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Volume 9.2 5/1/2012

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Gerritsen Beach Little League: The Beginning

By Bob Catherwood

Little League Baseball was founded in 1939 with three teams in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The first Little League World Series tournament was conduct in 1947, also in Williamsport.

In Gerritsen Beach Mr. Walter Donnelly, Mr. Bill Seeger, Mr. John and Mr. Tom Devine had a vision to bring Little League baseball to The Beach. Planning began in 1952 and they applied for the Charter and in 1953 the Gerritsen Beach Little League was founded. After receiving the Charter a field was needed to play. They acquired a small piece of land across Gerritsen Avenue near Cyrus Avenue in the weeds. This acquisition was made possible with the assistance of Mr. Jerry Connelie who worked in the Mayor's office. The four founders with the help of many other men and women in The Beach donated their time to build a quaint little field with a backstop and fences; they wouldn't have been able to do this without the many individual and businesses donations of their time,money and labor. Donations of money were received from many sponsors, but many of the local taverns in The Beach made considerable donations without being given recognition. That brought little league baseball to our community, Gerritsen Beach. Overall Gerritsen Beach Little League (GBLL) was a Gerritsen Beach wide effort. The (GBLL) was born.

Many other great Beach people made great contributions and deserve to be mentioned in this article. Mr. Dave Kornfeld is one. Dave owned and operated a small grocery store directly across from the field. Not only did Dave support the GBLL financially, his son Sonny umpired and helped out by allowing the GBLL to store their equipment in the storage area of his store. Also deserving mention here for their many hours of work and their contributions are the umpires. Mr. Galvin who worked for NYPD and Mr. Bob Hill was another volunteer umpire.

The original field still stands in the same location today much improved with a lot of work and improvements done over the years. In the minds of the kids that passed through GBLL it was their Ebbets Field, Polo Grounds, and Yankee stadium all wrapped into one. Thinking back about all the great players that represented the GBLL on that field I am proud to say I played there and had a great time doing so.

In 1953 the GBLL started with 4 teams. When looking at the names on the rosters they looked like All-Star teams. The Civic Club Hawks was managed by Mr. Charles Reilly and coached by Mr Rich Reilly Sr. The Fox Lumber Cubs was managed by Mr. Vic Hanson. The Wurtzel Motors Rams was managed by Mr. Bob Green and the Cort Club Eagles was managed by the legendary coach Mr. Pop Fazio.

The league was for boys 8 to 12 years old and divided into a minor division designed to develop younger players for the major level. An 8 year old named Dickie Reilly was on the Cort Club Eagles major level team. Dickie was the only 8 year old to ever make the major division and played at that level for 5 years. Dickie went on to play for the great Cadet teams in the Parade Grounds. Dickie later went on to Kansas Wesleyan college and had a tryout with the Kansas City A's. Dickie became a teacher and went on to coach the Sheepshead Bay HS Varsity football program for many years and winning a few championships.

The first year of GBLL baseball,1953 produced a number of exceptional ball players with recognizable names even today. The Hawks had a very good left handed pitcher - Jim Campanell. Jim threw a great fastball and a nice curveball. The Hawks also had a big power hitter on - Artie Donnelly. Another exceptional player on this team was Billy Benecke.

The Cubs had Billy Seeger and Vinnie Laporte and the Rams had George Thompson who played on the Sheepshead Bay HS 1961 NYC championship team. George was the MVP on that SBHS team that included Rico Petrocelli. George then went on to serve in the US Marines and then the NYPD.

The Rams also had Pete McHugh, and Happy Scallon whose brother Bucky was also a very good baseball player. Happy went on to become a priest. Playing on the Eagles along with Dickie Reilly was arguably the greatest athlete of that era in The Beach - Dickie Johns. Dickie excelled at many sports and continued playing for many years into his adulthood. Dickie's older Brother Bobby Johns was another exceptional player on the Eagles. The Eagles also had a very good catcher - Mickey Marchan and another of the great athletes from this era was Don Leeder. The Eagles had another star John Fetter who appeared on Happy Felton's Knothole Gang before a Brooklyn Dodger game along with the winner that night George Thompson. Al Koch another fine ball player also played on the Eagles for Pop Fazio.

In 1954 and 1955 there were some other very good ball players that came along. Roy Lawdall was one of the best if not the best catcher in that season. Ed Roush and was another good catcher. Chipper Sonderman was an excellent pitcher. Chipper had a very good fastball. Another very good pitcher was Billy Wisner who went on to pitch for those great Sheepshead Bay HS teams. Cookie Metzler was a great player for the Cubs.

