, Greg Tashjian played center, and our coach rotated players through left field so everyone got time on the field. Scott Werner, Billy Keenan, and I made up the pitching staff.
Our coach, Ray Horn, was an engineer by profession and coached Little League for 17 years. He was a large man who used a 28–inch bat to hit ground balls. While most coaches used two hands, he would toss the ball with his left hand and swing one-handed with his right, sending sharp, stinging grounders across the infield.
Other players in the league in 1971 included the Cutler brothers, the Ellis brothers, and Dave Dunning on the Cubs. The Colts had Tom Hartswick, Everett Minor and Bill Peterson. The Lions featured the three Dei Dolori brothers. Matt Wilson and Bob Kalinowski played for the Owls, while the Hawks had Bob Lindgren and Jeff Schmahl. The Blues included Bob Sokolowski and Al Shattellroe, and the Chamberlain brothers played for the Jays.
Before Salmon Brook Park, games were played at the high school next to Granby Cemetery. There were dugouts along the first- and third-base lines and a 200-foot fence surrounding the field. Today, you would never know a Little League field existed there unless you played on it. The dugouts and fence are gone, and the space is now just an open field. Other games were played at Kelly Lane School.
Granby Little League dates to June 1953, when four teams—the Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, and Phillies—took the field at Center School, located behind what was then the town library (now the Visiting Nurses Association). They played throughout the summer. By 1964, the league had grown to six teams: the Rams, Blues, Jays, Cubs, Owls and Lions, all playing at the high school. As Leo Mele recalls, players would finish their games, ride their bikes to Avery’s General Store for a soda float, and then head home. Leo played for the Blues, coached by Jack Berriman, who founded Granby Little League in 1953.
At the end of April, another season of Granby Little League began. While participation has declined over the years and the league has merged with East Granby, what remains unchanged is what matters most: kids playing baseball, forming friendships and creating memories that last a lifetime. So, PLAY BALL!
To learn more about Granby Little League, join the Salmon Brook Historical Society. Call 860-653-9713 or visit salmonbrookhistoricalsociety.com