Little League Memories

[Enrico Pallazzo]

I know this isn't exactly spring training related, but I've reached my Josh Hamilton post limit for the week. But every spring makes me nostalgic for the good old days of Little League (not in a Michael Jackson kind of way.) Some of my favorite memories:
-When the best player forgot his glove and the coach made a scrub give up his.
-The dad who argues with the ump and gets thrown out of a freakin Little League game.
-The look on the coaches face when a lefty came up and he realizes he has the crappy kid playing right field.
-The pitcher who hits puberty before everyone else and is blowing hitters away.
-putting on your first cup
-the coach who's chain-smoking in the dugout
-the kid hitting .180 who goes out and buys gloves, a new bat, cleats...and still sucks
-the crappy player who gets his only hit all year and the place goes nuts

What's some of yours?

[WMR]

I remember in the playoffs coming around third base and absolutely creaming the catcher on a play at home to score the winning run. It was sweet.

[jojo]

I once drilled a kid three times in the same game.....

[RollyInRaleigh]

I remember in the playoffs coming around third base and absolutely creaming the catcher on a play at home to score the winning run. It was sweet.

Those were the days. You can't do that anymore in Little League. No slide and you're out.

[Yachtzee]

Those were the days. You can't do that anymore in Little League. No slide and you're out.

Ironically, when I was a kid, I tried sliding between the catcher's legs once and he fell right on top of my shins, severely bruising them to the point where I had to sit out the last 2 weeks of the season. The doctor was concerned that another contusion to the legs before they healed would cause permanent damage the the blood vessels in my legs. So if there's a no slide=out rule, is there also a no blocking the plate rule?

[WMR]

Ironically, when I was a kid, I tried sliding between the catcher's legs once and he fell right on top of my shins, severely bruising them to the point where I had to sit out the last 2 weeks of the season. The doctor was concerned that another contusion to the legs before they healed would cause permanent damage the the blood vessels in my legs. So if there's a no slide=out rule, is there also a no blocking the plate rule?

Yachtzee: "Mama said they was my magic legs."

[redsmetz]

I played one year of Little League because I had asthma and this was before inhalers. I was the proverbial kid in right field. I got on base once thanks to the catcher missing the third strike. Somehow I got to third base where my younger brother was playing for Squeak's Barber Shop (I was on the VFW team, their bad year). The team that was extremely good, a year ahead of us was the UDF team (they'd all be the VFW team the year before). Len Matuszek played for that UDF team - they were some thumpers for being 11 and 12 years old. These were teams in Deer Park and Silverton.

The PeeWee teams were all sponsored by Rutterer's Pharmacy and the teams were the color of their tshirts: the Maroons, the Golds, the Reds, the Greens, the Navy Blues, the Royal Blues, etc.

There's a great chapter from Shirley Jackson's book Raising Demons titled "braves 10, giants 9" (lower case correct) about little league baseball back in the 50's and 60's that really captures the spirit of little town games.

[Highlifeman21]

My two favorite little league memories were my 8th grade year before HS ball..

Memory 1:

If any of you have been to the HS field at Indian Hill, you'll be able to easily follow along....

I'm playing RF after pitching 5 IP of 1 run ball with 9 Ks and 7 BB (yeah, I had a control problem). There's a guy on 1B with 1 out, lefty at the plate and I'm shaded towards the line. He hits this rope over our 1B, and at the crack of the bat I have it in my mind the kid on 1B is not goin to 3B on my watch. As I get to the ball, I collect it and unleash this laser beam towards 3B. The ball probably never got more than 8 or 9 ft off the ground outta my right hand. The only problem was that it never came down. I threw it into the parking lot down the LF line at the ballfield and hit a Mercedes Benz directly in the windshield and broke it. The runner got home, the batter got 2B.

We ended up thankfully winning in extra frames.

Memory 2:

We were playing in some sorta double elimination Tourney at the Crosley replica at the park in Blue Ash.

I'm at the plate, 3-1 count, and the pitcher tries to sneak a fastball by me on the outside corner and I hit this rope into the gap in RF.

Outta the box, I have my mind set on 3B, but as I'm coming around 2B, I see the 3B coach giving me the Wendell Kim. I'm on my way home!

Relay from the RF comes into the 1B, who sends it to the plate, and as the ball is on the way I get to the Catcher about the same time as the ball and knock him and me silly.

I remember my left shoulder hitting him squarely in the chest and both of us going our separate ways.

I had to almost crawl to touch the plate after the collision.

We lost that game, but wow did I hit that kid hard.

[Yachtzee]

Yachtzee: "Mama said they was my magic legs."

"Forrest Gump" right? I saw that movie in German, so all I can think of for that line is "Zauberstiefeln."

The worst thing about the leg bruises was that I didn't get to play in the playoff game. I wouldn't get another chance at the playoffs until my last season of organized ball.

My worst memory: Any time someone took one to the groin. I remember when our third baseman took a line drive or one-hopper to the groin and wasn't wearing a cup. He was in the hospital for a few days. Still makes me ill just thinking of it. A few years later I took a one-hopper two inches away from my cup and still had to spend the game laying on a picnic table with a bag of ice on my crotch.

