What is a Little League Baseball Team?

Little League is a United States based nonprofit organization created by Carl Stoltz in the year 1930s. At first, Stoltz organized a very small group in Pennsylvania, with three baseball teams for kids that competed against each other. From this early start; Little League has grown to a huge size, with over 2 million players participating every year. Baseball programs for kids and teens can choose to affiliate with Little League, which widens opportunities for kids to participate with lots of other kids, and if their team is successful, may allow them to move on to games with teams in other divisions of the country. The association has affiliates in the US, Europe, Latin America, Canada, Asia and Australia.

United States Little League teams are controlled by region, and each region also organizes its teams by age and experience. In large towns there may be some Little League affiliates, organized by school district or area. Normally, to belong to a certain group, you have to live within the geographical boundaries for that group.

Depending upon the size of each program, teams are controlled based on ages. The youngest players, from the ages of 5-8 play Tee ball, where no pitching occurs, and scoring may be relatively insignificant. Kids from the ages of 7-12 may be placed in one of two groups, Minors, for kids with a small amount of experience, and Majors, for kids with more physical skill. Minors may be more divided for younger ages by using pitching machines. It's quite a jump for kids to move into pitched games, because pitches are often wild, and more walks than actual hits occur.

Little League also has Junior and Senior Leagues, and Big Leagues, and age necessities may be flexible. However juniors are typically for 13-14 year olds, an experienced child in majors might play on junior's team. 14-16 year olds might play on Senior teams, but a 16 year old might play on a Big Team too. Some groups may also offer softball teams, while many groups allow both boys and girls to play on baseball teams. A few large groups include Challenger Division teams for children who have disabilities.

Participating in Little League can be a satisfying experience for children, or it can be difficult. Although the organization has standards emphasizing fair play, and good behavior of parents and kids at games, not all leagues are created equal.

Some groups are disreputably competitive, and children may feel extraordinary pressure to compete. Others are much more laid back and are just about having fun together and learning how to play baseball or softball. Senior or Big teams tend to be the most demanding, because children who play on these teams may be considering professional or at least college participation in baseball teams.



There can be two different prices for participation, a parent volunteer price and a parent non-volunteer price. If you are not willing to commit time and effort into helping with your child or children's team/s, then you may have to pay more. You should provide most equipment, like bats, gloves, pants, socks, and shoes. A few groups have funds to help out kids with few resources and may also waive fees for participation and/or help pay for needed supplies.

For many, involvement in Little League is simply about playing baseball or softball locally for a few years. Others thrive on competition and the best teams will participate with other districts, and can even move up to competition in the Little League Baseball World Series, held every August in Pennsylvania. Kids who get this distant compete with both American teams and teams from other countries.