Conshohocken Little League, Say It Ain’t So

Conshohocken Little League, Say It Ain’t So

By Jack Coll

1-25-14

     A few short weeks ago I read with despair in the Norristown Times Herald newspaper about new boundary rules for Little League’s throughout the state of Pennsylvania and I thought “Say it ain’t so.”

Boundary rules to our local little leagues are crucial, as stated by writer Mark Schiele it could put more than a few leagues out of business, Conshohocken being one of them.  Earle Mercadante, a little league guru for more than four decades was quoted as saying “It’s one of the most ridiculous things Little League has ever done.”  Earle is a highly respected league official over-seeing the Pennsylvania District 22 territory.  Earle has always worked above board, cutting through any and all boundaries making sure the little league players are always at the heart of any decision, but now fears the worst for more than a few local leagues.

At the heart of the matter is this:  Under the old boundary guidelines players could only play within their own community.  If a player went to register to play little league ball for a season in a community where he or she didn’t live, they would be instructed to register in their own community, thereby keeping all the local leagues rich with talent and attendance.  The new boundary guidelines offer parents and participants a second option to sign up for little league where the school they attend resides.  A Conshohocken resident, who up until now had to play in Conshohocken regardless of the school they attended, now have the option say, if a Conshohocken resident goes to school at Ridge Park Elementary or Plymouth Whitemarsh Middle School or even attends St Phillip and Neri Catholic School can now sign up to play little league baseball in Plymouth or Whitemarsh leagues depending on the school they attend.  They could then choose not to play in Conshohocken.

In Mark Schiele’s column he used Norristown Little League as an example:  Norristown Little League has struggled in recent years with participants, children who live in Norristown and attend Holy Rosary Regional School, can now play in Plymouth Little League.  Children who live in Norristown and attend Cole Manor Elementary School or East Norriton Middle School can elect to play in East Norriton Little League.  Norristown children who play little league ball and attend Whitehall or Marshall Street Elementary or Visitation BVM can choose to play in the West Norriton Little League.

Bridgeport Little League has been around since 1953, Conshohocken’s Little League was established in 1955, and Norristown Little League has been around for more than a few years.  Many coaches and volunteers involved believe the open boundary might have something to do with stacking All Star Teams with talent giving a local team a much better shot for a Little League World Series tournament appearance.

Conshohocken is a league currently with 120 kids that averages out to a little more than nine teams with 13 kids per team.  That would be nine teams in three different divisions.  Typically Tee Ball will carry the most children, so maybe Tee Ball gets four teams, leaving just five teams for both the minor and major leagues to divide, a loss of ten to twelve children in the program would be enough to shut down Conshohocken Little League.

Conshohocken Little League was founded in 1955 by a couple of guys sitting around the Conshohocken Bocce Club one cold February night.  Emidio Cardamone came up with the idea along with Francis Carr, the league’s first president, Joseph Connelly, Ange Damico and a number of other concerned citizens.  For the first four years games were played at Rossi Memorial Field located on West Third Avenue behind the CBC Club.  The league started with 48 players, 12 players per team with a four team loop.  By 1958 more than 300 boys attended league tryouts, by 1959 the league not only moved their playing field to Sutcliffe Park but increased the amount of teams to six.

Over the next five decades volunteers like Lou Capelli, Bob Wesley, John Cassinelli, Joe Kelly, Frank Burton, Ray Gravinese, Charles Jeffries Jimmy Kelly and Tony Santoni helped mold and shape Conshohocken Little League into a first class, well respected, league throughout the state of Pennsylvania.  Let’s not forget about Art “Tuti” Andrey who managed the early Tee Ball programs making Conshohocken’s Tee Ball program one of the best in District 22.  Let’s not forget about guys like Fred DeStolfo, Tom Zadroga, Mike Borzelleca, Bob O’Neill, and many others.  In the early 1970’s when the league fell on hard times and couldn’t even afford to pay the umpires Bob Yahner stepped up and with a little help saved the little league program.

