Watching baseball from Williamsport brings back memories

A balky back had me spending copious amounts of time on the couch this week. That was not a totally bad thing necessarily, as I watched the Little League World Series action from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.It was fun watching kids play the game that has been a major part of my life. Many things stood out to me in the games I took in and some made me think of my own Little League days. I'll start with current situations before I head down memory lane.You have probably seen where the players are asked to name their favorite food, actor or player. One young man said sushi was his favorite food. That made me think of the old Terry Bradshaw commercials and I tend to share his view of sushi. But each to his own.There were three little leaguers who named their favorite player that grabbed my attention. These three athletes are no longer playing and I doubt if they were still playing when these youngsters were born. Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn and Bo Jackson were the former big league stars cited and that surprised me. Had I been asked the same question some 60 years ago, my mind would have been drawn to my favorite Cleveland Indian currently playing. Rocky Colavito comes to mind.There is a girl playing in this year's tournament and Stella Weaver has made her mark. She had three hits (the most ever by a female) as of Tuesday and was impressive. She wants to work for MLB some day. One of her teammates wants to be a MLB umpire. I trust he understands the job is frequently thankless.Did you see the home run hit by Chinese Taipei's Fan Chen-Jun. That may be the hardest hit baseball I've ever seen – at any level. His pitching has been outstanding and he throws harder than perhaps any Little Leaguer I've ever seen. It's interesting to note that Taipei shouldn't have been in Williamsport. They lost to a South Korean team that was denied the trip by virtue of having a player that was added to their roster in violation of Little League Rules.Kind of makes you wonder what the Korean team would have done this week.Perhaps the best game of the week was the 1-0 nine inning win by Texas over Washington. There were so many great defensive plays including runners being thrown out at home plate and third base by outfielders. The game ending play by the Texas shortstop was nothing less than fabulous, but for me the best moment came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Texas' starting pitcher had thrown six and a third shutout innings when he had to be removed because of pitch count rules. His fans gave him a standing ovation AS did the folks from Seattle. Men in the stands doffed their caps in appreciation. It was a great display of sportsmanship.Watching these kids play a game simply for the enjoyment of it was moving for this old scribe. It took me back to my Little League days. Though it was many many years ago, the memories came flooding back.We played upwards of 60 games a summer in those years and it was fantastic. Gordon Brown, the owner of Brownie's Restaurant was our coach. Many games stick out, but two in which I actually cried seem to go to the top of the list.The first time I played in a game for the 10-12 year old traveling team was when I was just nine. Bernie Stockmaster got hurt in a go cart accident and I was added to the team despite the fact that I was a few months from being old enough. I was put in a game at Bellevue playing second base.It was my error on the game winning play that sent me dejectedly to the dugout to try not to shed tears. I could not hold back however as I thought it was me who cost us the game. Everybody told me not to think that way, but how do you expect a nine-year-old to act?The other time I cried I was standing on the pitcher's mound in Fort Seneca. I had just thrown a pitch that the batter ducked into and it hit him right on the side of the helmet. He went down and did not move. I thought I had killed him and I was in tears in the center or the diamond. Fortunately he was not hurt seriously, but the moment sent a shock wave through me.There were some great games that I recall, a 7-6 Attica victory over New Riegel at a tournament in Republic for example, but those two always come to mind first.My greatest Little League memory however, was a game that I was not actually playing in nor was I even in attendance. My father told me the story and it speaks to the innocence of young boys playing the great game of baseball.My dad was asked by a friend if he could replace him as coach of a 7-8 year old team. The man could not be there and would my dad he wondered serve as a substitute coach. Dad agreed and had only one thought and that was to make sure every kid got to play.Late in the game dad realized that one young guy had not seen any action. He went over to the kid and told him to go play center field. The boy excitedly grabbed his mitt and sprinted out to the field only to stop suddenly near the pitcher's mound. He came racing back to the bench and had this query for my father."Mr. Stephenson, WHERE'S center field?"