num_pages: 264
description: "'Play Ball!' is a delightful walk down the storied history of Little League Baseball. For those of us who played the dreams of your youth, it brings back mighty memories. For those of us reluctant adults who still dream, it's a wonderful reminder of what might have been." ~ John Grisham, bestselling author"Little League Baseball was such a huge part of my life. As a kid and as a father, the memories are, in fact, so thick that I have to brush them away from my face. Thank God for Little League Baseball and how it's managed itself." ~ Kevin Costner, actor, director"It's funny: after 40 years, I can't remember much else about a lot of the boys I grew up with, but if you give me one of their names, I can usually remember what Little League team he played on." ~ Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist.Bestselling history of Little League Baseball and the World Series now updated through 2013! Includes a new chapter on John Grisham's movie, "Mickey," the Danny Almonte scandal, Tee Ball on the South Lawn, Pitch Counts and Arm Injuries, Child Protection Act, ESPN and the new World of Little League Museum.ABOUT THE BOOKPlay Ball! is the remarkable story of Little League Baseball, from the first diamond in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the playing fields of Venezuela, Japan, and Poland.On any given spring evening, 360,000 children around the world can be found on the dusty mounds and grassy fields of a Little League field. With more than four million people playing or volunteering in Little League games every year, Little League is the institutional rite of passage into the quintessential American pastime.Little League Baseball began in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1938, when Carl Stotz, an oil company clerk, agreed to a game of catch with his young nephews-who were too young to play organized baseball. He recalled how it felt to be left out, and promised to think of a way for the boys to have a league of their own. With the help of neighbors George and Bert Bebble, Stotz created a three-team league. After being turned down by fifty-six businesses, Carl finally convinced a lumber company, a dairy, and a pretzel maker to sponsor the teams, for $30 each. On June 6, 1939, the first Little League Baseball game was played at Park Point in Williamsport.Play Ball! charts Little League's history from the earliest days and shows how, in many respects, its history parallels America's history: isolation in the beginning; rapid expansion; a civil war of sorts, followed by reconstruction; struggles over civil rights and gender equity; and foreign entanglements. A microcosm of American society, Little League reflects, and is affected by, cultural, political and historical trends. Today, Little League is played on 12,000 fields in every U.S. state and in 103 other countries on six continents. Little League also sanctions play in softball, Tee Ball, and baseball for disabled children-called the Challenger Division. The Little League Baseball World Series, played annually in Williamsport, is watched by crowds of 40,000 each year in person, and by more than ten million on ESPN.The authors were given full access to the Little League Baseball archives and have created a comprehensive history. Play Ball! contains appendixes including winners of all Little League Baseball and Softball World Series, a year-by-year history of Little League, countries in Little League, and lists of some of the famous people who played the game as children, including Kevin Costner, Mark McGwire, and George W. Bush.Play Ball! will interest parents, former players and coaches, fans of Little League Baseball, general baseball enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever picked up a ball and bat.PRAISE FOR 'PLAY BALL!'Did you know that George W. was a Little Leaguer? More to the point, humorist Dave Barry is also a graduate of Little League, and he writes an amusing introduction to a solid book about this American institution. Little League has now been around for more than half a century, and this new history fills a gap in library collections that often focus solely on major league baseball history. This well-illustrated, popularly written account should be on the shelves of every library that serves a community with a Little League team. ~ Library JournalIn this book, authors Lance and Robin Van Auken lionize Carl Stotz, the father of Little League. A man of many talents, Stotz wanted his nephews to have the joy of playing in uniforms with a real team under standardized rules. His was an idea with potential. Today more than 100 countries around the world have such programs, allowing kids from different cultures to meet under the umbrella of baseball. ~ American History
language: English
title: Play Ball!: The Story of Little League Baseball®
titlecomplete: Play Ball!: The Story of Little League Baseball® (Keystone Books)
ratings_count: 7
publisher: Penn State University Press