The year 1958 was one that 14 Kankakee boys would remember for the rest of their lives. It was the year that they came within one game of becoming the Little League World Champions.
“Kankakee’s Little Leaguers, champions of the Great Midwest and a week hence champions of the world — they hope — were blared a gigantic welcome home Saturday night,” reported the Kankakee Daily Journal on Sunday, Aug. 17, 1958. The newspaper was describing the two-mile-long cavalcade of vehicles that escorted the team home from Naperville on Saturday following their 9-0 shutout of a Michigan team to capture the Midwest Regional title.
The regional victory qualified the 1958 squad as the second Little League team from Kankakee to qualify for the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa. (In 1950, the Kankakee Little League All Stars won their first-round game, but were defeated 3-0 in the semi-final by a Houston, Texas, team that would go on to claim the Series championship. Kankakee bounced back to win the third-place trophy.)
Kankakee’s 1958 All-Star roster, described by Manager Bill Gwin as “a wonderful bunch of boys,” consisted of Brian Adame, Bill Bates, Lee Bouchard, Mike DeBetta, Paul Flesner, Tom Fowler, Bob Hilgert, Maury Jackson, Don McKay, Ted Patchett, Bill Preisser, Leon Taylor, Bill Vandiver, and Joe Wischnowski (NOTE: The spelling in the original newspaper story —Wischnowski — is incorrect. The proper spelling is Wischnowsky).
Gwin and his players had only a short stay in Kankakee following the Saturday homecoming festivities — on Sunday, they departed from Chicago’s Midway Airport on an 8 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh, Pa. They then boarded a train for the 200-mile journey to Williamsport, where they would be housed in a dormitory at Lycoming College.
On Monday, they would be given physical examinations, and issued Little League World Series uniforms with NORTH emblazoned across the chest. The 1958 World Series lineup consisted of seven teams, each representing a geographic region. In addition to the North Region represented by Kankakee, there was an East Region (Darien, Conn.), a South Region (Gadsden, Ala.), and a West Region (Portland, Ore.).
There were also three “International” entries: the Canada Region, represented by Valleyfield, Quebec; the Latin America Region, represented by Monterrey, Mexico, and the Pacific Region, represented by Honolulu, Hawaii (Hawaii did not become America’s 50th state until 1959).
Competition would get under way on Tuesday, Aug. 19, with three quarter-final contests: Connecticut vs. Canada, Mexico vs. Hawaii, and Illinois vs. Oregon. The South Region team, Alabama, drew a first-round bye.
Wednesday’s semi-finals pitted Darien, Conn., against Monterrey, and Kankakee vs. Gadsden, Ala. Monterrey won its game handily, defeating Darien by an 11-5 margin. The Kankakee vs. Gadsden contest was much closer: The Illinois team registered a 3-1 win.
The championship game of the 1958 Little League World Series would be played on Friday afternoon, Aug. 22. It would be the final championship contest played in historic Original Field at Williamsport. The 1959 Little League World Series would be hosted on a new, larger and better-equipped field in South Williamsport.
Original Field was the birthplace of Little League baseball, laid out in 1938 by founder Carl E. Stotz. A plaque at the field, which was designated a National Historic Site in 2014, described the creation of the baseball venue: “In August of 1938, Carl E. Stotz … brought ten boys ages nine to twelve to this very site and laid out the dimensions for a baseball diamond suitable for youth their age. … This is also the site from which the first twelve Little League World Series were played, starting in 1947 through 1958.”
The first Little League World Series in 1947 involved only 12 teams, four from Williamsport, seven from other Pennsylvania towns, and one from New Jersey. Through the years, the number of teams qualifying for the World Series periodically increased: in 1959, when the new stadium opened, there were eight teams; the addition of a second stadium in 2001 made possible an expansion to 16 teams. In 2022, the 75th anniversary year of the World Series, the number of teams was increased to 20.
On Friday afternoon, Aug. 22, 1958, some 8,000 fans filled the stands to watch the championship game pitting Kankakee pitcher Don McKay against the Monterrey ace, Hector Torres.
“Monterrey broke the scoring ice with two runs in the top of the first inning,” wrote Kankakee Daily Journal Sports Editor Herb Jannusch, who had accompanied the team to Williamsport (The game was also being broadcast live by Kankakee’s radio station WKAN). “[Andres] Galvan walked and Carlos Trevino was safe on Tom Fowler’s error to put men on second and third. A ground out scored one run, and the other runner came home on [Manuel] Mora’s single.”
In the second inning, a two-run homer gave Monterrey a 4-0 lead. Jannusch noted, “Monterrey’s lanky pitcher, Torres, was tough in the opening innings. He struck out four of the first six Kankakeeans to face him.”
In the third inning, Kankakee pitcher Don McKay was forced to leave the game after being struck in the right shoulder by a line drive. Right fielder Brian Adame moved to the mound, and was replaced in right field by Billy Bates.
“Kankakee scored … in the last of the sixth,” wrote Jannusch. “Tom Fowler walked, stole second, and came home on Mike DeBetta’s single.”
It would be the only score allowed by Torres, who gave up only three hits and registered 11 strikeouts. The game’s final score was Monterrey 10, Kankakee 1.
Ten years after his championship win at Williamsport, Torres broke into the big leagues as a shortstop. In his nine seasons (1968-1977) in Major League Baseball, Torres played for five teams, including the Chicago Cubs.
Although the “World Champion” title eluded them, the Kankakee team took pride in becoming the United States champion. The team arrived home on Aug. 23 to be greeted by a “gigantic homecoming parade” and ceremonies at the Beckman Park baseball field.
Reporting on the event, the Daily Journal wrote, “Kankakee’s ‘wonderful youngsters’ returned Saturday with their heads held high — beaten in the finals of the Little [League] World Series … but not discouraged. They are proud, and rightly so, of their baseball feats this season.”
Jaycees Team Manager Bill Gwin told the Journal, “We are not unhappy, but would have liked to have finished first. The kids are champs of the United States and second-best in the world. Not bad. … When we arrived [in Williamsport], they didn’t even know how to pronounce Kankakee, but they knew before we left.”
https://daily-journal.com/news/local/klasey-1958-kankakee-s-almost-year/article_17855a48-d441-11ef-bff6-3b7b99516b31.html