- [Announcer] Funding for this program was made possible by the Allegheny Regional Asset District and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thank you.

(wind swooshing) - [Commentator] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to tonight.

(patriotic music) - [Spectators] Take me out to the ballgame.

- [Commentator] McCain, who made the first hit, really pushed the label on a fast pitch.

(audience cheering) - [Tom] They're so many memories on this field.

(mellow music) - [Pete] Yeah, they're happy memories.

- [Man] We still talk about that team.

- [Narrator] Listen closely to baseball diamonds, old and new, and you'll hear echoes of a story about a small town and its boys.

- [Man] Those kids were special, they won baseball games.

That's what they did.

- [Man 2] Yeah, I can still picture them as they were then.

(mellow music) - [Commentator] And he clobbers it into the left field seats.

- [Narrator] We see them now only in black and white, but their triumph is still vivid for people today.

- It was just magical.

(intense sound effects) - Your life can be beautiful and tragedy strikes.

- The most dramatic headline in the history of sports in our community.

- [Narrator] There are still bittersweet memories in this small Pennsylvania town known as Mon City, where people still talk about this time of joy and of great sadness.

- Young boys, overcame adversity.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Memories in a place with a heart, big enough to hold all of them.

- [Man] This is absolutely a redemption story.

- I remember every bit of it.

- [Pete] Okay, Tom.

- [Tom] It's been a long time, Pete.

- [Pete] Yeah, it's been a long time.

Where have you been?

- [Narrator] There's something about returning to a place from one's childhood that will bring back long forgotten names and long buried memories.

- The pitcher was called Eggs Nuts.

- Well, how could you forget that?

(man laughing) (gentle music) - [Narrator] 70 Years had gone by since Tom deRosa and Pete Hoosac stood on a baseball diamond together.

It was here on the dusty fields of their hometown, that their friendship and this story began.

It's a sports story for the ages and it happened in a little part of America that's always been known for its commitment to excellence in sports.

- It's the makeup of the people in our area.

- [Narrator] Scott Frederick is a retired high school history teacher who grew up in Monongahela.

It's a town just south of Pittsburgh, spread out along the Monongahela River with neighborhoods built on the traditions of faith and family.

- [Scott] They were a strong group of people who worked very hard and they wanted their children to succeed.

And the first place they could succeed would be in terms of sports.

- [Narrator] Football greats Joe Montana and Fred Cox learned their game here.

Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. and Senior hailed from Donora a few miles upstream.

They brought baseball fame to the Mon Valley, but the love of it had always been here.

- Every kid had his bike, a glove on a handle bars riding down the street, going to find a baseball game.

- [Narrator] Tom and Pete played youth baseball, eventually landing on an All-Star team with a dozen other scrappy lads and their strict, but loving coaches.

- He really taught them more than just baseball.

He taught them about life.

(upbeat country music) - [Narrator] And like in most small towns, before there were uniforms and coaches, there were pickup games played in alleys.

- We used to play with a broomstick and tennis ball or sponge ball we called them.

Right at the corner of building was home plate right there.

- [Narrator] In those first years after world war II, America was still waking up.

Television had just a few channels and childhood was spent outdoors.

- His yard, it was a home run.

That's probably 200 feet.

That window up there got broke every week.

And every week they put a new window.

(man laughing) - That's all kids had to play was baseball.

Every kid could play baseball.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] And they came together in the one way that they could, on the diamond and put together one heck of a baseball team.

Too young to play at the time, Tom was the team bat boy, his older brother, Frank was the catcher and so was Pete.

- Oh, here it is.

George Fabin.

- Butch Peters - [Both] and Dee Galiffa.

- [Tom] Yeah.

- [Narrator] The years have taken most of these players.

Only a few are here to tell the story now.

- [Tom] No, he was second baseman.

- [Narrator] Tom and Pete spent their lives in Mon City and Ed Kikla retired to Florida.

He was the pitcher who would become known as the Cy Young of Little League.

- Never thought of it that way but, if that's what they thought, I'll accept that.

- Eddie was a good pitcher, you couldn't hit him.

No one ever hit Eddie Kikla.

- [Narrator] Word has it that Ed could spit through his teeth.

- Yeah, I still can.

I got a little gap there.

Can you see it?

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] And he had a fast ball that's become the stuff of urban legend.

- When Eddie Kikla would pitch, the catcher had to use a raw steak in his glove and so his hand wouldn't swell.

- [Narrator] And they tell other stories from another time and place about infield set on fire after a rain so the game could go on.

- They would put saw dust down of how they'd throw diesel fuel and gasoline and huge fires would come to dry the field up.

- [Narrator] Time has burned away many of those moments, but the ageless parts remain.

- They were just your buddies.

It's like seeing almost a brother when you see one of those kids.

