SPORTS
Everybody
Plays in This
Little League
By DON AMES
Manager, Kankakee, III., Little league
Here's how
Kankakee, III,
has confounded
the critics of
organized
baseball for
youngsters
Kankakee team won second-place laurels last year. Don James is at right.
KANKAKEE ORGANIZED its Little
League in 1950 and went to the
World Series that first season.
We've been there twice since, finishing second
last year. What's more, we've never been elimi
nated in any of the early rounds, even in Illinois
state competition.
I understand this is one of the best records in
Little League history, and we're especially proud
of it because all these teams have come from just
one section of Kankakee that has a population of
less than 14,000.
But because of our success, we're probably a
prime target for some of the criticism that has
been leveled at the Little League prograrti. That's
why I'm writing this article; it's about time we
cleared up a few misconceptions.
Most of the criticism centers on two issues:
(1) that only good players get to play and (2)
that there's too much emphasis on winning. The
fact is these overpublicized conditions are not
common. They certainly don't apply to Kanka
kee or any other well-run Little League.
In Kankakee, any boy who wants to play gets
to play. We simply form more teams and more
leagues until every boy has a spot. We recruit
every eligible boy in our section of town, and
- we go out of our way to do it.
Each spring, The Kankakee Journal and the
local radio stations publicize preseason tryouts.
We also make speeches at schools, encouraging
the boys to show up. Even then some are too shy
or, worse, too poor to attempt it. When we hear
of such cases, we visit the families and try to
relieve their fears.
Two of our best players were in such circum
stances. One came to tryouts, created a sensation,
then disappeared. We found out that he got
scared when he heard he'd need a glove and base
ball shoes the only equipment the boys are re
quired to furnish. Another boy played half the
season before we learned he was using a bor
rowed glove. Well, we saw that both got equip
ment of their own.
After recruiting as many boys as we can, the
next step is leveling out the talent. This is im
portant because it destroys a boy's confidence
to be in a league where the level of talent is much
greater or much less than his own.
Little League rules limit the number of teams
in an official league, and the best players com
pete in this league. But we form unofficial "minor
leagues" until each boy is placed.
The Junior Chamber of Commerce operates our
league; local business and industrial firms spon
sor individual teams; and our park district do
nates the playing fields. But three more areas
need strict attention to create ideal playing con
ditions parents, umpires, and managers.
THE parents are probably most controversial.
We've had a winning tradition in our league,
so it's no real problem. But I know of one case
where a father of a player socked a manager,
and sometimes mothers can be even worse. One
starts razzing a boy because he drops a throw
from her Johnny, and the other mother has to
defend her son. Soon everybody is taking sides,
and you've opened a real can of worms.
In our league, the veteran spectators usually
stop that nonsense at the start. But if they don't,
we halt the game and explain as nicely as we-can
that we won't tolerate it. If the boys can behave
themselves, so can the parents)
Umpires are an underrated element. We hire
umpires from the state high-school association
for all "major-league" games, and we give them
complete charge. But since we operate so many
leagues, we have to use other people in our
"minor leagues." By far the best qualified are
high-school baseball players. They know the game
thoroughly, and the Little Leaguers respect them
because they're local heroes. Also, the high-school
boys are so enthusiastic about the game that they
often stop to explain to a youngster why they
made a call against him.
Managers like myself like to work with boys.
But this is incidental; the important thing
is the attitude we bring to the work. Do we, as our
critics claim, put too much emphasis on winning,
or do we try to encourage the boys to enjoy base
ball and let their talent do the rest?
In Kankakee, I know the latter is the case.
Certainly we're not opposed to winning our rec
ord proves that. But primarily we teach a boy not
how to win but how to play. As his confidence
grows, his talent develops. And the most talented
of all ultimately rise to the top. It's boys like
these that we've sent to three World Series.
I wish our critics could have stood alongside
me last year during the final World Series game
at Williamsport, Pa., and watched those cocky
little kids of ours peppering the ball around the
infield and shouting encouragement to one an
other. If the critics had been there, they would
have thought as I did. Only a year or so before,
some of those youngsters had been scared little
boys who weren't even sure they could make their
neighborhood team and here they were playing
for a world championship!
Well, we lost that game, but we'll be back. And
some year we'll win it all. If we do, it won't be
because we taught our boys fear but because we
gave them confidence. I wish every American boy
could be taught that before he's 12.
COVER:
grit and determination could make home
runs, this youngster, photographed by Glen
Fishback, would knock the ball out of the
park every time. For a new look at Little
League baseball, read the feature above.
JFamily
Weekly
I
Augutt IS. 1963
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