Founder of Little League Still Shunned : Organization Refuses to Recognize Carl Stotz’s Contribution

The Little League World Series was played not far from Carl Stotz’s house last week, but for the 30th straight year the fellow who started the kids’ baseball program did not see a game.

This is a busy time for the 75-year-old Stotz. He is the tax collector for Lycoming Township and the deadline is nearing for people to pay him. However, there was another reason why he didn’t attend the games.

In an embarrassing and bizarre 1955 episode, Stotz, then the commissioner of the organization he founded in 1939, and its president, Peter J. McGovern, disagreed on how Little League baseball should be run. The upshot was, Stotz asked for McGovern’s resignation, McGovern relieved Stotz of his $14,000-a-year job and Stotz, after locking McGovern out of the offices for 24 hours, sued Little League, Inc. for $300,000 for breach of contract. Then, after a trial that lasted more than a month, Little League, Inc. was granted an injunction that restrained Stotz from starting a rival organization.

The breach-of-contract suit was finally settled out of court--no terms were disclosed--and there has been no reconciliation in 30 years. McGovern died last year.

Stotz charged in his suit that the Little League bylaws were changed to damage his “power, prestige and authority.” He said he only wanted to safeguard the original concepts of Little League. McGovern charged that Stotz was unwilling to accept the board’s decisions.

Today, Stotz gets little recognition here for starting the popular program on a vacant lot in Williamsport so his nephews could play on a regular team. The World Series brochure makes no mention of him and his name is barely noticed in the Little League Museum, which is named after McGovern.

Stotz has his own museum in a converted shed in his backyard. His colonial house on the outskirts of Williamsport is also his tax office.

Stotz once said that Little League officials are “interlopers who recline behind nicely stated purposes.” But there was a sign last week that the old fellow is mellowing. After turning down invitations for 15 years, he attended a banquet for the Little League World Series Umpires Alumni Assn.