Best memory: Playing second base and turning two. I loved taking the flip, pivoting (or better yet jumping up) and firing to first.

Other memories:

Catching a game and ending up with dirt in every nook and cranny and a chest-protector shaped sweat stain.
The smell of fresh-cut grass mixed with the dusty smell of an infield that has just been drug.
Having to run "foul-pole to foul-pole" in practice.
Picking rocks out of the infield at the place where the "B" games where held.
The feel of hitting the ball right on the sweet spot.
The sting of hitting the ball not on the sweet spot.
The annoyance of coming up with the bases loaded only to realize that all the good helmets were taken and you had to wear the one that was 3 sizes too big an always falls down over your eyes whenever you take a swing.
Or worse, having to wear the helmet after the sweatiest kid on the team just used it.
Riding your bike across town in your uniform for the next game, with your glove hanging from the handlebars.
DQ after the game - Favorite treats: Peanut Buster Parfait if we won, Chocolate dipped cone if we lost.
End of the season pizza party

[George Anderson]

Those were the days. You can't do that anymore in Little League. No slide and you're out.

And if the umpire ruled the runner was guilty of malicious contact against the catcher, the runner would be ejected.

[redsmetz]

Talk about control problems - my brother-in-law pitched a no-hitter when he was about 9 or 10. It wasn't a big town, so the daily paper carried stories of the little league games. The headline read "Neuner Pitches No-Hitter" with the sub headline "marred by 9 walks". He carried that around in his wallet until he was about 40. I think he took it out after showing it to his second wife and she commented, "oh, I was born about a week after that". Ouch!

[fargo55]

The last summer before High School seems to be memorable for more than one of us. We were playing the Morehead Morons (our name for them) on a Saturday afternoon at our beloved home-field, named after Fargo's own.....Roger Maris. An evening game, played under the dome of mosquitoes. That field was a virtual blood-bank for the little parasites. Our Fargo squad, the Yankees to us, and Fargo Farts to them played each other regularly. Small population in North Dakota. Did you know, North Dakota is the only state in the U.S. to have less population today, than before WWII? Anyway, we played them often and no team could lay claim to any level of superiority. My own belief, we'd have won the season's match-up 6-4, had we kept better track of our equipment.

With a strong showing of parental support on both sides, we remained tied in the 6th. Between innings, my catcher (I pitched that day) got into an argument with his Mother. She was the wife of a well-known local criminal who was doing time in Bismark. The catcher's Mom believed her son to be calling for too many off-speed pitches, and he stood his ground. In retrospect, I think they might have both been right. My fast-ball looked off-speed. The arguing continued into the 7th and as he took his place behind the plate, you could still hear them both. About 2 batters into the inning, I turned to check the guy on 2nd. When I looked back to Home-Plate, the two were in a full scale brawl. Catcher and Mom. The Umpire wisely stepped back and I foolishly tried to break them up. I should've known, not a single parent dared to get up or say a word. By the time it was over, I'd given up several hits to her, as did my catcher. She finished it off by dragging him to their "64" Impala and he was gone. So was our catcher's equipment and our spirit. The guy on 2nd had scored during the melee, and our effort in the bottom of the 7th was less than enthusiastic. Thank you for allowing me to share what has now become a regular discussion between my Brother and me.

[BigREDSfaninKY]

My Little League memory was hitting my only home run off our league's best pitcher. I hit into a fielders choice in my first AB. Then doubled off the center field fence in my second AB. And then finally, with my cousin catching at that moment, hearing him saying to me "I know you can't do that again". To which I replied under my breath, "just make contact". He threw a first pitch fastball right down broadway, and swung and deposited over the left center field wall. It was also the only HR he gave up in his LL career. But it was my "greatest moment".

[MartyFan]

My Little League Memories

- The smell of the oil on the dirt
- Being named to the league All Star team at SS
- Winning MVP of the All Star Game for starting a triple play and hitting a HR
- Joe D_____ Always played a shallow RF and the ball would always go over his head...he'd start running back for the ball, knock his hat off his head and then make a diving catch like he played CF in St. Louis!
- Going swimming after the games with my team.
- My grandfather would come to every game.

Nostalgic good times.

Thanks for the jolt!

[Enrico Pallazzo]

my own personal story: I never pitched and hated it, but one day we were short on pitchers and coach stuck me in there (it was probably a blowout loss). Anyway I proceeded to walk the first guy on four pitches and promptly surrendered a double to the next guy.

Now I'm looking into dugout practically begging the coach to pull me. He doesn't move. I turn back to home plate and lo and behold up steps this jerk from school. So I think, "the hell with this, as long as I'm in here I'm having some fun."

So I aim the first one inside and absolutely drill this kid in the back. I'm not kidding, he went straight to his knees.

My coach leaps out of the dugout and practically sprints to the mound. I hand him the ball and he says two words, "Never Again."

Ten years later I would watch Jerry Narron say the same words to Rick White.