Gene Robertson

It’s not a stretch to say that Gene Robertson is the Father of Little League baseball in the Salinas Valley. On the final day of the first year of Little League baseball in Salinas – 1951 – the first and only Little League ballpark in town was officially named Gene Robertson Park. The ballpark is still in use today in east Salinas, thanks to Gene Robertson. It was he who was so determined to bring Little League baseball to Salinas that he flew to Little League headquarters in Williamsport, PA. to talk directly to the national president, Carl Stotz. So impressed was Stotz that he came to Salinas to surprise Robertson on final day of the inaugural season with the news of the naming of the ballpark. Robertson addressed the crowd saying the honor of having the park named after him was “the greatest day that has happened in my life.’’ Robertson, who had a semi-pro baseball career that stretched about 20 years, recruited the help of produce companies and carpenters to build what is recognized as the birth place of Little League baseball in Salinas Valley. Robertson was so highly regarded that he was recruited by neighboring towns to help get their programs off the ground. He was asked to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of Little League baseball in King City, Monterey and Watsonville.