Carl Stotz, who founded Little League Baseball in Williamsport, Pa. in 1939 would barely recognize it today.
The extra lighting. The television cameras. The grand stadiums which hold 10,000-plus fans.
Back in '39, Lundy Lumber of Williamsport defeated Lycoming Dairy 23-8 in the first Little League game. The contest was held on June 6 -- as opposed to the mid-June start for the 2013 post-season.
That's right, what was a summer-time activity for youth has become one for the elite. For better or worse.
The more than 11,000 in attendance Saturday in San Bernardino for the West Region title game would argue it's for the better. So too probably would the teams from Eastlake Little League of Chula Vista and Belmont-Redwood Shores -- though the Belmont team fell 9-0 Saturday and won't be going to Williamsport.
"One game," lamented Belmont-Redwood Shores Little League board member Mike Crusick by phone Sunday. "We came so close. It was so exciting and the community interest in Belmont Little League was outstanding. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Every August the tenets Little League were founded upon -- fun, sportsmanship, teamwork -- are put to the test by the fishbowl the regionals and LL World Series have become. Who didn't wince when not one, but two television close-ups were shown of a Chula Vista infielder who made an error?
So how about the pressure placed on children who only a few years ago were watching SpongeBob Squarepants?
"I got nervous just watching the game," Crusick said. "Kids get nervous -- that's a part of playing baseball."
No pain, no gain. While some might argue having pre-teens perform before 11,000 with television cameras bearing down is extreme, it's just part of the landscape now. The days of youth baseball being mostly recreational like when Mitty High coach Bill Hutton played, are finished.
"A lot of this has changed exponentially and acutely in the last 10 years," said Hutton who played his youth ball in Huntington Beach. "It's a neat opportunity for the kids to have the games covered this way -- it's big stuff. Their world is different than our world used to be. Everything is captured on video instantly, all year round."
Which means scrutiny and tension, but also excitement. Even from a distance the buzz surrounding the Belmont-Redwood Shores team was palpable.
Coach Rudy Lopez's team was the first from District 52 to go to Regionals. Viewing parties of games were held at Carlmont High and the Belmont Fire Department. Fans cheered from near and far the exploits of players like Sean Lee, Brad Shimabuku, Nicholas Lopez, Noah Marcelo and the rest.
Marcelo's mom, Ann, raved about the all-star experience, noting the festive send-off from Redwood Shores, the chartered bus that whisked the team south and the excitement of the boys seeing immense Al Houghton Stadium for the first time.
"Being from a little suburban town like ours, it was quite an experience," said Ann, who also praised the calm demeanor of manager Lopez, a pediatrician by profession.
Noah, a hard-hitting infielder/catcher, agreed.
"The send-off was cool and I got to be with my friends and play a lot of baseball, so I enjoyed it," he said. "I was a little bit nervous at first, but our coach told us to focus on the field and play our game and we'd be fine."
Despite the setback, the Belmont kids seem fine. By Sunday photos on the league's Facebook page showed the players running the Houghton Stadium bases one last time and filling vials of dirt from the infield to take back home.
Mitty's Hutton said the disappointment felt by children is fleeting. He learned that as a teen when the youth team he coached in Seal Beach that included future big leaguer J.T. Snow lost the league title game.
"All the parents were distraught at the pizza party, saying the umps had it in for us and this and that," Hutton said. "But all the kids could talk about was when soccer sign-ups were and when the pizza was coming. They had already moved on."
John Murphy can be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and you can follow him on Twitter @PrepCat.
