Growth of Little League Baseball in Ancaster Township 1956-1960 - from the 1960 program book.

In 1956 Ancaster had its original Little League team of 15 boys entered in the Dundas Little League. These boys were selected from over 150 registrations of boys living in the Township boundaries. From the balance, 4 Minor League teams were formed -- total of 95 uniformed players.

In 1957 Ancaster obtained its only Little League franchise and formed 4 Little League teams from a registration of about 200 boys -- total 140 players.

In 1958 with over 240 registrations the Little League expanded to 6 Little League teams and 6 Minor League teams enabling a total of 210 boys to play out of a total of the 700 boys in the 8-12 age group attending Ancaster schools. Namely, one out of three boys in the entire Township played Little League ball in 1958.

written by Dave Watts

Our Field of Dreams

These thoughts are taken form a combination of newspaper articles, league programs and memory. Rather than start every sentence with "I think" just accept that these notes may not be totally accurate.

Back in 1955 a small group of men, lead by Bill Weldon, Joe Woof and George Baker put together Ancaster's first Little League team. The team, called the Tigers, played all their games in Dundas as Ancaster had no ballpark. These gents knew there were a large number of kids in Ancaster wanting to play ball. Spring Valley alone could fill a bunch of teams. George Baker began to push for an expanded Little League and proper facilities in Ancaster. The Spring Valley Community Association donated the land in the valley and dozens of parents started to work on building a baseball diamond for the 1956 season. Piggott Construction lent the men a bulldozer. Many of the men were war vets, and Gord White, a tank operator in the war, operated the dozer, ploughed out the land, redirected the stream and built a road up to the hall. The other talented vets finished off the diamond, with dugouts, and fences.