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Deltona Little League plays at Vann Park and offers fall and spring baseball teeball and softball for Deltona youth ages 4-16. Sign-ups for the fall season are held in August, and sign-ups for the spring season are held in January. The fall season ends in November, and the spring season ends in May with all-star competition taking place during the summer months.  Below is some history on how we got started.



 A Deltona, Florida resident and very important member of the Delaware County Athletes Hall of Fame, Arnold “Lefty” Vann founded Deltona Little League in 1966 with the help of many other volunteers. That same year, The Deltona Corporation planned and built the 14-acre Elgrove Park in the very first housing district in the rural community of Deltona.

Lefty Vann, who played semi-professional baseball in the 1920’s and 1930’s and later served as a semi-professional manager and a professional baseball scout for The Brooklyn Dodgers, Milwaukee Braves, Oakland A’s, and the New York Yankees. Lefty managed the first ever game played at the new park.

The first game in Elgrove Park featured little league teams from Deltona and DeBary. During the first season of Deltona Little League, fielded only boys ages 9 to 13. Later, the league expanded to include both baseball and softball as well as multiple age divisions.

Arnold “Lefty” Vann passed away in February of 1974. Later that April Lefty was posthumously honored by having the name of Elgrove park renamed Vann Park. Lefty’s wife, Lillian was present to represent her late husband for the commemoration ceremony. Lillian later passed away in June of 1984 at the age 87. Before Vann's passing, Deltona Little League began awarding the annual Lefty Vann Award to the best all-around youth player from the league. According to local newspaper archives, the earliest known recipient of the award was Charlie Krawczynski, who received the award in 1973. Other award winners include Brian Erwin (1977), Jimmy Peters (1980) and Gary Zdanciewicz (1981).

 

 

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