2012 LLWS

quote:

Originally posted by bostonbulldogbaseball:
Just like the Olympics I think we need to send the best U.S. teams in these tournaments such as USSSA, Triple Crown and the like.

USSSA, Triple Crown et al....all have their own World Series dont they?......

A team chooses which organization you want to sign up with, so if your team wants to go to Williamsport and play on ESPN, your team needs to sign up with LL......

Not a fan of LL for many baseball reasons (field size- rules) but the deal to televise the LLWS on ESPN was/is a coup....

I've coached both LL and travel in baseball and softball. I get so tired of the LL bashing this time of year. Who cares which all-star team from what program or travel team could beat the all-star team of another program. 99.9% of the kids playing in these programs don't get to the World Series in any program. So those programs better be teaching the game. sportsmanship, responsibility, citiizenship and a passion for the game.

A kid doesn't have any less chance of playing high school, college or pro ball due to what preteen program he played. Ultimately it's about talent and wanting to excel.

The LLWS championship game was first televised by ABC Wide World of Sports in the late 50's. ABC purchased ESPN. I'll leave the readers to connect the dots to today's coverage. NESN covers all the New England regional games.

The reason the LLWS is so popular is LL is as American as mom and apple pie. Most males grew up playing LL. Even if viewers didn't play LL the casual watcher can cheer for their region. While the Bombers versus the Heat in the USSSA Super 32 may be a better game the tv viewer has zero connection to the teams.

We made several day trips to the LLWS when my son was 9-12. It's not just baseball. It's social event. My son and I met and talked to people from all over the world.

quote:

Originally posted by bostonbulldogbaseball:
I think very few of those teams in the LL world series could compete with Majors level 12U and 13U tournament ball. Any of the top 32 USSSA ranked majors 12U would spank probably every one of them.

Just out of curiosity, whether they could or not, what’s the big deal? They’re made up of entirely different segments of the population. If they took all best 40 players in the ML and put them on one team, how many teams would they “spank”?

Jeez! Some of you guys come across as being so jealous of LLI, its amazing.

Not every area has Little League for the boys to learn & play ball in. The boys will play whats available to them. of course in some areas, the play a full slate of utrip or other sanctioned ball, then play a short season of Little League.

Always found it interesting that in quite a few suburban areas with next to no Little league the 20,000 population limit per league is waived by LL, and leagues can then be compromised of players from much larger population. Thus two leagues formed from an over 500,000 population base can pretty much load up with a several solid travel teams, play the minimum amt of LL games at 11 years old & 12 year olds, & then the winning "allstar" team the 2nd year is eligible to play regionals & possibly make it to the LLWS. Nothing more than gaming the system, & perfectly legal under LL rules.

Youthmajors.com notes there are over 8 million participants represented by the teams in the 12 year old National Youth baseball championship in Memphis starting next week. Even with some overlapping of participation numbers that's a HUGE number of youth playing competitive youth baseball.

quote:

The reason the LLWS is so popular is LL is as American as mom and apple pie.

Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet...

I love that commercial!

I like watching the LLWS, mostly because I like watching most baseball games, but also because my son played LL and it is kind of fun to remember back.

As far as the quality of play and competition, I think it more a matter disparity of abilities both within teams and among teams, especially before the WS itself. At a national-level travel championship, there probably won't be a 4th inning sub, and if there is, he is never going to be a nervous 80 pounder. I think the best players are comparable, though. From what I've seen of both, the teams that win or get close in LLWS would contend in most big majors/elite tournaments, give or take a little luck.

I like apple pie and I'd rather root for a town that is lucky enough to have the top players in a given year to get to the LLWS, than for an organization recruiting and flying in enough 12 yo pitchers to beat some other organizations doing the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by bostonbulldogbaseball:
Read this on ESPN: "The Little League World Series is an international baseball tournament held for players between the ages of 11 and 13 and run by Little League Baseball Inc."

I think very few of those teams in the LL world series could compete with Majors level 12U and 13U tournament ball. Any of the top 32 USSSA ranked majors 12U would spank probably every one of them.

Of course USSSA teams would beat town teams because Little League teams don't fly in mercenaries for hire. Neither do Ripken World Series teams for that matter. At least they didn't when my kid played on the Ripken All-Star team. My son played at CDP as a 12 yr old and one team flew in a 12 yr old for the playoff round......Kind of fugazy if you ask me.

