Little League World Series Champions, Lake Mary, Florida. PHOTO: LAKE MARY LITTLE LEAGUE
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His name is Teraj Anderson. In his yellow and black uniform, he somehow reminds us of Smoky Burgess, the chubby catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they defeated the New York Yankees in 1960. World Series. He is a 12-year-old African-American bullpen and backup catcher batting ninth for the 2024 Williamsport Little League Championship team from Lake Mary, Florida. He stole home plate with the decisive run in his team’s 10-7 victory over Texas in the American Championship game on Saturday.
Teraj credits his teammates’ unity as the key to victory. He says his three favorite baseball players are, in that order, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. His team manager, Johnathan Anderson (no relation), assured the Lake Mary Little Leaguers of a win when he spoke in the dugout during the closing stages of their 2-1 eighth-inning, walk-off, extra-inning victory over Chinese Taipei on Sunday night.
Jonathan Anderson, speaking in the dugout to his Little Leaguers, said that a man prayed for him earlier in the week and then told Anderson’s father that God had already written the Florida team’s victory in his book. Anderson explained, “It’s already written.” Now all they had to do was go out and play the rest of the game and experience it. In his postgame interview, he said they simply believed and did what they were created to do.
This 2024 Williamsport Series has once again proven why it is probably the best American sporting event of the year. Thirty-eight games will be played over 12 days from August 14-25. Twenty teams of boys ages 11-13 will travel to central Pennsylvania from as far away as Australia and the Czech Republic to compete in the remake of the summer classic.
The Australians provided the first triplets to play for the same team in Williamsport, as well as the only girl to appear there this year, the 23rd young lady in the 40 years they have been allowed to participate. The Czech team brought a 12-year-old Ukrainian refugee for the second year in a row. Other internationalThe countries represented in the region that met were Aruba, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Japan, Mexico and Venezuela.
Puerto Rico was the automatic international regional representative this year, which rotates each year with the Dominican Republic and Panama. The ten international teams played concurrently with the ten United States regional representatives and competed with each other. The international and American survivors eventually met for the championship game.
The tournament format is double elimination, meaning that if you lose a second game you’re out. As a result, the second attempt was very dramatic, with Venezuela eliminating Aruba and Mexico sending Cuba home, both with walk-off wins. Cuba was a story in its own right, as it was only the second time it had played in Williamsport.
Baseball and Diplomacy
Due to the current poor diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, families and friends of the Cuban players were unable to obtain travel visas to cheer on their team this year. The State Department under Biden and Harris, led by Deputy Secretary Richard Verma, who himself played in the Williamsport Little League in 1981, made a strong effort to bring the Cuban team here while trying to restore the baseball cooperation with Cuba spearheaded by President Obama.
Towards the end of his presidency, Obama traveled to Cuba with Raúl Castro to attend the special game between the Cuban All-Star team and the Tampa Bay Rays. The game was played in the stadium where Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers did part of their 1947 spring training. The reason: In the run-up to the first year of baseball integration, they received death threats if they came to Florida.
Under Obama, Cubans were allowed to play in the US major leagues for the first time without having to defect. The Trump administration has effectively lifted this rule and other restrictions on Cuba.
Only one Cuban parent, who happens to live in the United States, was present this year to see his son play. One of the highlights of Williamsport each year is the enthusiastic support and chants from the stands of family and friends for their favorite team. In addition to the normal English coverage from the stands, theThere are interpreted interviews and features with the thoughts and reactions of Spanish-speaking fans.
The presence of their parents, brothers, sisters and extended family members cheering them on often seems to be the catalyst for a team’s victory. This year, Cuba had no such support. The Mexican Little League team, on the other hand, had dozens of fans in the stands as they pulled out the win on their last at-bat and eliminated Cuba.
Little League games can be just as exciting as those in the Major Leagues, as was the case in one of the recent international playoffs. Venezuela defeated Japan to reach the finals with a single run in the last inning.
Some of the major league players themselves were present in Williamsport. For the eighth time, the big boys came, as has now become a tradition, to play a game at the local minor league stadium on the first Sunday night of the tournament, August 18. It was Yankees versus Tigers. Yankee hitter Aaron Judge, who had already hit 52 home runs this year, was mobbed by the children as soon as he got off the team bus from the airport.
The media highlight of the two weeks was the interview of 14-year-old African-American journalist Pepper Persley with Judge on the bus as part of the ESPN2 Kid’s Telecast. Before the Major League broadcast, Judge’s adoptive parents were honored as George and Barbara Bush Little League Parents of the Year for their support of their son throughout the entire time. his youth as a baseball player.
The championship game proved to be one of the most exciting of all time, going six innings over regulation time after the end of the eighth inning. Little League rules require that there is automatically a runner on second base at the start of the eighth inning. A 1-1 game marked by spectacular pitching and defense, with both teams leaving the bases loaded several times, ended with Chinese Taipei’s only lapse in patience and perseverance in all its games.
With the automatic runner on second base in the eighth inning, Florida hit a bunt on the first pitch. The first baseman came in, but the pitcher caught the ball in his glove and threw it to the newly vacated first base. The ball sailed into right field and the winning run was scored by second base.
The natural celebration of the Lake Mary players and coaches was preceded by a remarkable display of sportsmanship and compassion as they hugged, held and comforted the distressed and crying Chinese team. This wasThis is the image that will remain from this year’s Williamsport Little League World Series.