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MIDDLE BASEBALL LEAGUE

Founded 1951 in Santa Maria, Ca.
Founder: William "Bill" Ellis, Sr.

Middle Baseball League was founded in 1951 by William "Bill" Ellis Sr. in Santa Maria, Ca.

The Middle Baseball League program operated only in the town of Santa Maria through 1952, but the following year added the small city of Guadalupe, nine miles away, Goleta (near Santa Barbara), and Glendale. From Glendale where *two leagues of seven teams each operated in their first season, 1953, word of this program surrounded the city of Los Angeles, and Middle Baseball Leagues formed in such places aside from Glendale, as South Pasadena, East Los Angeles, Downey, Hawthorne, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Venice, and East San Jose in the Santa Clara Valley of  California, and Douglas, Wyoming.
*Glendale Valley & Glendale National

Thousands of innings of ball have been played by boys of all sizes within the age group of 13, 14 and 15 years; those who fell into the gap between Little League ball & American Legion. It is important to note that some of those boys went on the play in Major League Baseball.

The diamond for these boys was larger than the little league diamond and smaller than the regulation baseball diamond. The figures placed on scratch paper in Ellis' office in 1951 were: 75 ft. between the rear point of home plate to the far side of first & third bases, and 53 feet between the rear point of the plate to the front side of the pitcher's rubber. It was 275 feet from home plate to the center field fence. Those measurements remained throughout the Middle Baseball League program. The program never reached it's potential because of a lack in financial aid, however, at the time this informational booklet was published (1961/62), over 3,000 boys had played in the Leagues.

Middle Baseball League

 

"World Series"

Winners & MVPs

Middle Baseball League

 

1965 "World Series" Teams & Player Rosters

Venice Middle League

 

     

My information is limited primarily to the Venice League, so if you have programs, photos, or any other memorabilia from the other leagues, I would be very happy to include it on this site.

 

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 ©Copyright Betty Allen 
2009