About District 52

Little League District 52 is located in Northern California and spans from the beautiful Pacifica coastline down south through Palo Alto, and covers all of San Mateo County.

We are composed of 14 Little Leagues who offer youth baseball to boys and girls age 4 to 16. All leagues offer a traditional spring baseball league, open to players of all skill levels, from March to June. In the summer, the best players as selected by their coaches and teammates compete in the international all-star tournament. Most leagues also offer a more low-key fall developmental season as well.

One league (Alpine) also offers a girl's softball program as of 2022, which also includes an international all-star tournament.

Many of our leagues were among the original Little Leagues in California, which started in 1958 as District 11. Some have histories stretching back even farther to the post-war housing boom in the late 1940s. District 52 was formed in 1966. See below for more history.

DISTRICT 52 CHAMPIONS

(* indicates a known sectional winner. 10s/11s and 14s prior to 2016 are unknown.)

Champions show in green are from the pre-district era in California  from 1951-1957.

Champions shown in red were District 11 champions before re-alignment. District 11 was one of the original California Little League districts starting in 1958. When District 52 was formed in 1966, most of District 11 moved over. The rest of D52 joined in 1984 when D11 was removed for a second re-alignment.

Most of our leagues were formed by the time district play started in 1958. The first was Palo Alto which was one of the first leagues in California, forming in 1951. From 1951 to 1957 these leagues were part of "Region 8". Palo Alto played in the 1951 Regional tournament as the winner of one of 5  sectional tournaments in California.

There has been a 16s (Seniors) division since 1961, but we have no records of D52 involvement prior to 2021 when we had our first Seniors team in a long time. Historically, players of that age have played in the various Babe Ruth leagues in the area, one of which remains.

There was also an 18s (Big League) division since 1968, and we don't have many records of that since it was played in the summer and thus not in any of our yearbooks. We know it was active in D52 the 1980's and know Belmont won the district league in 1981, '82, '84 and '85. This division was discontinued by Little League in 2016.

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS

Since 2014, D52 has run an inter-league teenage divisions for the regular season, and we always end with a tournament to declare a champion. Initially run as an Intermediate 50/70 division, we transitioned to Juniors 54/80 in 2018.

MORE HISTORY

They say baseball has been played in San Mateo County at least since 1895, when teams were fielded by the Belmont School for Boys, and various leagues and fields came and went in those early days. Our oldest league, Menlo-Atherton, traces itself back to 1949, and many of our leagues owe their origins to the post-war housing boom in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

1950's

Little League came to California in 1950, when the first four leagues were chartered, and to the Bay Area in 1951 when the Palo Alto Little League was formed.

Palo Alto formed its first 4-team league in 1951. Each team held try-out separately and one reported 65 kids showed up for a maximum of 18 spots. The season in the 1950’s was strictly a summer affair, started after school got out and ending before school started. The league was open to kids from Palo Alto,  East Palo Alto, Ravenswood, Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside, Barron Park and Stanford.

The first game was June 16, 1951 at El Camino Park. The field had 60' base paths, a pitching distance of just 40' 4" and an outfield fence at 185'. There were rules ensuring the teams were not all 12 year olds, and had at least a few 10 and under’s. There were even pitching rules, stating if a pitcher pitches more than 3 2/3rds innings he cannot pitch again until after 60 hours of rest. 

The league was a huge hit. A 35-piece band played at the opening game. Quickly there was talk of building a real park and Palo Alto's current home, Middlefield Ballpark, was built in time for the following season. To support kids who didn’t make the 4 teams, farm leagues were run in Ravenswood and Palo Alto. But it wasn't without controversy, with several in the community thinking it not a fit activity for young boys. The league was open to kids from Palo Alto,  East Palo Alto, Ravenswood, Menlo Park, Atherton, Woodside, Barron Park and Stanford. Little League at this time was strictly a summer break activity.

An All-Star team was formed to enter a tournament in Salinas in mid-August. Two teams from Salinas and two teams from San Jose also played. The first game was reported to have been watched by 1000 people. The game featured a winner run nullified when a home run hitter missed first base, and ended with an 11th inning double play to earn Palo Alto a spot in the Region 8 championship in Santa Monica. Regional tournaments were started in 1949 to determine who would play in that year's Little League World Series, just as today. The team from San Bernardino won.

In 1952, Palo Alto LL expanded to 12 teams and ran three leagues (Frontier, Pioneer and 49ers) each with 4 teams, and each with an all-star team. The first season was not very balanced, so in the second year the league instituted a single try-out and draft. 

The new ballpark at Middlefield was built in time for the 1952 season. Attending the opening of the park was Ty Cobb, Chuck Taylor, and "Pop" Warner. The Frontier league team won the right to head to Salinas again for the "Section 5" tournament, with the winner to head, again, to Santa Monica. This time they were eliminated by San Jose Western.

