Team Nomination

Name

Bristol American Legion Baseball Organization

Address

City/ST/Zip

Bristol, CT  06010

Telephone

Date of Birth

Place of Birth

Bristol, CT

Elementary School

High School

N/A

College

N/A

The Bristol Junior American Legion baseball program began play in 1928 with a team sponsored by St. Anne School and has had a team entered in the program every year since.

Bristol won its first state championship in 1949, sweeping a best of three series from Willimantic buy scores of 3-0 and 5-3 and went on to win the title for four straight years.

The American Legion instituted Zone play and a double elimination tournament format in 1962 and Bristol won the first of its three state titles under coach Jim Bates that year with a team led by future major leaguer Tom Shopay. Bates also won the title in 1964 and 1966. Bristol advanced to the regional championship game in each of those years.

The largest crowd ever to witness an American Legion baseball game at Muzzy Field was in the state championship game of 1971 when 2,969 people crowded into the park to see Naugatuck’s John Caneira outduel Bristol’s Rob Nicoletti to give the Naugy team its third straight state title.

Under first year coach George Synnott, Bristol won its seventh state title in 1974 and went on to win the regional and a trip to the American Legion World Series in Roseburg, Ore., the first of four world series appearances for the organization.

Bristol won back to back state titles in 1983 and 1984 and returned to the World Series in 1984 after narrowly missing in 1983.

 After a stretch of season when they were not able to win Zone championships, Bristol brought former player Jim Ziogas on as head coach in 1994 and he led the team to a record breaking 11th state title and another regional championship appearance. Bristol made its third World Series appearance in 1997, traveling to Rapid City, SD where the team went 2-2, winning its first ever World Series games.

Bristol won the state title in 2004 and again in 2006, both teams advancing deep into the regional event. Bristol’s fourth world series appearance occurred in 2008 when they became the first ever New England team to win the regional as host.

The Bristol American Legion program has hosted the state tournament in its double elimination format 35 times since 1962. Bristol has been host to five Northeast Regional tournament as well as several district regional in the 1950’s Bristol has won the Zone 1 championship 32 times since 1962 and has posted a 98-52 record for a .653 winning percentage. Bristol has won 14 state championships, been runner up four times and has appeared in the final four of the state tournament 22 times. Bristol has had 12 state tournament MVP’s beginning with Tom Shopay in 1962. Dave Cichon won the award twice, in 1964 and 1966. Tom Roberts and Tim Maynard shared the award in 1974. John Greenleaf was the MVP of the 1978 tournament.  Jeff Howes won the award for the 1983 state titlist and Bill Massocco was MVP in 1984. Dan Stern won both the MVP and Outstanding pitcher Award in 1994. Matt Hebert was MVP and Adam Platt the outstanding pitcher in 1997. Tony Jones was MVP and Outstanding pitcher in 2004 and Sean Allaire was MVP in 2006. Bob Jones (1967), Jim Ziogas (.470 in 1971), Tim Maynard (.500 in 1974), John Greenleaf (.500 in 1978) and Matt Hebert (.571 in 1997) were the only Bristol players to win the tournament batting title.

Bristol’s organizational success has been characterized by its long term managerial commitment. Dr. James Gilhuly served as general manager of the team for over 50 years until his death and Fran Mullins has been associated with the team for more than 60 years. Bristol coaches Jim Bates, George Synnott, Jim Ziogas, and Spec Monico enjoyed long and successful tenures with the organization.