Little League?

Another interesting trend story, one which I would have written by now if I were still writing, is your area's divide, if there is one, between Williamsport-affiliated and independent Little Leagues. And why.

I mean, we're 60 miles from South Williamsport, and only about 50 percent of our 40-some local leagues are affiliated.

 

I worked at a weekly which covered Little League in that county. We generally did a photo front for Little League opening day (maybe a feature if there was a decent story to be had there), and then we'd usually do some kind of weekly photo/caption short weekly until tournament time. We'd then follow the teams that made states, as we usually had 2-3 each year that did. One year, we had the state tournament for an age group come to us, so we did features on the work the county did to improve the ball fields, the economic impact of the tournament coming to the county and on the local team in it. For the teams that made states, we did updates online and wrote stories about those. It wasn't difficult work, really, and having general assignment duties in addition to sports, LL was a lot better than being in a four hour council meeting.

We would also do something similar for the local swim team. We'd do a season preview of the team, take photos at the home meets, which were held within shouting distance of our office and run the results.

Between that, Legion ball, and the occasional outdoor sports feature, that took care of the two months between the end of the spring sports season (mid-June with track and baseball teams regularly getting to regions/states) and the beginning of football and other fall sports practices in early August.

 

We may be talking about the same thing, but Little League vs. Cal Ripken ball as well. The league here wanted some adjustments in boundaries that Little League didn't want to make, so they switched affiliations to Ripken and are quite happy.

Another town I worked in, a group broke away from an indie league to form a Little League-affiliated league. The city rec director would tell me horror stories about trying to mediate the dispute. He finally scheduled each league in different parts of town. The opening day parades were even scheduled on different routes.

 

I hear you guys say all of the time that "no one cares" about local Little League.

I disagree. In the community I live in, there is a great interest in local activities, especially youth stuff. Not everyone gives a shit, but there is some community pride.

Don't sell it short. Just saying.

 

Oh, trust me, they care about youth baseball in my town, a lot. Baseball is a big deal here, all the way through college. But we're also a 4-man staff that has a ton of other things to cover (D-1, jucos and preps), that we can't give the younger kids more coverage than we already do.

FWIW, the major youth association here is Dixie Baseball, by far. We have a few outposts for Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth, and a couple of miniscule Little League associations.

 

The thing about Little League coverage, or lack of same, is that many writers think they're above it. Which is different than albert's situation, where there just isn't enough manpower.

 

Just coached my first Little League game, instructional division.

I expect a full write-up with a box. Now!

 

Maybe I'm thinking like an upper manager, but all those youth baseball/softball parents and soccer moms are potential readers. Of course, the biggest PITA is getting the leagues to submit info beyond signups and board meeting dates. A lot of them have their own Web presence and I do see some highlights on our Facebook feed.

Then there's all-star season. Funny how many teams will email us the team photos and the announcements for the carwash that'll finance the trip to regionals, but suddenly lose the address and phone no. after going two and barbecue.

 

If your area teams aren't Williamsport-affiliated, they're not part of Little League as Little League® is a registered trademark and the Wiliamsport organization was granted a Federal Charter on July 16, 1964, by unanimous act of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States of America and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as Public Law 88-378, 88th Congress H.R. 9234, and amended December 26, 1974, Public Law 93-551, 93rd Congress, H.R. 8864.

PONY (which is an acronym for Protect Our Nation's Youth) and Babe Ruth Baseball (of which Cal Ripken is their 9-12-year-old division) are the two largest rival organizations to Little League®. Calling the non-affiliated teams Little League is like identifying Puffs or Scott tissues as Kleenex®. Little League® is very protective of their logos and trademarks and don't be surprised if you receive a cease and desist letter from them if you incorrectly call your local non-Williamsport-affiliated youth baseball group as Little League®.

 

Not a lot of Dixie baseball here in upstate New York.

 

At my previous shop, we ran whatever the city league submitted and invited others to join in. They didn't. It was level, score, who pitched and offensive stats in a non-text/infobox type font to make it small enough to fit. That was weekly and it went inside the section.

We also had a photo rule: We ran your team photo once in a summer. What was great was the local pro photographer sent us images, had the coaches fill out who was where and the coaches sent in the slip. Sometimes a coach failed to do that, and we caught a call about it, but it was a quick explanation of what happened. Photo rule also went inside the section.

We shot action of the postseason tournaments, and ran those results, too, sometimes on the front of sports.

My current shop doesn't have as well of an organized youth baseball/softball program. I'd like to open the door for those teams, plus youth soccer (big here), to our weekly Recreation page that's run in our weekend edition. At least the team photos.

Sad state: because of the small papers I've worked at, and the cuts we've all seen and felt, I've felt more obligated to help do my part to sell a few more papers for the scrapbooks than before. Trying to do what I can to feed the family.