LYNN — The Lynn City Series is something that is uniquely part of the city’s lore.
Set to begin its 70th year Saturday at East Lynn’s Volunteer Field, the end-of-the-summer Little League tournament that pits the city’s best teams against each other has long been one of the highlights among seasoned Little League people.
I was talking the other day with the guy who broadcasts Lynn cable (John Hoffman),” said East Lynn Little League President Dan Johanssen, “And he told me he coached in it.”
Since its inception in 1950, there have only been two years the series hasn’t been played — 1954 for unknown reasons and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, East Lynn won the series.
However, all is not perfect. The city, at its high-water mark, has even Little League teams. By the beginning of this season, that was down to four. And one of those four — Wyoma — decided it could not field a team this year.
That leaves East Lynn (which merged with Lynn Shore before the season started), Pine Hill and West Lynn.
“I tried multiple times to get (Wyoma) in,” Johanssen said. “And at the end of the day they felt they would be unable to put a team in. I suppose some of it had to do with vacations. They always seem to get in the way, I guess.”
The series begins Saturday (5:45) with Pine Hill playing East Lynn, with West Lynn drawing a bye and playing the winner of the first game Tuesday.
Sunday, the city-wide home run derby will be held at East Lynn’s field, site for all the City Series activities, at 5:30. The series resumes Tuesday with the West Lynn-Pine Hill/East Lynn game, and will wrap up a week from Sunday.
The format is double-elimination.
One of the interesting sidelights about this year’s tournament is that the East Lynn Braves are managed by Paul Hartford, who, six years ago, published a book on the history of the City Series. In all, Hartford has been involved in 14 of these tournaments, Johanssen said.
Johanssen, who is tournament director, has been involved with Little League for 15 years.
“I’ve been around,” he said. “I think my son played in the City Series a couple of times.
“A lot of people have a lot of fond memories of it,” he said. “And we want to make sure we do the best to keep the City Series as an important event in the city. It’s just that with Lynn Shore going away, and Wyoma out of it, the participation is a little short.”
