The Little League That Could

Wearing borrowed uniforms, practicing on obscure college campuses, and led by a former Marine Corps W.W. II fighter ace as commissioner, the American Football League (AFL) debuted in the Fall of 1960 to challenge the monopoly of the well-established National Football League. Within ten years it had won two Super Bowls and had forced a merger with its rival, splitting the NFL into the National and American Football Conferences. This colorful history of the AFL and its unforgettable cast of characters, from Billy Cannon to Joe Namath to its "Foolish Club" of team owners, arrives on the 50th anniversary of the AFL's first season to recount the startling success of an upstart league that prevailed against long odds.

The Little League World Series is within reach Two weeks of intense competition remain to decide the final teams for the Little League World Series. This year, the anticipation is high as it's possible that both of the previous final two teams will return, a very rare occurrence. And those are the teams Carter and Liam now play for! These two players, one from each team, are thinking the same thought: How can I play against my best friend? Join Liam and Carter as they work their way to the Little League World Series in this thrilling series.

Long before the first Little League game was ever played in 1939, a little boy stood on a sand lot impatiently waiting for his turn at bat. Would the pitcher ever strike out that last batter? As he stood there he dreamed, wouldn't it be great if we could have uniforms & a stadium just like the big leaguers? He could almost hear the crowds cheer as he envisioned a home run over the center field fence. That dream stayed locked away until one warm summer afternoon when Carl Stotz was playing catch with his two nephews. He made them a promise, the promise that grew to become one of America's best known & most enduring institutions, Little League baseball. Though there are others who have claimed to be co-founders, the concept, the first baseball diamond for boys, their uniforms, & the right ball all originated with Carl Stotz. He made the rules, found the money, & organized his friends to form the first Little League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Filled with his favorite stories & photos of the early years, this is Carl's story. This is the story of how Little League came to be, by the man who started it all. To order: Zebrowski Publishing Company, RR 1, Box 400, Jersey Shore, PA 17740, or call 1-800-753-3727.

It's an all star showdown... The journey to the Little League Baseball® World Series continues! The Forest Park All-Star teammates are moving on to Sectionals competition. Carter Jones leads the charge with a devastating pitch that leaves batters blinking in confusion. Forest Park looks unstoppable--until a long-held grudge threatens to break apart the team and end its postseason journey. Catcher Liam McGrath, Carter's cousin, knows all about grudges. But if he's going to succeed on his California All-Star team, he has to put them aside and work together with a rival-turned-teammate. Do they have what it takes to make it to the Little League Baseball® World Series? © 2013 Little League Baseball, Incorporated.

In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars. Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, where they win titles at the local, regional, and international levels. The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when the team made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years and brought home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy. In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly illuminates the sometimes tense relationship between Toms River and the team that carries the town's hopes and dreams. Following the most recent juggernaut through one tumultuous All-Star season, Kreidler chronicles how the coach, John Puleo, works to strike a balance between healthy competition and bloodless ambition, and how the players themselves reckon with their own fleeting fame as they tumble headlong into adolescence. Puleo, a man with a gift for inspiring young athletes, commands a team whose recent string of successes has led to speculation that this might be the squad to extend the Toms River tradition of reaching Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series. But along the path to glory, Puleo's players will deal with unexpected injuries, a brutally difficult schedule of games, and the daunting knowledge that they have been identified throughout their region—and within the neighborhood blocks of their own baseball-crazy town—as the team to beat. With deep empathy, incisive reporting, and intimate access, Kreidler weaves the stories of the coaches, the parents, the fans, and the true boys of summer into a memorable tableau.

It's the biggest game of their lives--and only one can win Liam and Carter's teams are on the verge of winning the greatest championship of all: the Little League Baseball World Series. Cousins and best friends who grew up playing baseball together, Liam and Carter must now play against each other to achieve their dreams of winning the Series title! One cousin will win, and the other will lose.

Bestselling History of Little League Baseball and the Little League Baseball World Series.

Eleven-year-old cousins who are closer than most brothers, catcher Liam McCarthy and pitcher Carter Jones grew up playing baseball together. Now, their team is on the verge of winning the greatest championship of all: the Little League Baseball World

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist follows an embattled Little League team in inner-city Newark, revealing the complex realities of life in one of America's most dangerous cities.

When the eleven- and twelve-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA All-Star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision course with segregation, bigotry, and the southern way of life. White teams refused to take the field with the Cannon Street All-Stars, the first Black Little League team in South Carolina. The Cannon Street team won the tournament by forfeit and advanced to the state tournament. When all the white teams withdrew in protest, the Cannon Street team won the state tournament. If the team had won the regional tournament in Rome, Georgia, it would have advanced to the Little League World Series. But Little League officials ruled the team ineligible to play in the tournament because it had advanced by winning on forfeit and not on the field, denying the boys their dream of playing in the Little League World Series. Little League Baseball invited the Cannon Street All-Stars to be the organization's guests at the World Series, where they heard spectators yell, "Let them play! Let them play!" when the ballplayers were introduced. This became a national story for a few weeks but then faded and disappeared as Americans read of other civil rights stories, including the torture and murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till. Stolen Dreams is the story of the Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars and of the early civil rights movement. It's also the story of centuries of bigotry in Charleston, South Carolina--where millions of enslaved people were brought to this country and where the Civil War began, where segregation remained for a century after the war ended and anyone who challenged it did so at their own risk.