The eight U.S. Regional Tournament winners compete in the United States Bracket of the Little League Baseball World Series, and the International Tournament winners compete in the International Bracket.
Over eleven days, the Little League Baseball World Series proceeds until a winning U.S. Championship team and International Championship team are determined. The final World Series Championship Game is played between the U.S. Champions and the International Champions.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Visit the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania! When you visit, you’ll find pictures, displays, films, and exhibits showcasing the history of Little League, from the players all the way down to the equipment. A renovated museum opened in summer 2013.
BATTER UP! A LITTLE LEAGUE® POP QUIZ!
You think that you know all there is to know about Little League? Now is your chance to prove it! Take the quiz below to test your Little League knowledge.
When was Little League Baseball founded? a. 1914 c. 1939
b. 1925 d. 1941
When did the first Little League Baseball World Series occur? a. 1940 c. 1949
b. 1947 d. 1953
Where was Little League Baseball founded? a. Williamsport, PA c. Lock Haven, PA
b. Bloomsburg, PA d. Hammonton, NJ
Which of the following is not a region represented in the Little League Baseball World Series? a. Midwest c. North
b. Southeast d. West
Where was the first permanent international Little League formed? a. Mexico c. Japan
b. Canada d. Panama
How many innings are in a Little League Baseball game? a. 3 c. 6
b. 5 d. 9
In which month of the year is the annual Little League Baseball World Series held? a. March c. July
b. May d. August
How many teams participate in Little League Baseball? a. 8 c. 200
b. 16 d. almost 165,000
If you answer all of the questions correctly, you get a Grand Slam!
If you answer seven or more of the questions correctly, you get a Home Run.
Five correct answers give you a Triple, three bring you to Second Base, and one gets you on First.
If you don’t answer any of the questions correctly, then you’ve Struck Out. In that case, it’s time to read more about Little League Baseball!
Answers: 1—c; 2—b; 3—a; 4—c; 5—d; 6—c; 7—d; 8—d
HOW CAN I JOIN A LITTLE LEAGUE® TEAM?
If you have access to the Internet, you can see if your community has a local league by going to www.LittleLeague.org and clicking on “Start/Find a League.” You can also visit one of our regional offices:
US REGIONAL OFFICES:
Western Region Headquarters (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, and WY)
6707 Little League Drive
San Bernardino, CA 92407
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Southwestern Region Headquarters (AR, CO, LA, MS, NM, OK, and TX)
3700 South University Parks Drive
Waco, TX 76706
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Central Region Headquarters (IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI)
9802 E. Little League Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46235
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Southeastern Region Headquarters (AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV)
PO Box 7557
Warner Robins, GA 31095
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Eastern Region Headquarters (CT, DC, DE, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VT)
PO Box 2926
Bristol, CT 06011
E-MAIL: [email protected]
INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL OFFICES:
CANADIAN REGION (serving all of Canada)
Canadian Little League Headquarters
235 Dale Avenue
Ottawa, ONT
Canada KIG OH6
E-MAIL: [email protected]
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION (serving all of Asia and Australia)
Asia-Pacific Regional Director
C/O Hong Kong Little League
Room 1005, Sports House
1 Stadium Path
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
E-MAIL: [email protected]
EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA REGION (serving all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
Little League Europe
A1. Meleg Legi 1
Kutno, 99-300, Poland
E-MAIL: [email protected]
LATIN AMERICA REGION (serving Mexico and Latin American regions)
Latin America Little League Headquarters
PO Box 10237
Caparra Heights, Puerto Rico 00922-0237
E-MAIL: [email protected]
DON’T MISS THE NEXT BOOK IN THE SERIES
CHAPTER
ONE
Look who’s here.”
Liam McGrath, starting catcher for the Pythons in their game against the Cobras, glanced sideways at his teammate Rodney Driscoll. Rodney ran his hand over his tight black curls and then jerked his chin toward the bleachers. Liam looked over and his mouth tightened.
“Phillip DiMaggio,” he muttered. “Great. What’s he doing here?”
Rodney shrugged. “Taking in a game? Checking out the competition? Trying to decide who to vote for as an All-Star?”
Liam flinched at the mention of the vote. He’d been an All-Star last year and wanted to be one again this year. But he didn’t think that was likely. Last year he’d been a leader, a player teammates turned to when the pressure was on. Now he was the new kid in town, an unknown. Or worse, known for something he wished no one knew.
He twisted his Pythons baseball cap around so the brim covered his neck and pulled his catcher’s helmet into place over his face and throat guard.
He knew he shouldn’t be surprised to see Phillip. After all, they lived in the same town now. Played in the same local Little League, too, although for different teams, thankfully. If he had been assigned to DiMaggio’s team, he didn’t know what he would have done.
