Ridgefield Little League, founded in 1954, celebrates its first Opening Day ceremony in April 1955 on the field at the old high school that’s now used for men’s softball. The oak tree on the far right still stands today, overlooking the tennis courts that are adjacent to the small softball diamond and the much larger Ciuccoli Field, which houses the high school’s boys varsity team as well as some Little League events. From left to right, Francis Peckham, the league’s first financial secretary; Minnie Ciuccoli, who presented the league with its first American flag; Altero ‘Chick’ Ciuccoli, who built the field and for whom the field is now named; the Rev. Milan Highs, assistant pastor of St. Mary’s; First Selectman Harry Hull; the Rev. Aaron Manderback, rector of St. Stephen’s; Charles Ashbee, a league director and longtime umpire; William Allen, the league’s founder and its first president; and Charles Bassett and his wife, Kitty, the first secretary of the league. —Ridgefield Historical Society photo
Ridgefield Little League — the oldest youth sports organization in town — has preserved America’s national pastime with dignity, observance, and innovation throughout its six decades of existence.
Despite a slew of recent challenges — the increased competition from youth lacrosse and soccer, the waning interest in baseball across the country, and the rise of private teams that recruit and steal local talent — the league has survived because the integrity of the game remains intact.
“It’s still the same sport, still the same backyard game,” said Terry Hastings, who started playing in the league in 1968 and has coached the Community Center-sponsored team for 25 years. “With baseball, you can use anything to play it and you can play anywhere at any time; you can start a game with kids in your neighborhood in a yard or out in the street, and you can’t do that with lacrosse or soccer or hockey because they require a lot of different, specific equipment.”
“The league is more of the same today than it is different,” said Dave Scott, who joined Ridgefield Little League in 1970 and serves as its de facto historian. “Of course, it’s a lot bigger than it was in 1954 and it incorporates a lot more now, but the game, and the role it plays in the community, hasn’t changed.”
The league celebrates its 60th anniversary on Saturday, June 7, at the Matrix Center on Ridgebury Road in Danbury.
The gala event, which will feature dinner, live music, and an auction, is headlined by former Mets manager Bobby Valentine and is set to kick off at 7 p.m.
While eager to celebrate the milestone, the league’s leaders are quick to acknowledge what most people do when they turn 60 — that aging isn’t an easy process.
“We know that we can’t expect kids to show up on our doorstep, because there’s a lot of competition out there,” said Pat Misciagna, the league’s president. “Sixty years ago, what else was there? Kids played ball — that’s the way it was; nobody else was around to challenge that. …
“We’ve learned to market ourselves and we’ve gone about creating more excitement for our players.”
Inception and charter
Founded by Bill Allen in 1954, Ridgefield Little League had six teams in its inaugural season.
“Bill was the coach of the high school’s varsity team and he realized there was no place for his 10-year-old son to play, so he decided to create a league of his own,” Mr. Scott said. “He got some friends together to coach and fielded enough players, about 60 or so, for six teams, and that was the beginning of Little League in town.”
Six years later, the league had successfully built its first field — Aldrich Field — and received its first charter from the national Little League organization in Williamsport, Pa.
Two years later, teams were being sponsored, dugouts were being built and the teams were playing their first postseason tournament.
Nowadays, the league consists of more than 140 teams — all sponsored by various business in the area — from T-ball for 5-year-olds to the Majors level for 12-year-olds.
“I played for the same team that I coach now,” Mr. Hastings said. “That’s a real testament to our sponsors.
“If you ask any person who’s played, they still remember their team’s sponsor because the names were right on the jersey,” he said. “It was this fraternity of sorts, very loyal.”
League splits, girls join
Although it was mostly smooth sailing in the first two decades, the league’s history did include a pair of pivotal moments around its 20th birthday.
The first came in 1972, when the league split in two — the north and the south, which created a selective draft process that wasn’t abolished until a decade later.
“The league kept expanding, and this seemed like the logical next step,” said Mr. Scott, who managed Nina’s to a championship that year, his second in the league. “What ended up happening was that kids living in the north part of town — kids who go to Ridgebury, Scotland and Barlow Mountain today — and kids in the south, who go to Veterans Park, Farmingville, and Branchville, were put in these separate draft pools and we basically had two independent leagues under the same banner.”
While that proved to be a burden over the next 10 seasons, the league faced a far more immediate challenge — allowing girls to play in Little League.
“That was by far our most difficult challenge,” said Mr. Scott. “We wanted to let the girls play, but we could have lost our charter if we allowed them in before the national rules were changed.
Ridgefield Little League old timer Dave Scott, who joined the league with his son in 1970, poses with a new generation of ball players during the Opening Day ceremonies at Ciuccoli Field in April. Pictured: Danny Moroney, Sal Iovino, Mitch Brown, Alex Hanna, and Liam Flaherty. —Stephanie Brown photo
“There was no way to sneak them in because of insurance records, so our hands were really tied,” he said. “We were stuck between a rock and a hard place and we didn’t have a choice.”
