For over thirty years, the Brookline Little League Association held three fundraisers: a raffle, collections from fans during games and a door-to-door collection throughout the neighborhood. Aside from a meager sign-up fee, team sponsorship fees and donations from the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, formerly the Brookline Business Men's Association, these were the only sources of funding for the youth baseball program.

The money collected was used to purchase uniforms and equipment. Field renovations were accomplished through donations of material from local merchants and volunteer labor from the Brookline citizenry.

This photo shows two Little Leaguers back in 1956, the fifth season of door-to-door solicitation, with their collection box. This fund-raising tactic was necessary in order for the league to expand the program to meet the needs of a growing number of participants. The year 1956 saw the league enlarge to include an in-house Prep league and a Day League (or Minor League), which brought an additional 200 children into the organization.

The Brookline Journal would give notice a week in advance, and on collection weekend, players would suit up, grab their cardboard boxes and canvas the back streets of Brookline, supervised by the managers and coaches. Since there were never enough collection boxes, many would use their caps or gloves.

They'd knock on doors and ask, "Would you like to make a donation to the Brookline Little League?" The answer was often yes, and soon the collection bins were brimming with spare change.

This photo shows Helen Linke, Christine Adelsberg and Angie Cerrelli from M. Cibrone & Sons softball team on Brookline Boulevard in 1982. Although taking to the streets was kind of fun, going up and down the steps to get to the houses was a little tiring. These girls had the best location, Brookline Boulevard. With all of the merchants and customers coming and going it was an easy job, and there were no steps!

The door-to-door activity ceased in the late 1980s. Although you can still spot kids canvassing the bleachers selling 50/50 tickets, gone are the days of seeing hundreds of uniformed Little Leaguers taking to the streets en masse. For those who remember these days, we'll always recall with fondness the spring afternoons spent parading around in our new uniforms collecting pocket change from the good citizens of Brookline.