Coginchaug Little League

CLL HISTORY This is an incomplete history of Coginchaug Little League. If you have information, articles or photos to contribute, especially for history prior to 2000, please send them to league historian [email protected] so that we can continue to develop a thorough history of the league. Little League Baseball Introduction Little League International is the largest youth sports organization in the world. As of 2012, over 2 million boys and over 300,000 girls participated in 7000+ leagues worldwide. At the peak in 1994, Little League had nearly 3 million participants. In 1938, Carl Stotz of Williamsport, Pennsylvania came up with the idea of a youth baseball league played on a smaller diamond than that used by adults. On June 6, 1939 the first Little League game was played in Williamsport, as Lundy’s Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy 23-8. In 1947, Hammonton, New Jersey formed the first league outside Pennsylvania, and joined 10 other Pennsylvania leagues as Williamsport hosted the first National Little League tournament that would later become the Little League World Series that year. Hammonton was the first Little League World Series winner outside of Pennsylvania in 1949. In 1951 a team from British Columbia, Canada became the first league to form outside the United States, and in 1957, Monterrey, Mexico became the first international team to win the Little League World Series. The Little League World Series was first broadcast on Television in 1953 on ABC. Howard Cosell provided the broadcast coverage. That same year, Middletown Little League’s Joey Jay would become the first Little League alumnus to appear in a Major League Baseball game, beginning a 13-year career with the Milwaukee Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves. The first live coverage was in 1981, and continues each year since on the final Sunday in August on ABC. Presently, ESPN and ABC broadcast all of the 34 LLWS tournament games and regional games are also broadcast annually on ESPN and regional networks. 2020 will be the first year without a LLWS tournament since 1947, due to the effects of the Covid 19 Pandemic. The Senior League baseball level was formed in 1961 and the Big League baseball level formed in 1968. In 1974 Little League admitted girls to participate for the first time in its history. The first Little League softball World Series was played that year, and the Senior softball league was started. In 1979 the Junior baseball level was formed. In 2013, Little League introduced the Intermediate (50-70) baseball level, including regional and world series tournaments for that age group. Little League has disbanded the Big League baseball and softball level as of 2017. Currently, Little League operates 6 age-divisions of play in both baseball and softball. Not every local league offers all levels. Tee Ball -Instructional level for 4-6 year old players Minors -Instructional level often comprised of 2 or 3 divisions that can include coach or player pitching for player