MLB

MLB Little League Classic: Pirates beat Cardinals, but young players, fans real winners

Joe Mock
Special for USA TODAY Sports

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Chase Reinhard, 12, plays third base and left field for the Grosse Pointe Woods Shores (Mich.) Little League. As the champions of the Midwest Region, he and his teammates are battling for the Little League World Series crown here.

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) signs autographs for members of the Southwest Little League team before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.

Sunday night, they were relaxing and watching big leaguers play in the MLB Little League Classic from the first rows behind the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout. The Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the game, 6-3.

“It’s pretty cool,” he remarked between pitches. “We got to hang out with them this afternoon, and they turned out to be regular people. You think they’re not like us because they’re Major Leaguers, but we saw them play ping-pong and just hang out. And then they sat and watched us play.”

Members of all 16 of the Little League World Series teams attended Sunday night’s contest, guests of Major League Baseball.

The game was played at Williamsport’s 91-year-old BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. Significant work was done to the minor league park’s playing surface and dugouts to prepare them for big-league play. A city of tents was erected behind the ballpark to accommodate clubhouse functions and the media.

It wasn’t just the American Little Leaguers who were impressed by seeing Major Leaguers. “It’s amazing. We’re getting to see our role models play on this big stage,” said Matteo Manzi, 13, from the White Rock South Surrey Little League in British Columbia, champions of the Canada Region.

Manzi is a catcher, and he said he could envision his future on display Sunday night. “We’re seeing what it will be like for us to be major leaguers in a decade or so.”

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Gilberto Zucconi is coach of the Rimini Pirates from Italy, winners of the Europe-Africa Region. He is thrilled to be in Williamsport, especially since he’d never coached Little League before this year.

Speaking in English, he said “All of my players think it’s amazing to see Major Leaguers. Although baseball isn’t that important in Italy yet, all of my players watch the major leagues on TV and play baseball on Xbox and PlayStation. Now they are seeing their heroes in real life.”

It is no small matter uprooting a regular season game and playing it in another city, as MLB learned last year when the Atlanta Braves played the Miami Marlins at a temporary ballpark at Fort Bragg, N.C. This year, the Pirates gave up a home game at PNC Park.

The crowd of 2,596 favored the Pirates, and the gameday experience resembled contests in Pittsburgh. The popular Great Pierogi Race was run (Cheese Chester won), and the Pirate Parrot and Bucco Brigade entertainment squad mingled with the crowd.

But most of the evening was dedicated to the youth. All 16 Little League World Series teams filled the infield before the big leaguers were introduced to the crowd. The ceremonial first pitch was relayed through representatives of the 16 teams. The guest public address announcer was Stephan Courtney of the Australian team, and the crowd found his accent endearing.

A local drum line provided rhythmic entertainment between innings, and the national anthem and God Bless America were sung by 14-year-old Sloan Wood of Williamsport.

“It was refreshing every once in a while to be able to look in the stands and see the kids watching the game,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said to The Associated Press. “It was one of the highlights of my career.”

The decision to hold this regular season game in Williamsport in the midst of the Little League World Series was quite strategic.

During one of the afternoon’s World Series contests, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told USA TODAY Sports that “these young people playing this game are the core of our next generation. Anything we can do to get them more engaged in the game is worth the effort.”

The result, Manfred said, has been “beyond our wildest expectations. The interaction between our players and the kids is absolutely unbelievable. And this gives us a unique opportunity to showcase the game. It brings attention to our game in the height of our season.”

Part of this initiative involved bringing the sport to the Little League World Series — literally. Players from the Pirates and Cardinals visited the two stadiums in the Little League complex while World Series games were being played during the afternoon before the big-league showdown Sunday evening.

The Major Leaguers attracted huge crowds everywhere they went in the complex, as eager youngsters tried to snare every autograph they could.

Adam Jaffe, 11, of Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., was overjoyed with his haul of signatures. When asked his favorite, he responded, “I got (Mike) Matheny. I think he was a pretty good player.” And now a major league manager, as he’s in his sixth season at the helm of the Cardinals.

Nico Sanders, 8, plays for the Hampton Township Little League in Pittsburgh. Not only did he land Hurdle’s autograph, he was excited to have a ball signed by the players of Mexico’s Little League squad. Why is he rooting for Mexico? “Because they were the first to give me autographs when I got here,” he explained.

The big leaguers enjoyed it as much as the youngsters. “It is really cool to interact with the young fans,” says Jedd Gyorko, Cardinals’ infielder, who homered in a losing cause in Sunday night’s contest. “The way they all look up to us is great, plus it’s a way for us to give back.”

“You can’t help but get caught up, especially these kids treating our players like they’re heroes as they walk through there,” Matheny said to the AP. “Pretty special stuff. I think that’s something they never get used to completely.”

A highlight for the players from the teams from Japan and South Korea came when Pirates players greeted them on the field as their names were announced on the PA system just before the two teams’ game.

Cardinal players then sat in the stands and watched that game, as Little Leaguers from Holbrook, N.J., (Mid-Atlantic champs) and the Italian team sat between them.

“It’s really been a plus, if for no other reason than you get to hang out with the Little Leaguers,” Tony Clark, the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, explained. “That experience is something you can’t replicate — a young person who is dreaming about being in the big leagues and a big leaguer who remembers not too long ago when he was a Little Leaguer. That’s pretty special.”