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Little League Baseball it's where I look for players and people.
For Nolan Ryan, Little League baseball was his first stop on his way to the majors, a successful business career and being a better person some may say the latter was why Little League baseball was engineered.
Youth baseball leagues were formed in the United States as early as the 18880's. In 1938 Carl E. Stotz started a league in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for children and devised rules and field dimensions for what would become little league baseball.
In 1946 there were 12 similar leagues, three years later there was 300 leagues throughout the country. In 1951 the league had spread worldwide. Little league baseball is now the worlds largest organized youth sports program with some 20,000 teams in more than 80 countries. Williamsport ahs remained central. The Little League World Series - a truly international event - is played there every year and has hit national airways through television. In 2004 the Little League World Series drew 349,379 fans with millions more watching on TV.
In a world when change seems to be happening every second its nice to know that Little League Baseball has remained pleasantly constant. For example the Little League World Series Champion is invited to the White House, and it's founding goal remains this: To teach children the fundamental principles of sportsmanship, fair play, and teamwork.
Johnny Smith
April 22, 2009
Middlesboro Daily News
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