LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK : Torre Has a Lot to Say at Lamade

Joe Torre is making his first appearance at Lamade Stadium this week, working as the color analyst for ESPN.

“I love this, the kids, the innocence of baseball,” said Torre, a former major league manager and Angel broadcaster. “Just talking about it. It’s great.”

Torre has been out of work since he was fired by the St. Louis Cardinals this season. “If someone wants me to manage, they’ll have to come after me. I’m not going to call around for a job,” he said.

Torre believes he will end up back in broadcasting and hopes to have a couple of offers soon.

As for the Angels, Torre says he’s “keeping his fingers crossed for the team.”

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I’m so happy for Gene Autry. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the team.”

The problem with the Angels in past years, Torre said, was that management tried to buy its way into the playoffs by spending large sums of money on players whose best years were behind them.

“They finally took a step back for a couple of years and let the young players develop and it all adds up to a breath of fresh air with the kids materializing,” he said.

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Drought occupies the front pages of several central Pennsylvania newspapers.

Only 17.76 inches of rain have fallen this year. That’s more than eight inches below normal. The fields at Little League headquarters are showing the results. Most teams have skipped infield drills on practice fields behind Lamade Stadium because the ground is too hard. And the usually lush, but steep, hill behind the outfield fence is dirt brown.

Little League President Steve Keener acknowledged the turf at Lamade is not what it usually is. Late Tuesday night, when all but a few hardy reporters remained, ground crews began spray-painting the infield with green paint in an effort to cover dusty patches.

Temperatures dropped dramatically (to about 70 degrees) as did the humidity Tuesday for the night games.

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Reporters at the Williamsport Sun Gazette did an informal survey of players at the 49th World Series to determine what they thought of their major league baseball counterparts. Most said they don’t consider professional baseball players as role models.

“They yell at umpires and get angry,” said Nick Cassinis of the Saudi Arabian team.

The newspaper noted that five of the 14 players on the Saudi team said Babe Ruth was a cool guy.

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Justin Doleski of Northwest 45 of Spring, Tex., and his father, Mike, are the first father-son team to have played in the Little League World Series. Mike played for Virginia in the 1972 series and later played in the Detroit Tigers’ organization.

Bill Barry, manager of the team representing Canada, was here in 1989 with another team--the only Little League program in Toronto. Barry’s team fell one game short of being in Williamsport last year, losing to Glace Bay, 4-0, in the Canadian final.

John Schoenholtz, a player on the Arabian American team, is the third member of his family to play for the team in a World Series. His brothers played here in 1986 and 1993. His father coached the 1994 Saudi team, which is made up of children of employees of the Arabian and American oil companies in Dhahran.

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Gary Spies, an usher working his 12th series, grew up in New Jersey, but was rooting for California Wednesday.

“I’d like to see the West play Taiwan,” Spies said. “I think it has the best chance at beating them. I wasn’t impressed with Texas.”

For several years, Spies has guarded a tunnel that leads to the premium seats behind home plate. Those seats are reserved for volunteer administrators and dignitaries. Unlike bleacher seating on the first and third-base lines, you need a ticket to sit there.