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100-530: The Ashbourne Baseball Club was formed as a Little League team (“Garristown Gruffalos") in 2009. In 2012, the club relocated to Ashbourne, County Meath to become the Ashbourne Giants. The club competed solely as a little league club until 2014, when the club entered its first adult team in the B Division of the Irish Baseball League. In 2018, the club entered a second adult team in the A Division of

200-885: A catcher for the Cubs of the Central Little League in Midland, Texas . He is the first Little League graduate to be elected 43rd President of the United States in 2000. After white teams in South Carolina refuse to play against the all-black Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars of Charleston , Little League issues an ultimatum that the team must be permitted to play, but many organizations in the Southern United States suspend and turn in their league charters and form their own league in response. No team from South Carolina would reach

300-518: A 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report , which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances , including at least one player from each team. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in

400-571: A Little League charter. Trumbull, Connecticut , led by future NHL star Chris Drury , wins the Little League World Series. 1991 : Future MLB all-star Jason Marquis pitches the Staten Island South Shore Little League team to third place in the Little League World Series over Canada, throwing a no-hitter . 1992 : Stotz, the founder of Little League, dies. Lights are installed at Lamade Stadium, allowing

500-476: A U18 European Baseball Championship Qualifier in 2023, and is due to host a European Baseball Championship Qualifier in 2024. Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania , ( United States ), that organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout

600-651: A batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter. After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game-fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal . Eight players— "Shoeless" Joe Jackson , Eddie Cicotte , Claude "Lefty" Williams , George "Buck" Weaver , Arnold "Chick" Gandil , Fred McMullin , Charles "Swede" Risberg , and Oscar "Happy" Felsch —intentionally lost

700-406: A chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before." With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial , Bob Feller , Ted Williams , and Joe DiMaggio , but baseball clubs continued to field their teams. Branch Rickey, president and general manager of

800-500: A grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason. Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It later became apparent that at least some of this power surge

900-633: A little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics . In 1969,

1000-646: A man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949). Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. The next year, a number of other black players entered

1100-413: A new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey . Several other early defunct baseball leagues are considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two modern major leagues. In 1969,

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1200-431: A one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war. Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball . Wartime blackout restrictions , designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to

1300-492: A rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called

1400-528: A single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans. In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins . Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim ) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added

1500-534: A successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman. The adoption of the foul strike rule—in the NL in 1901, in the AL two years later—quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Before this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes:

1600-468: A team from Altamonte Springs, Florida , led by future Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek . 1984 : Victoria Roche, a 12-year-old from Belgium, becomes the first girl to play in the Little League World Series. 1988 : Tom Seaver is the first former Little Leaguer to be enshrined in the Peter J. McGovern Museum Hall of Excellence. 1989 : Poland becomes the first former Warsaw Pact nation to receive

1700-481: A team from St. Petersburg, Florida . The first corporate sponsor, U.S. Rubber , donates Pro-Keds shoes to teams at the series. 1949 : After a decade, Little League is featured in the nationally famous weekly longtime magazine, the Saturday Evening Post and on newsreels shown in neighborhood movie. Commissioner Stotz receives hundreds of requests for information on forming local leagues from all over

1800-512: Is a girl, but he keeps her on the team. She is forced to quit after just one season because a new rule, known as the Tubby Rule, is created to bar girls from participation. The rule remains in force until 1974. 1951 : Leagues are formed in the western province on the Pacific Ocean coast of British Columbia , in the neighboring Dominion of Canada to the north and in the old U.S. territory of

1900-514: Is an accepted version of this page Major League Baseball ( MLB ) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of organized baseball in the United States and Canada . One of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada , MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in

2000-534: Is first used. Lloyd McClendon of Gary , Indiana, dominates the Little League World Series, hitting five home runs in five at-bats. He would later play in the major leagues and become the first Little League graduate to manage an MLB club (the Pittsburgh Pirates ). 1973 : Ed Vosberg plays in the Little League World Series for Tucson , Arizona. He would later play in the College World Series for

2100-674: Is found that Almonte is 14 years old. 2002 : Austin Dillon plays for Southwest Forsyth (County) Little League in Clemmons, North Carolina . The grandson of Richard Childress , he would win NASCAR championships in the Camping World Truck Series in 2011 and Nationwide Series in 2013 , and made his Sprint Cup debut in 2014 . 2004 : Effective with the 2004 LLWS, the Europe Region

