The following is from an article believed written in the early 1970's. The author is unknown.

The article talks of the orgin of dartball.

                                   Begining of City Dartball League   

Call it Winter Baseball, or "just a night out." Essentially it's a game of baseball

played with darts. It's becoming a more popular form of entertainment around

the St. Charles area.

  No one seems to know exactly where or how, the sport of dartball began.

Believed to be a version of English when it first started in the 1930's during the

Depression, just a way of having entertainment in the Church Halls and Clubs.

Revisions were added along the way as the sport of baseball became the Amreican

pastime. Dartball got a stronger hold after World War II when the boys came home

looking for an indoor sport such as the English darts. Bowling was something

seldom heard of because of lack alleys, and a version of baseball was thought of.

   Organized dartball in St. Charles started with a man known as Walter Wagner.

Wagner moved to St. Charles from St. Louis in the summer of 1939. He found

various club-type teams playing a version of dartball, but no organization, or

no league was set up. He played with the Amreican Legion team for a while and

set about creating what is now known as the City Dartball League in the summer

of 1941. Wagner had played in a Church league in St. Louis and had a good idea

of how to organize one. But efforts failed time after time. He made board changes

to make the game more exciting and more similer to baseball. The board he

designed is still used through-out the area. In 1948, Mr. Wagner was successful

in forming the City Dartball League with about six teams. It was made up of a

group of Club and Church teams with Wagner as their Secretary. Still today the

season runs as that first season, starting in September and ending in March with

a World Series type Playoff for the Championship. Last year it was won by the

team from St. Paul, Mo.

   It's a tradition to play dartball on Monday nights mainly because that was the

slowest night for the taverns and thus the tables and chairs could easily be shifted

to set up the game. Some leagues in the area play on Thursday nights while a

league in Alton, Il. plays on Friday nights, but the City Dartball League will most

probably keep the taditional Monday night.

[ Today there are organizations like the V.F.W., Moose and K of C with dartball

courts more or less built into their halls.]

   As time passed the league grew and in 1958, the league broke into a Church

and a seperate Club league. As the City expanded it was necessary to divide the

teams into  American and National divisions as it is set up today. This took place

in 1962. The City League oddly, enough, consists of 18 teams spread around the

county.

   The target is a diamond shaped board, 48 inches square colored areas on it

corresponding to a baseball field. All the bases are painted green, while four

large 12"x12" areas colored red are strikes. Other areas, such as a "Ball" and

"Foul Ball" have a different color. Around each base are areas painted white

which are outs. Still the smaller squares on the board represent aTrple Play,

Double Play, and a Sacrifice.

   A team consists of approximately 12 players, but only 9 are used in the game.

The Players stand 25 feet from the board usually throwing at 1st base which is

8 inches square. He throws until he gets a hit or makes an out. Each player on

the team follows, in a batter order, until 3 outs are made, then the opposing

team has their chance. Nine innings are played unless there is a tie, then it is

broken just like the game of baseball. Three games are played among the two

teams meeting, each game taking about 30 minutes to play.

   Mr. Clem Echele plays an important role in keeping dartball going. He's been

serving as the League Secretary since 1965, makes up the schedules for each

season and keeps records for the League as well as the current team standings.

"It's come a long way from the early days under Wagner" he stated. He takes

some credit for the Annual All-Star Game which started in 1967. "According to

the schedule, some teams only played each other once during the season, and I

thought it would be great to get all the teams together on one night, thus the

All-Star game began." Later as teams became more semi-pro type I seen it

necessary, that the rules had to be enforced a little more. There were only 18

rules at the time, and 90% of the game was played with the understandment

of the game and good sportsmanship. With my fellow Officers, we adopted a 16

page Constitution and By-Laws for the League. It was approved by the teams

managers in 1969, and now I believe that the League has got one of the best

organized leagues in the country. The Secretary's job is a lot of hard work, but

I enjoy it, mainly because the League has a great group of people whom I meet

during the season as well as their sportsmanship. Organizing of the League has

been a step in the right direction of promoting good fellowship among players.

This was one of the prime objectives from the concept. Like most dartball

players, Echele has been involved much of his life with the sport, stemming

from his Father's involvment who played in the 1940,s. "I used to get to go to

some of the home games when Dad played," he said.

   What does one derive from competing in a league of dart throwers? " I

think it's one of the most exciting sports with both self and team skill" said

Frank Timmermeier, current President of the City League. " I have been

playing darts for 22 years and I'll keep playing as long as I can because I enjoy

it and enjoy being with the great players that the League has. The  All-Star

Game, Playoffs, and playing the game during the winter when there's not much

else to do has been an important matter as well as those social profits. English

darts started up a short time ago, and I believe it's fading only because of the

lack of interest in the game and it's boring where dartball played like baseball

is very exciting. I'm looking for the League to expand more and more because

of the way dartball is set up now. Mr. Echele has been trying hard to promote

dartball in the area, but it's a hard job mainly because it's played in Clubs and

taverns. The Knights of Columbus in O'Fallon has organized what is believed to

be the first invitation tournament. Teams from the County, Church and City

League will compete for prize money starting Jan.20th."

   Mr. Echele states,"I believe it will take not only my efforts, but efforts from

all leagues in the St. Charles, St. Louis, and the Alton area to get dartball up

to National level it should be."

05.06 | 20:09

Where do you get your boards. We have a league in southcentral Indiana since 1952. This past year we had 17 teams.

02.04 | 09:43

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