Yes, I do. I would have played, he thought, because I’m not a quitter. But it wouldn’t have been easy seeing his nemesis at practices every week, and having to cheer him on during games, and maybe even—Liam gulped at the thought—catching for him.
Liam and Phillip had first met the previous August at the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. At that time, Liam was still living in Pennsylvania, close to his cousin and best friend, Carter Jones. That summer, he, Carter, and their All-Star teammates had accomplished an amazing feat: They had beaten all the other teams from the Mid-Atlantic Region to earn a berth at the World Series. They had won the majority of their games in the World Series tournament, too, and advanced to the U.S. Championship.
Their opponent in that game was a Southern California team representing the West Region. The West’s pitcher was Phillip DiMaggio.
Liam had no clue who DiMaggio was then, but Carter did. He’d had a run-in with the pitcher during Little League Baseball Camp the summer before. And two days before the United States Championship, Carter told Liam all about it.
“Because of his last name, I thought he was related to the great Joe DiMaggio.” Carter scrubbed his hands over his face. “So I asked him to autograph my camp jersey. But of course, I had forgotten Joltin’ Joe doesn’t have any direct heirs. Phillip called me Number One Fan the rest of camp—he thought it was hysterical. I thought it was humiliating.”
When Carter told him the story, Liam didn’t get mad. In fact, he said it probably helped Carter to use his anger at Phillip as motivation to become a better pitcher. Still, he didn’t like the trick Phillip had pulled. The first time Liam came face-to-face with DiMaggio, Liam played a prank of his own. He poked a spot on the pitcher’s shirt and told him he had a stain. When Phillip looked down, Liam jerked hi
s finger up, bopped Phillip in the nose, and chortled, “Made you look!”
That innocent prank came back to haunt him during the U.S. Championship Game.
Mid-Atlantic was down a run in the bottom of the sixth. Phillip was on the mound. Liam came up to bat. There was a runner on third, two outs. Liam let the first pitch go by for a called strike. He nicked the second for a foul and strike two. Determined to hit a game-winning homer off DiMaggio, he took a monstrous swing at the third pitch—and missed.
Worse than missed. He swung so hard that he corkscrewed around off-balance and fell face-first into the dirt. In front of thousands of spectators. On live television.
Game over.
Moments later, Phillip offered him a hand to help him up. To the viewers watching at home, the gesture looked like the epitome of sportsmanship. But the cameras and microphones missed something. With a flick of his outstretched finger, Phillip brushed Liam’s shirt and then touched the batter’s nose.
“Hey, McGrath,” he whispered, pointing at Liam. “Made you whiff!”
Back home, Liam had tried to remember everything good that had happened during the World Series and to put that one bad moment behind him. But that was easier said than done. First, he discovered that a video clip of his strikeout was available for viewing by anyone who had access to the Internet. Second, he learned that his family was moving across the country to Southern California. Third, and most unbelievable, he found out that he would now be living in the same town as Phillip DiMaggio.
Liam risked another glance at the stands. He panned over the spectators—an older man with a stern expression and almond-shaped eyes, a pair of girls giggling together, a group of parents—then landed on Phillip. His brown eyes met the pitcher’s jet-black ones for a brief moment. Then Phillip looked away.
Liam adjusted his leg guards and hurried out onto the field.
He’d survived moving across the country, leaving all his friends. If he’d been put on the same team as DiMaggio, he would have survived that, too. No, better than survived. He would have succeeded.
Last August, it was game over, he thought. From here on out, it’s game on.
CHAPTER
TWO
Carter Jones bagged the pile of leaves he’d been raking and carried it to the parking lot. It was Little League Cleanup Day, and along with dozens of other players, parents, and Little League coaches, he was getting the baseball fields ready for the upcoming season.
“Hustle over, everyone. Team meeting!” Mr. Harrison, coach of the Hawks, called. A wiry man with thick black hair, he had been Carter and Liam’s coach last year and throughout the All-Star team’s run in the postseason. Carter counted himself very lucky to have been drafted to his team again this time around. It took some of the sting out of being separated from Liam.
Some, but not all. Until Liam moved, he and Carter were inseparable. They were the same age, had the same friends, and went to the same school. They slept at each other’s houses, shared meals, and celebrated every birthday and holiday together.
They played baseball together, too, and were teammates from Little League Tee Ball all the way up through the Major Division. When Carter began pitching regularly on their Majors team, Liam became his catcher. They proved to be a formidable duo on the field.
“It’s like you can read each other’s minds,” a fellow player once marveled.