One of the finest athletes to come along in this era was Jimmy McBurney. Jimmy played for the Cadets and at Sheepshead HS, he had a tryout with the Yankees but an injury ended his career. He got to play in Yankee Stadium and played in a Championship game for the Cadets in what was the last game at Ebbets Field along with other GBLL alumni Norman Johnson, Dickie Reilly, Ed Hughes, and Barry Spear.

Norman Johnson was another great all around athlete with very extraordinary running speed.

Norman played for the Cadets, Sheepshead Bay HS and was signed by the Phillies and played 3 years in their farm system before going in the US Army.

This is just really touching the surface of the many great baseball players produced by the GBLL. There were many more very good players at the GBLL from 1953-55. This story will continue soon with the 1956-59 years when I played at GBLL. In those years Gerritsen Beach was a very transient place with the Barracks and smaller bungalow homes. The veterans from WWII had growing families and moved from the Beach to buy bigger houses, thus as the Beach went so did the GBLL which had had kids coming and going. I'd like to say how much I appreciate everything that these fine men and women volunteers did for me and all the other kids that have passed through GBLL, God Bless each and every one of them.

Do you recognize anyone in these pictures? We would love to hear from you about them. Simply click below and send us your information.

The author would like to thank Dick Reilly, Ed Reilly and Jim McBurney for their contributions to this story.he author would like to thank Dick Reilly, Ed Reilly and Jim McBurney for their contributions to this story.

Hope Springs Eternal, “I’m From Gerritsen Beach”

By James N. Fetter

It is more than just a mere coincidence that it is May and the beauty of our universe is again magnified by the aroma and bouquet of flowers. The naked trees again are beginning to exhibit their magnificent features after being entrenched in the grasp of the frigid winter’s clutch.

The majesty of nature in all its grandness does wonders for our body and our souls. The misery of winters snow and ice and of course, coping with those frigid winter winds is easily forgotten when suddenly appears the first daffodil peeking through that mound of snow we shoveled only days ago.

Our feeling that the cruelty of winter is behind us and only better days are ahead is not unique. This optimistic perspective, while often written and discussed, was arguably best articulated by Alexander Pope in the 17th century in his Essay of Man when he wrote, Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

While this story seems to be just another poetic story about the beauty of nature, it is truly not. It is however a story about human nature and a recent display of this comparison of winter and spring.

It was just a few short weeks ago when we all watched with horror on television or read the many articles about the theft of a motorized wheelchair. The story was even more appalling when we learned the chair was stolen from outside a church as the owner of the wheelchair was inside attending a service.

This story is a horrible story regardless of where it occurred. Unfortunately the story took place in Gerritsen Beach at St. James Church. The circumstances of this story are an embarrassment to all who live or have lived in Gerritsen Beach. Gerritsen Beach is a better place than this incident portrays. The residents of Gerritsen Beach past and present have been harmed by the perpetrators of this horrendous act. This ugly incident has tarnished and diminished the pride one has in saying “I’m from Gerritsen Beach”.

Brian Daly is the one who suffered most from this repulsive incident. In no way is this story intended to imply that the embarrassment to the community of Gerritsen Beach even approaches the amount of suffering added to Brian’s life as a result of this theft. Adding inconvenience to a man with a debilitating disease is horrible. It should be noted that Brian did the community of Gerritsen Beach proud as he encountered the local television news media. Animosity was absent from Brian’s comments and discussions with the news media. Brian simply stated with pride his thanks to the Gerritsen Beach community for their support. If the theft of Brian’s wheelchair was winter in Gerritsen Beach, Brian’s reaction to his circumstance was the first sign of spring. If Brian’s reaction to the circumstances was an early sign of spring the efforts of Joe Ciaccia can only be described as a blooming summer rose in mitigating Brian Daly’s life. Joe Ciaccia managed to arrange for his employer, Bay Ridge Toyota to purchase a new replacement wheelchair for Brian. Numerous other organizations from Gerritsen Beach also have undertaken efforts to raise money to replace Brian’s chair and they too should be recognized for their efforts. There is now some discussion in Gerritsen Beach to add a wheelchair access ramp to St. James. The noble efforts of Joe Ciaccia and the generosity Bay Ridge Toyota lead us to the second line of Alexander Pope’s essay, “Man never Is, but always To be blest”. Their efforts instill some sense of pride back into the community and provide us with the dignity to say with pride, “I’m from Gerritsen Beach”.

Webmaster Note:This website is about the good of Gerritsen Beach past and present. The website reaches 39 states and 9 foreign countries. If there is any interest in supporting Joe Ciaccia and others in the construction of a wheelchair access to St. James you can contact this website and I will direct your interest to the appropriate group.

1955 GBLL Parade Video

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