From 1953 to 1986, the Ahern Whalen Invitational Baseball Tournament was the premier post season event for players between the ages of 13 to 15. For many years, the team that won the tournament was called Connecticut State Champions. The teams coming to play at Palmer Field were from the great baseball cities and towns of Connecticut. Just to mention a few cities, Bristol, Meriden, New Britain, East Hartford, New London, Willimantic, Bridgeport, Torrington, Manchester, West Hartford and Plainville.

Through out its thirty four years, the Ahern Whalen Tournament remained a single elimination event. One loss and your team was gone. It tended to make each game intense and usually produced great baseball.

Crowds were usually large. It was not uncommon to have 800 or 1,000 fans at a game.

In 1951, the Ahern Whalen All Stars were invited to play in Bridgeport in an eight team field for the national title. The Ahern Whalen All Stars finished second losing the title game to the host team Bridgeport.

In 1952, Ahern Whalen President Bernie Fields and League Director Sal Romano, made plans for a post season tournament to be played at Palmer Field. It would include several teams from the state. However, when several teams changed their minds and decided not to play, a two team tourney was held. Middletown and Portland agreed to play a best of three series. The Ahern Whalen All Stars swept two games.

In 1953, the first Ahern Whalen Tournament was played. The Ahern Whalen All Stars won the championship.

All the games were played at Palmer Field. In the thirty four seasons, every Ahern Whalen Tournament game was played at Palmer Field. Palmer Field has always been one of the best baseball facility in Connecticut.

In 1986, the Ahern Whalen League became affiliated with the Senior Little League program. This ended the thirty six years of the Ahern Whalen League being an independent program.

In 1987, with the renovation of Palmer Field it was decided not to resume the Tournament at another facility. When the Senior All Stars won Connecticut championships in 1987,1988, and 1989, time to play the Tournament was not practical. 1987, Palmer Field was not available. In 1988, the American Legion hosted their World Series. In 1989, the Ahern Whalen All Stars were just one win away from playing in the Senior Little League World Series in Florida.

After doing this research, maybe it is time to resume the Ahern Whalen Invitational Tournament.

YEAR	CHAMPION	SCORE	RUNNER-UP
1953	Ahern Whalen	14-3	Old Saybrook
1954	Westbrook	7-2	Manchester
1955	Guilford	5-3	Ahern Whalen
1956	Ahern Whalen	5-2	LMCAS
1957	Manchester	5-2	Ahern Whalen
1958	Ahern Whalen	8-7	West Hartford
1959	Milford	2-0	Ahern Whalen
1960	Bridgeport	11-4	Old Greenwich
1961	East Hartford	7-4	Madison
1962	Ahern Whalen	7-0	Bridgeport
1963	Ahern Whalen	8-7	Waterville
1964	Bridgeport	3-1	Willimantic
1965	Ahern Whalen	6-2	New Britain PAL
1966	New Britain PAL	3-1	Ahern Whalen
1967	Ahern Whalen	12-0	St. Lawrence Hartford
1968	New Britain PAL	3-0	Madison
1969	Ahern Whalen	4-3	New Britain PAL
1970	Ahern Whalen	4-3	Bristol
1971	Torrington	3-0	Wallingford
1972	Torrington	5-4	Bristol
1973	Torrington	2-0	New Britain
1974	Ahern Whalen	8-5	Torrington
1975	Torrington	7-3	Valley Shore
1976	Ahern Whalen	6-3	Bristol
1977	Ahern Whalen	3-2	Newington
1978	Southeast CT	7-2	East Hartford
1979	Southeast CT	8-7	South End Merchants
1980	Bristol	6-4	Ahern Whalen
1981	East Hartford	7-6	New London
1982	Ahern Whalen	3-2	Southeast CT
1983	Haddam	8-7	Southeast CT
1984	Southeast CT	3-1	Ahern Whalen
1985	Southeast CT	8-6	South End Merchants
1986	South End Merchants	2-1	Mystic-Pawcatuck

Webmaster's Note:
Excerpts for Ed Wilcox's book, Ahern Whalen Baseball Invitational Tournament 1953-1986, can be found in the history section under specific year. I will be adding more information wherever possible. Thanks.