‘Play fair, give the other team a chance, play as hard as you can and be a team member.’

From the Dodgers and the Yankees to the Pirates and the Padres--all the big-name teams paraded down the main streets of Palos Verdes Estates Saturday, signaling the start of spring and of the baseball season for the Lunada Bay Little League.

More than 160 brightly uniformed youngsters, escorted by their parents, coaches, supporters and the Palos Verdes Estates Fire and Police departments, walked from Palos Verdes High School past cheering city residents at Cloyden Square to two carefully groomed baseball diamonds. Once there, they assembled to hear a pep talk from former Los Angeles Raider defensive lineman Lyle Alzedo.

“I want all you athletes to remember,” Alzedo said: “Play fair, give the other team a chance, play as hard as you can and be a team member.”

Alzedo--whose childhood athletic experiences were not on the football field but at centerfield on a Little League team--had two special reasons for sincerity: his son Nicolas, 8, and daughter Cara, 6, who were Dodger team members.

After a rousing rendition of the national anthem by the Palos Verdes High School band, Barry Schwartz, president of the Lunada Bay Little League Inc., called out the two important words that had the young players throwing their hats in the air:

“Play ball!”

In the 9- to 12-year-old division, the Yankees played the Cubs in a double-header that, for the parents at least, proved almost as exciting as watching the real teams play. In the stands, supporters of the Yankees yelled encouragement to Yankee hitter Jeremy Benson as he went to bat in the third inning, with the bases loaded and two outs. But when the youngster struck out, the yells of “Way to go, Yankees!” continued unabated.

The parade and opening ceremonies are a 31-year tradition of the league, whose parent volunteers do everything from grooming the playing fields to selling “the best hamburgers this side of Hamburger Hamlet,” at the Snack Shack concession stand, said Barbara Handzlik, a coordinator of the day’s activities.