08 September 2008
Little League Baseball Aims to Blend Fun, Character Development
Organization has grown to serve millions of youths around the world
Washington — Little League Baseball has come a long way — in years, in distance and in philosophy — from a Pennsylvania lumberyard clerk’s brainstorm in founding a local three-team league in 1939.
Seven decades later the contrast is stark: More than 2.3 million budding ballplayers in six age-based divisions participate in more than 7,000 leagues spread across scores of countries. And a group of youngsters from Waipahu, Hawaii, traveled more than 4,600 miles (some 7,500 kilometers) to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to realize the dream of winning the Little League World Series on August 24.
Little League Baseball founder Carl Stotz’s own dream, as he often recalled in later years, was considerably more modest. Having scraped his leg against a lilac bush during a backyard game of catch with two young nephews in the summer of 1938, he asked them, “How would you like to play on a regular team with uniforms, your own cap, a new ball every game and bats your size?”
By the next year he had laid out a field with dimensions stripped down from Major League Baseball standards to fit the young players, and recruited sponsors for three teams. On June 6, 1939, Lundy Lumber beat Lycoming Dairy 23-8 and the Little League was launched.
In 1947, Little League expanded beyond the dozen leagues operating in Pennsylvania when a league was organized in Hammonton, New Jersey. That August saw the first Little League World Series — then known as the National Little League Tournament.
The “World” designation gained a bit of credibility when the first permanent league outside the United States was formed in 1951 in British Columbia, Canada. Full international status arrived in 1957, when a team from Monterrey, Mexico, became the first World Series champion from outside the United States, on the strength of a perfect game thrown by pitcher Angel Marcias. In 1999, Burkina-Faso became the 100th nation with a Little League organization.
Little League Baseball’s Web site is lyrical about the game and its impact.
“Baseball and softball embody the discipline of teamwork,” it proclaims. “They challenge players toward perfection of physical skills and bring into play the excitement of tactics and strategy. The very nature of baseball and softball also [teaches] that while every player eventually strikes out or is on the losing team, there is always another chance for success in the next at-bat or game.”
“Better than any other youth sport activity, baseball and softball have become the thread that has sewn together a patchwork of nations and cultures around the world,” the site declares.
The Little League World Series, held every August in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is open to teams with players generally in the 11-13 age bracket. Most games, including the championship, are telecast on ESPN, a U.S. sports network. Leading up to World Series play, each league selects an all-star team from among its players to compete in preliminary tournaments. Winning teams from each of 16 regions — eight in the United States and eight others worldwide — move on to the Little League World Series, with sponsors paying for the trip.
The fact that U.S. and international teams compete in two separate brackets means that the United States always will reach the championship game; U.S. teams have won exactly half of the 62 series to date.
But teams from Taiwan had an astounding run from 1971 through 1991, getting to the championship game 19 times and winning 17 of them. Other winning teams have come from Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Venezuela and Curacao.
Now, as when Stotz founded the first teams, instilling sportsmanship, teamwork and fair play are high on Little League’s agenda. According to the organization’s mission statement, “Through proper guidance and exemplary leadership, the Little League program assists youth in developing the qualities of citizenship, discipline, teamwork and physical well-being. By espousing the virtues of character, courage and loyalty, the Little League Baseball and Softball program is designed to develop superior citizens rather than superior athletes.”
Noble goals notwithstanding, even Little League has endured occasional scandals. One of the most serious came after pitcher Danny Almonte gained nationwide celebrity in leading his Bronx, New York, team to a third-place finish in 2001, pitching a perfect game and striking out 62 of 72 batters he faced in the tournament. After the series, Almonte was found to be 14, and his team’s tournament records were wiped off the books.
Little League’s commitment to providing opportunities for all youngsters was underlined when it inaugurated a “Challenger Division” in 1990 for youth with mental and physical disabilities. And, by 2007, some 400,000 girls were registered to play softball.
Many current and former Major League Baseball stars started in Little League. The list includes Wilson Alvarez, Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Ken Hubbs, Lastings Milledge, Jason Marquis, Boog Powell, Jason Varitek, Johan Santana and dozens of others.
Another Little League graduate is President George W. Bush, who played four years as a catcher in the Central Little League of Midland, Texas, starting at age 9 in 1955.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the boys from Waipahu, the 2008 winners, welcomed home by a cheering crowd that included Hawaii’s lieutenant governor.
