Chicopee Summer Baseball 1950s Scrapbooks
Scrapbook 1
The Chicopee City League Scrapbook One is a collection of newspaper clippings from the local newspapers dedicated mostly to the 1953 Chicopee City Baseball League season and the 1953 Tri-County League baseball season. The city league existed in Chicopee from the 1930s through the 1950s. The Tri-County League was started in 1949 and still operates today. The book starts with a few articles on the winner of the 1952 baseball season before getting into the 1953 season. There are a few articles on the bowling league and Chicopee High School football at the end of the book. The 1953 season had six teams: The Woodlawns Athletic Club from South Hadley, the Fairview Boys Club, the Chicopee Falls Dodgers, the Chicopee Falls Tigers, the Nativity Athletic Club and the Colonels Athletic Club. The articles are clipped and pasted into the pages of the book, often with more than one article on a page. There are no dates with the articles, but they are arranged in chronological order from the initial planning meetings to the end of the regular season and through the playoffs. The statistics from several games and the rosters of the teams are also clipped and pasted among the articles. The city league was originally an adult league, but teenage players were allowed in the 1952 when too many players joined the armed services. The Tri-County League was a semi-pro adult league with many college age players.
Scrapbook 2
The Chicopee City League Scrapbook Two is a collection of newspaper clippings from the local newspapers dedicated to the 1950 through the 1952 Chicopee City Baseball League seasons. The adult city league existed in Chicopee from the 1930s through the 1950s and drew crowds in the thousands. The 1950 season consisted of five teams: the Fairview Boys Club, the Chicopee Falls Dodgers, the Chicopee Falls Tigers, the Nativity Athletic Club, the Sandy Hill Vets (they dropped out half-way through the season) and the Colonels Athletic Club. The 1951 season was marked by turmoil and only two teams played each other on Sundays, the Tigers and the Dodgers. At the end of the 1951 season four teams, the Tigers, the Dodgers, the Colonels and the Palais D’Or agreed to have a playoff series t determine the champion of Chicopee. Palais D’Or won the series. The 1952 season consisted of four teams, the Chicopee Falls Dodgers, the Chicopee Falls Tigers, the Palais D’Or Athletic Club and the Colonels Athletic Club. The city league was originally an adult league, but teenage players were allowed in the 1952 when too many players joined the armed services and the older players wanted to play in the “semi-pro” Tri-County League. The articles are clipped and pasted into the pages of the book, often with more than one article on a page. There are some dates with the articles at the beginning of the book. The articles are arranged in chronological order from the initial planning meetings to the end of the regular season and through the playoffs of each season. The statistics from several games and the rosters of the teams are also clipped and pasted among the articles.