It was with great sadness last week when it was learned that two of the “Baggy Pants Boys of 1939,” Bill Bair and Al “Sonny” Yearick had died. They were two of the thinning ranks of the boys who played on those first three Little League teams 81 years ago.

Bill and Al were two of the best ambassadors that Little League has ever had, and they represent the best that Little League founder Carl Stotz had in mind when he started what would become the largest youth sports organization in the world.

I had the pleasure of knowing both Bill and Al. I got to know them at their attendance at several Original League open house during the annual Little League World Series. I saw them again when I talked to them and other surviving Baggy Pants Boys at a couple of anniversary observances held at both Original and at the LLWS. As an alumnus of Original, I felt a special bond with these two.

They were both great guys who cherished their Little League experiences and particularly their relationship with Carl Stotz and all the wonderful life lessons that he imparted to them and to many others.

Bill Bair played for Carl Stotz and the Lycoming Dairy team and was Little League’s first batting champion, said it meant a lot for him to play for Stotz and that Stotz taught him a lot of great values.

“I think the most important thing that Carl Stotz taught us kids was to respect our coaches, the umpires, our teammates and our opponents,” Bair said. “I think that Carl Stotz was a great teacher of the value of citizenship, and I believe that he also helped all of us to become better men. I can’t say enough good things about Carl and what he meant to us.”

Bill, like the other youngsters, was very thrilled to be able to play in a uniform.

“I could hardly wait to play that day and was so anxious to do so that I put my uniform on at noon, and we would not be playing the game until that evening,” Bill said.

“Sonny” Yearick played for Lycoming Dairy and became the first Little Leaguer to sign a professional baseball contract when the Boston Braves signed him in 1949. He also worked for Carl Stotz and Little League Baseball until the bitter court battle in 1955 that severed Stotz from the organization he founded.

“We were so excited to have that opportunity to play Little League it made us feel like Big Leaguers because we had real uniforms and real gloves, and bats and balls,” Yearick said. “We had so much fun playing with and against each other. It is a memory that I am sure we all treasure. We all owe such a lot to Carl Stotz for his patience and persistence.”

Karen Stotz Myers is the daughter of Carl Stotz and remembers both Bill and Al with great fondness.

“Bill Bair and Sonny Yearick were my links to my father. Being with them and hearing them relate stories of those early years of Little League kept my father close to me,” Stotz Myers told Webb Weekly. “Hearing about the death of Bill made me sad, and then to hear about Sonny passing a day later just took my breath away. It was almost as if they couldn’t wait to be together again and meet up with the rest of Dad’s boys to start that heavenly game in the sky. Sonny was one of the men who left Little League Baseball Inc. with my dad in 1955, I was a young girl, but had a memory of him then as well, so I felt I knew him better when we all re-connected in 1989. They were both tireless workers when Original started the Open House in 1996 for the restoration of the field. They were supporters of the truth and loved my dad totally, as evidenced by their numerous interviews over the years.”

Lance Van Auken, director of The World of Little League Museum, worked closely with Al and Bill when he and his wife, Robin were writing their history of Little League, the book, “Play Ball” as well as activities connected to the museum, and got to know both men very well.

“All of us at Little League were saddened to hear of the passing of Mr. Bair and Mr. Yearick. We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends. And while we will never have the pleasure of their company again, the legacy left behind by all of the boys who played in that first season of Little League can never be forgotten,” Van Auken said. “Both of these gentlemen later served in the U.S. Military during wartime, so their legacy extends beyond our area.”

He continued, “Bill Bair was simply a joy to be around. He never failed to bring a smile to those he met, and he was always willing to talk about his time as Little League’s first batting champion. We will always treasure the times he came into the World of Little League Museum to take part in various commemorations.”

“Al Yearick, is the answer to one of the toughest sports trivia questions there is: Who was the first Little Leaguer to play professional baseball? More importantly, however, he remained a steadfastly loyal friend to the founder of Little League, Carl Stotz, and was a great credit to his community.”

I want to close with a classic baseball poem by the sportswriter, Grantland Rice, that I think applies well to Bill and Al.

Game Called.
Across the field of play
the dusk has come, the hour is late.
The fight is done and lost or won,
the player files out through the gate.
The tumult dies, the cheer is hushed,
the stands are bare, the park is still.
But through the night there shines the light,
home beyond the silent hill.

Game Called.
Where in the golden light
the bugle rolled the reveille.
The shadows creep where night falls deep,
and taps has called the end of play.
The game is done, the score is in,
the final cheer and jeer have passed.
But in the night, beyond the fight,
the player finds his rest at last.

Game Called.
Upon the field of life
the darkness gathers far and wide,
the dream is done, the score is spun
that stands forever in the guide.
Nor victory, nor yet defeat
is chalked against the players name.
But down the roll, the final scroll,
shows only how he played the game.

May the Great Umpire call them “safe at home.”