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Imagine the NBA playing a regular season game at famed Rucker Park in Harlem, or the NFL doing the same in a football-crazed West Texas town amid a “Friday Night Lights” setting.
That is the essence of the MLB Little League Classic, which after just three years of existence has been selected as our Best Original Sports Event of the Decade.
Originally dreamed up by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and then-COO Tony Petitti, the August event has become an annual highlight of MLB’s calendar. It is devoid of excess and contrived moments, yet it is helping the sport grow its younger fan base while reconnecting the game with its roots. It also possesses a quality not often found in big-time professional sporting events: charm.
“A really important symbol for the industry,” said Manfred. “We place such great focus on increasing youth participation and have had some considerable success in terms of our participation numbers going up. The Classic is a symbol of that effort. But even more important, it’s become a way we showcase what our players are all about. The interaction between the major-league players and those Little Leaguers is priceless.”
2,596
Attendance at the first Little League Classic, in 2017
In the first year of the event in 2017, Little League President and CEO Steve Keener recalls seeing then-Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham sitting in the Howard J. Lamade Stadium stands surrounded by Little Leaguers when someone spotted the snow cone vendor. Pham bought 200 snow cones for the kids.
Though crowd sizes are miniscule, the Classic is already having a huge impact, influencing MLB’s plan to bring its sport to new places, such as with the eagerly anticipated Field of Dreams game in Iowa next summer.
Growing the relationship between Little League Baseball and MLB was such a priority for Manfred that his first trip after being elected commissioner in August 2014 was to Williamsport, Keener said. What’s blossomed from that visit is a unique event that connects Little Leaguers who have a dream with those who have realized that same dream.
Said Keener, “It reminds us all why we love this game.”