- [Narrator] In 1952, they were just boys who lived for the feel of a hand in a glove and the crack of the bat.

Just scrappy little kids.

And they were about to make history.

(gentle music) - He gets up there and he's shaking and he's scared.

Then all of a sudden, (wood clacks) it dribbles.

He runs, he makes it the first base.

He's happy as can be.

Mom's over there crying, dad's like, yep, I taught him everything I knew.

- [Narrator] When you're 11 years old and playing baseball, you dream of winning the Little League World Series.

But first, you have to show the coach you're better than everyone else in your town.

- There's 32 kids here wanting to make the team and you had 12 uniforms.

12 were happy, 20 kids went home crying.

- [Narrator] In 1952, Coach Jim McMahon built an All-star team from all the squads in Monongahela.

- We were called the Mighty Mites.

Monongahela Mighty Mites.

(upbeat country music) - [Narrator] They played well that summer, racking up wins against teams from nearby towns, including three no hitters by Southpaw Ed Kikla.

And in August came the news.

They had qualified to play in the Pennsylvania State Championship.

- Nervous and excitement?

Yes.

Yeah.

All of that.

All the above.

- [Narrator] The Mighty Mites were headed to Williamsport.

(gentle guitar music) For two weeks every summer, this field in north central Pennsylvania is the center of the youth sports universe.

11 and 12 year-olds gather on this state of the art diamond for competition, that today welcomes a rich diversity of boys and girls from all over the world.

You'll find their stories here in the World of Little League Museum.

- We've had so much fun digitizing some of our film over the past two years.

- [Narrator] There are decades of old film, but also uniforms, artifacts, even thank you notes from appreciative young players.

In 1952 Little League was in its infancy, but baseball was much the same as it is now.

- It's still a pitcher throwing a baseball, batter trying his best to hit it.

- [Narrator] The first games here in Williamsport happened across town on a much smaller field named for the man who started Little League Baseball.

Carl Stotz wanted a safe, open place for kids to play.

In 1938, he found this field and Little League Baseball was born.

(acoustic music playing) This park is used mostly for local games now.

Jim McKinney looks after the field and its legacy.

- We do whatever it takes to keep this field active and for the next generation of kids to come and play on it.

And we keep the history going.

- [Narrator] Every year, former players return in a kind of pilgrimage to a place that held their happiest childhood memories.

- And it's really heartful to see these people come back and cry or pick up dirt because this is where they were.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator] When the Mon City team stepped onto this field in the summer of '52 for the state playoffs, they saw their hometown crowd on the hillside.

- Williamsport was filled with people from the Mon Valley.

Everybody went to Williamsport.

Where I'll show you people in the stands at Williamsport from right down the road here that had no business being there.

They had no relatives there.

- All those families were very proud.

Like many of 'em we're just first and second generation Americans and baseball was very important to them.

- [Narrator] The Mon City boys would face teams from all across Pennsylvania.

- At that point, the competition is stiff.

In Pennsylvania, there was a lot more leagues than say another state.

So there may have been like four or five times more leagues that they're competing against.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] In the end, Mon city clobbered the team from Hickory PA with home runs from Butch Peters and Rich Sacane and won the Pennsylvania state championship and the right to advance to the World Series finals.

- It's hard for me to imagine such talent.

The players were actually celebrities.

- Well, I signed a lot of autographs.

You signed arms, legs, hats, you know, wherever they wanted an autograph.

- The little girl's looking at him like he was Elvis Presley and my brother got his head down.

You have to know my brother.

(Tom chuckling) He was probably thinking, how the hell do I spell my name?

(Tom laughing) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The young state champs returned home to a celebration.

- I remember the ticker-tape parade like I was in it right now.

- Me and Tom was the last car to go through town.

- Everybody was there.

People there from out of town, people came from all over the, it was five deep on the sidewalks.

- [Narrator] The Mighty Mites had made history.

It was the first and only time a team from Western Pennsylvania qualified for the World Series final.

They would soon head back to Williamsport.

The local newspaper shouted the news.

But there was a second headline that would shock the town and cast a shadow on history.

- [Ramona] When they heard that they won, ready to start this big celebration in Monongahela (mellow music) and then this.

What a shock.

What a terrible, terrible shock.

- [Narrator] On August 18th, 1952 people in the Mon Valley would read two stories.

One heartening, the other heartbreaking.

- Everybody was so super happy about this.

These bunch of little kids winning a state champion.

What an honor.

- [Narrator] Sitting among the hometown crowd, watching the win, where five young baseball fans from Mon City.

An old photo shows a few of them gathered around the sports car that would take them to Williamsport for the game.

That car was the pride and joy of Ray Smith.

He had graduated from Monongahela High School the previous year and worked as a gas company clerk.

Herbie Hixenbaugh had just graduated and was headed to the Air Force.

