THE YEARS 1932-1935

The Fireman's League 1932 - 1935

1932

This was the beginning of the Firemen's League. The league would breed an elevated brand of baseball, that would unite the communities and open rivalries that would last for years.

May 12, 1932 (Pat Advance)

Yaphank Firemen Win Game at St. James; Firemen Plan League.

The Yaphank Fire department nine beat St. James at St. James in a snappy game Sunday 2-1. The teams were evenly matched and there were five hits and three errors for each side. The battery for Yaphank was Scesny and Scesny. This was a non league warm-up event. The Firemen's league is scheduled to get started on May 28.

1933

May 19, 1933

Firemen's League Is Now Shaping Up (Pat Advance)

The Firemen's league founded last season, has recently been organized for the coming baseball season and the first round of games will be played a week from Sunday, when the ten teams swing into action. The league met with much success last year and interest in this year was so huge that the size of the league has been increased to permit more games and a wider range of competition.

May 26, 1933 (Pat Advance)

Town Firemen's Baseball League Of Ten Teams Starting Sunday

The Brookhaven Firemen's Baseball league will swing into action Sunday afternoon with five games in various parts of the town, some of them with considerable opening ceremony. The Suffolk Giants (Colored Team) and Yaphank will play at East Setauket.

The final meeting of the league was held last Friday night at North Patchogue fire headquarters, at which time the lists of eligible players were turned in. A rule was adopted that no player could be a member of a team outside the league and be allowed to play on a league team. This resulted in the dropping of several players who were listed on other that the firematic nine.

Several spirited tilts developed between the various players and if this is any indication of what will happen, then there will be some real hot games during the season, it is predicted.

The League entered its second season, against the backdrop of New President Franklin D. Roosevelt being elected and the country being mired in the Great Depression. The old World War Cantonment camp at Upton was turning into a Conservation camp, where men belonging to the Civilian Conservation Corp, would come to engage in forestry management projects.

In Middle Island a camp connected with emergency shelter was opened. The camp was set up on the west side of the Middle Island-Yaphank Rd. (On the property now known as Cathedral Pines) In the clearing, tents were set up, to be used by families coming out from the city. The camp was set up by a religious group, bringing the homeless from the city to a country environment.. The aim to not only help the people with temporary shelter, but to build them up and assist them in finding work.

July 7, 1933 (Pat Advance)

C. Moriches F.D. Late Rally Fails To Beat Yaphank

It took a little time before Center Moriches Firemen were able to crash into the score of the Yaphank Firemen in the league game Sunday at Center Moriches and Yaphank was evidently running away with the game, 4-0, when in the fifth inning, Center Moriches scored and the event ended 7-5 for the visitors

Following the scoring of two runs in the sixth inning by Yaphank, William Stype, manager of Center Moriches, entered a protest on the grounds that the ball was a foul according to the ground rules in Sinnickson's field. The game was halted for a few minutes, but as the question was not settled the game resumed. Umpire Louis Melanson announced, however, that Center Moriches would protest the runs in question. There was a large attendance, which included quite a number of people from the visitors home town.

1934

May 11, 1934

West Patchogue To Meet Yaphank F.D. Team In League Opening.

The West Patchogue A.C. nine will meet the Yaphank Firemen at the formers baseball field on Waverly Ave. Sunday afternoon, in the first engagement of the Firemen's league.

They are going to make something of a ceremony, and Mayor J. Robert Bailey has accepted an invitation to toss in the first ball.

July 6, 1934 (Pat advance)

Bellport Trims Yaphank After Nistad Weakens

Bellport trounced the Yaphank Firemen to the score of 9-2 Wednesday afternoon before a large crowd on the Bellport diamond. The game was tight until the seventh inning with Yaphank in the lead, but in the last of that frame, Nistad, who was pitching for Yaphank weakened and Bellport started hitting him heavily.

1935 season

1935 saw Electric power extended to the Yaphank-Rocky Point Road. Justices Gustave Neuss and Frederick Marchant played an important role in convincing the Long Island Lighting Company to extend electric power. The "Friends of New Germany" established a camp on the former James Coombs property. At the June opening over 2,000 people who came in cars and buses for the opening ceremony. In addition to the hotel there was a boys camp and a girls camp. In December Company 2212 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, composed of colored World War veterans, was disbanded and sent to other camps. It was rumored that the camp at Upton was to be shut down.

In June a field day was held at the Middle Island Community center. The afternoon began with a baseball game between the Hill Billies of Yaphank and the men from the " Pines Farm." The Yaphank boys had it all over their opponents. There were many boners pulled, high and low dives, The Yaphank boys piled up 27 runs while the Middle Island boys were treated to a goose egg, not one of their players reaching third base. They are a very polite lot of fellows and stated they did not believe it would be very neighborly to try and defeat their rivals the very first game.

On June 30^th Yaphank defeated Bayport by a score of 14-6 on the Bayport diamond. Bayport required the use of 3 pitchers before the game ended while Mervin Tillinghast went the full route for the Yaphankers. Both teams played tight ball until the fourth inning and then the game was blown wide open as the two teams batted around.

Aided by errors Yaphank was able to chalk up seven markers in the run column in the first half of the fourth and Bayport came back in its half with six. That was the beginning of the end of the Bayport scoring, but Yaphank went on add three in the fifth and two each in the seventh and eighth as the Bayporters continued to aid with misplays.

This victory put Yaphank in 3rd place with a 3-2 record in the Fireman's League.