The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-07-24
M ARY ABBOTT
 B. B. CHAMPIONS. INVADE" N. Y.
Fly JOHN A. CLUNEY
 Shorts Editor

From the north end of Waterbury to the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Sta dium in New York to the Roxy the- ater and home again, all within IS hours, is quite move for a group of Mary Abbott schoolboys to make but they made 1t yesterday with room to spare. As 1945 city school boy champions, they were reward ed with the motor trip to New York by their coach, Dr. Joseph A. May and interested members of the Mary Abbott Community Club.
 Most of the lads, ranging in age from 12 to IS years of age, had never been outside the limited con- fines of their home town, which ex- plains why they were agape with the wonder of it all from about the time their motor "cavalcade" of three automobiles rolled its load of IS boys and four adults on the Mer- ritt Parkway.
 To The Zoo
 First New York stop was the Bronx Zoo - of all places - but the MA boys spent lively and inter- esting hour there before We neared the great Yankee Stadium on 9th avenue and 161st street; where more than 81,000 fans saw 8 Yan- kee- Red Sox double-header one Sunday afternoon, several years ago. At the ZOO, there were animals, birds, snakes, and tame squirrels by the score, all of which and more appealed to the Brass City boys. There was black baby leopard, one of the most vicious and highly nervous animals of record. Then there was bird which lighted up its throat by turn of the head; 8 playful wrestling match between tiger and lion cubs, who shared the same cage; the sea lions, with their raucouS, throaty method of talk ing" and the snakes poisonous and non-poisonous, long and short, old and new the latter recently matched and no longer than half alarming needle.
 Satchel- billed toucans from the South American jungles; brilliant violet and orange-colored birds; humming birds, mo larger than an English walnut, but capable of 8 fly ing speed of 150 miles per hour. An- other chance" acquaintance was a mean-2ooking, mud-caked three-ton African rhinoceros, who put his keeper in 8 hospital 8 month ago, on day when the single-horned rhino was feeling little "out of sorts" And so it went, for an hour or so, trying to see as much as pos sible in a place where person would need full week to see all the Bronx Zoo has to offer and learn more than little from such a visit.
 At lunch, the Waterbury party did well enough with no one going away half-hungry; before crossing Eighth avenue to watch the Yankees and White Sox tangle in an II inning game, in which each team got 2 hits; Chicago winning on a bad play because Bill Zuber, New York pitch CT slipped on the wet grass.
 Photo By Izzy
 Through the kindness of vice. president Tom Gallery, the Mary Abbott lads, several of whom would turn the Dead End Kids" of the movies, green with envy; were seat ed directly behind the Yankee dug out. Not long after arrival, they were introduced to the famous New York photographer, IZzy Kaplan of the Mirror; sent there by Water bury's Dan Parker to take some pie lures of the Mary Abbott group for the Waterbury Democrat; which has featured Parher's sports column for more than Il years. When the kids were lined up" by photographer Kaplan, they made quite a picture Reproduced for you on Page 1 to- day) for Coach Art Fletcher, (temp- orary manager of the Yankees dur ing the illness of Joe Mccarthy; George (Snuffy) Stirnweiss, stellar and hard-hitting second-baseman, well-known in Connecticut; Ford ham Hank Borowy, star pitcher of the club; Herschel Martin and Bud Metheney, fleet and slugging out fielders mixed in with the boys as everyone watched the birdie" at the proper time.
 Photographer Kaplan is listed in New York papers today as the win- ner of the ''best picture of the week" prize given weekly by the Press Photographers Forum, which airs its views over WPAT, Pater- son, N. J., each Thursday night.
 Capt. Joe Aufiero of Mary Ab- bott's champs and the number one pitcher and hitter of the team got 8 big 'kick" out of the Il inning pitching mound battle of Bills Zu- Der for the Tanks, Dietrich for the White Sox. Zuber was charged with loss of the game when he slipped on the wet grass in the 11th. However, the Waterbury gang, had one big chance to cheer when |Stirnweiss, who is in the picture with them, taken before the game, tripled in the sixth, but their cheers died quickly when "Snuffy" was caught on squeeze" play as Frank Cro- setti bunted, the ball bouncing high into Dietrichs hands, who tossed 1t underhand to Mike Fresh as Stirnweiss, one of the fastest men in the American league was called out at the plate by Umpire Bill Mo- Gowarl.
 "Snuffy" Hit Hard
 The M-A kids gave Bud Metheney ( big hand in the seventh. when he caught Johnny Dickshot's line single on the dead run; but Stirn- weiss was their hero of the game as he hit 6 triple and two singles 6 for 6) off bespectacled Bill Dietrich. who was extra tough; la ter flaming CroSetti for the final