McCabe-Waters History
In the fall of 1949 a group of baseball minded
Bristolites began investigating the possibility of bringing
Little League baseball to the city. Begun in Williamsport, Pa
some ten years earlier, Little League was just beginning to catch
on in Connecticut in the late 40's and when McCabe-Waters players
took the field in the spring of 1950, they were part of about 30
leagues across the state including operations in Southington,
Farmington and New Britain.
Bristol's new league was
named after Arthur "Swat" McCabe and Clyde Waters, two
of the stars of Bristol's well known New Departure teams of the
20's. Bob Casey was elected president of the new organization and
some of the city's finest baseball stars including George Scott,
"Lefty" McHugh, Steg Zetarski, Dick Ryan, Otto Palau
and others were signed on as coaches.
A new field was carved out
of a sandy former dump area in the western end of Rockwell Park
and named after Willis P. Frazier, a former Park Superintendent.
Under the direction of Park Superintendent E. Gordon Stocks, the
new field was created to Little League specifications with a clay
"skin" infield, 60 foot basepaths and wooden fences 186
feet from home plate.
In the spring of 1950 the
call went out for players and nearly 800 from schools throughout
the city signed up to try out for slots on four teams. The
Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox and Yankees were formed with 12-man
rosters. There were no minor league teams.
The first game was played on June 6, 1950
after Park Supt. Stocks threw out the first ball to Mayor James
P. Casey. The Yankees nipped the Dodgers 3-2 in the opener. Steve
White's solo homer was the difference. Yankee pitcher Dick Busse
fanned 13 and his Dodger opponent, Butch Achille, struck out 11.
The next night, Harold "Lefty"
DeMars threw a one-hitter to lead the Giants over the Red Sox.
The Giants went on to win the first league championship.
The following year the league expanded to
six teams, adding the Tigers and Cardinals, but dropped back to
four when the Dodgers and Giants were dropped in 1952.
In 1953, McCabe-Waters was declared
ineligible for post season play by Little League baseball because
Bristol's population of 36,000 was beyond the 16,000 limit set by
the national organization. So, in 1954, the city was split into
two leagues and the Forestville Little League began its
operation.
Two years later, in 1956, the Tigers of
McCabe-Waters defeated the Dodgers of Forestville in the first
ever City Series competition.
McCabe-Waters added a fifth team, the
White Sox in 1957. That same year they became known throughout
the state as the All Star team won the District four title and
reached the finals of the state tournament before losing to
Bridgeport. It was the first of more than a dozen District
championships for McCabe-Waters teams.
Moved to the newly created District Five
in 1958, McCabe-Waters again won the district title and lost to
Darien in the semi finals of the state event.
Edgewood Little League made Bristol a
three league city in 1959 and McCabe Waters began a period of
change as many of the original founders began to drop out after a
decade of building a successful program. John Leone took over as
president in 1960.
McCabe-Waters challenged for the District
title again in 1961, a tournament that featured the league's
first tournament no-hitter, hurled by Hank Czajkowski.
In 1964, a new cinder block field house and concession stand was erected and named after Bob Casey, the league's president for its first ten years. That same year the league's skin infield was replaced by grass and a new electronic scoreboard was added thanks to the generous donation and work of Superior Electric Co. The league also expanded that year adding the Mets as a sixth major league team.