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baseball's big little league
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That evening he discussed the matter with several fathers in the neighborhood. The fire of his vision quickly set their imaginations aflame, and they agreed to help organize two teams as a starter.
For a while it looked as though any large scale enterprise were doomed. No sponsor could be found willing to furnish money and equipment. Finally, the Lycoming Dairy Company of Williamsport offered the needed funds. During the rest of that year, ■ Stotz; and his friends worked like beavers securing uniforms and equipment and developing plans. In 1939, the original "Little League" was put into operation on a lot near an aviation plant. At first it amounted only to supervised vacant lot play; but as the boys learned the game, the twilight contests began to capture the fancies of grownups. Before the season's end, hundreds were attending the games.
Success for the boys' league was assured when Thomas H. Richardson, president of the professional Eastern League, staged a banquet in honor of the young players. In 1940, Stotz was able to secure enough sponsors to finance a regular four-team league, and move the playing field to a better location.
Gradually, national attention was focused on the league by newspaper and magazine articles carrying vivid accounts of the Williamsport youngsters' games. Inquiries began to pour in from communities all over the East from people wanting to form their own leagues. Little leagues began to pop up everywhere.
World War II checked the budding movement, but Stotz' original league continued to operate successfully
throughout the war. When peace came, interest revived. There are now nine leagues in Williamsport, and the movement is spreading Hke a prairie fire. In 1949, eleven states were supporting more than 300 leagues. By 1950 there were 2,034 teams throughout the nation. This year, the number of teams has soared to 2,588. Never has pressure of any kind been exerted to get teams started; the idea is a natural that speaks for itself whereever introduced.
LITTLE League baseball is nothing less than Big League baseball seen through the wrong end of the telescope. The game is set up for boys between the ages of 8 and 12. A normal sized baseball is standard equipment for the kids, but everything else is tailored to their physical requirements. Bases are 60 feet apart instead of the regulation 90. It is only 40 feet, 4 inches from pitcher's mound to home plate. A home run must clear a wall only 180 feet from the batter's box. This enables future Babe Ruths to swing for the distance and get genuine results. Special light bats have been turned out for the bantamweights to handle in true big league fashion. Rubber soled shoes stand in for the spikes of the professionals.
The league is the smallest unit of organization. It is governed by men active in the program : team managers, agents, umpires, coaches, scorekeepers and elected officials. Each league is composed of four teams which use the same playing field for two games per team each week. The over-all league headquarters is at Williamsport, but the connection from top to bottom in the organization structure is loose.