Musial Series ready to fill Mantle void

copyright Mark Jaffee Republican-American 8/5/22

With the Mickey Mantle Tournament not returning to the area his summer after a five-year stint, Tri-State League commissioner Ed Gadomski wanted to bring back an event featuring some elite amateur baseball talent.

The Stan Musial East Coast World Series will feature four teams next weekend at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury and Fuessenich Park in Torrington. The wood-bat event will feature the Terryville Black Sox, who are playing in the Connecticut Twilight League this season. “Without the Mantle tournament being here, this is the next best thing,” said Gadomski, who noted there is no admission to the games.
Gadomski had hoped to add teams from the New England region and tri-state area, but wasn’t able to lock in teams. The other three teams set are the Milford Hunters of the West Haven League, the Albany (N.Y.) Athletics and the Braintree (Mass.) White Sox.

Each team will participate pool play, which will feature seven-inning games. On Friday, Braintree will meet Albany at 3 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. A home run derby will follow at 6 p.m. with two players per team participating and be allowed to use aluminum bats. In the nightcap, Terryville will meet Milford at 7:30 p.m. Free hotdogs and chips will offered to fans Friday.

A week from today, the two losing teams from Friday will play at 10 a.m. followed by the two winning teams at 1 p.m. Both games are at Municipal. Teams that had not played each other will play at 4 p.m. at Municipal and at Fuessenich. On Sunday, Aug.14, the championship game is set for 11 a.m. at Municipal with a 2 p.m. matchup, if necessary.