In 1953, they ran two leagues (Frontier and Pioneer) each with 6 teams, but did not enter the All-Star tournament preferring instead to just have its two all-star teams face each other. At this time the all-star tournament took place during the regular season, with regular season teams pausing while it played out.

In 1953, Palo Alto LL was no longer the only game in town. Leagues began popping up all over the Bay Area. 

Menlo Park and Atherton announced a league and plans to build a ballpark at Middlefield and Ravenswood Ave. Palo Alto LL released all its territory in San Mateo County aside from Ravenswood. The Menlo Park Little League, sometimes also called the Menlo-Atherton Little League, forms two leagues each with 4 teams. The American League was for kids on the west side of the Southern Pacific railroad tracks, and the National League was for kids on the east side. They also started a "farm" league for kids who don't make the cut.

To the south, Los Altos Little League also formed a 4-team league, called "American League", plus two farm leagues "AA National League" and "A Los Altos League". They played at the San Antonio School.

Palo Alto LL is now just for Palo Alto, Ravenswood and Barron Park.

In 1953, Menlo Park LL was awarded the District 5-C playoffs which included Los Altos and Menlo Park and other Bay Area leagues, but not Palo Alto. None of our teams won.

Also in 1953, the first Pony leagues would begin to form for 13-14 year olds to fill the gap between Little League and Junior American Legion. While none of those leagues still exist, they played in many cases past 2010 and formed the basis of the D52 Juniors League today.

----

In 1957, the original California districts were formed. Little League divided California into 33 districts numbered from North to South and a host of new leagues were brought into the system. We began as District 11 which included San Mateo County and Northern Santa Clara County.

In 1963, the district was run differently. Teams competed in four "area" tournaments, with the winner of each earning the right to play in the District tournament. Teams we know entered this were Palo Alto American, National, Continental and International, Ravenswood, Mountain View National and/or North, Belmont, Pacifica American and National, San Carlos, San Mateo, Menlo Park American and National, and Los Altos National.

We know also around this time was Redwood City American, National and Highlanders, and Burlingame (South and presumably North) and likely others.
 

District 52
 

In 1966, District 52 was split off for leagues in Northern San Mateo County. We are not exactly sure which leagues were in 1966, but the following is likely:

• Belmont (1957)

• Foster City (1966)

• Half Moon Bay (added in 1968)

• Burlingame South, and presumably North as well.

• Pacifica American

• Pacifica National

• Redwood City American

• Redwood City National

• Redwood City Highlanders

• San Carlos (1953)

• San Mateo American

• San Mateo National

There may have been others. It's not clear when San Mateo split into two leagues.
 

1983

In 1983, District 11 was removed and the remaining San Mateo County leagues and Palo Alto rejoined their counterparts in District 52. 

Also at this time there was a re-alignment in Menlo Park. Menlo Park National and Atherton merged to form Menlo-Atherton Little League and Meno Park American and Alpine merged to form Alpine/West Menlo Little League.

There was also at one time a third league in Palo Alto (Palo Alto International), but we are not sure when this league ended.

This resulted in the following leagues joining D52, all of whom had been playing since the 1950s.

• Alpine/West Menlo

• Menlo-Atherton (1949)

• Palo Alto American (1950)

• Palo Alto National (1950)

• Ravenswood

• Redwood City American

• Redwood City National

• Redwood City Highlanders

1993

By 1992, Burlingame and Hillsborough were playing as Burlingame/Hillsborough Little League. In 1993, the parents in Burlingame decided to leave Little League and form an independent league for only Burlingame residents (today called BYBA). This resulted in the formation of Hillsborough Little League the same year.

21ST CENTURY

D52 entered the 21st century with the following 17 leagues:

• Alpine/West Menlo

• Belmont/Redwood Shores

• Foster City

• Half Moon Bay

• Hillsborough

• Menlo-Atherton

• Pacifica American

• Pacifica National

• Palo Alto American

• Palo Alto National

• Ravenswood

• Redwood City American

• Redwood City National

• Redwood City Highlanders

• San Carlos

• San Mateo American

• San Mateo National

Belmont had included Redwood Shores for many decades but renamed itself Belmont/Redwood Shores in the early 2000s.

Since then we've had a few mergers, bringing us down to 13 leagues. D52 is still one of the largest leagues in Northern California.

2012: Redwood City American, Redwood City National and Redwood City Highlanders merged to form Redwood City Little League. Originally as part of this agreement, the league would enter two all-star teams each year as RWC West and RWC East, but this arrangement ended in 2021 and they now play simply as Redwood City Little League.

2021: Palo Alto American and Palo Alto National merged to form Palo Alto Little League. Both leagues had been run by the same board for many years already. 

2024: Pacifica American and Pacifica National merged to form Pacifica Little League.