There is something about Little League baseball that is incredibly endearing and tremendously intriguing.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying it brings the game back to Peanuts and Cracker Jack, but it does carry a certain mystique to it.
I know before arriving at the ballpark for a Little League game that it will be an entertaining contest, regardless of the outcome or which teams are playing.
If you have never had an opportunity to take in a Little League game firsthand, I highly recommend it.
These enthusiastic youngsters would make the baseball gods proud by playing with passion and enthusiasm – and have the grass stains to prove it.
A group of 10-year-olds playing the grand old game on a Sunday afternoon for seven innings chalk full of exciting plays (and the expected miscues) is, in my opinion, the game of baseball played in its purest form.
Little League’s motto is “Courage, Character and Loyalty” – and all three of these characteristics are well on display during a game.
Team chants – some so creative you can’t help but laugh – reverberate from the dugouts across the diamond. At times, the battle becomes more about which team can out-duel the other from dugout to dugout than the actual game being played on the field.
Those that play or coach at the Little League level are not interested in satisfying their bank accounts with millions of dollars, but are worried more about getting a runner into scoring position, and having fun figuring out a way how to do that, than they are about anything else.
Graciousness in defeat has become a lost art at the professional level of baseball, or for any professional sport for that matter, however it’s still front and centre at the grassroots level.
The renowned hip, hip hooray chant following a Little League game not only signifies a victory or defeat but also demonstrates respect for the other team. The handshake line between opposing teams at home plate that follows is also non-existent at the highest ranks of the game.
Founded in 1939 by Carl Stotz in Williamsport, Pa, Little League Baseball has since grown to more than 200,000 teams and is now played in 80-plus countries worldwide.
For 10 days each August the quaint borough of South Williamsport, Pa – population 6,000 – becomes home to the Little League World Series, where pre-adolescent ball players from around the world become stars in one of sports most entertaining showcases.
If you build it, they will come, never seemed so fitting.
Tens of thousands of baseball fans make the pilgrimage to Howard J. Lamade Stadium and Volunteer Stadium to witness the cream of the crop of 11- and 12-year-old ball players. There is no other minor sport that comes close to offering an event of this magnitude to its players, coaches and volunteers. American broadcasters ABC and ESPN even covered 54 of the tournament’s games in 2014, attracting a mind-boggling five million viewers for its broadcast of the championship game between South Korea and United States champion Chicago.
We should feel fortunate in Airdrie to play a part in the long standing tradition that is Little League Baseball.
The volunteer-based local chapter not only offers an affordable activity for our children but it also provides a safe, fun, wholesome combination of recreation and competition to players aged four to 18.
I admit I follow Major League Baseball, however a majority of the time the professional product is far from how the game is supposed to be played.
You can have all the prima donna players, the steroids they (not all, but some) swallow and inject, and all the cheesy techno songs that blare out of oversized speakers during a three-hour professional ball game.
I’ll take the bobbled groundballs, misplayed fly balls and wild pitches that Little League provides any day.
