Rod McClure has quite a bit of local baseball history stored in his Brewer summer home.
But now, he’s trying to find a new home for it.
McClure, who spends his winters in the Orlando, Florida, area, has scrapbooks of the first two years of Bangor Little League baseball from 1952 and 1953.
“I have a little booklet that says 1952 on it, with [advertisements] and pictures of four teams,” McClure said.
During the first two years of the program, Bangor Little League was a citywide operation before splitting into Bangor East and Bangor West.
Games were then played on a field at Bass Park. Today, Bangor East plays its games at Taylor Field, just off Stillwater Avenue, while the West side games are held at fields on 13th Street.
McClure’s scrapbooks feature a little bit of everything, from team photos to advertisements, clippings of game writeups from the BDN, and numerous team photos.
There are also numerous action shots, including one of McClure’s brother, Alan, slugging a home run in a game.
On Monday, McClure said he is still seeking a new home for the mementos.
McClure said his mother made the scrapbooks, and kept them in the family’s Sixth Street home before his brother, Alan, took them to his home in Texas.
Recently, Alan McClure decided to send them back to his brother.
“He decided he didn’t want them [anymore] then he decided to send them to me,” said McClure.
Now, Rod McClure is hoping to find a new home for the scrapbooks, and he’s seeking out folks involved with Bangor Little League who might want them — at no cost.
“Rather than throw them away I thought somebody would be interested in them,” he said.
The books also feature some notable names, including former Sen. Bill Cohen, for whom the middle school on Garland Street is named, along with Alan McClure, Bob McAllister and Jim Moody.
Alan McClure, according to his brother, was a “really good pitcher” for Bangor High, and he went on to the Air Force Academy, where he played baseball.
Rod McClure admitted he was mediocre at best, but still enjoyed playing.
“I was not a real good player so my pictures are not in here,” he said. “My brother was a pretty good player.”
He added a lot of players depicted in the books went on to play for Bangor’s 1959 state championship basketball team.
