The First Little Leaguer

Joey Jay passed away this week with a notable distinction

Nov 08, 2024

Joey Jay was one of those ballplayers who—if his career caught you at a certain age—never failed to bring a smile to your face, remembering afternoons spent watching him work. Hall of Famer he was not, but in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds, he used his wicked fastball to lead the National League in wins and lead his club to a pennant. His picture landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated that October.

Jay passed away this week at 89. And along with those types of memories that only baseball can provide, he leaves behind one of the more unbelievable biographical details in sports history.

Joey Jay holds the distinction of being the very first Little Leaguer to make the Big Leagues.

Before 1938, most American towns lacked organized baseball leagues. Instead, kids just played unsupervised on sandlots. In Williamsport, PA, a man named Carl Stotz thought the kids could use a little structure and started organizing informal games. In 1939, with the help of his wife, his brothers, and his sisters-in-law, he made the league legitimate. Instead of 90 feet like the Major Leagues, he moved the bases 60 feet apart—and one of his sisters-in-law sewed those original bases. He made rounds to local businesses selling $30 sponsorships to fund each team’s equipment. He named it, “Little League,” and that summer, Lundy Lumber Company defeated Lycoming Dairy 23–8 in the first game ever played.

In the ensuing years, Stotz’s creation spread across the country—including to Middletown, CT, which in 1948 became the first town in New England with Little League Baseball.

A twelve-year-old named Joey Jay signed up. Within five years, he was pitching in the Major Leagues. He was the first of many.

The Milwaukee Braves (not a typo!) signed Jay to a lucrative contract out of high school. At the time, the MLB had a rule to discourage teams from throwing money at unproven prospects, requiring them to go immediately to the Big Leagues. That meant that, one month after his 18^th birthday, Jay climbed the mound for his first Major League start. He responded with a seven-inning shutout.

Jay pitched with the Braves on a staff anchored by Hall of Famer Warren Spahn for a few seasons before being traded to the Cincinatti Reds. 1961 represented a breakout year, and Jay not only made his first All-Star team but finished fifth in MVP voting. He’d pitch in the Big Leagues for another six seasons before calling it a career.

And then? Jay wasn’t the type to wallow around thinking of the good ol’ days. He became involved in any number of businesses: carpet cleaners, building maintenance, limousines, taxicabs. Years later, Jay told his hometown newspaper, “I don’t live in the past like most ballplayers.” He continued, “When I made the break, it was clean and forever. It’s infantile to keep thinking about the game. It gets you nowhere. Most ex-ballplayers keep on living in some destructive fantasy world. Not me. I’m happier than ever since I left.”

When Carl Stotz began to grow Little League Baseball, he said that sports were, in essence, not the point. What bothered Stotz about the sandlot baseball days was that he would watch games descend into yelling matches, watch cliques form, and smaller players find themselves on the outside looking in to social groups. That’s what Stotz wanted to change. He wanted to create a forum for young boys—and, since 1974, girls too!—to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, hard work, and all the higher ideals that anybody would want to instill in their children.

He wanted to help shape people like Joey Jay.

The First Little Leaguer

Joey Jay passed away this week with a notable distinction

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