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2200-514: Is founded in Hammonton, New Jersey . Maynard League of Williamsport defeats a team from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to win the first Little League World Series. Allen Yearick is the first Little League graduate to play professional baseball when he is signed by the Boston Braves . 1948 : Little League has grown to include 94 leagues. Lock Haven returns to the Little League World Series and defeats

2300-599: Is renamed EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). 2007 : Little League expands into Australia for the first time. Effective with the 2007 LLWS, the Asia and Pacific regions are merged to form the Asia-Pacific Region, with Japan split into its own region. 2007 : Little League expands into Kyrgyzstan for the first time. 2008 : Effective with this year's LLWS, the Transatlantic and EMEA regions are reorganized into

2400-460: Is the first U.S. team to successfully defend its title. 1997 : ESPN2 broadcasts regional play for the first time. Taiwan's baseball association withdraws from Little League Baseball (it would rejoin in 2003) over newly established rules on zoning. Bradenton, Florida , and Pottsville, Pennsylvania play at Lamade Stadium before the largest crowd ever to attend a non-championship game, estimated at over 35,000 fans. 1999 : Burkina Faso becomes

2500-620: The National League and American League have started out playing in their local community / neighborhood Little Leagues. Carl Edwin Stotz (1910-1992), a longtime resident of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, ( county seat and largest town of surrounding Lycoming County ) founded Little League Baseball in 1938 / 1939 . He began experimenting with his idea in the summer of 1938 when he gathered his nephews, Jimmy and Major Gehron, and their neighborhood friends. They tried different field dimensions over

2600-791: The Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves , the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles , and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics . The 1958 Major League Baseball season began to turn Major League Baseball into a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," moved his team to Los Angeles, marking

2700-686: The Chicago Cubs , plays for Colton, California . Little League had expanded to more than 3,300 leagues. Jim Barberi, later of the MLB National League pennant winner of the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers , is a member a decade earlier of the Schenectady, New York , team that wins the 1954 L.L.B. World Series tournament championship. 1955 : There is a Little League organization now in each of the 48 continental U.S. states. Young George W. Bush , (son of George H. W. Bush ), begins playing Little League as

2800-529: The Cincinnati Red Stockings , was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. These practices were essentially ended by the National Agreement of 1903, in which AL and NL agreed to respect each other's player contracts, including the contentious reserve clause . The period before 1920

2900-673: The Europe and Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions. The previous nationality restrictions for players from these regions are abolished. Hawaii wins the 2008 Little League World Series, defeating Mexico in the final game. 2008 : Little League International relocates the Southeast Region headquarters from Gulfport, Florida , to Warner Robins, Georgia . Little League International completes renovation of its administration building in South Williamsport. Major League Baseball This

3000-588: The Great Depression , baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout

3100-653: The Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast . The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only

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3200-664: The Milwaukee Braves is the first Little League graduate to play in Major League Baseball . In 1953, Robert Francis Morrison filed an official charter with Little League Baseball to admit the Cannon Street Y.M.C.A. as its first all-black team. The league consisted of four teams, sponsored by prominent black businesses in Charleston, South Carolina . In 1955, in the beginnings of the growing nation-wide Civil rights movement , when, Morrison entered his Cannon Street All-Stars into

3300-591: The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball 's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was established. A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after

3400-474: The National Basketball Association (NBA). Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2023, it drew more than 70.75 million spectators. MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball , which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with

3500-596: The New Jersey Superior Court decided that Little League baseball must allow girls to play. In the final week of December 1974, 38th President Gerald Ford (1913-2006, served 1974-1977), signed into law a bill passed earlier by the United States Congress that opened Little League baseball to girls. According to the Little League Baseball and Softball participation statistics following

3600-833: The Panama Canal Zone surrounding the Panama Canal , in Central America , making them the first youth baseball leagues outside the United States. 1953 : The Little League World Series is televised for the first time. Jim McKay provides the play-by-play for the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ), and the infamous Howard Cosell (1918-1995), also does so for the American Broadcasting Company and their then ABC News Radio with announcer Joey Jay (born 1935), of Middletown, Connecticut , and

3700-598: The Texas Rangers . In 1977, baseball expanded again , adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays , as well as the Seattle Mariners . Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005. By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher" —Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won

3800-624: The University of Arizona in 1980 and the World Series in 1997 for the Florida Marlins . Vosberg is the first person to have played in all three world series. 1974 : Girls are formally permitted to play in Little League as result of a lawsuit brought on behalf of Frances Pescatore and Jenny Fulle , and a Little League Softball program for both boys and girls is created. Bunny Taylor becomes

