Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Play Ball


World of Little League
Peter J. McGovern Museum and Official Store
525 U.S. 15
South Williamsport, PA 17702
GPS: 41.228506, -76.982005

Howard J. Lamade Stadium
Borderline Rd
South Williamsport, PA 17702
GPS: 41.230152, -76.980481

All three of our grandsons – Andrew, Joshua, Benjamin – are into baseball. Joshua is the most intent. Andrew second, his first love is still soccer. Ben is still a bit young. Joshua and Andrew play on real "Little League" teams but I don't think they fully comprehend the scope of that name and the meaning of the Little League World Series. Michelle and I attended one of the World Series games in person back in June. The boys watched some of those games on TV at home in Denver.

That said, we eagerly anticipated today's adventure. The World of Little League complex is about twenty miles north of our work site at Yogi at Shangri–La RV Park. After breakfast, we all piled into the car and headed off to South Williamsport.

The parking lot off the highway is very small and you cannot see the stadium as you park and exit your car. We pulled in and the boys noisily piled out of the car. As they walked to the rail and saw the stadium for the first time, there was a collective gasp of awe and silence.

Howard J. Lamade Stadium

The stadium is open and walkable, so Adam, Amy, and the boys spent an hour wandering through the facility. They paused for pictures near the scoreboard with the statue of "Casey at the Bat"


That got me to thinking about the once famous poem and I resolved to do some research and refresh my memory on this bit of Americana.

Little League Baseball was founded in 1938 by Carl E. Stotz, so a picture at his statue seemed appropriate.


From the stadium, we moved the couple hundred yards down the highway to the museum and store.



I enjoy museums and I make a real effort to learn something at every one I visit. Here I was impressed with how much research has been done by the Little League organization to "resize" the game to fit young people and to make the game safer. I was also impressed with the exhibit of famous people from all fields of endeavor who played Little League Baseball in their youth.

The boys had fun with the interactive exhibits that tested ...

...running...


...jumping...


...catching...


...fielding agility...


As with all museums – "Exit through the Gift Shop". We spent some time and bucks here.


It was a good day, enjoyed by all. I'm happy we got to share this bit of American culture that lays in north–central Pennsylvania with our family.

1 comment:

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