By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: July and early August are perfect for youngsters to play baseball, yet the fields are vacant during this period.
The run-up to Little League Baseball World Series in late August at Williamsport is the reason. Since the empire of 60-feet baselines now includes softball, the non-profit governing organization touts that it provides play for 2.5 million young people the world over.
Bottom Line: For reason noted in the first sentence, this annual ritual should be terminated.
My credentials to publish this opinion are as follows:
I played baseball all of my young life. Made the Ellwood City all-star team as a second baseman in about 1955. At Greenville, shadowing my son, I served three years as a scorekeeper, one year as coach and one year as manager.
I was able to claim that I tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Details reduce the bragging rights. In those days busloads of starry-eyed kids would pour into Forbes Field. Three swings and an equal number of grounders or fly balls comprised the tryout, but increased loyalty to the Pirates.
Although Little League International began in 1939, the world series of regional playoffs ending in competition at Williamsport didn’t hit full stride until the 1960s.
Ellwood City and the rest of Lawrence County were not members of the International when I played. We still had playoffs but the county championship was as far as my team was going to advance.
The advantage of not trying to advance to the LL World Series is that everyone in our leagues got to play longer. Because a county all-star tournament would only take a week to 10 days, our regular season stretched into early August.
Today, everywhere, the season for 85 to 90 per cent of the players is over at the end of June. The playoff process to get to Williamsport eats up summer’s remainder, but for only about one-in ten players, narrowing down each week.
The majority of the youngsters – at least in Western PA – have tryouts and practice in April, sometimes in snow storms. Play begins in cold and rainy May. Just when real baseball weather points us to the Fourth of July, regular season is over.
Experiences in Greenville, particularly as manager, in the 1990s escalated my bias.
Seems like half of the team members no longer lived in the house with their natural father. Fathers might still be in town. Domestic spats broke out in the bleachers. Dad maintained Sonny did not play to his ability. Mommy believed he did just fine.
In Buffalo Grove, IL, fights among parents, coaches and umpires resulted in adoption of a strict code of conduct. “This is a game played by children,” the signs spelling out the code begin.
Once a 12-year-old broke out of a hitting slump, cracking a towering home run. All cheered, except his father who yelled “It’s about time!”
LL managers in impoverished communities did not announce all-stars until after the regular season. Any sooner would have resulted in too many non-selects failing to show for the rest of the season.
As manager, I tried to deviate from rigid procedures that control the selection of players to all-star teams. My son had had a very good season, but had another year of eligibility. Also, on my regular season team was the son of the league president. He did not have such a good year and also had another season of eligibility. Nevertheless, recommendations were re-opened to include both choices and they were quickly voted onto the team.
My three-week stint as all-star manager, gunning to get to Williamsport, produced other lasting memories. My shortstop struck out four consecutive at-bats. I substituted for him, next time up. His mother later accused me of “ruining (his) self-esteem.”
Involving another player, I didn’t learn until after Thursday’s game that he was going on vacation and would miss next Sunday’s battle. His mother feared I would not have played him on Thursday.
Repeating Bottom Line: Current chair of the Little League International board of directors is Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour, first female to occupy that seat. She should also make history by scrapping the playoffs. Let all the kids play all summer.
Good points Dick. I too got involved in Little League as a player, manager, coach and umpire (ugh!). I agree that the Williamsport quest takes away from the main thrust of LL baseball and the selection process is often ugly. But as I recall, with summer vacation in full swing, teams could not reliably field 9 players and that was before the league started counting pitches and innings.
Perhaps a second league season could be formed that continues in parallel with the Williamsport quest. Most playoff teams are quickly eliminated and going home to play again may ease the playoffs “agony of defeat” as well as giving kids something to look forward to.