Summer of ’69: American Legion used to rule baseball world in Fayette County
Baseball has always had a rich tradition in Fayette County. Back in the day American Legion baseball was very strong and served as a stepping stone for many area players into professional baseball.
“American Legion baseball was big in the state of Pennsylvania because high school baseball was so bad because of the weather,” former Legion standout Tom Holliday recalled. “We played 17 games in high school and then American Legion is when it heated up and quite honestly high school was like an exhibition season for American Legion. It’s a shame that American Legion baseball has faded in so many parts of the country.
“High School baseball didn’t really start at Uniontown until 1970 and Connellsville started their baseball program in 1971. High school wasn’t a big deal at all until those programs started. American Legion baseball was the place to play.”
Connellsville was the American Legion power back then. In 1969 they had captured their third straight Fayette County American Legion title.
Tom Sankovich, who started the Connellsville Area High School baseball program in 1971, said in a Memory Lane article, “There was so much talent, probably the most talent that Connellsville had in baseball was between 1960 and 1970 and none of those kids played high school baseball because Connellsville didn’t field a high school team.”
He added, “There was a great baseball tradition in Connellsville because of the American Legion team and Little League baseball. The Little League had a bunch of old-time guys coaching that had no kids playing and they coached the kids to play the right way. They were teaching them fundamentals and they had great discipline.”[
Bob Galasso honed his skills playing Legion baseball on a star-studded roster.
“I actually didn’t play when I was 16,” Galasso revealed. “I played Legion ball when I was 15 and I was just a total bench warmer. I hardly ever played because that was a great American Legion program and only the better and older players played. Three of us came from Pony League with no league in between and we had to learn and I was outgunned physically.”
After sitting out a season Galasso came back and played when he was 17 and a senior.
“That was a great team with Bob Bailor, Fred Norton, Ron Marciante, Les Hart, Ron Connors and all those guys,” Galasso recalled. “They were like an established nucleus of the team from the year before. I just went up there to kind of make the team because I didn’t play baseball at all when I was 16, I played golf all that summer. I did well and one thing after another came about and I suddenly realized how good I really was. I had a nice season playing right field and doing a little pitching.”
“The American Legion competition was real good,” said Bailor in a 2010 article. “That was the only baseball going at that time in that area. A couple of years we went to the Legion state championship and got close, but could never get over the hump.”
Fred Norton was a three-year member of the Connellsville Legion teams that won three successive county and district championships, and advanced to the Western Regionals at Freeport. In his three seasons with the Legion team Norton was an outfielder on the 1967 team that went to Allentown to compete in the state tournament and was center fielder in 1968 and 1969 on the teams that played in the regional finals at Freeport.
“We had a good program and we had good players and stuck together as a team,” Norton said. “I heard the scouts say that on paper we were the best team in the area. We couldn’t get past Freeport those two years and that was our downfall. I thought we were going to to win the state in 1969, but we couldn’t get out of Freeport.”
In the American Legion playoffs Connellsville downed Marion Center 5-3 and then squandered a 6-0 lead and committed six errors losing to Franklin 13-6. They were eliminated in a 6-5 loss to Springdale.
“Our problem that year was we blitzed through all the pitching in Fayette County that really couldn’t handle our lineup,” Galasso offered. “All year we never faced quality pitching and as soon as we got to the regionals in the state playoffs we lost.”
Galasso, Bailor and Norton along with Holliday from the Uniontown Legion team were selected to play on Aug. 2, 1969 in the East-West Classic All-Star Game in Harrisburg. Another area player from Mount Pleasant, Bob Gorinski, also played in that game.
“Back then every scout and every team was involved in that American Legion process,” Holliday stated. “To make the first round was critical and then second round and then you were picked for the East-West game in Harrisburg.”
“Harold ‘Pie’ Traynor managed the West squad and former major leaguer Les Bell managed the East squad,” Galasso recalled. “Pie and I sat next to each other on the way to the game on the bus. He had some stories to tell and it was quite a privilege to sit next to him.”
The East downed the West 3-0 and Barry Ulsh of Middletown, who later played in the Cincinnati Reds system, was named the outstanding player. Several other future pro players played in the game like Ed Ott and Jim Sadowski.
“We faced some all-star pitching in that game,” Galasso stated. “They had formidable pitching.”
The game led to Bailor, Norton and Galasso signing pro baseball contracts.
“East-West game was a big showcase,” Holliday said. “It was high intensity and the scouts worked you out running and throwing on Friday. The game on Saturday was secondary to the workout. The scouts were right there in your ear and they were asking you what you wanted to do with your career.”
Norton had been drafted by the Chicago White Sox in June of 1969 during the regular open draft of free agent talent, but delayed any decision on turning professional until after the Legion season ended. He was signed to a pro contract by Fred Shaffer of New Castle who scouted Western Pennsylvania for the White Sox.
Galasso and American Legion teammate Bailor signed with the Baltimore Orioles.
“Playing in the Legion games the scouts came around,” Galasso said. “I went to a tryout camp with Fred Norton and Bailor up at Freeport and I understood that was a pretty big deal and I started going to tryout camps. We played in All-Star games and then the three of us all went to the state All-Star game in Harrisburg and that was unprecedented and people were taking our pictures because no team had ever had three kids in that All-Star game.”
The summer of 1969 was a pretty special season for Fayette County American Legion baseball.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Sunday editions of the 蘑菇视频. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
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