The number of fans allowed in the ballpark will be limited: Each team will be provided 250 friends-and-family stadium passes per game, but once the game is over, they must leave to accommodate the fans for the next game. The field will include 16 teams, all from the United States. There will be no international teams some of the regions, including Japan, haven't even played baseball this year due to the pandemic. The town is integral to all aspects of the Little League World Series, and that involvement makes it all work so perfectly. Most of the town is involved in the parade. They don't all understand the same language, but they know a party and a parade when they see one. It opens with The Grand Slam Parade the night before the games begin, the kids riding down the street with their team, next to other teams that have come from thousands of miles away. WILLIAMSPORT IS THE happiest town in America for nearly two weeks starting in the middle of August. Sliding down The Hill at Lamade Stadium? Easy for 4-year-olds - less easy for 64-year-old baseball writers afraid of heights! Rob Carr/Getty Images "It was one of the most encouraging weeks of my life. "When I went to ESPN, there was some bartering about my contract, and I said, 'I want to do the Little League World Series,' because I'd never been,'' he said. Indians manager Tito Francona grew up in western Pennsylvania. The friendships you make there last a lifetime.'' The differences in culture is what makes it so great. Nothing was cooler than playing against kids that couldn't speak English. "Williamsport is the mecca for a 10- or 12-year-old it's like playing in a big league ballpark,'' he said. But winning the LLWS in 1998 for the Toms River, New Jersey, team remains one of the biggest thrills of his athletic life. Third baseman Todd Frazier made two All-Star teams, played in the postseason three times, won the Home Run Derby at the 2015 All-Star Game and just finished playing in the Olympics. If you have been to Fenway and Wrigley, you have to go to Williamsport." If you've not been, it is worth the trip. "It was so cool to be with those kids and think back to when I was a kid.'' "It's magical. "It's all about the simplicity and the joy of the game in Williamsport,'' he said. Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove played for the Pirates in that LLC game against the Cubs in 2019. If you have been to Fenway and Wrigley, you have to go to Williamsport.'' I went to that little village, fittingly built on a mountain, and I just said, 'Wow! Magical.' I was blown away by it. It's all so real there.''Īngels manager Joe Maddon grew up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, but had never been to Williamsport until 2019, when, as manager of the Cubs, his team played in the Little League Classic. "To see the kids just going out and trying to win, not trying to take the limelight, to have no pressure from a contract, that's what makes it so great. "It's the passion and love for baseball in its purest form,'' said Cubs manager David Ross, who covered the LLWS for several years for ESPN. #Who played in the world series last year seriesLittle League World Series players say the darndest things.And even with COVID restrictions, there's still nothing better than kids playing baseball. The pandemic canceled the LLWS last year, perhaps the biggest loss in the sports world, but now, gloriously, it is back. It's all about the kids the kids are kings the kids show you the way, not the other way around. That's how it works at the Little League World Series. "I'll show you how.''Īnd off he went headfirst, safely down The Hill. "Don't worry,'' a child holding his cardboard surfboard told me. And yet, there I was, clutching a sheet of cardboard the shape of a king-size bed, looking at the bottom of The Hill. One of the many wonderful traditions at the LLWS is to slide down The Hill at Lamade Stadium on a piece of cardboard, which shouldn't have been stressful but was because I am old and little - and so terrified of heights, I'm not even comfortable being as tall as I am (5-foot-4). MY FIRST VISIT to the ludicrously charming town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, came in 2015, an assignment several colleagues guaranteed would be a career highlight, which it was, and so much more.
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