3900-607: The World Series , a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The reigning champions are the Los Angeles Dodgers , who defeated the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series . MLB is the third-wealthiest professional sports league by revenue in the world after the National Football League (NFL) and

4000-780: The first and second Negro National Leagues (1920–1931 and 1933–1948), the Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), the American Negro League (1929), the East–West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), and the Negro American League (1937–1948). In 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics. In May 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it

4100-442: The "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series . The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson , and

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4200-409: The 100th nation with a Little League organization. Hirkata Little League of Osaka , Japan becomes the first Japanese team to win a title since 1976. 2000 : An expansion project begins at Little League International and Volunteer Stadium is built. This allows the pool of participants to double from 8 to 16 the following year. 2001 : The Little League World Series expands from 8 to 16 teams, with

4300-531: The 1870s. In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when

4400-557: The 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf , as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football. This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed

4500-458: The 1990s. During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919). The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced

4600-438: The 2008 season, there were nearly 2.6 million boys and girls in Little League Baseball worldwide. Of these, approximately 400,000 are registered in softball leagues (including both boys and girls). Starting in 2022, For tournament purposes, Little League Baseball is divided into 20 geographic regions: ten national and ten international. Each summer, Little League operates seven World Series tournaments at various locations throughout

4700-435: The American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball. Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12. Following these pitching performances, in December 1968

4800-420: The American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises . The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals . The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos , as well as the San Diego Padres . In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become

4900-409: The Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $ 600 a month. In what

5000-711: The Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays." After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford C. Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate

5100-513: The Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded. The onset of World War II created a shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F , indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray ,

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5200-418: The Irish Baseball League. In 2019, the club entered a second team in the B division, the Ashbourne Stags. In 2020, the club created its first adult coed slow pitch softball team, the Ashbourne Antlers. In 2021, the team added a third B division team, the Titans and a second adult coed slow pitch team. 2021 also saw the creation of the Cadet Division (ages 12-15) in the Irish Baseball League. The club competed in

5300-415: The MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season. In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule. Throughout

5400-518: The NFL's Cleveland Browns , plays for the series champions from El Cajon, California . 1962 : Jackie Robinson attends the Little League World Series. President John F. Kennedy proclaims National Little League Week. 1967 : A team from West Tokyo, Japan, is the first team from Asia to win the Little League World Series. 1969 : Taiwan begins a dominant era that would see them win 17 Little League World Series titles. 1971 : The aluminum baseball bat, partly developed by Little League Baseball,

5500-607: The Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915). The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet . Some researchers, including Nate Silver , dispute

5600-415: The U.S. (Little League softball and Junior, Senior, and Big League baseball and softball). 1938: 1939 : Little League is established by Carl E. Stotz, George Bebble, and Bert Bebble. The first season is played in a lot close to Bowman Field . Lycoming Dairy is the first season champion. 1946 : Little League expands to 12 leagues, all in Pennsylvania. 1947 : The first league outside of Pennsylvania

5700-448: The United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball . MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . Baseball's first all-professional team,

5800-644: The United States and the rest of the world. Founded by Carl Edwin Stotz (1910-1992), in 1938 / 1939 as a three-team league in further north in the adjacent larger town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania , (and county seat of surrounding Lycoming County, Pennsylvania ). His ensuing Little League organization was incorporated on October 10, 1950, and Stotz served as first commissioner for 18 years until 1955. Little League Baseball encourages local volunteers to organize and operate Little League franchise programs that are annually chartered through Little League International. Each local league can structure itself to best serve

5900-486: The World Series in exchange for a ring worth $ 100,000 ($ 1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars). Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball. Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians . Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury. Both leagues quickly began to require

6000-419: The World Series tournament until six decades later in 2015. Founder Carl E. Stotz (1910-1992) of Williamsport, retires as first commissioner of Little League Baseball but stays active in his "Original League" small organization for the next 38 years until his death in June 1992. 1956 : Stotz severs his ties with Little League Baseball, Inc. after 18 years in a dispute over the direction, policies and control of

6100-474: The cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format. In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb 's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds . Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943. 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before

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6200-403: The center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox , which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles , bunts , stolen bases , and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time. Hitting methods like the Baltimore chop were used to increase the number of infield singles. On

6300-470: The children in the area in which the league operates. Several specific divisions of Little League baseball and softball are available to children and adolescents ages 4 to 16. The organization holds a congressional charter authorized by the United States Congress under Title 36 of the United States Code . The organization's administrative office is located in South Williamsport of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The first Little League Baseball World Series

