The Good Old Days in Darien / Ed Chrostowski

Baseball always has been big in Darien, especially when poised at the brink of a new season as it is now, but it was never bigger than in the summer of 1958.

Excitement in town that year rivaled that of the World Series. And why not? It really was a World Series and Darien was in it. The local all-stars were one of only seven Little League teams internationally qualifying for the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

In the six short years since Little League baseball had been launched in Darien, the local "boys of summer" advanced from playing on a make-shift field at the old high school (now the Town Hall) off Renshaw Road to the program's pinnacle in Williamsport.

To get to the Little League summit, Darien won nine games in row in regional competition and then continued the streak with a victory over Canada in the World Series opener before bowing to Monterrey, Mexico, the eventual champions, in the semi-final.

En route, Darien had defeated three teams from Stamford and then beat Bridgeport, which had won the World Series the previous year, for the Connecticut state title at a game in Rockville. John N. Dempsey, then governor of Connecticut, was there and stayed on to congratulate the winners.

The local players, wearing championship jackets, returned home to a hero's welcome after that game and, in uniform, boarded Darien fire trucks for a ride through town and an opportunity to show their trophies to enthusiastic fans along the way. The day's celebration ended with a picnic for the boys and their families at McGuane Field, Darien's own Little League field behind the Noroton Heights firehouse.

But there was work still to be done and the team buckled down for triumphs over Bristol and East Harford to gain district honors before beating teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York in games at Staten Island.

Aware of the stiff competition still ahead, the Darien players were nevertheless confident and before leaving for Staten Island, they packed for 10 days expecting to go on directly from there to Williamsport.

Dr. Joe Miceli, a local dentist now but a first baseman and center fielder then, recalled recently that Robert Wagner, then mayor of New York, threw out the ceremonial first pitch in Darien's opener at Staten Island and then stayed to watch the game. He remembered also that "hundreds" of local fans also had made the trek to Staten Island.

The team lived up to its expectations and right after the final game boarded a bus to Newark Airport and a flight to Pennsylvania on an old propeller-driven twin-engine plane, the first time in the air for most of the boys.

While in Williamsport, the team was lodged in a dormitory at nearby Lycoming College and took its meals in the campus dining hall with varsity football players at waiters.

A plane-load of Darien supporters followed the team to Williamsport and among the fans aboard were Ed Lawrence, the Darien funeral director who was among the managers of the first four teams in the local Little League, and Rose McGuane, sister of the late Rev. James J. McGuane, often called "the Connie Mack of Darien baseball" for his sponsorship of youth teams and the St. John's entry in Stamford's fast semi-pro Twilight League.

In the days before electronics facilitated news coverage, The Darien Review's sports editor, Joe Vitti, made the round trip by air daily while the team was in Williamsport. He board a commuter plane each morning at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains and flew back home after the game to file his report and tend to his office chores.

Those all-stars from Darien's Little League, the first and only local team ever to make Williamsport, were a cohesive and talented unit and remained intact after Williamsport and, with almost the same line-up, achieved a measure of success in the 1961 Babe Ruth League World Series, defeating Portland, Ore., before being eliminated from the tournament by Mobile, Ala.

Many of the players met again at a re-union that was part of opening day ceremonies for the 2008 Little League season. Among the fans on hand, perhaps scouting for talent, was Brian Cashman, a Darien resident and general manager of the New York Yankees.

With a lanky redhead, Pat Pepworth, as their manager and a local dentist, Dr. Tom Barker, as a coach, that 1958 squad was made up of versatile players capable of covering various positions. Rod Barker was a utility man, filling in wherever needed. McClean Russell and Gilbert Brooks shared the catching, Don Craig played second base, Roger Frate was in right field, Dennis Lenihan in center, Joe Lopiano at shortstop when he wasn't pitching; Jimmy Lynch covered short when Lopiano was on the mound, Rodger Myers was on third, David Stoeckle was in centerfield when Miceli was at first base and Albert Siemering was the other pitcher. Bobby Greenwood and Richard Reynolds filled in wherever needed and often doubled also as coaches at first and third bases, as did other players.

Now, more than 50 years later, every play over that long post-season haul seems memorable, but Miceli especially recalls the two home runs that Stoeckle hit in one of the games at Staten Island. Stoeckle, incidentally, went on to become a highly regarded surgeon and was credited with saving lives when he operated on several of the victims after a madman went on a shooting spree on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.

While Little League baseball in Darien seemed to have reached its peak in front of the cheering fans at Williamsport, it didn't just happen. It took years of drudge work at the bottom before getting to the top.

Hap Holahan, high school baseball coach and an outstanding centerfieder himself, first at Yale and then on the semi-pro circuit, got the ball rolling in 1952 when he organized the first season. Games were played on a field marked off with ropes, but then the Calve brothers, Fred and George, gave the Lions Club four and a half acres off Noroton Avenue, and an army of dads and other fans literally built a field there, naming it appropriately after Father McGuane.

With picks, rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows, the volunteers moved tons of dirt around, planted grass, provided fences, bleachers and players' benches and the Darien Little League, one of the biggest in Connecticut, had a home of its own.

The volunteers often labored well into the evenings, sometimes depending on the headlights of their parked cars for illumination. Regulars on the work force included Joe Vitti, Ed Lawrence, Nick Frate, Larry McClellan, the Calves, Ben Bruno and just about anybody any time they had an hour or two to spare. Many of them then went on to coach teams during the season. Wives participated also; Marge Lawrence and Evelyn Vitti were among those we remember as bringing food and drink to keep the labor force going each evening.

Darien's triumph in Williamsport was truly a community effort.

Ed Chrostowski was editor of the Darien Review during the '50s. He can be reached at skicrow@att.net.