The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-08-02
EASTERN STATES TOURNAMENT TO
 OPEN SEPT l9
Exposition Officials Again Appoint Leslie Mann Di- rector = Connect z U { Teams May Enter
fsncciaI to the Democratl

springficid, Mass, Aug 2.--Ama- teur baseball in New England is being pointed again this year tow ards the 17th annual Eastern States Exposition from September 17 to 23 inclusive for the third annual New England states anna teur baseball tournament on Tues day, Wednesday and Thursday, Sept 19, 20 and 21, by the Exposi- tion management in cooperation with the United States Amateur Baseball association.
 As in past seasons the tourna- ment will be under the personal supervision of Leslie Mann, former college and. major league star and now natoinal director of the U. s. A. B. A. Mann is the organizing genius behind the tournaments which have been unusually suc- cessful and which have done much to promote amateur baseball in this section. He is now hard at work in conjunction with his direc- tors in the several New England staets to make this years round robin even better than its prede- cessors. Championship tourna- ment games will be played on a new diamond constructed last year on the Exposition race track in- field and as a feature of the play ing season the Massachusetts state championships will be played on the Exposition diamond on dates to be assigned between August 25 and Sept 4.
 The first New England cham pionships in 1881 resulted in a victory for the Polish-American A. c. of Chicopee Falls which annexed the region title. Last year the New England championship went to the Cincianullo club of Provi- dence, R. l., with the team of the Portland Gas Co. Portland, Me, as a runner up. This year with an increase in the number of par ticipating leagues and independent clubs an even better quality of baseball for the final playoffs is anticipated by Mann and his asso- ciates.
 New Hampshire and Massachu- setts are neck and neck in the number of organized leagues that will present title teams for the state playoffs. In New Hampshire there are leagues and independent clubs in Warner, Hillsboro, Peter boro, Contoocook Valley league and Franklin and Laconia Sunset leagues, with twilight leagues in full operation in Concord, Pitts field, Manchester, Nashua, Ports mouth, Dover, Rochester and keene.
 Massachusetts has the Springfield Triple A league, Intercity League of Western Massachusetts, Spring field City league, Chicopee League and organized groups in Greenfield, Holyoke and Pittsfeld with nunum- erable independent clubs clamor- ing for a place in the staet play offs. Rhode Island will provide competition with a title team drawn from leagues in Providence Pawtucket, Westerly. Newport and
 Warwick.
 Connecticut has several organ ized leagues and independent clubs with major activity centered in Hartford, Waterbury, Middlesez league, New Haven, Bridgeport, Somersville and Thompsonville. There has been an increase in Ver- mont also with teams and leagues in Windsor, Rutland, Bellows I Falls, Ludlow, Springfield and woodstock, while in Maine the principal interest centers in the Pine Tree Valley league, Saco Val ley league and Portland Twilight league. State representatives who will ike the dates for the state cham pionships and will pass upon the eligibility of independent clubs for the title contest are: Rhode Island. Dan Norton of Pawtucket and Lou Pierce of Providence; Vermont. Paul Hayden of Rutland and Ralph w. "Pop'' Erickson of
 Windsor; Maine, Ed D. Welch of
 Portland and Lawrence Cove of Lewiston; New Hampshire, John ID. Powers of .Concord; Connecticut
 Irving J. Gourley of Hartford, and
 Massac chusetts, Leslie Mann and
 Roy c. Chapin of Springfield.