6400-408: The city tournament, white leagues reacted by drafting a resolution requesting a whites-only tournament. All 55 white teams eventually withdrew from the city and state tournament. The Cannon Street All-Stars became the 1955 South Carolina state champions by forfeit. However, they were informed by then national Little League Baseball president Peter J. McGovern that they would not be permitted to represent

6500-443: The club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia )—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB. The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and

6600-401: The club's "Cadet Baseball" program. The club has two teams in the B division of the Irish Baseball League, the Ashbourne Titans and Ashbourne Stags. The Ashbourne Titans are focused on youth development. The "Ashbourne Stags" team is the home of adult players of all abilities and experience levels. The "Ashbourne Giants A" division team is made up of the best players in the club and competes at

6700-573: The condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel. More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $ 52.72 today (in inflation-adjusted USD ), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes

6800-426: The country. Little League incorporates in the State of New York . 1950 or 1951 (sources contradict) Kay Johnston becomes the first girl to play Little League baseball. She cuts her hair, dresses as a boy and adopts the nickname "Tubby" to assimilate into the Kings Dairy Little League team in Corning, New York as a boy. After earning her way onto the team and being assigned first base, she tells her coach that she

6900-478: The course of the summer and played several informal games. The following summer, they felt that they were ready to establish what later became Little League Baseball. The first small league organized in Williamsport had just three teams, each sponsored by a different business. The first teams, Jumbo Pretzel, Lycoming Dairy, and Lundy Lumber Company were managed by Stotz and friends - brothers George and Bert Bebble. The men, joined by their wives and another couple, formed

7000-464: The decade following the Black Sox Scandal, and unlike major leagues in other sports it endured the Great Depression and World War II without any of its teams folding. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier . Some teams moved to different cities in the 1950s and 1960s. The AL and NL added eight clubs in the 1960s: two in 1961, two in 1962, and four in 1969. Player discontent with established labor practices, especially

7100-410: The finals to a team from Taiwan. 1982 : The Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum opens. Cody Webster leads a team from Kirkland, Washington in an upset victory over a powerful team from Taiwan, the nation's first loss in 31 games. This game is later featured on ESPN's 30 for 30 series Little Big Men. 1984 : A team from Seoul , South Korea, wins their nation's first title when they defeat

7200-419: The first girl to pitch a no-hitter . 1975 : In a controversial decision, all foreign teams are banned from the Little League World Series. International play is restored the following year. 1980 : A team from Tampa , Florida, representing Belmont Heights Little League, is led by two future major-leaguers, Derek Bell and Gary Sheffield . Bell returns the following year and Belmont Heights again loses in

7300-571: The first major league franchise on the West Coast. O'Malley also helped persuade the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. Giants owner Horace Stoneham had been contemplating a move to Minnesota amid slumping attendance at the aging Polo Grounds ballpark when O'Malley invited him to meet San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in New York. After Stoneham

7400-462: The first night games to be played. The series is expanded from single-elimination to round-robin format. Long Beach , California, managed by former major-leaguer Jeff Burroughs and starring his son, future major-leaguer Sean Burroughs , is named series champion after Zamboanga City , Philippines is forced to forfeit for using ineligible players. 1993 : Long Beach repeats as champions, defeating Coquivacoa Little League of Maracaibo , Venezuela. It

7500-645: The first-ever Little League board of directors. The first league game took place on June 6, 1939, when Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy, 23–8. Lycoming Dairy became the champions of the first half of the season and then defeated Lundy Lumber, the second-half champions, in a best-of-three championship series. The following year, a second league was formed in Williamsport, and from there Little League Baseball grew to become an international organization of nearly 200,000 teams in every U.S. state and in more than 80 countries. Kathryn "Tubby" Johnston Massar (née Johnston)

7600-480: The following changes to regional lineups (post-2000 regions in bold ): Volunteer Stadium opens. George W. Bush becomes the first U.S. president to visit the Little League World Series. Led by phenom Danny Almonte , pitching the first perfect game since 1957, the Rolando Paulino All Stars ( Bronx , New York) finish third in the series. However, the team's entire postseason is wiped from the books when it

7700-570: The founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871. Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years. The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in

7800-689: The highest levels in the Irish Baseball League. The International Baseball Centre (IBC) is the home field of the Ashbourne Baseball Club. It opened in 2015. The IBC is also the host field for the International Baseball Festival, an annual international baseball tournament held in Ashbourne. The IBC was the host field for the 2019 European Baseball Championship - Qualification , which was held in Ireland in 2018. The field also hosted

