One could smell the rich dirt and the fresh cut grass, even though winter’s grip hadn’t completely released the Little League field. The sky was gray and the air hinted of a cold rain. Numbers of kids shivered slightly, waiting out the nearly two hours of ceremonies that would bring them to the point at which they would actually play ball.
It was difficult to tell whether they shuddered from cold or anticipation of the triple-header some would play as part of opening day festivities.
For 43 years, kids and coaches have gathered at the Little League field, marking one of Secaucus and America’s most notable traditions: opening the season for home runs and stolen bases, and for stands filled with excited spectators cheering on one team or another.
In many ways, this has always been a father-and-son affair, although many mothers sat in the stands cheering as well. Fathers who had played here as children themselves now serving as coaches as their own children took the field. But it was a particular father and son duo that took center stage this opening day, as Mayor Dennis Elwell stood at home plate and his father, former councilman Howie Elwell, tossed the first pitch of the 2001 Little League season.
Mayor Elwell, in an interview conducted after the ceremonies, said his father had been among three men at the inception of Little League in Secaucus before the current field was built.
“The original field was where Clarendon School is today,” Dennis Elwell said. “It was built on the old Glindmyer farm.” Along with former police chief Arthur Temple, Howie Elwell joined two brothers in helping to shape the Little League program: John and George Bauserweiner. Both brothers had served as regular, professional ball players on the New York Giants baseball team during the 1940s, and in the 1950s, they helped Secaucus kids by establishing Little League.
In 1956, two other brothers, Eugene and Al Buchmuller, helped relocate the Little League field to its current location when they donated the land for the ballfield and the nearby park to the town. Fundraising, in which then-Councilman Howie Elwell played an important part, brought the $100,000 necessary for the ball field’s construction.
In honoring Howie Elwell at the April 7 ceremonies, Little League officials acknowledged the part he had played in creating the field 43 years earlier. Dennis Elwell, along with the current Town Council, had helped get the funds necessary to upgrade the field over the last year. Grant money had combined with Department of Public Works labor to install a new surface, new lights, a new score board, new foul poles and upgrade the Little League buildings.
No one, however, had thought to purchase a new record for the national anthem, though if anyone noticed the scratches and skips as they stood and looked out at the flag flapping in the corner of the field, few remarked about it.
Speech after speech celebrated the rich history of sports in Secaucus, from the days when local police officers took kids under their wings to keep them out of trouble, to the more formal recreation programs that developed later. Many of those who spoke talked about the rules of the game and fair play that kids hopefully carried into their professions when they later graduated into life and jobs, marriage and responsibilities.
The League, officials said, stresses baseball fundamentals, and teaches many of the same techniques learned by professional baseball players during their development. But the focus is team play not super-stardom, and officials claim very few kids involved with the program get into serious trouble.
Local past time
“Baseball is the national past time in Secaucus,” said League President Frank Trombetta during his introductory speech, after which name after name echoed from the loud speaker of those who had made their contribution to this season and to all previous 43 seasons, their names resounding over the public address system and drawing cheers from the shivering crowds. Many of those honored were able to attend, past presidents of the Little League whose ages ranged from the 50s to the 90s yet whose eyes held the same glint of excitement as the impatient kids’ – that one bond that connected them through time.
Some kids also received honors. They were called up to a table near home plate to receive plaque or jacket for their fund raising efforts over the year, more than $10,000 in contributions that would go towards running the league. Boys ran up from their teams in the outfield, bearing the colors of their team – each team sponsored by a local store, each team bearing that store name through the season. Nearly all the boys names were familiar, the sons of local families, some familiar from Town Hall or various boards, but most the sons of workers and business people.
Among those honored at the opening day festivities where former presidents of the Secaucus Little League, and the League, despite being in the middle of one of the most political counties in the country, has managed to keep itself free of political influence.
Funds for supporting the league came from team sponsors, advertisers in the annual Secaucus Little League Souvenir Program and advertisements placed around the outfield fence.
The league is comprised of 14 teams – seven in the minor league and seven in the major league. Participation in each league depends on age, not talent. Although the majority of the players are boys, girls do play, a practice started in 1983. The newly reconstructed field will serve as the center of attention for the state in July when winning teams play the state championships here, teams traveling from other communities to compete in Secaucus. Secaucus is hoping one of its teams is in that batch.
In accepting honor from the Little League, Mayor Elwell said the work on the field had been a team effort, one that involved various parts of town government, and he was accepting the award for the town of Secaucus.
Along with Dennis Elwell and his father Howie, former Mayor Paul Amico was honored for his part in maintaining the Little League tradition during his 28 years as mayor. After him, DPW superintendent Michael Gonnelli, and others with less well-known names came forward to take their place among this year’s notables.
Not forgotten, of course, were the kids, who were named as well, as the public address announcer read off each member from each team before the first ball was thrown – one more piece of living history that many of these kids would later remember when they grew up, a special moment that the cool air and gray skies could not dampen.