Babe Ruth Baseball CEO Steve Tellefsen sits inside the organization’s new headquarters in Hamilton. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
Babe Ruth Baseball has come home.
If all goes according to plan, Babe Ruth Baseball’s national headquarters will move into its new facility at 1720 Whitehorse-Mercerville Road later this month. The building is located directly behind Killarney’s and next to the old Cost Cutters.
It is only fitting, since the origin of BRB is in Yardville, where the Little Bigger League played its first game on May 14, 1951. That league, whose original players still proudly ride a float down Nottingham Way during the Memorial Day Parade, eventually evolved into Babe Ruth Baseball.
“We were founded as the Little Bigger League in Hamilton in 1951, so it’s just really, really great to come back to Hamilton where program was founded,” said Steve Tellefsen, the President and CEO of Babe Ruth Incorporated. “Mercer County and Hamilton Township is a great baseball area. We’re really pleased to be coming to Hamilton.”
Jack Zoller, an original Little Bigger League player who still contributes to the Hamilton Babe Ruth League at age 79, could not be happier.
“Overall people respect the fact it started in Hamilton Township,” Zoller said. “Not a lot of people know it’s from Hamilton, but I try to sell it wherever I go. I would guestimate that in 64 years some 10,000 to 15,000 kids have participated in the Hamilton Babe Ruth leagues, and that has helped kids get into American Legion, high school ball, junior legion.”
As young players, Zoller and his pal Ted Jasek actually sat in on the planning meetings for the Little Bigger League, riding their bikes all the way from Bromley to Yardville just to see what was going on.
“I was a 14 year old kid, and I just put my snooty nose in there,” Zoller said. “I wanted to play baseball in an organized manner.”
Tellefsen, who succeeded his father, Ron, as President and CEO, said there obviously would not be Babe Ruth baseball without the original Little Bigger League founders and players.
“Those guys started the program and if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be where we’re at today, so it’s great to be in the township where they started it,” he said.
In 1952, the LBL was re-named to honor the Yankee great who is arguably still the game’s most popular player. The first Babe Ruth headquarters were modest, to say the least. It was set up in a Trenton row home on Hamilton Avenue, right near Trenton Central High School.
In the early 1970s, it moved to Brunswick Avenue in Lawrenceville, where it had been ever since. At that time, Tellefsen estimates there were six full-time employees. That number has more than doubled at 15—along with 20 to 30 interns each summer—and the organization outgrew the 3,000-square-foot facility.
“We were really packed in,” Tellefsen said.
Shortly after taking over near the end of the last decade, Tellefsen began the search for a new building, a search that lasted several years.
“We came close a few times, unfortunately some of those buildings fell through,” he said. “We were very fortunate to find this pace in Hamilton. The owner of the complex was great, he worked with us to purchase that building. It was one big lot, we had to go to the planning board to get that sub-divided. [Mayor Kelly Yaede], the planning board and the township officials have all been great in working with us.”
The building was discovered in December, and the closing was done two days before Christmas. It is just under 10,000 square feet and includes nine offices, a conference room that can fit 25 people comfortably and storage space. In Lawrenceville, the organization had to use three off-site storage facilities, which was inconvenient to say the least.
“Our service reps have had a very small workspace, and that’s going to probably double,” Tellefsen said. “We have room for expansion, to add employees.”
A major plus will be the conference room, which Tellefsen feels will help bring extra business to the township.
“Currently, when have a meeting we have to go out of the office to hotels for larger meetings,” he said. “We now have the opportunity to bring back meetings, run state workshops and so forth. When we hold regional meetings people will stay in Hamilton, eat in Hamilton. ”
The most unique addition to the new facility will be the Hall of Fame Room, which is located right near the entrance. The room features a museum and memorabilia, taking visitors from Babe Ruth past to present. To represent the league’s Cal Ripken division, Tellefsen hopes to commission a mural of Cal Ripken, Jr. and his father.
“Once we get up and running, anyone can come into the headquarters, take a tour of the headquarters and the museum,” he said. “We can have a staff member walk them through the history and ask them any questions. It’s going to be special, we’re really excited.”
Tellefsen praised New Outlook Construction, the company that completed the building, as “being first class all the way” and cited the Babe Ruth volunteers as well as township officials for all coming together to make things happen. He also credited the alumni association, headed by chairman of the board James Wagner, for its fundraising.
“They conducted a major drive,” Tellefsen said. “We’re using their funds for the Hall of Fame area, and we’re going to name that after the Alumni Association. They did a tremendous job of raising a lot of money in a short period of time.”
The new headquarters is not only in the birthplace of Babe Ruth Baseball, but it is in one of the few towns that has not been decimated by travel baseball. While leagues throughout Mercer County and beyond have merged to form all-star teams, the township still has two leagues in Nottingham and Hamilton.
It’s because of that, Zoller said, that “It’s a good thing it’s back in Hamilton Township, but I insist it never left Hamilton Township.”
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