In 1951, when I was 16, I started a softball team, the Shekomeko Chiefs. Several of us in Shekomeko already played in pickup games, but I decided that a more structured approach was needed. The following year, my father Ralph Knickerbocker and I took it up a notch and started an entire Pine Plains league. Over the course of six years, it would grow to include as many as 12 teams.
Teams I remember include Stuetzle’s Bombadiers, the Pine Plains Central School (PPCS) Faculty, Bethel, McCauley’s Hotshots, Kilmer’s Royals, Gallatin, Firemen, Mount Ross, the Hilltoppers, Stissing House and Elizaville. Other teams formed only to disappear soon after. Players ranged in age from 13 to 75 years old. The 75-year-old was Huntting Winans Sr., who played a few games in the outfield for the Firemen. His son, Huntting Winans Jr., was a regular on the team.
Games were played on two fields on the north side of PPCS, which used to house all 13 grades but now is the intermediate school. Family members would come to watch, as well as players from other teams hoping to substitute in if a player failed to show up. The league was competitive but overall the mood was pretty easygoing. Some teams had jerseys and some didn’t.
I usually played center field, but once in a while I pitched. (All the games were fast-pitch.) My father managed the team and sometimes played first base. I like to say my major strength was just being there. There were many players with more talent than I.
If there was a team to beat, it was Irv Jackson’s All-Stars. Irv had graduated from Pine Plains Central a few years earlier and had pulled together the best players in the area, some from as far away as Poughkeepsie. The All-Stars played everywhere — in Connecticut and Pennsylvania as well as eastern New York. He joined our local league just to get in more games.
We knew none of us stood much of a chance against him. According to the box scores I’ve held on to, from 1952-1954, the Shekomeko Chiefs and Jackson’s All-Stars met on the field 16 times. We lost all but twice. My one claim to fame was homering off of Clyde Chase who was pitching for the All-Stars. It shocked him!
Still, Shekomeko wasn’t too shabby. We won the league championship in 1952 with a 6-0 record, and an overall 10-6 record for the season. By 1957, I had graduated from college and was working in New York City with IBM, so I had to give up the local softball scene. By 1958, many of the teams had disappeared and the league soon folded. For a few short years, there was still a softball game on the PPCS school grounds about three nights a week during the late spring and summer months.
The Pine Plains Register-Herald carried accounts and box scores of many of these games. Only a few of us are left who remember all the fun these games provided. They created a spirit of interest and comradeship which included over 150 participants.
I’ll be 88 in October, and would love to be able to go back in time to play these games again.
Calvin Knickerbocker grew up on a small farm in Shekomeko where his parents bred show chickens. He was Valedictorian of the class of 1953 at Pine Plains Central School. He now lives in New Hampshire and can be reached at calknick9@gmail.com. Anyone who remembers the games is encouraged to write!
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As we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the town we all call home, the New Pine Plains Herald wants to hear from you!
Maybe you have a family story that stretches back through generations. Maybe you remember a favorite walk, friendship or pet. It could be the winning run in a baseball game, the birth of a calf or the crunch of autumn leaves. There’s simply no limit to what Pine Plains represents to each of the people who live here.
Throughout the Bicentennial year, the Herald will be publishing your stories, creating a portrait of the town through your memories and images. If you’ve got a story you’d like to share, please send 200 to 500 words (ideally) and 1-2 photographs to editor@newpineplainsherald.org. If you’ve got a great story to share but don’t care for writing, get in touch! We’d be happy to listen to your story and help put it into print.
Please include your name, brief biographical details and contact information so we can reach you with any questions or edits.
We look forward to hearing from you!