Through it all over the past 58 years Conshohocken Little League has provided a safe haven for the borough’s youngsters.  Little League has provided quality coaches who have helped mentor our children helping to mold them into quality young adults.  For nearly six decades the call of “Play Ball” has filled the spring air, and a crush of youngster and parents would flock to the little league fields.  For the most part the fields at Sutcliffe Park were built by volunteers, not the borough, the two original concession stands were built by volunteers, the coaches, the field gang, the volunteers raking the fields in the dark before opening day, they know who they are.  All this volunteerism in a community bands together neighbors and residents, giving them a lifelong bond.  Working in the concession stand introduces neighbors to other neighbors.

Conshohocken Little League is so much more than kids swinging a bat, it’s so much more than a coach in the dugout yelling “Lay off the high ones,” and it really is so much more than a mother or father standing at the edge of the fence when their child comes up to bat.

A good little league is about residents, and neighbors, and coaches and community coming together for one common cause, the development of a group of Conshohocken children.

I know all this because I put more than a decade into Little League, coaching and managing, and umpiring, and building concession stands and fields.  And when I see a kid that I coached, and I showed faith in, and encouraged them to succeed, when they see me today, with their kids in tow and can’t wait to tell me all about their family, and their job, and how their kids are playing little league ball.  I smile, cause I know I had something to do with their success.  I don’t have to say it, and the person I’m talking to doesn’t have to say it, but we know, we all know, every young adult out there today for more than half a century who has ever played little league knows, they remember their coach, they remember the success they experienced in Little League.

Twenty years ago when Robert Frost was president of the Conshohocken Little League, (1993-1996) well over 450 children were enrolled to play in the Conshohocken Little League program.  As of 2013, approximately 120 children were enrolled.  With open boundaries it pretty much spells out open season for quality little league players, let the recruiting begin.

By the year 2015, it’s possible that Conshohocken will not field a little league program, Hey, it’s a little thing, it’s Conshohocken losing yet another piece of its identification.  After all when Conshohocken High School closed in1966, it was just a small piece of the town, and when Alan Wood Steel closed in 1977, hey no big deal, it was just a small thing, another little loss.  When the downtown stores boarded their windows and sent the borough shoppers elsewhere, hey those stores were only there for a hundred years, to the residents who depended on those stores for a living, hey it really wasn’t that big of a blow.

But then we closed St. Matthew’s/Archbishop Kennedy High School, St. Mary’s and SS Cosmas Elementary Schools.  Don’t you worry about it, we’re simply merging schools, Conshohocken Catholic said goodbye in 2012.  I expect that within the next two years, at least two Catholic Churches will say goodbye and hey Calvary Church has already been sold.

At times it seems like the annual Soap Box Derby is on shaky ground with a shortage of drivers from year to year and we really have to sweat out whether fireworks will be in the budget or not from year to year.  And now Conshohocken Little League is on the block.  Big shots in Williamsport can justify this move by smoothing it over with “it’s for the kids”, would anybody expect any other kind of a statement?

Conshohocken has lost their identity piece by piece over the last half of a century, but Conshohocken residents should not despair, we have buildings, we have lots of buildings with more to come.  We have big buildings, small buildings, buildings built to dress up our town, they are building them for us.

When young families visit a community with aspirations of buying a house, they want to know about the town’s school system. We barley have one, Conshohocken Elementary is educating children up until the third grade before we ship them out of town.  How about little league baseball,?   Well we don’t have one of them but you can ship your child off to a neighboring community where your kid can sit on the bench behind all the superstars and celebrate all their victories.

One borough official was heard mumbling under his breath when the little league is done we can put some high rises on the fields at Sutcliffe Park, we need more buildings.  Does that sound funny to you?

You need to read the above paragraphs again, putting high rises on the little league fields sounds as silly as Hale Pumps leaving town.  That sounds as silly as C&D Batteries leaving town, Walker Brothers, John Woods, Lee Tires, Ford & Kending, Conshy High, St. Matt’s, do I have to go on?

If you ever thought of doing something for your community, if you have a child of Little League age, you can start by signing him or her up to play Conshohocken Little League baseball this spring, if you want to help your community that would be a good start.