World Baseball League
World Baseball League
The biggest youth World Baseball League is the little league baseball. Each year the Little League World Series Baseball championship game is held in August. This World Baseball League brings teams together from areas around the world including Japan, Mexico, American, and China to compete in one of the most popular sports in the world. The Little League Baseball World Series is a tournament style series that begins with teams taking part in local tournaments to earn their spot in the championship. Little League World Baseball was the starting point for many of today’s major league players and is a great place for any player to begin.
Little League World Baseball began in South Williamsport Pennsylvania in 1939 by Carl Stotz. His first players were his nephews and their friends. The experimented with field dimensions and played multiple games that first summer until the following grew into three teams of players. Each team found a local business to sponsor them, so any child could play regardless of their financial situation. The first official teams of the league were the Lycoming Dairy, Lundy Lumber, and Jumbo Pretzels. Along with Stotz, two of his friends that managed the other teams and their wives came together and became the first official Little League World Series Baseball Board of Directors. The first official game took place in June of 1939.
The first season found two tournaments that were played. A half season champion was named as well as a league champion at the end of the season. Today, the same system is mimicked with teams playing in a mid season tournament as well as the leagues championship game. Teams that are looking to earn a spot in the Little League Baseball World Series are required to win multiple tournaments to advance. League tournament winners are invited to divisional tournaments with the winner advancing to the state tournament. From there, each state and the District of Columbia is allowed to enter one team in the National tournament. Due to their size, Texas, California, North Dakota and South Dakota are allowed to enter two teams in this tournament series. The teams that are chosen to represent each state are made of all star players that are picked based on skill level and personal success. Each league selects the players that will represent them in both the state and national tournaments.
The final world series tournament is played by 8 American teams and 8 teams from other countries. The teams are divided into two brackets based on location. Therefore, the American teams will make up one bracket while the international teams make up the other. Once the brackets are set, they compete in round robin play within that pool of teams. The top two placing teams from each of those brackets advance to the semifinals and compete against one another to determine which team will meet against the other bracket in the World Series Championship Game. This World Baseball League game is followed all over the world.