Herbie and Ray were joined on the trip by three other friends, including Franklin Simmen.

The photo captures one of their last carefree moments before the summer took a dark turn.

- How can this all happen to somebody that we knew?

- Ramona Dockerty knew all those guys, but she had a soft spot for Herbie Hixenbaugh.

- Very good looking.

We can't even hope to have a date with him.

- [Narrator] Ramona would later marry Herbie and during their years together, he would sometimes talk to her about what happened on that terrible night.

- I think I'm the only one that he ever opened up to.

It was always with him.

I think.

- [Narrator] Parked in town after the game, two of the young men got out to buy food, leaving Ray, Herbie and Franklin in the car.

A man with a gun, jumped into the car, robbed them of $16 and ordered Ray Smith to drive.

The gunman shot Ray in the neck.

And then he ordered Herbie to get behind the wheel.

Herbie moved his dying friend to the passenger seat.

And now himself at gunpoint drove out of town.

- [Ramona] Herb said, he thought the gunman was probably looking for a place to kill the other two.

- [Narrator] What followed was a moment of quick thinking that is still astonishing all these decades later.

- [Ramona] It's whenever he was driving and he saw the police car and I'm gonna let them know that there's a dead man in my car.

He drove 75 or 80 miles an hour past this car, kept his foot on the accelerator and still going pretty good and was tapping out with his left foot SOS.

There was two policemen in the car and the one said, "He's tapping out Morris code."

The police car came up behind them to try to stop them.

He pulled the car around and straight into a curb or a tree or rolled out of the car and went running back to the police.

He fell to the ground and that's how it all ended.

- [Narrator] Police arrested the gunman.

Herbie and Franklin were safe.

- I don't know how he had the presence of mind to just do that.

- [Narrator] Ray Smith died in his car that night.

He was 18.

Sadly, his parents already had lost three sons to accidents and illness.

Ray was the fourth.

Ramona is haunted still by the photograph of Herbie and Franklin in the back of the police car.

Her husband remained haunted too.

- I think through his whole life, he was depressed.

Not all the time because he was a funny, funny man.

But occasionally he would just really slip into a deep, deep funk that just couldn't seem to shake for a while.

I think he felt that there was that somehow guilt that he survived and Ray didn't.

- [Narrator] Nearly 70 years after the murder of Ray Smith, Sharon Lang finally opened a box, her mother had given her.

- She handed this off to me one day and said, once you look through this, destroy it, because your dad really didn't want anybody to see this.

(mellow music) - [Narrator] Her dad, Franklin Simmen had been in the backseat during the abduction that ended in the death of his friend, Ray.

- What I would say is just let it go.

- [Narrator] But Franklin's daughter felt this scrapbook now has the power to pay tribute to a young man whose death was almost lost to history.

- [Sharon Lang] Oh, so important for the young man who lost his life.

I feel that he deserves not to be forgotten.

- [Narrator] Her dad would become a teacher and raise a family.

Herbie Hixenbaugh became an engineer, raised six children and lived long enough to celebrate 50 years with Ramona.

The gunman, a career criminal from Ohio was convicted of murder and spent the rest of his life in prison.

He had been outwitted by a clever 17 year old boy.

- I don't think he ever felt like a hero.

Occasionally I would say that Herb, you saved your life and you saved Franklin's life.

And we can be thankful for that.

- [Narrator] It's during the most challenging times that players lean on a strong coach.

For the Mon City Mighty Mites, that was manager Jim McMahon.

- There was a lot more to it than just getting home run.

He taught them how to win, but also how to lose.

- [Narrator] Just hours after celebrating their state championship, coach McMahon would take his players to the funeral home to pay respects to Ray Smith.

- We all showed up.

All the players showed up and the managers.

I feel sorry for the family.

- [Narrator] Then with heavy hearts, but high hopes, the boys headed back to Williamsport to finish what they had started.

The team was heavily favored to win it all in the World Series Final.

- They were too good.

Those kids were too good to lose.

(upbeat music) - [Commentator] Monongahela Pennsylvania had back with two outs.

When Dick Sisler hops passed short, for the game's first hit.

- [Narrator] They would face a team from Norwalk, Connecticut.

- (Commentator indistinct speaking) - [Commentator] And he clobbers it into the left field seats.

- [Narrator] In the first five innings, shortstop Rich Sacane got a remarkable seven hits and eight times at bat.

- [Commentator] And I put Pennsylvania in front again.

- [Narrator] Pitcher Ed Kikla was just as impressive whipping 15 of the first 16 batters.

- [Commentator] And the catcher nails Landa at third for the double play.

- I was sorta set on striking everybody out.

And then that was my goal.

- [Narrator] At the bottom of the sixth and last inning, Monongahela is leading 3-2.

Ed Kikla walks a batter and then gives up a double, allowing one runner to score.

