Tuesday, November 2, 2010

MPTLL History Project: The Original Charter

This is pretty interesting to look at: our league's original charter application, approved by Little League, Inc. on March 12, 1952.

After the initial 1951 season with the American Business Club League at Independence Park, Don Bryant and his Harry & Bryant team joined fellow Myers Park Civitan Club members like Al Browne, Jack Starnes and others in forming a new league under the Civitan Club's sponsorship. As you can see in this Charlotte Observer article from early June 1952, a third league sponsored by the North Charlotte YMCA was also formed.

Some interesting things stand out on our league charter. Each of the four original teams - Harry & Bryant, Al Browne's Service, Blythe Motors and Farmers Dairy - had nicknames: Cardinals, Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers respectively. Our territory boundary was rather large, bounded only by Trade and Tryon Streets, but the estimated population was just 20,000. And the league's first field at Myers Park Elementary is described in pretty good detail: 180 down the lines, 200 to center, and rated as "average." The league would play there the first couple of seasons before moving over to Ranson Field (later known as EC Griffith) on Randolph Road.

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