Biographical / Historical
The Lebanon Valley (Pennsylvania) Baseball League was started in 1931 and was amateur through 1934. The players were paid in 1935 but the League folded in 1939 because the teams could not meet their payrolls. The League was reorganized in 1941 on a strict amateur basis. Because of World War II, the League was idle 1943-1945. From 1946-1963 the League played every summer season.
Ray Darnbach of Richland, Pennsylvania, a trucker in Lebanon, Pennsylvania since 1916, was an officer of the Lebanon Valley Baseball League for at least twenty-five years. With the exception of the 1962 and 1963 seasons, he kept scrapbooks of the League's games and events from 1936 through 1961. By March 16, 1963, he had gone to the "big diamonds in the sky," as one newspaper report put it. This collection is a detailed history of the Lebanon Valley Baseball League, and includes names of the teams which played, reports of games, problems attendant to both professional and amateur status of a minor league, and League standings. It contains newspaper clippings, letters and memorandums. The Lebanon Valley Baseball League was started in 1931 and was of amateur status through 1934. The players were paid in 1935 but the League folded in 1939 because the teams couldn't meet their payrolls. The league was reorganized in 1941 on a strict amateur basis. Because of World War II, the league was idle in 1943, 1944, and 1945. From 1946 through 1963, the League played every summer season. The number of teams in the League varied through the years as did the communities they represented, depending in part on available sponsors and players. Information in the collection includes material that covers several problem areas: players and manager criticism of the quality of umpires, getting stories to certain press people in a timely fashion, and internal friction within teams. Scattered throughout the articles about the League are newspaper clippings about major league games, well-known sports figures, such as Connie Mack, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth, and also a few articles on the World Series. There are also stories and images of boxing, bowling, swimming and other sports events. One scrapbook, seemingly started in 1935 and including items added until 1945, has an eclectic flavor. Besides Lebanon Valley Baseball League articles, there are images and newspaper clippings of the killing of John Dillinger, the Bruno Hauptman trial, the Dionne quintuplets and floods in Pennsylvania.