And then Ed throws a wild pitch and the Norwalk runner on second advances to third.

And with the game tied 3-3, coach McMahon takes Ed out of the game and sends Rich Sacane to the mound.

- [Coach] That goes your ball game brother.

- [Narrator] Sacane threw a game changer.

- [Ed] It was a wild pitch.

- [Commentator] For the second year in a row, Connecticut wins the big flag in the Little League World Series.

- That was just a freak accident.

You die with every pitch.

Every pitch.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] They had lost it 4-3.

It would be a long train ride back home.

- We all felt we left ourselves down and the town.

- [Narrator] But they had made local history by making it that far.

And after all they were little boys.

Did the events of the previous week take an emotional toll?

- I can't help but think that, that did have some effect on them.

They were emotionally exhausted.

- It was a piece of clothing that didn't fit those kids.

They knew they weren't gonna lose again.

- [Narrator] It's been said that baseball is a game designed to break your heart.

And that day it did.

- Very sad, very sad.

- For the Mighty Mites, the season was over, but the baseball boys of Mon City were not done yet.

(dramatic music) (train track clacking) - [Commentator] During 1954 alone, some 40,000 boys played Pony League Baseball.

- [Narrator] By August of '54, two summers had passed and the baseball boys had grown taller and stronger.

And at 13 and 14 years old, they were now a Pony League team.

- They're starting to gain agility, speed, strength, knowledge.

- [Narrator] The Mon City team had stayed together and now were managed by Harry Sickles.

- He was a big Teddy bear.

He expected a lot from his players and because he expected a lot, they gave a lot.

- [Narrator] That season Sickles was relatively new to coaching and would lead them through enough wins to play in the Pony League World Series.

- That team was already a gel team and he knew that he had the right material.

- [Narrator] This time, the team would travel just 18 miles west of Mon City to Washington, Pennsylvania, the headquarters of Pony Baseball.

Every August, teams from all over the world gather here to compete on a diamond that is just slightly smaller than a Major League Field.

- We scale the size of the field to fit the size of the kids.

So home runs are a possibility.

Stealing is a possibility.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Dressed smartly and smarting a bit from their loss in Williamsport two years earlier, the boys stepped off the bus in Washington, determined to win.

- We knew that we should have won that Little League World Series.

And so we were out to prove a point.

- I'm sure they were ready to take on the world.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator] In the first rounds of play, the Monongahela team would defeat squads from much bigger cities, including San Antonio, Texas and Beverly Hills, California.

And coach Sickles was superstitious.

- You never washed your uniforms.

The boys played with dirty clothes and my dad coached with dirty clothes.

- [Narrator] Dusty Gary Wassel played first base in the early rounds but served as third base coach in the final game.

Mon City would face Chicago and Gary remembers every thrilling play.

- Two men on first inning, George Fabin is batting and he hits a home run.

(crowd cheering) (upbeat music) I can tell you when he hit that home run and he came to third base, (man giggles) half the team was there.

- [Narrator] Butch Peters was on the mound and held Chicago to just four hits, pulling Mon City ahead early and never falling behind.

With a hometown crowd of 8,000 watching, Monongahela would win it eight to two.

- We were out to prove a point and we did.

- [Narrator] The team would ride through the streets of Monongahela once again.

This time, as the best in the world.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) - This is absolutely a redemption story.

This group of boys didn't come back and win a regional championship.

They won the world championship.

(upbeat music) - [Martha] This Harry Sickles field was dedicated to my father, Harry Sickles.

- [Narrator] History is best told by those who lived it.

Only a few of the baseball boys were still around to share their memories.

- 70 Years is a long time to look back but...

But, it was a good ride.

- [Narrator] Ed Kikla would go on to pitch in the minor leagues.

Gary Wassel became a successful businessman in Hawaii.

- I've been to five Super Bowls.

I've been to the 17 Pro-ams.

I've played golf with Ernie Els and Freddy Couples.

I gotta tell you one of the greatest feelings.

The greatest joy for me was being on that team.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] Pete Hoosac kept his little league uniform.

He passed away shortly after this.

Tom DeRosa eventually moved up from bat boy to player.

And Harry Sickles went on to coach for another 25 years.

- At the end of his life, he still could tell you every play and every boy that was on that team, he just loved the boys.

- It's okay for us to remember them fondly and sadly.

- Raymond Smith needs to be remembered and the story needs to be remembered for our community.

It really is a story of good, eventually overcoming evil.

They wanted to see redemption for our community.

- [Narrator] Those seasons held everything that's good about summer and kids and the towns that love them.

The baseball boys did Mon City proud.

- Those players belonged to the people in Monongahela.

They was everybody's sons.

- There you go, Pete.

Been along time, Pete.

- Yeah, it's been a long time.

(mellow music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program was made possible by the Allegheny Regional Asset District and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thank you.