Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball - (2nd) 2nd Edition by Lance Van Auken & Robin Van Auken (Paperback)

About the Book

"Play Ball!" highlights Williamsport, Pennsylvania--the birthplace of Little League Baseball and its father, Carl E. Stotz. First-time visitors to Williamsport, Pennsylvania-- the birthplace of Little League Baseball-- may be surprised to find two shrines to Little League. There's a Carl E. Stotz Field in Williamsport and a Howard J. Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport. "Why two?" some might ask. "And which is the "real" home of Little League Baseball?" At first glance, these are easy questions to answer. Carl E. Stotz Field is near the site of Little League's founding, but it is no longer Little League's home. Lamade Stadium, part of the Little League Baseball International Headquarters complex and home of Little League since 1959, is where the Little League baseball World Series is played every year. For this reason it is the place most people think of when they thing of Little League. But behind these simple answers lies a much more fascinating and complicated story, one that still has deep reverberations in the Williamsport community, and one that will undoubtedly surprise many fans of Little League. That is the story that's told in this book.

Book Synopsis

On any given spring evening, 360,000 children around the world can be found on the dusty mounds and grassy fields of a Little League field. With more than four million people playing or volunteering in Little League games every year, Little League is the institutional rite of passage into the quintessential American pastime.

Play Ball! charts Little League's history from the earliest days and shows how, in many respects, its history parallels America's history: isolation in the beginning; rapid expansion; a civil war of sorts, followed by reconstruction; struggles over civil rights and gender equity; and foreign entanglements. A microcosm of American society, Little League reflects, and is affected by, cultural, political and historical trends.

The authors were given full access to the Little League Baseball archives and have created a comprehensive history. Play Ball! contains appendixes including winners of all Little League Baseball and Softball World Series, a year-by-year history of Little League, countries in Little League, and lists of some of the famous people who played the game as children, including Kevin Costner, Mark McGwire, and George W. Bush. Includes new chapter on John Grisham's movie, "Mickey," the Danny Almonte scandal, Tee Ball on the South Lawn, Pitch Counts and Arm Injuries, Child Protection Act, ESPN and the new World of Little League Museum.Play Ball! will interest parents, former players and coaches, fans of Little League Baseball, general baseball enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever picked up a ball and bat.

Review Quotes

From Library Journal

Do you know that George W. was a Little Leaguer? More to the point, humorist Dave Barry is also a graduate of Little League, and he writes an amusing introduction to a solid book about this American institution. Little League has now been around for more than half a century, and this new history fills a gap in library collections that often focus solely on major league baseball history. This well-illustrated, popularly written account should be on the shelves of every library that serves a community with a Little League team.

Play Ball! is a delightful walk down the storied history of Little League Baseball. For those of us who played the dreams of your youth, it brings back mighty memories. For those of us reluctant adults who still dream, it's a wonderful reminder of what might have been." John Grisham, bestselling author