It's not much different when public high schools try and compete with the privates. The privates recruit and cherry pick the best players from different districts which eliminates that player from that district's public school.

With that being said, more peeps are gonna get excited over their local little league team in the LLWS than say the Muck Dogz vs the River Ratz in one of a million world series held by USSSA

Each organization serves it's purpose but to compare them is app;es and oranges.

quote:

Originally posted by Stats4Gnats:

quote:

Originally posted by bostonbulldogbaseball:
I think very few of those teams in the LL world series could compete with Majors level 12U and 13U tournament ball. Any of the top 32 USSSA ranked majors 12U would spank probably every one of them.

Just out of curiosity, whether they could or not, what’s the big deal? They’re made up of entirely different segments of the population. If they took all best 40 players in the ML and put them on one team, how many teams would they “spank”?

Jeez! Some of you guys come across as being so jealous of LLI, its amazing.

I just think the attention on homeruns hit in the LLWS is overrated as very few of those kid would be able to hit the fence on normal 12U tournament fields.

My oldest's team played in the utrip elite WS when he was 12, they did really well, and did so w/o a single "fly-in" player. By Little League's definition of a league, each of those players could have legally played in the same little league. One thing I have noticed over the years is at 13 & 14 on the top utrip majors teams, one definitely started seeing more out of state stud pitchers. Several of the local 11 & 12 majors teams that have earned their way to the elite WS in the last 6 years would also be LL legal under Little League waiving the 20,000 population limit: yes, each of these dominant tournament teams could have legally played in the same LL & conceivably played on the same LL "allstar" team.

I was watching the Junior League WS today. ESPN was using the calculation for 46' to come up with their mlb equivalent speeds. Somebody blew it.

Babe Ruth 13's WS, livestreaming@
http://www.kitsapworldseries.com/
LLWS has Petaluma, CA which is 50 miles away from the SW BRWS rep Tri-Valley CA (Dublin CA)

Cannot watch anymore. Let's show where the pitchers are from the past winning teams. Many of them as well as other position players are no longer playing baseball. I heard Legion Championships were on tv and it was more interesting because it was HS/young college age and it was "REAL" baseball.I cannot take the announcers on LLWS make it sound like a routine catch is an ESPN contender. Too many families buy into the hype.

Back when our children were young we really enjoyed rooting for the players, and remember a few that were extremely good. Kyle Carter, a pitcher from Georgia, is still doing well. Garrett Williams, a lefty pitcher, was remarkable. He played for Texas, but now lives in La. and is currently representing America in Seoul. (18u USA) There are some others I remember. A matter of fact we were at an unofficial recruiting visit at a good baseball program and ran into the SS from the Ga team with Kyle Carter that beat Japan to win it all. He was awesome, and I'm sure he's playing somewhere this year. The reality is, a pretty good number of these kids are good ball players. Tennessee has been pretty impressive, and Japan plays a quick, almost error free game. I think some people forget what the game was really like at 12.

quote:

Let's show where the pitchers are from the past winning teams. Many of them as well as other position players are no longer playing baseball.

Who cares! It's 12yo baseball. 99+% of the Legion players won't play MLB ball either.

quote:

Originally posted by smalltownmom:
Back when our children were young we really enjoyed rooting for the players, and remember a few that were extremely good. Kyle Carter, a pitcher from Georgia, is still doing well. Garrett Williams, a lefty pitcher, was remarkable. He played for Texas, but now lives in La. and is currently representing America in Seoul. (18u USA) There are some others I remember. A matter of fact we were at an unofficial recruiting visit at a good baseball program and ran into the SS from the Ga team with Kyle Carter that beat Japan to win it all. He was awesome, and I'm sure he's playing somewhere this year. The reality is, a pretty good number of these kids are good ball players. Tennessee has been pretty impressive, and Japan plays a quick, almost error free game. I think some people forget what the game was really like at 12.

You're right, a number of them are pretty good players. That's why LL Intl. needs to joing the modern era and get them off that "kiddie" field.

The Cal Ripken finals where on last weekend. Same type of kids, much better baeball, imo.

Playball2011,
From the 2004 LLWS US championship team their "ace" is pitching in the Ivy league and doing well. Another was a starter for his JC which won the league this past season. Several others who stuck with it played JC and D1 ball.

