Joseph M. Lane American Legion Post 136 Lodi, New Jersey Junior Baseball Champions 1948, 1949, 1950 Baseball Championship Team Spawns Major League Star The first records of Post 136 that refer to a Junior Baseball program are from 1933, where past Post Commander John J. Micklas served as chairman of the program. Fast forward to this photo, Coach Stanley Piela, a 1929 graduate of Lebanon Valley College, who originated the athletic program at the new Lodi High School in 1934, coached this team to at least three countywide championships in 1948, 1949 and 1950. Because of Coach Piela’s ties to the St. Louis Cardinals, the team held tryouts in Lodi on numerous occasions. During one of those tryouts, first baseman and outfielder Joe Cunningham, a native of Saddle River Township (renamed Saddle Brook), New Jersey, (pictured middle row third from right) was recruited to play for the Cardinals ball club. His rookie year was 1954. He went on to play for the Washington Senators and the Chicago White Sox. He had 980 hits over 1,141 career games and was a two-time All-Star in a 12-year career. Cunningham threw and batted left-handed. In his first four major league baseball games in 1954, he was the first Cardinals player to hit at least two home runs. The best season for Cunningham was in 1959, when he led the National League in on-base percentage at .453 and batted .345 to finish second to Hank Aaron for the National League batting title. At age 87 he is still working for the Cardinals organization. Joe Cunningham has many fond memories of his time playing American Legion Baseball in Lodi, New Jersey. Baseball Group Photo ID: Left to right back row: ?, Coach Stanley Piela, Mike Mazzola, ?, ?, Mike Rizzo, ?, Post 136 Junior Baseball Chairman Fred Cenci. Left to right middle row: ?, Benny Randazzo, Johnny Borhis, Billy Gorgone, ?, Joe Cunningham, ?, Frank Olasin, Mike Corso. Kneeling left: Stanley Widecki. Kneeling right: Babe Nasta

 

 

Champs 1948, 1949, 1950

 

Joe Cunningham reports to minor leagues

 

Post 136 baseball article in AL Magazine - May 2018

 

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