7900-429: The hole " between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games ; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer , a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player ( George Foster ) reached that mark until

8000-515: The juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball. Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball (In 1921, use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ). Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to

8100-636: The league as the Titans while fielding a second team in a joint effort with the Dublin City Hurricanes. The team was called the Warriors. In 2024, the Ashbourne Titans and Ashbourne Giants were merged. The team is due to play under the Titans name in 2024. "Coach Pitch" is the club's youngest age group, for kids under 10. The Little League program is for kids aged 9–12. Players aged 12-15 participate in

8200-528: The league. Stotz believed that the league was becoming overly commercialized by then-president Peter J. McGovern. Stotz remains active in youth baseball with the "Original League" in Williamsport. Little League records its first unfortunate on-field death in Garland, Texas , when 12-year-old Richard Oden is hit in the head by a pitch, and the park where the incident occurred is renamed Rick Oden Field. With batting helmets yet to be developed, Garland League teams finish

8300-592: The major league clubs, and the MLB Draft League , a hybrid amateur-professional showcase league. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament. In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War , "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body,

8400-641: The major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe , who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching. MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992. There have been no female MLB players since then. From 1903 to 1952, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in

8500-557: The major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber. In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues:

8600-471: The nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs. Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls " in

8700-435: The newly built Little League headquarters in South Williamsport. The protective baseball helmet is developed by Dr. Creighton J. Hale. 1960 : A team from West Berlin , West Germany , is the first from Europe to play in the Little League World Series. The series is broadcast live for the first time on ABC . Little League has grown to 27,400 teams in more than 5,500 leagues. 1961 : Brian Sipe , future quarterback for

8800-527: The northeastern and mid-western United States: New York City had three teams and Boston , Chicago, Philadelphia , and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. From 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities:

8900-515: The point that the 1942 season was nearly canceled. On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , pleading for the continuation of baseball during the war. Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have

9000-526: The reserve clause, led to the organization of the Major League Baseball Players Association to collectively bargain with the owners, which in turn led to the introduction of free agency in baseball. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players;

9100-522: The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes. The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues. After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed

9200-476: The season wearing youth then current football helmets over their baseball caps when batting. Later in the year, pitcher Fred Shapiro throws a perfect game in the Little League World Series. 1957 : Angel Macias throws a perfect game and Monterrey , Mexico, becomes the first team from outside the United States to win the Little League World Series. (Portrayed in the 2010 film The Perfect Game .) 1959 : The Little League World Series moves from Williamsport to

9300-475: The state at the regional championships in Williamsport. Little League executives invited the Cannon Street All-Stars as guests to attend the tournament in which they were unfortunately barred from playing. 1954 : Boog Powell , outfielder / first baseman later of the Baltimore Orioles and two other MLB teams, plays in the Little League World Series for Lakeland, Florida , and Ken Hubbs , later of

9400-454: The use of new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance. By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them. Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; breaking his own record of 29 home runs. Afflicted by

9500-399: Was "absorbing the available Negro Leagues numbers into the official historical record." The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson , Cy Young , Christy Mathewson , Mordecai Brown , and Grover Cleveland Alexander . The term also accurately describes

9600-603: Was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals , for the 1946 season. The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see

9700-449: Was persuaded to move to California, Time magazine put O'Malley on its cover. MLB Commissioner Ford C. Frick had opposed the meeting, but the dual moves proved successful for both franchises—and for MLB. Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals —1,600 mi (2,575 km) away —would have been the closest NL team. Instead, the joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams. The Dodgers set

9800-612: Was played in Williamsport in 1947. The Little League International Complex in South Williamsport hosts the annual tournament of the Little League Baseball World Series at Howard J. Lamade Stadium and adjacent Little League Volunteer Stadium , and is also the site of the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum , which provides a history of Little League Baseball and Softball through interactive exhibits for children. Many Major League Baseball (MLB) players past and present in

9900-412: Was the dead-ball era , when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball was rocked by the Black Sox Scandal , a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series . Baseball survived the scandal, albeit with major changes in its governance as the relatively weak National Commission was replaced with a powerful commissioner of baseball with near-unlimited authority over the sport. MLB rose in popularity in

10000-496: Was the first woman to play in a Little League baseball game, which occurred in 1950. However, when the season had ended, a Little League meeting was held, and it was decided that girls would be banned from Little League baseball. Therefore, from 1951 through 1973, Little League baseball was restricted to boys only . . In 1974, due to a lawsuit brought on behalf of Maria Pepe by the National Organization for Women ,

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