Stories From the Past with Marshall Trimble

This article is part of our ongoing series, Stories From the Past with Marshall Trimble, where we share firsthand accounts and historical reflections that help preserve Ash Fork and Arizona’s rich history. We’re grateful to Marshall Trimble — Arizona historian and Ash Fork native — for continuing to share these invaluable stories with us.

Little League Baseball, 1951: When Ash Fork Built a Ballfield (and Took on the State)

In the summer of 1951, Ash Fork organized its first Little League team, sponsored by the American Legion. Before we could play a single game, we had one big problem: we didn’t even have a ballfield yet.

So we built one.

It became a true community project. One local merchant donated the land, another stepped up to buy uniforms and equipment, and the rest of us grabbed picks, shovels, and rakes and got to work. We were lucky—it was one of the few places around where the ground wasn’t all rock. It wouldn’t last long, though. Just two years later, the future eastbound interstate plowed right through the middle of it. Eventually, the final route that helped “kill” Route 66 would skirt the town by about a half-mile, leaving the Mother Road—and Ash Fork—high and dry.

Back then, our league was small. There were only four teams in the Tri-City area: Ash Fork, Seligman, and Williams (who fielded two teams). Parents served as coaches, and for a brand-new team, we weren’t half bad. We won several games by ten runs or more and only lost one—our last game of the season—when the coaches let the younger kids have a chance to play. We won the league championship, and folks around town were already boasting that by the time we reached high school, Ash Fork would win a state title.

Little League baseball was still new in Arizona in 1951. The only organized leagues were in Winslow, Prescott, the Verde Valley, and the Tri-Cities of Ash Fork, Williams, and Seligman. So when Arizona’s first Little League State Championship Tournament was set to be played in Prescott, those four leagues were invited.

Everyone assumed the championship would come down to the powerhouse all-stars from Winslow and Prescott. But they drew each other in the first round—and Prescott won. Tri-City played the Verde Valley All-Stars and beat them in a close game, which set up a showdown the next night: Tri-City vs. Prescott, under the lights, with a packed stadium.

Prescott was the heavy favorite. They had a big pitcher named Doug Haymore, and he threw “bee bees” at us all night. I came up to bat in the last inning with two outs, a runner on first, and us trailing 2–0. Haymore fired two quick strikes. Then he threw a waste pitch right under my chin. We didn’t wear helmets in those days. I bowed my neck and waited for the next one.

Ball three.

I figured he’d come right down the middle next.

Ball four.

He missed again. Later someone told me I was the first batter he walked all season after getting two strikes. Lucky me. I’d never seen pitches that fast.

I trotted to first base, and for a moment it felt like the perfect setup for heroics—storybook stuff. Our cleanup hitter, Alex Martinez of Seligman, came to the plate with two runners on base, down two runs, in the last inning.

This time, it was Haymore who bowed his neck.

He struck Alex out on three fastballs.

Game over. Prescott went on to be state champion.

It was a storybook ending… just not the one we wanted. A true Casey at the Bat moment.

But for a small town that had built its own field with shovels and determination, that summer still felt like something big. It was Ash Fork showing up—together—ready to play.