Little League is the name everyone associates with youth baseball. It is the largest youth baseball organization in the world but not the only one. Little League Baseball age divisions from 5-18 years old.

History of Little League Baseball (excerps from LLonline.org)

1939 in Little League Baseball is founded by Carl Stotz. Mr. Stotz, George Bebble and Bert Bebble, are the first three managers The first three teams, named after their sponsors: Lycoming Dairy, Lundy Lumber, and Jumbo Pretzel

In 1949 Little League grows to ninety-four leagues and Lock Haven, Pa., wins the second Little League World Series, defeating a team from St. Petersburg, Fla. Little League expands to 307 leagues in the U.S. A feature about Little League in the Saturday Evening Post spreads the Little League story to more than 14 million people.

In 1954 Boog Powell, who would later play for the Baltimore Orioles, participates for Lakeland, Fla., in the World Series. Ken Hubbs, who would win the 1962 National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Chicago Cubs, plays in the Little League World Series for Colton, Calif. That year Little League Baseball expands to more than 3,300 leagues.

in 1955 Baseball great Cy Young makes his last visit to the Little League World Series before his death in September. Carl Stotz is a pallbearer at his funeral. In the LLWS Morrisville, Pa., defeats Delaware Township, N.J., 4-3, in seven innings (the first extra-inning Little League World Series championship game). Little League is now played in all forty-eight states. Nine-year-old George W. Bush plays his first of four years at Central Little League of Midland, Texas, where he is a catcher on the Cubs. He later becomes the first Little League graduate to be elected President of the United States.

In 1957 Monterrey, Mexico, becomes the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series as Angel Macias pitches the first perfect game in a championship final.

In 1958 Monterrey, Mexico, becomes the first Little League to win consecutive World Series championships. Hector Torres, who would later play in the Major Leagues, plays for Monterrey.

In 1961 Senior League Baseball is created for players thirteen to fifteen years old. Brian Sipe, who would later play quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, plays for the World Series champions from El Cajon, Calif. LL has grown to more than 5,500 teams.

In 1962 Jackie Robinson is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and is a guest at the Little League World Series

In 1963 ABC and its Wide World of Sports program televises the Little League World Series championship game for the first time, with Chris Schenkel calling the play-by-play.

1964: Little League Baseball is granted a Charter of Federal Incorporation by the U.S. Congress. ... Danny Yacarino pitches a no-hitter and hits a home run to lead Mid Island Little League of Staten Island, N.Y., against Monterrey, Mexico, 4-0, for the Series title.

1965: Venezuela and Spain are represented in the Little League World Series for the first time.

1966: Little League Baseball's first regional headquarters, the Southern Region Headquarters, opens in St. Petersburg, Fla. ... A rain delay during a World Series game holds up the contest for one hour and thirty-three minutes. ... The game is broadcast in color for the first time, on ABC Wide World of Sports.

1967: West Tokyo, Japan, becomes the first Far East team to win the Little League World Series title. … Baseball great Ted Williams is an announcer for ABC.

1968: The old wooden stands at Howard J. Lamade Memorial Field are replaced with concrete, and the venue is renamed Howard J. Lamade Stadium. … Big League Baseball for players sixteen to eighteen years old is started. ... Turk Schonert, future NFL quarterback, is a member of the Garden Grove, Calif., team in the Series.

1969: The Western Regional Headquarters of Little League Baseball in San Bernardino, Calif., is opened. ... Newberry Little League participates in the World Series, becoming the first Williamsport-area team to play in the World Series since 1948. ... Taiwan wins the first of its seventeen Little League World Series.

1970: The Canadian Headquarters of Little League Baseball opens in Ottawa, Ontario.

1971: Lloyd McClendon, who would become a Major League and later the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hits five home runs in five at bats during the World Series for Gary, Ind. ... One of the longest games in World Series history is played over two hours and fifty-one minutes as Gary and Tainan, Taiwan battle for nine innings. ... A Little League State Center opens in Waco, Texas. ... Howard J. Lamade Stadium is expanded to increase seating capacity to 10,000. ... The aluminum bat, developed in cooperation with Little League, is first used.