Carter thought that wasn’t far from the truth. Maybe he and Liam didn’t have an actual psychic link like in science-fiction books, but they did share a connection that was stronger than most. And now that the Little League season was about to begin, Carter missed his cousin more than ever.
In the dugout, a blond-haired boy named Ash LaBrie waved Carter over. “Got room here.”
Carter hesitated before taking the seat. He liked Ash but felt disloyal to Liam whenever he hung out with him. For one thing, Ash and his mother had moved into Liam’s old house. Now Ash ate in Liam’s kitchen, hung out in Liam’s living room, and slept in Liam’s bedroom. As if that wasn’t weird enough, he had also taken over Liam’s position as Carter’s catcher. Ash was good behind the plate, no doubt, but… well, he wasn’t Liam and that was that.
Coach Harrison opened the meeting by thanking them for their hard work. “The concession stand now has a nice new coat of paint. And apparently, so do some of you!”
The players who had been painting looked at their blue-flecked clothing and laughed.
“Hmm,” the coach continued, noting a similar smudge of paint on his arm, “guess I should have said ‘some of us.’ And now some more good news. The Hawks are adding a new player to their roster.”
He looked toward the parking lot. “Ah, there’s your new teammate now!”
He pointed to a person jogging across the field. The kid’s cap was shading his face, so it was only when he reached the dugout that everyone realized—
“It’s a girl!” shortstop Arthur Holmes blurted out.
Carter was surprised, too. He knew Little League Baseball was open to boys and girls; still, actually having a girl on the team was unexpected.
“Everyone, please welcome Rachel Warburton,” the coach said. “She just got called up from the Minors.”
That’s when Carter finally recognized her. They’d been in the same class in fourth grade. Back then, she had worn her long brown hair loose and had a quick, easy grin that invited everyone near her to smile back. Her hair was shorter now and tucked through her cap. But when she saw him, that same grin lit up her face.
“Hey, Carter!” she said. “Got room for me?”
Carter blushed, embarrassed at being singled out, but said, “Uh, sure.” He nudged Ash. Ash gave him a look and then slid over.
Rachel sat between them and whispered, “I watched the whole World Series last year. You were awesome!”
Carter reddened even more. “Thanks.”
“I was sorry to hear Liam moved away. That must be terrible for—”
“Hey, do you guys mind?” Ash interrupted tersely. “The coach is talking.”
Carter immediately snapped his attention back to Mr. Harrison. The coach reminded them they were expected to attend all practices. He also assured them they would each see playing time in every game.
“Finally, remember that win or lose, you support your fellow Hawks and congratulate your opponents. Understood?”
Cheers rose from the kids on the bench.
The meeting ended then. But before Carter could return to his job, the coach called him over. “You too, Ash,” he added.
Then he said something that took Carter completely by surprise. “I’ve been thinking about your curveball.”
At Ash’s urging, Carter had experimented with that pitch. He thought he was throwing it well, too, and hoped to add it to his pitching arsenal when the season began.
When Coach Harrison found out about it, however, he’d made his disapproval clear. He told Carter that the curve could damage a young pitcher’s arm. While Little League didn’t outright forbid the pitch, he let Carter know that he certainly didn’t want any of his pitchers throwing it. Carter had dropped the curve then and there—much to Ash’s displeasure.
“I still don’t want you to throw the curveball,” the coach said now. “However, I wonder if you’d like some help on your knuckleball instead?”
Carter’s green eyes widened. He’d tried the knuckleball before without much success, but he was sure he could master it with Coach Harrison’s help. “Absolutely! You tell me when and where, and I’ll be there!”
“It won’t be me,” Mr. Harrison corrected. “A new volunteer in the league, Mark Delaney, is running a pitching clinic Monday evening at the high school. He needs catchers, too,” he added, looking at Ash. “If he likes what he sees, he’ll spend time with you on the knuckleball. So, I take it you’re interested?”
“Absolutely!” Carter said again.
“Me too,” Ash said.
“Me three!”
Carter turned
in surprise. He hadn’t heard Rachel approach, but there she was, standing behind him and looking at the coach hopefully.
Ash narrowed his eyes. “You want to pitch?”
“Heck, I want to try playing anywhere and everywhere,” she said, “except ‘left out’!”
The joke was completely lame and yet Carter laughed. So did the coach.
“Then you should attend, too,” Mr. Harrison said. “Never hurts to have another hurler in the bull pen. Right, boys?”
“Right!” Carter said.
Ash murmured something, too. But whether he was agreeing with the coach, Carter couldn’t be sure.
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
THE LITTLE LEAGUE® PLEDGE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
WHAT IS LITTLE LEAGUE®?
Play Ball! Page 12