Little League Baseball: One man's dream

Michael Clarke
Active.com

Baseball is as old as the country itself. Continental Army soldiers during the American Revolution routinely took time at Valley Forge to play an early version of the American pastime. And while the Civil War may have divided the nation, both sides used baseball to increase physical conditioning and build morale. (With mixed results -- Texas Ranger pitcher Frank Ezell was famous for hitting overzealous batters in the head.)

By the 1880s, leagues for pre-teen children began to spring up in New York, some 10 years after the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional baseball team in the country. These youth teams achieved little success -- many were affiliated with adult club teams -- and, consequently, youth baseball became relegated to pickup games played in sandlots and streets with discarded and makeshift equipment.

It wasn't until 1938, when a central Pennsylvania oil company clerk decided pre-teens needed some form of organized baseball, that Little League began to take shape. Carl Stotz of Williamsport did not have sons of his own though he often played baseball with his nephews. By shortening baselines and attracting corporate sponsorships from such notables as Jumbo Pretzel and Lycoming Diary, Stotz was able to lay the groundwork for a self-sufficient organization devoted to teaching young people the game of baseball.

Today, Little League Baseball is the world's largest organized youth sport program. With nearly 200,000 teams and more than 80 countries represented, Little League Baseball has come a long way from three teams playing on a vacant lot. But the aims of the organization -- teamwork, fair play and sportsmanship -- remain the same as they did nearly half a century ago.