Little League, Big Dreams: The Hope, the Hype and the Glory of the Greatest World Series Ever Played

This will be a perfect book for my little brother, who loved baseball so much when we were kids that he decided to up and move to Cooperstown soon as he got himself mobile. Maybe if he had read it back then, he would have change dhis mind and moved on down to Williamsport, PA, the city that by some freak chance became the site of the annual Little League World Series. Charles Euchner paints the area in lavish descriptive terms, nestled in the shadow of the Alleghenies and with a beautifully preserved old downtown area, though one that's sadly underpopulated due to increased globalism and outsourcing of manufacturing and sales. No wonder the populace are all so into their annual event which draws hundred of thousands of spectators. Euchner describes the origins of Little League and takes us to a meeting of the very first Little Leaguers at a local restaurant where the oldtimers gather every year to eat and swap stories about working with the original inventor, Carl Stotz. He's an interesting reporter, though sometimes annoyingly vague: "Newsreels produced by the maker of the classic film 'Lost Horizon' carried an account of the second tournament in 1948." Does this mean that Frank Capra filmed the newsreel? If not Capra, then who? There's nowhere to turn because the book hasn't been footnoted. Euchner makes an impassioned plea to dismantle the Little League by showing how it has turned a generation of kids into little monsters who live for the camera and don't care about moral issues like steroids. Based on the deep sampling of kids interviewed, they think steroid use is cool. Anabolic steroids helps players do better and get on TV more, that's the bottom line. There are no child stars, and yet Little League coaches and parents put such pressure on the kids that they wreck their arms before they reach puberty. It's a grim story of greed and ambition, and yet, by the end, you'll be waving your ball flag high.

This is an excellent book on the inner happenings of Little League Baseball. I really enjoyed the candid assesments of how parents and managers go overboard. The book though is not a bashing of the little league faults - it gives inside looks at what happens at williamsport and the teams...I really enjoyed the stories about the ugly rivalry between California and Florida and how Dante Bichette Sr. got out of control - also the stories about Curacao and Japan and how serious they take the game - the stories about the pitcher's not resting their arms and getting major injuries is a wake up... Finally, the story centers on Hawaii and how they built their team swithcing from Pony to Little League - and how they practiced so hard - 6 days a week! Great stories about Little league baseball and how Travel teams are so much better and talented (cooperstown baseball)... if you enjoy youth baseball - you'll love this book