Our team, 4th in the district that year produced 2 D1 pitchers and 1 JC pitcher as well as another JC position player. Knowing that we were going to face a couple of the best LL teams in the nation in districts that year we didn't pull up the 11yo so that they could play together otherwise there would've been a couple more D1 players including another pitcher.

Of course a few have gone on to play ball at a higher level. MANY though give it up for another sport, or because of injury. IMO, these kids are throwing way too many curve balls at too early an age. Too many coaches don't give a **** and have kids pitch to the limit all for a win. Parents get too caught up in it and allow it to happen. Youth baseball IMO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes yrs to build a good player and to expect kids to be phenoms at 12 is a bit much. I saw a team here advertise for a competitive 7u team. WTH? They were winning championships,so they said. Too funny.

We saw some 12U teams this year that had more talent than the LLWS teams. However, I'm sure those teams we saw wouldn't qualify to play Little League.

Still there are some very talented (and big) kids playing every year in the LLWS. Just more of them that are not playing.

I predict that kid from Connecticut is going to be heard from again in years to come. That is some beautiful arm action at any age.

That said, I love the LLWS. It's not about how talented they are or aren't. It's just great to watch young kids having an experience like this. I especially enjoy watching the real little ones.

The coaches, parents, and commentators are a bit nerve racking at times, but the kids are a blast.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
We saw some 12U teams this year that had more talent than the LLWS teams. However, I'm sure those teams we saw wouldn't qualify to play Little League.

Still there are some very talented (and big) kids playing every year in the LLWS. Just more of them that are not playing.

I predict that kid from Connecticut is going to be heard from again in years to come. That is some beautiful arm action at any age.

That said, I love the LLWS. It's not about how talented they are or aren't. It's just great to watch young kids having an experience like this. I especially enjoy watching the real little ones.

The coaches, parents, and commentators are a bit nerve racking at times, but the kids are a blast.

I was sitting with some parents of the Mid-Atlantic Region players (we lost to them in our state) watching their kids go 0-2 in a three game pool. Later, while watching the next game the kids came into the stands. All they could talk about was how much fun they were having and all the free baseball stuff they were given. They tried to act like 12yo girls chasing them for autographs was a hassle.

We had 6 pitchers out of our 12 players. 2 D1 and 1 JC is pretty good. Another did have arm problems but those came from some pretty serious HS overuse starting as a 14yo freshman. He was effective in one of the best HS leagues in the country through his senior season though. 1 was a little and I mean little kid who cut everything he threw and never had any real potential but was effective as a LL junkballer for short periods. The other 1 had parent issues that kept him from playing in HS.

I'd say that qualifies as 2/3 who pitched at a higher level.

At least 4 of the pitchers from the 2004 US LL team pitched at a higher level, college or strong HS.

Personally I love watching the LLWS...not necessarily because it’s the best baseball at that level however I think it's a guilty pleasure that the average Joe Shmoe can relate to. The LLWS is just as much about the storylines of some of the kids, coaches and family as it is the game. Who doesn’t enjoy hearing of little Johnny’s dislike for spinach and the trauma it has caused him at the dinner table… I especially like it when the team shows solidarity and decides to bleach their hair to support Johnny’s plight.

In sharp contrast to the LLWS, I am currently watching the National Youth Baseball Championships on CBS Sports Network. In the short time I have been watching one of the NYBC games it is apparent that the level of play in the NYBC is heads and shoulders above what I have seen in the LLWS.

This series seems to be more of a true National Championship that represents the best 12YO's in the country.

" The NYBC brings together 12 of the top 12-and-under teams in the country at Gameday Baseball's First Tennessee Fields in Germantown, Tenn., a suburb of Memphis.

Champions from eight youth baseball sanctioning organizations -- American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC), Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU), Babe Ruth Baseball, Dixie Youth Baseball, National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF), PONY Baseball, Super Series Baseball of America and United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) -- and four at-large teams are on hand.”

As much as I enjoy the LLWS (and I know there are some great players), the NYBC brand of baseball is much more enjoyable to watch as a true baseball fan however I have to admit I’m missing the umpires and the LL mascot doing the Macarena in between innings… I guess I can switch back to ESPN in between innings to get my fix.