Batesville is a baseball town, and has been for a long time.

The South Panola High School football Tigers put the city on the national sports map 25 years ago, but Batesville has always had strong youth baseball/softball programs, and until just a few years ago Trussell Park was full most spring and summer nights with adult league softball games including men’s and women’s leagues.

Without organized baseball and softball in the foreseeable future, Batesville citizens will have to be content with pick-up games and memories of innings gone by. Former Panolian owner Rupert Howell sent this photo to the newspaper this week, and we share it with our readers in hopes that this Blast from the Past provides a bit of fond recollection from a time when no one had heard the word  “coronavirus” and a group of Batesville Little Leaguers, wearing fashionable (if not hot and itchy) heavy flannel uniforms, smiled big for the camera.  Coach Runt McMinn, of course, would dare not smile for a team photo!

If you need a little help identifying these young kings of the diamond, they are:

(Front, from left)  Jackie Tutor, Randy Campbell, Milton Purdue, Larry Harrison, Stan Harrison, Frank Schmidt, Leon Whitaker, Rupert Howell  (back row) Bob Burkes, Coach Ronald Lee McMinn, Jeff Redding, Coach Jim Armstrong, Ronnie Morrow, Harry  “Lighthorse” McKittrick, Leonard Burns, Danny Thetford and Dennis Rowland.