When they arrived in Williamsport, Penn., for their participation in the Little League World Series, Westbrook’s players may have been surprised to see a Maine baseball uniform on display at the town’s Little League museum.

It’s evidence that other Westbrook youngsters have already blazed this trail.

The uniform belonged to Peter Lucey, a third baseman for the Westbrook-based team that battled all the way to the Big Show in 1951, the first year of organized Little League in Maine.

Lucey died young at age 35, almost 36 years ago, and his parents donated the uniform he wore in the 1951 series.

That year the eight teams that qualified played a single elimination tournament and Texas knocked out the Maine boys 3-1 in the first round.

The Suburban All-stars, named so because they also had players from Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Scarborough (but mostly from Cape and Westbrook), had already accomplished so much that year. They took a 13-0 win over Portland and a 2-0 win over South Portland for the state championship, then won 2-0 over Manchester to make it to the Regional Tournament in New York.

Maine beat Corning, New York, 3-2, then scored two runs in the sixth inning to come back on Portchester, New York, and win 2-1, earning a spot in the national tournament.

“It was such a thrill for me,” said Westbrook’s Jimmy Burrill, who pitched his team into the World series with the win over Portchester. “And what I would say to these kids is ‘relax, and have a good time.’ It will be a moment in their lives that they will always cherish.”

Burrill, who gathered with about 150 other fans to watch the ESPN broadcast of Sunday’s Little League New England Championship at Rookies Restaurant in Westbrook, was highlighted during the game as a “hometown hero” by ESPN.

The 1951 Maine team spent five days in Williamsport, were given free jerseys and bats and Burrill even met Cy Young. He said the opening loss was disappointing, but the week was still fondly memorable.

Can this year’s Westbrook team build on that success? Burrill thinks so.

“I couldn’t believe how poised they were,” he said of the team’s performance Sunday in the 7-2 win over Rhode Island. “I think the strongest thing about this team is their pitching. You could split hairs between their top three or four pitchers.”

Maine’s entrance into the world of Little League came 12 years after the nation’s first Little League was formed in 1939. The League’s first world series was held in 1947.