However, in 1974 the rules were revised and the town saw an outpouring of interested young girls.
Mr. Scott said 60 girls registered in 1975, the first season they were allowed to enter the league.
“That’s more than four teams!” exclaimed Mr. Scott. “They were anxious to play by the mid-1970s and nobody thought twice about it once they were finally allowed to join.
“The boys were very accepting of them and the girls seemed very natural,” he said. “We’ve had girls play on all-star teams, and that was so rewarding for everyone who pushed to get the rules fixed.”
Reorganization
A reorganized league structure gave birth to a townwide common player pool in 1982, which eliminated the previously established split in possible players who were being drafted. However, the two leagues — renamed the American and National — remained.
“We got back to one league instead of having two, which was much better,” Mr. Scott said. “And as a result, the league kept expanding.”
At the end of the decade, the league restructured again, but this time to define its divisions — Majors, AAA, Minors, and T-ball.
Challenger Division
The league had the foresight in 1993 to make a push toward expanding its inclusivity through the creation of the Challenger Division — established for boys and girls ages 6 to 18 who have any physical or mental handicaps.
Ridgefield was the first Little League program in Fairfield County to establish such a program.
Each Challenger player is paired with a 12-year-old major leaguer and every Sunday the pair plays ball.
“That was a pretty big deal for us, because it meant that everybody could play,” Mr. Scott said. “They still can today, which can’t be said for a lot of these other sports.”
“Everyone is welcome to play,” Mr. Hastings agreed.
T-Ball added, league expands
The mid- to late 1990s were a golden age for baseball, with a national rise in popularity created by home run sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and the return of the New York Yankees dynasty.
Ridgefield’s baseball scene was equally thriving as the league opted to add 5-year-olds to its T-ball division in 1995.
Five years later, the league celebrated crossing the 1,000-player plateau.
“Soccer had accepted 5-year-olds and we didn’t want to lose those kids,” Mr. Scott said. “Originally, T-ball was for 8-year-olds and we didn’t know about going all the way down to 5-year-olds, but we didn’t have much of a choice.”
This wouldn’t be the last moment the league had to yield to outside competition.
Lacrosse, Xbox
With a dark cloud suddenly hanging over baseball’s “steroid era” around the mid-2000s, interest in the game began to decline.
If that problem wasn’t enough for the league’s leaders, they also had to deal with the increase of local private clubs that could hand-pick their roster as well as the continuing popularity of video games.
Compounding all of that was the rise of soccer and lacrosse in Fairfield County — a competition that was entirely nonexistent in the early 1990s.
“We began to realize the competition we faced from other sports and their expanded seasons, and the fact that we were losing kids to other sports and other baseball programs,” Mr. Misciagna said. “We also faced an entirely different competition in the launch of Xbox and PlayStation, where kids now wanted to just play sports on their TV rather than outside.
“If we didn’t do something in Little League, then we could potentially lose our best players to private teams, and that would have been really bad.”
Facing yet another defining moment in its history, the league came up with a solution to stop the bleeding — form a travel program.
Travel league
“What was being offered wasn’t good enough,” said Bob Rapp, who helped spearhead the creation of the Ridgefield Little League’s travel program in 2011. “The goal was to keep the better players in town and keep the Little League here competitive.”
That was accomplished by mandating that the travel league not be a separate division — players who play travel must play in Little League, too.
“They play two full seasons,” Mr. Misciagna said. “Travel games are Sunday, when Little League is off, and they usually practice Thursday.
“The travel kids serve as our leaders at the house level,” he said. “It was a significant point that they had to play Little League, and that in turn has brought a lot of kids back to baseball because they can feel the competition is better and the game is much faster.”
Mr. Rapp said the travel league, which is offered for kids ages 9 through 12, just added a fifth team this season. Around 65 of the 350 players in that age bracket play in the travel league.
“In October, we had a 100 kids try out — that was a record number for us,” he said. “The communication is strong between the travel and the house, and that means pitches aren’t overused and coaches know all their players’ schedules.
“We’re on the cutting edge with this thing — nobody has ever done it before,” he said. “We need to make sure that it’s done right.”
Aluminum bats
In 2005, the league made a switch to wooden bats, but this year it has made the switch back to aluminum bats in another attempt to retain players.
“Aluminum speeds up the pace of the game and gives those less skilled players a better chance to hit,” Mr. Misciagna said. “The reality is that wood can be limiting in a player’s ability to hit and enjoy the game.
“We wanted to address the need of kids who just want to have fun,” he said. “The ones who aren’t playing to point at the scoreboard, who are just excited to grab a mitt, a bat and a ball and go out and play.”