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LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL

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LITTLE LEAGUE FACTS:

JOEY JAY	In 1953, Joey Jay becomes the first graduate of the Little League program to reach the majors.  Ironically, he had been the subject of a petition attempting to bar him from Little League at age twelve because of his advanced size.  Joey Jay pitched from 1953-1966 compiling a 99-91 career record with a lifetime 3.77 ERA.  He was a 20 game winner in 1961 (21-10 3.53) and 1962 (21-14 3.76) with Cincinnati.  He lead the league in wins in 1961 and was selected to the 1961 All-Star team.
ED VOSBERG	Is the only person to participate in the Little League World Series (1973), College World Series (University of Arizona, champions, 1980) and Major League World Series (Florida Marlins, champions, 1997).
	While playing for Belmont Heights, Derek Bell appears in the Little League World Series in 1980 and 1981, becoming the only Major League player to have played in two Little League World Series.
	George W. Bush is the second son of a president to win election to the highest office in the land, but he's the first Little League graduate. In the 1950's, Mr. Bush played for four years in the Midland (Texas) Central Little League, for the Cubs, and was a catcher. Click here to see Mr. Bush's 1955 LL Roster

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LITTLE LEAGUE TIMELINE:

1939: Little League Baseball is founded by Carl Stotz, who enlists help from others in the community. Mr. Stotz, George Bebble and Bert Bebble, are the first three managers. A $30 donation is sufficient to purchase uniforms for each of the first three teams, named after their sponsors: Lycoming Dairy, Lundy Lumber, and Jumbo Pretzel.

1941-46: Little League Baseball expands to 12 leagues, all in Pennsylvania.

1947: The Hammonton, N.J., Little League becomes the first league established outside Pennsylvania.  The first Little League World Series is won by the Maynard Midgets of Williamsport.

1948: Little League grows to ninety-four leagues.

1949: Little League expands to 307 leagues in the United States.

1950: The first leagues outside the U.S. are formed at each end of the Panama Canal.

1951: The first permanent Little League outside the United States is formed in British Columbia, Canada. ... Little League grows to 776 programs.

1952: Peter J. McGovern becomes the first full-time President of Little League Baseball. Little League expands to more than 1,500 programs.

1953: The Little League World Series is televised for the first time by CBS, with rookie announcer Jim McKay behind the mike. Howard Cosell handles the play-by-play for ABC radio.

1954: Boog Powell, who would later play for the Baltimore Orioles, participates for Lakeland, Fla., in the World Series. Ken Hubbs, who would win the 1962 National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Chicago Cubs, plays in the Little League World Series for Colton, Calif. Little League Baseball expands to more than 3,300 leagues.

1955: A player for the New Jersey team is Billy Hunter, who would go on to play football for the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins, and to become executive director of the NBA Players Association. Little League is now played in all forty-eight states.

1956: An out-of-court settlement ends with Carl Stotz leaving Little League. The first Little League World Series perfect game is pitched by Fred Shapiro of Delaware Township, N.J. Little League grows to more than 4,000 leagues

1957: Monterrey, Mexico, becomes the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series as Angel Macias pitches the first perfect game in a championship final.

1958: Monterrey, Mexico, becomes the first Little League to win consecutive World Series championships.

1959: The modern protective helmet is developed by Dr. Creighton J. Hale, then Director of Research for Little League Baseball. ... The World Series is played for the first time at its present site in the borough of South Williamsport. ... Little League Baseball now has more than 5,000 leagues.

1960: The first European entry in the Little League World Series is Berlin, Germany. The World Series final is broadcast live on television, by ABC, for the first time. More than 27,400 teams participate in more than 5,500 Little Leagues.

1961: Senior League Baseball is created for players thirteen to fifteen years old. Brian Sipe, who would later play quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, plays for the World Series champions from El Cajon, Calif. More than 5,500 teams participate in Little Leagues.

1963: ABC and its Wide World of Sports show televises the Little League World Series championship game for the first time, with Chris Schenkel calling the play-by-play.

1965: Venezuela and Spain are represented in the Little League World Series for the first time.

1966: The game is broadcast in color for the first time, on ABC Wide World of Sports.

1967: West Tokyo, Japan, becomes the first Far East team to win the Little League World Series title.

1968: Big League Baseball for players sixteen to eighteen years old is started. Little League grows to more than 6,000 programs.

1969: Taiwan wins the first of its seventeen Little League World Series.

1971: Lloyd McClendon hits five home runs in five at bats during the World Series for Gary, Ind.  The aluminum bat, developed in cooperation with Little League, is first used.

1972: Taiwan wins a second consecutive World Series championship for the Far East Region. Title IX, giving women and girls greater opportunities at higher levels of athletics, is signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon.

1974: Little League rules are revised to allow participation by girls Little League Softball and Senior League Softball programs are created.

1978: Little League grows to include more than 6,500 Little Leagues for nine-to-twelve-year-olds, 2,850 Senior Leagues for thirteen-to-fifteen-year-olds, and 1,300 Big League programs for sixteen-to-eighteen-year-olds. Little League and Senior League Softball teams total more than 7,400.

1979: Junior League Baseball is created for thirteen-year-olds.

1985: For the first time, ABC-TV carries the Little League World Series championship game live on Wide World of Sports.

1990: Little League Baseball launches the first full season of the Challenger Division for mentally and physically disabled children. Little League Baseball in now enjoyed by children in thirty-nine countries.

1992: Carl E. Stotz, founder of Little League, dies. The Little League World Series undergoes a series of changes: The "pool" format is adopted in which each team is assured a minimum of three meaningful games in World Series play.  Long Beach (Calif.) Little League is named World Series Champion following the disqualification of Zamboanga (Philippines) City Little League.

1993: Long Beach becomes the first U.S. team in history to win consecutive Little League Baseball World Series championships.

1997: Little League and Major League Baseball enter an agreement for the first time, co-producing a magazine that is mailed free of charge directly to nearly 2 million Little Leaguers. An all-time record 2,993,760 Little Leaguers participate. For the first time, U.S. Regional championship games in Little League Baseball are televised nationally on ESPN2.

1998: Little League expands to include ninety-five countries. Toms River (N.J.) East American Little League wins the Little League Baseball World Series, defeating Kashima (Japan) Little League 12-9 in a championship game featuring eleven home runs and 41,200 fans at Lamade Stadium.

1999: The number of countries with Little League programs hits 100 for the first time as Burkina-Faso joins.Late in the year, it is announced that the Little League World Series will expand from eight teams to 16 in 2001, and a second stadium will be built.

2000: Construction begins on a yet-unnamed stadium just north of Lamade Stadium in preparation for expansion of the Little League World Series from eight to sixteen teams in 2001. The Little League Baseball International Board of Directors votes to create a Boys Softball program in 2001.