Love of Learning hit the road again recently and took a day trip to the Little League World Series Museum located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Williamsport is a little town in the central part of the state along the Susquehanna River. Much like Philomath, the roots of the city lie in the timber industry. The mountains around Williamsport were full of tall hemlock and white pine trees that were in high demand.
During the 1800s as the United States built its navy, it needed 100-foot timber poles for ship masts on clipper ships. The only way to transport such large logs was floating them down the Susquehanna River that runs over 400 miles long from Cooperstown, New York, where the baseball Hall of Fame is now located incidentally, all the way to the Chesapeake Bay. At that time, there were no trucks nor railroads to move logs. You had to rely on the river.
Loggers would harvest trees and float them down the Susquehanna to a manmade log “boom” located in Williamsport. The log boom would corral the logs on the river so they could be sorted and sent to the correct mills. There were over 60 mills that would brand the logs from the boom and transport them to sawmills to produce lumber. During this boom time, Williamsport mills produced 5.5 billion board feet and came to be known as the” Lumber Capital of the World.”
It was in this same town that the game of Little League was formed. Back in 1938, Carl Stotz, a clerk for a company called Lundy’s Lumber, was out playing catch with his two nephews. Stotz ran to catch an overthrown ball and scraped his leg badly on a lilac bush.
While he sat on his porch nursing his leg talking to his nephews, he dreamed up an idea about creating an organized league for boys with uniforms, equipment, bases, umpires and, of course, fields to play on. He shared the idea with his nephews who immediately became excited. They were eager to play.
Stotz went to work reaching out to local businesses in the area to gather the necessary financial sponsorship to organize the league. Despite facing a lot of rejection, he persevered and overcame. Just one year after Stotz tripped over the bush, the first little league was formed with three teams: Lundy’s Lumber, Lycoming Dairy and the Jumbo Pretzel Team.
From these humble beginnings, the league grew. Stotz captured both his struggles and successes in the book called “A Promise Kept — The Story of the Founding of Little League Baseball.”
In 1948, the first Little League World Series was played in Williamsport. It featured 11 teams from Pennsylvania and one from New Jersey. In the 75 years since its humble beginnings, the league has grown. There are Little Leagues on every continent — 63 countries in all. This involves 2.6 million children and over 750,000 volunteers. That’s an impressive outcome after tripping over a bush.
The Little League World Series has occurred every year since. It is typically played the last two weeks in August. This year it will be held Aug. 14-24.
Last year, 12-year-old Louis Lappe from El Segundo, California hit a walk-off home run to lift California over the team from Curaçao, an island nation in the Caribbean. California won the world championship by a score of 6-5. Louis’ teammates mobbed him in celebration at home plate after he rounded the bases.
The World Series Museum contains interesting artifacts from the game. Games from old teams or from Baseball Hall of Famers are featured. The Hall of Excellence features former Little Leaguers to include Tom Seaver, Dusty Baker, Rollie Fingers and even Kevin Costner, who starred in the movie “Field of Dreams.” Activities for kids who visit are available to try out their baseball skills and teach them about other geographies where kids just like them also play. If the kids get bored inside the museum, they can head outside and slide down a large grassy hill on a piece of cardboard like a sled.
As I walked through the Little League Museum, it immediately made me think about our little timber town of Philomath along the Marys River where baseball or softball teams are organized by the Philomath Youth Activities Club. This season, we have 370 youth registered for baseball and softball. They are organized into 30 teams. These 30 teams are sponsored by local businesses like Timber Supply, Starker Forest and Dairy Queen to name a few. The names sound similar to the teams Carl Stotz started with in 1939.
We have 30 volunteer coaches along with 30 volunteer assistant coaches. We also have parent volunteers that help assist coaches with keeping kids focused on the game. Other parents keep score, keep the book or bring snacks.
I think these statistics say a lot about our little community. Everywhere you go in town, youth sports team pictures are proudly displayed on the walls. Whether it’s Dairy Queen, True Value, Subway or Figaro’s Pizza, there are pictures of smiling kids in baseball uniforms with their teammates and coaches.
The mission statement back at the museum in Williamsport reads as “Little League believes in the power of youth baseball and softball to teach life lessons that build stronger individuals and communities.”
Youth baseball teaches young people, sportsmanship, teamwork and fair play. It helps build confidence. It introduces them that being a team means commitment. It helps them build skills through repetition. It shows them the value that “practice makes perfect.” It teaches them important lessons about winning and losing.
A few weeks ago, our community held a ribbon-cutting for two new baseball fields constructed at the Frolic grounds. These fields were only made possible by generous volunteers and businesses like Slater Excavating, Pape Machinery, River Bend Materials, Timber Supply, Consumer Power, the Skirvin family, the Stueve brothers and Jay Faxon. Organizations like the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo and the City of Philomath also deserve great thanks.
One of the fields was named in honor of Ralph Hull from Hull Oakes Lumber Co., while the other was Denny Bennett, who owns Timber Supply. They are both longtime supporters of youth sports and PYAC. The tribute was well deserved.
The Philomath High School Hall of Fame dinner was also held earlier this month. Former major leaguer and Warrior stand out, Mike Thurman, was inducted into the PHS Hall of Fame. During his acceptance speech, Mike recalled “watching a baseball game over the handlebars of his bike.” He wondered to himself if he could one day play the game. Not only did he play the game he went on to play for the Warriors, the Beavers, the Expos and finally the Yankees. His story is proof that dreams really do come true in Philomath.
Thurman credited his former coaches for believing in him and convincing him he was good enough to make it to the next level. His coaches instilled confidence. It serves as a shining example of how solid coaching can make an immeasurable difference in a young person’s life.
It seems like timber and baseball seem to go together like baseball and ice cream. One thing that makes Little Leaguers smile the world over is ice cream after a game. I recently noticed on the door of our local Dairy Queen that if players wear their baseball uniforms, they are entitled to a free small ice cream cone. If you are a coach, a parent or a volunteer, you may want to take note of this. An ice cream cone can either celebrate sweet victory or soothe the sting of any loss.
Our community should be proud of the wonderful volunteer effort behind our baseball and softball programs. The numbers tell the story. From local sponsors to volunteer coaches to parent volunteers, everyone steps up and comes together to create wonderful opportunities for our kids to play the game. Thank you to everyone for supporting baseball in our timber town.
Now, let’s play ball.
(Eric Niemann is a former mayor and city councilor in Philomath. He can be reached at Lifeinphilomath@gmail.com).