Larry Moore is director of Baseball in the Berkshires, a nonprofit that celebrates the county’s long love affair with the sport.
“we've had over 40 major league baseball players born, raised, or settled here, and two of them are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame," Moore told WAMC. "One of them was crowned the best Black player from the 19th century, and that was Frank Grant. The other gentleman was from North Adams, and he pitched for the New York Highlanders. And in 1904, he started 51 games. He finished 48 of them and won 41 of them, and obviously that's a highlight of his career that helped him get voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Jack Chesbro, born in North Adams in 1874, was elected into Cooperstown in 1946.
Next month, Baseball in the Berkshires will put up its "Connections - The Stateline Cafe' and Mickey Mantle - Art Ditmar - Yogi Berra" exhibition in the West Stockbridge old town hall.
Moore says the title comes from a recently unearthed artifact connecting the trio of famous Yankees to the Berkshires.
“About a year ago, I got a telephone call from a woman in Richmond, and she said 45 years ago, she bought her house and found a picture there, and she thinks it's of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and this guy standing and in between two of them, and she didn't know who he was," he explained. "And I said, Well, he's one of two guys. If he's from Berkshire County, he's either Art Ditmar or Dale Long.”
The late Ditmar – who grew up in Pittsfield – pitched for the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees over the course of a 12-year major league career.
Dale Long, who died in 1991, graduated from high school in Adams before playing first base in the majors from 1951 to 1963.
“So, I went over to the house and sure enough, it's an old, beautiful photograph of the three of them, and it was Art Ditmar in the middle, and across all their uniforms was faded autographs from the three of them to the same person,” Moore continued.
That person was Ed Tognini, the then-owner of a local West Stockbridge eatery of the era.
“It was called the Stateline Diner because it was on the state line, and then it's early days, going back to the 20s and 30s, they say the bar was on rollers, and they would roll it from one state to the other state inside the building," said Moore. "And with the drinking age in Massachusetts being 21 and the drinking age in New York State at that time being 18, this bar, many times, was a high school hangout, where high school kids could come and indulge on some of the wicked liquors.”
No discussion of baseball in Massachusetts would be complete without a cameo appearance from a former Red Sox player.
“Matt White is an old friend that obviously played professional baseball, and was a Rule 5 draftee of the Boston Red Sox,” said Moore.
Moore hopes the weekend of reveling in Berkshire baseball history will imbue attendees with a renewed sense of the county’s deep connection to the sport.
“We have over 220 minor league players from here, over 109 players that work for baseball organizations, scouts, general managers, umpires," he told WAMC. "It's just crazy how this county is just full of history.”
Baseball in the Berkshires’ "Connections - The Stateline Cafe' and Mickey Mantle - Art Ditmar - Yogi Berra" runs from April 10th to the 13th in West Stockbridge.
