LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL CELEBRATES ITS 50TH JUBILEE : Popularity of Summertime Ritual Endures

The boys of summer turned 50 this year, but they never lose a step or show a touch of gray.

These boys of summer are the perpetually young products of America’s fountain of youth, Little League baseball.

Founded in 1939, Little League is celebrating its 50th anniversary and has been in the Valley area for more than 30 years.

Although local leagues have done little to commemorate the anniversary, Little League has celebrated with a variety of national events, including a recent ceremony at the White House with a former Little League coach of some note, President George Bush.

Little League, which originated in Williamsport, Pa., organized in San Bernardino in 1950 and preceded the arrival of the major leagues in California by eight years. The Brooklyn Dodgers, the original Boys of Summer, migrated westward in 1958. By then, Little League already had taken root in the Valley area.

“It’s more organized now,” said Jerry Goldfield, one of the coaches when the Conejo Valley Little League was chartered in 1960. “We had some rawhide back then. We had some real big country boys. It was good baseball.”

Now, more than 10,000 players aged 6 to 18 participate in area Little League programs that encompass parts of three of California’s 63 Little League districts. District 13 covers the area from Simi Valley to Oxnard; District 40 includes the San Fernando Valley and Canyon Country; and District 16 covers the Glendale, Tujunga and Sunland areas.

About 6,000 youngsters participate in District 40 alone, and a major program like the Northridge Little League boasts a membership of nearly 1,000 boys and girls.

That’s right, girls. Little League Inc. was legally mandated in 1974 to include girls. Little League also has created softball divisions but not all area leagues offer softball.

Girls tend to compete in younger age categories such as Tee-Ball for 6- to 8-year-olds, but 15-year-old Liz Vriese of Canoga Park has excelled in the Woodland Hills-Sunrise Senior League. A Jill-of-all-trades, Vriese played pitcher, third base and other positions well enough to make the league all-star team.

“The boys treat me as a boy,” she said. “They treat me well. Opponents, they tease me and tell me a girl shouldn’t be playing baseball but (should) be home putting on makeup or knitting. I tell them to mind their own business.”

The addition of girls and the expansion of the Tee-Ball division have helped keep Little League growing. Despite competition from other baseball and youth sports programs, Little League in the Valley area has flourished. One of the fastest growing areas in District 40 is Canyon Country.

“I don’t believe we’ll be able to grow much larger,” said Dave Bench, president of Canyon Country Little League.

This year, Canyon Country had to turn down 200 children who signed up late but was able to accommodate all those who met the registration deadline. Eventually, the league might have to cap its enrollment but officials hope to build more fields before reaching that point.

The traditional Little League includes youngsters aged 9 to 12, but Tee-Ball (6-8), Senior (13-15) and Big League (16-18) divisions have been added.

“What we’re running now is more Tee-Ball teams than anything else,” said Merle Sanders, District 40 administrator. “I would say we’re extremely healthy and enjoying tremendous success and the future looks good.”

However, with sandlots becoming parking lots as the area population booms, Little League officials have scrambled for fields.

“The big competition we have is for playing space,” said Bruce Singleton, president of the Thousand Oaks Little League. “We compete for use of fields with softball leagues, soccer leagues, you name it. We have a facility with four fields, and we’re running out of space.”

While finding fields presents a problem, sometimes the children at a Little League game are not just those on the field. As one Little League brochure notes: “It is in the deportment of parents at Little League games where the program draws its greatest criticism.”

The term “Little League parent” has come to connote overbearing adults who pressure their children in youth athletics. Yet “Little League parent” also refers to those dedicated parents who line the field, keep score, umpire, sell concessions and coach.

Little League relies almost exclusively on volunteers, making parental non-involvement a problem as well.

“Often it’s gotten to be a kind of baby-sitters’ program,” said West Regional Director Frank Yost, “in that the adults are unwilling to participate and they expect a few coaches and administrators to carry the ball.”

An increased emphasis has been placed on training all parents, not just those who volunteer their time. Parents receive an instructional brochure to aid in player registration, and Little League publishes another pamphlet titled: “Role of the Parent in Little League.”

Kon Slettedahl, coach of the Woodland Hills-Sunrise Little League All-Stars, said that he has a mandatory parent meeting every year, during which he outlines his Little League philosophy and the role of parents on the team.

“I just have a real hard time with people who take it too seriously,” Slettedahl said.

Parents and other adults walk a fine line between helping and hindering. At a typical Little League tournament game, the players are barraged by a Greek chorus of adult voices commenting on the action.

“Five percent of the parents don’t have the right perspective,” said Dave Sehnem, a former Little League player and coach. “They have what I call ‘love goggles.’ They’re prejudiced in favor of their son, and they make life miserable. It was the same thing 25 years ago when I was 12.”

Sehnem was not a typical 12-year-old, though. In 1963, he played for the Granada Hills National team that won the Little League World Series championship in Williamsport, Pa. No team from the Valley area has matched that achievement, and Granada Hills is the last California team to win the World Series.

However, area Little Leagues have continued to produce outstanding players such as major leaguers Bret Saberhagen, Robin Yount, Kurt Stillwell and Rick Dempsey.

“I’d say the quality right now is coming up again,” said Slettedahl, in his 10th year as a Little League coach. “We’re getting some pretty good athletes in there. I’d say we’re going to be OK.”

Reaching the Little League World Series usually requires two dominant pitchers and a certain amount of luck. An American team must win more than a dozen games just to reach the final eight in Williamsport.

The 1989 tournament began a week and a half ago at the district level where each league’s all-star team competes in a double-elimination tournament. Winners advance to sectional, divisional and regional tournaments and, finally, Williamsport in the Little League Division. Tournaments are also held in three other baseball divisions--Junior (13-year-olds), Senior and Big League--and in softball.

Some coaches don’t wait until the all-star tournament to resort to tactics that would make Machiavelli blush. Sandbagging--instructing a player to play poorly at tryouts to dupe other coaches--and empire building--stockpiling young talent--are two of the tricks coaches employ in an effort to win their leagues.

“They will sometimes do a lot of things that aren’t in the book,” said Sanders, the District 40 administrator. “Some of the adults will carry this stuff forever. I have a friend who’s still talking about a situation in 1974. He talks about it like it was yesterday.”

Still, despite the cynic’s view that Little League baseball has been spoiled by egocentric adults and their machinations on the sidelines, the area between the white lines remains, just as it has for the last 50 years, the kids’ domain.

“It’s a lot of fun even when we lose,” said 15-year-old Jeff Naster, who has nonetheless had his share of winning in helping Conejo Valley teams advance to divisional tournaments in Little League and Junior League. “It really helped me feel I can be the best at what I do.”

Little League is the kids’ own field of dreams, and one where the boys of summer can still be boys . . . and girls.