The Pitch : Little League Corporate Sponsorships Have Some Crying Foul

During a break in the Little League World Series, league President Creighton J. Hale, 70, was talking about a world where young ballplayers from Israel, Jordan, China and Poland can chew huge wads of gum, pound their gloves and promote global harmony.

Hale’s vision is brought to you by K mart. And Gatorade. And Bubblicious gum, Canon Camcorders, Band-Aid and Ponderosa Steakhouse, to name just a few of the businesses whose names appeared throughout last weekend’s Little League World Series.

At the series, televised last weekend just in time to help ease the painful national withdrawal from major league baseball, the pitchmen seemed to have become as much a part of the Little League action as the pint-sized pitchers.

While commerce and sport are hardly strangers, capitalizing on the dreams of 12-year-olds presents a paradox: Part of Little League’s appeal is its apple-pie purity, which could be lost if the sport becomes over-commercialized, critics say. Others complain the national organization shares too little with regional and local groups.

Barry Breen saw how things have changed since he coached a Northridge team that went to Williamsport for the 1975 World Series. He doesn’t like the commercialism.

“I recall the media maybe doing a story or two. I don’t remember microphones in the faces of the players every day,” he said. “I don’t recall seeing 16 different sponsors on the scoreboard in 1975 like I did this year.”

Breen, like many people, questions the fiscal priorities of Little League’s leadership.

“I see the money going into the week of the World Series, the headquarters,” Breen said. “I see it going into gold leaf and trimmings. I would think that money could pour back to the leagues.”

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Hale and other leaders said commercialization is necessary to fund a nonprofit organization that depends on the work of more than 1 million volunteers. Critics say Little League is selling out.

Since it was founded in 1939, Little League has symbolized the grass-roots thrill of a shoestring catch made on a ball field maintained on a shoestring budget.

In the 1990s, that image has become a magnet for corporations looking to project innocence by association.

“It’s got an international flavor, yet it’s an all-American sport,” said Shawn Kahle, a spokeswoman for K mart, the official sponsor of the Little League World Series. “It’s a family activity. Everyone is going to load in the minivan, go out to the ballpark and root for the team. That’s the kind of image K mart wants as well.”

Specialists say the profit potential is large.

“Somebody’s making a buck there. They’re making more money than ever,” said Andy Woolf, vice president of World Class Sports, a Beverly Hills sports talent agency.

Woolf and other sports marketing professionals questioned why the money made from the Little League World Series doesn’t find its way back to the teams.

“The people who need it most never see it,” he said. “How much money is going for entertainment for the adults; how much is going back into the ballpark? It should be going into mitts and balls and jerseys and shoes for the ones who really need them.”

Hale acknowledged that while the league’s international headquarters here benefits from the sponsorship, there is no direct trickle-down effect.

“We fund programs that benefit local leagues,” Hale said, “but none of the cash goes directly to the league and district level.”

Hale noted that anti-drug and tobacco programs, and the development of safety equipment, originate from Little League headquarters. Hale personally holds the patents on some of that equipment.

The league invests primarily in two areas: improvements to facilities in Williamsport and at five regional centers, and toward realizing Hale’s vision of “cutting edge” Little League diplomacy.

Hale attended a Little League game in Guangzhou, China, two months ago that marked the first time an athletic team of any kind from Taiwan had been allowed to compete in mainland China. The crowd in the bleachers included former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Peter O’Malley, Dodger owner and president of the Little League Foundation, an advisory council.

But as the national organization continues to prosper, the Northridge team that provided the drama during this year’s series is hurting financially.

Northridge coach George Saul said his league is trying to raise money for about $20,000 in earthquake repairs, but has received no offers of corporate sponsorship.

“From what I understand they have a lot of money,” Saul said, referring to headquarters. “The Little Leagues are the ones that provide the basis for it. They are the whole reason the World Series exists. Little League definitely should give some back.”

“We’re trying to come out ahead,” said Paul Mort, a Northridge Little League official. “Disneyland gave $5,000. We got $1,000 from Marge Russo, at Russo Realty. Northridge mall gave us $300.”

Saul said that beyond quake repairs, the playing fields need work.

“We are primarily looking to improving fields,” he said. “We have to get bigger water pumps and re-plumb fields. We might want to re-sod fields.”

In contrast, the 55-acre headquarters in Williamsport is a showplace, a small-town shrine to Little League. It includes a 40,000-seat lighted stadium, practice fields, administrative offices, dormitories and a Little League museum.

Little League is a nonprofit corporation. Its financial condition can best be described as robust, with $20 million in assets, Hale said.

At headquarters, the message on the topic of commercialism is mixed: While Hale voices concern about commercial exploitation, stacked beside the toilet in the men’s room are Fortune and Forbes magazines.

“We need to be alert to the possibility of commercialism creeping into Little League,” said Hale, whose annual salary tops $100,000. “Dozens and dozens of companies want to sponsor Little League and we are very selective. We don’t want to turn into the Indy 500.”

The previous day, K mart Family Footwear had sponsored a breakfast honoring various Little League volunteers. A marketing director took the podium long enough to remind everyone present that they had a friend in K mart.

Signs of a booming Little League were everywhere.

The game is played in 84 countries with more expansion planned. Team dormitories built in 1992 in Williamsport can accommodate 16 teams, and the World Series soon will double from its current eight-team format, Hale said.

A Challenger Division for youngsters with handicaps has gained significant momentum in the past five years, and a softball program started in 1974 now includes 300,000 girls.

And Little League is launching local leagues in urban areas, such as Los Angeles, where the league, Rebuild LA and Hilton Hotels are planning to build five fields along Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Regional headquarters that include stadiums similar to the one in Williamsport are planned for Poland and China.

“We could not afford to do these things without corporate sponsorships,” Hale said.

Little League employs only about 100 worldwide to serve 2.8 million players. The organization relies on an extensive network of volunteers.

“Volunteers are the key to Little League,” said Hale from his suite that overlooks the stadium in Williamsport. “That will always be true.”

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Not all Williamsport residents share Hale’s global vision.

“We get upset at old Creighton Hale,” said Tim Tompkins, 38, a Williamsport native who hasn’t missed a World Series since 1968. “It’s a money thing now. Little League is probably the most profitable nonprofit organization in the world.”

Regulation XIII of the official Little League rule book addresses commercialization. The first sentence states, “Exploitation of Little League in any form or for any purpose is prohibited.”

Hale, caretaker of a dream, said the rule will protect the game.

“As long as I’m in charge, TV will not call the shots,” he said. “And as long as I’m in charge, any corporate assistance will be carefully weighed against the benefits it provides kids.”