Lemay Baseball Assoc: The Early Years There have been some excellent stories published over the years about the Lemay Baseball Association but most all have focused on players during the 50s and later. I guess that’s because there are few of us around that know much about the Lemay Baseball Association before 1950 or when it was even organized. I was part of a group of boys playing baseball most every day in the streets of Bella Villa in Lemay. The year was 1947. This same scenario was repeated in neighborhoods all over South County - in Jefferson Barracks, Arnold, Oakville, Mehlville, Lemay, Affton and others. St. Louis was an even bigger baseball town then as it is now. After all, we had two baseball teams, our St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. When we weren’t playing baseball in the streets or corner lots, we were heading to Sportsman’s Park to sit in the knothole section. On occasion, we would ride our bicycles down to Heine Meine ball field to play on the “big field” only to be chased off after a short period. The Heine Meine ball diamond was sacred. It was always in perfect condition. The infield grass was always green and was neatly trimmed. The foul lines were pure white and perfectly straight. It was South County’s “Sportsman’s Park.” Obviously, Heine Meine didn’t want 15 to 20 kids running around their field tearing it up. We always had to settle for the small field in the left field corner. We would choose up sides, determine who was going to play where and go to it. Those where the days. Most times the baseball wasn’t even white and usually brown and sometimes black. It often had some black tape around it to hold it together. Remember? The Lemay Baseball Association was officially born on March 24, 1949. A group of parents recognized the need and stepped up to the plate to commit themselves in helping the youth of Lemay play organized ball. Two of the organizers lived in Bella Villa and were the impetus in getting the ball rolling (no pun intended). They were Rich Paul and Art Rogers. They recruited several others and the official organization meeting of the Lemay Baseball Association was held at the home of Rogers in Bella Villa. In addition to Rogers, the charter signers of the LBA included Rich Paul, Joe Schoenberger and Henry Schlueter. Here are a few excerpts from the minutes of the meeting. “A four team midget league was formed. Joe Schoenberger came up with a team called Cox Boys. Later it was called Mechanics Motors and managed by Ralph Huelsebush and John Carney. Art Rogers and Rich Paul had two teams from Bella Villa known as the Bombers and the Pirates. The Bombers were managed by Rogers and Paul. The Pirates were managed by Babe Wagner. The fourth team was managed by Henry Schlueter called the Bobring Boys. The first game was played at Lemay Park or Old Sharpshooters Park. It was won by the Bella Villa Bombers 14 to 12 against Mechanics Motors. The second game was played at Forder School and won by the Pirates over the Bobring Boys 10 to 6. Both fields were so bad that the rest of the game was played at Bayless and Hancock High School grounds.” From another set of minutes . . . “Roy Newsom of Lowen and Cambell Sporting Goods store was called to help start up a baseball association. Newsom said the first order of business was a name – Lemay Baseball Assoc. They then elected a president (Joe Schoenberg), a vice president (Art Rogers), secretary (Henry Schlueter) and treasurer (Rich Paul).”