2022 Little League World Series

I grew up with a bunch of guys that lost to Japan in the Finals.

 

Any future Gators.

When we played in Miami a short while ago I was speaking to JJ Schwartz's parents and they had a little boy with them his mom said is a baseball player too.

 

Few years back, I went to a game and it was a great experience, even though I'm a softball fan, not a baseball fan.

Some kid lent me their cardboard and I went down the hill, even at my age. That's so iconic you can't go to Williamsport without doing that. But I am too old to do the "modified chair" in the outfield thing, although that's iconic also.

Highly recommended event if you are in the area.

 

The level of play in Little League has declined quite a bit over the last few years and after catching a couple of the Regional games last week on ESPN, the trend unfortunately seems to be continuing. It is still fun to watch but the fact is that many of the more talented kids are eschewing Little League to play travel ball instead and to me, that is a shame.

 

Also diluted with leagues like Ripken where the rules are closer to "real baseball". My son left LL after his 10 year old year because of that reason.

 

Totally agree. I coached Little League baseball when our son was growing up and our association's all-star team finished 2nd in the state in 1994 when there were over 450 Little League Associations in Florida. It's way down from that now, as more and more towns have gone with Babe Ruth, Ripken and Dixie Youth Leagues instead. And like you said, many of the top players are already opting out of these groups to play on travel ball teams.

 

I played in Altamonte Springs back in the late 80s/early 90s. They were LL until 95? Then they switched to Babe Ruth.

Travel clubs existed back then, I had some friends that played on the Orlando Scorpions, but it isn’t what I hear it is now.

I just don’t understand how parents afford the travel circuit. A friend in Longview has tournaments all over Texas. Gas, food, hotels. Brutal.

 

So sad, little league, all stars, etc. nothing like it with all the other leagues. Sad to see kids stop playing little league to travel at 9.
My kids played little league, all stars and still played travel ball at a very high level years later.

 

Here in Marianna it’s always been Dixie Youth League baseball. Alan and Jeff Mathis played on our 1999 State Championship team. Following that those two made the Dixie National Team winning the National Championship played in NY State. They actually got to play on Double Day field, quite an experience for that team.

They also played on a travel team out of Panama City in the Dizzy Dean League that same year winning the State Championship in Fl and going on to win the National Championship in South Haven, Ms.

That was one heck of a summer!

 

We played Ripken in Alt Springs at Eastmonte....most of the all star team was also our travel team, assisted scheduling immensley.
Scorps were the team for years, but they started adding a lot of lower level teams that weren't elite. And the high school coaches that coach travel scattered too. Power Baseball is hot right now, run by the Windermere HC who used to be at Apopka

 

That's a serious summer there!

 

Thanks @apkgator — actually in front of that summer was the year (‘99) that MHS won the AAA State Championship as well!

 

Power program is excellent. My oldest played with the Power Elites last year. Impressive group of coaches and talent.

 

Lassiter and Dempsey were my son's travel and high school coaches....good guys

 

When my son played travel ball, we had a Gainesville area team that hung with anybody in the state. Not much of a budget or sponsorship and we coaches weren’t paid. In the latter years we would run into very professionally run teams with players from across the country. At one tournament, I heard the opposing coach for team ostensively from Panama City tell his players to “warm up with someone you’ve never met”. The next year a team from GA poached our best player - that team had a Greyhound type bus for tournaments in their area but for tournaments further away, they flew their players AND 1 parent and their coaches were well compensated.
Times change I guess.

edit: love the LL WS - one of my favorite sporting events.

 

Remember playing East Cobb at World Wood Bat, their pitcher had flown in from California that morning. Best player was from Texas, Daz Cameron on the roster. This was U14. Nuts

 

For The Love Of The Game….

 

East Cobb was a freaking machine. I remember playing them but I’ve tried hard to forget.