Little League Baseball

Sumo or Baseball?

When asked what the national sport of Japan is, people usually make one of two replies: Sumo or baseball. Sumo, with its thousand-year history, might have a slight edge, but baseball is now deeply rooted in Japanese society, too! Almost all schools, companies and local communities have their own baseball clubs. Even shopkeepers and their staff often have their own teams.

Baseball is so popular in fact that when the national baseball tournament among high school students is played most Japanese are glued to their televisions and radios for several days ...

1998
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Baseball

Little League Baseball: authorities' comments

"Little League Baseball is one of America's finest exports of good will and a proven vehicle for instilling values and leadership qualities in impressionable children.For this cherished childhood experience to flourish and benefit more than a million boys and girls in Poland, and all of Europe, a permanent training facility for volunteers, coaches, umpires and program administrators is essential.

1998
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Baseball

It's Time to Play Ball!

An awesome mixture of talents and cultures came together at the European Little League stadium in Kutno, Poland during the last week of July. After battling it out in the Semi-finals and finals with Germany, Poland and Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia won the European title, and will compete in the LL World Series championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in August. But judging from all the roaring in the stands, dancing at the disco and pillow fights in the dorms, all the teams went home feeling like winners."

1998
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Baseball

Oscar Bielaski - 1st Polish Major Leaguer

At 50 Alexander Bielaski joined the Union forces with the rank of Captain in the regular army. He did so with a deep sense of loyalty to his adopted country, leaving behind him a family of seven.

While the official reports echoed with glowing accounts of Capt. Alexander Bielaski's heroic death on the battlefield of Missouri, on November 7, 1861, stark tragedy stalked the Bielaski home in Washington. The older Bielaski children sought immediate employment.

1998
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Baseball

Toms River, New Jersey USA rolls to 1998

In 1995, Toms River, New Jersey, sent a team to the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that was loaded with talent and considered one of the favorites to win the Little League Championship that year. However, games are won on the field of play and that particular team failed to advance past the qualifying round, leaving many people in the New Jersey community disappointed.

1998
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Baseball
USA
Sports
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Making a dream

It all began late one morning... early Spring of this year... the air smelled mixed with just-cut wet grass and freshly-oiled leather baseball glove... the blending sounds of distant songbirds and close-by kid's voices were silenced by a distinctive "CRACK of the bat"... and I woke out of my dream. I didn't know, at that very moment, which was worse... the thought of climbing out of a toasty warm bed... or... the fact that I wasn't going to play baseball today... because there was no baseball where I was... a little border town in North-East Poland.

1998
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Baseball

Finish Baseball?

Not in Finland! Baseball is so popular among the Finns that nearly 10% of the Finnish population are active participants in the game. All schoolchildren learn to play baseball at school. Thousands of boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 19 participate in organized baseball leading to an annual championship. The Finnish National Baseball Association is among the largest sports federations in Finland, with over 60,000 active athletes. At schools throughout the country it is the most popular game among girls.

1998
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Baseball

Stanley Frank Musial, Take Me Out To The Ballgame

"Here stands baseball's perfect warrior, here stands baseball's perfect knight". These are the words inscribed on the monument dedicated to Stanley Frank Musial by the people of St. Louis. It may seem strange at first to describe a baseball player as a warrior or knight; however, if we think of baseball players in a "jousting" context, we might appreciate the inscription.

1998
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Baseball

Baseball's Return to Poland

For many years the assumption was made that baseball was derived from the British game of cricket. Today however, sport historians are re-evaluating this claim. Recent historical discoveries point to the fact that baseball resembles more the game brought to America by the early Polish settlers of Jamestown, Virginia (1609) known as "pilka palantowa". Zbigniew Stefanski in his "Pamietnik Handlowca" ("An Industrialist's Memoirs") of 1625, gives the facts of the Polish game and even names some of its players.

1998
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Baseball

Reminiscences of Little League Alumni

Through its half century, Little League Baseball has been a thread that sews together the lives and memories of many people. It is a common tie, a conversation-starter, a shared tapestry of experience that stretches across the years. People meet in boardrooms and offices, in schools and universities, in clubs and restaurants, on golf courses and playing fields - and the time of Little League Baseball often comes back in a rush.

1998
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Baseball