Thrown a Curve : Little League: Instructional video trades on championship team’s fame--but only uses five players. Parents of some of the others say they were kept in the dark.

Nine members of the national champion Northridge Little League team are playing a new position: Left out.

Only five of the team’s 14 players are included in an instructional video that trades on the fame earned by the “Earthquake Kids’ ” unlikely climb from the sandlots of Northridge to the green hills of Williamsport, Pa.

Many of those excluded say they only learned of the video through recent advertisements.

“How can it be ‘The Earthquake Kids’ if only a few were involved?” asked Eric Gordon, father of the team’s right fielder, Spencer. “It’s been really weird. The people who did this have gone out of their way to be hush-hush.”

The 42-minute video--released Thursday at a news conference at the Northridge Little League fields--was financed by five families and the assistant coach. Each invested from $5,000 to $10,000 to produce the video, marketed nationwide through cable television and print ads.

And they admit that they wanted to keep the project--and any potential profits--to themselves, even though the entire team made history. The Northridge boys earned the U.S. title before losing to Maracaibo, Venezuela, in the World Series final in August.

“This has nothing to do with Northridge Little League or Little League baseball,” said team manager Larry Baca, an investor featured on the cover of the video box.

Those excluded are more saddened than outraged. For many, the innocence and unity that made the team America’s darlings of summer has ended.

“It leaves me with a little emptiness,” said Lynn Wallis, mother of third baseman Gregg Wallis. “The people who did the video I adore and love. But we won as a team, and I would have hoped the activities would have included the whole team.”

Jon Gentile, father of pitcher Justin Gentile, co-produced the video after the idea was pitched to him by an independent film director. Gentile said that director William Sachs insisted that only a few players be included.

“We would have loved to use all 14, but cost-wise it would not have been effective,” Gentile said. “The director wanted to stick to a theme of coaches teaching their sons.”

Gentile and his son, Justin, explain the off-speed pitch they call “the agony.” Tim Cunningham teaches hitting, Jack Fisher teaches infield play, and Scott Randall, Nathaniel Dunlap’s father, teaches pitching. Coach George Saul teaches catching fundamentals and Baca narrates the video.

Cunningham promised to donate profits from future video ventures to the league if this one is successful.

Although the video is made for Little Leaguers, the term “Little League” is not mentioned, investors said, because the organization would have demanded a licensing fee and monitored the content.