1972: Taiwan wins a second consecutive World Series championship for the Far East Region. ... Title IX, giving women and girls greater opportunities at higher levels of athletics, is signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon.

1973: Dr. Creighton J. Hale is elected president of Little League Baseball, only the second full-time president in thirty-five years. ... Future Major Leaguer Ed Vosberg plays in the Little League World Series for the runner-up team from Tucson, Ariz., and goes on to become the only person to participate in the Little League World Series, College World Series (University of Arizona, champions, 1980) and Major League World Series (Florida Marlins, champions, 1997).

1974: Little League rules are revised to allow participation by girls. ... Little League Softball and Senior League Softball programs are created.

1975: Non-U.S. teams are barred from advancing beyond regional play because of an over-emphasis on tournament play. ... Lakewood, N.J., defeats Belmont Heights, of Tampa, Fla., 4-3, in the final.

1976: Baseball Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Ernie Banks and Bob Gibson are Series guests as Chofu, Japan, wins that country's third championship, led by Kiyoshi Tsumura, who pitches a perfect game in the semifinal against Europe.

1977: Future Major Leaguer Charlie Hayes plays in the 1977 Series for Hattiesburg, Miss.

1978: Little League grows to include more than 6,500 Little Leagues for nine-to-twelve-year-olds, 2,850 Senior Leagues for thirteen-to-fifteen-year-olds, and 1,300 Big League programs for sixteen-to-eighteen-year-olds. ... Little League and Senior League Softball teams total more than 7,400.

1979: Junior League Baseball is created for thirteen-year-olds. ... Future Major Leaguers Dwight Gooden, Floyd Youmans and Vance Lovelace play for the Belmont Heights (Tampa, Fla.) team in the Senior League Baseball World Series in Gary, Indiana.

1980: George Bush, a former Little League coach who is elected vice president three months later, throws out the first pitch for the World Series championship game. ... Big League Softball is started for players sixteen to eighteen years old. ... Belmont Heights reaches the finals of the Little League Baseball World Series, falling 4-3 to Taiwan. Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell, future Major Leaguers, play for Belmont Heights.

1981: Dan Wilson, later a Major Leaguer, plays for Barrington (Ill.) Little League in the Little League World Series. ... Derek Bell returns with Belmont Heights, but his team falls to Taiwan again. Bell becomes the first Major League player to have played in two Little League World Series.

1982: The Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum opens at the Little League International Headquarters complex. ... Future Major Leaguer Wilson Alvarez plays for the Maracaibo, Venezuela, team in the Series. ... Kirkland, Wash., defeats Taiwan, 6-0, before a then-World Series record crowd of 40,000 as Cody Webster tosses a two-hitter in the final game, ending Taiwan’s 31-game winning streak in Williamsport.

1983: Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn throws the ceremonial first pitch at the Little League World Series championship game and music star Chuck Mangione plays the Dominican Republic National Anthem. ... East Marietta (Ga.) National Little League wins the World Series with future Major Leaguer Marc Pisciotta on the mound.

1984: Seoul, Korea, wins that country's first Little League World Series championship, defeating Altamonte Springs, Fla., 6-2. One Altamonte Springs player is future Major Leaguer Jason Varitek. ... Peter J. McGovern, Little League Board of Directors Chairman for more than thirty years, dies June 30.

1985: For the first time, ABC-TV carries the Little League World Series championship game live on Wide World of Sports. ... For the first time in baseball history, ABC mounts a micro-miniature camera on the mask of the home plate umpire, Frank Rizzo.

1986: Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth makes his first visit to the Little League World Series for the championship. ... Bill Shea, president of the Little League Foundation and the namesake of New York's Shea Stadium, throws the ceremonial first pitch.

1987: The 1947 Little League World Series champions, the Maynard Midgets of Williamsport, are reunited on the field before the championship game.

1988: Tom Seaver, graduate of Spartan Little League in Fresno, Calif., is the first enshrinee of the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum Hall of Excellence.

1989: Little League Baseball celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. ... Poland receives four certificates of charter for the first Little League programs in a former Eastern-Bloc country, delivered in person by President George Bush. ... Trumbull (Conn.) National Little League becomes the first U.S. team to win the World Series since 1983 before a crowd of 45,000. Future NHL star Chris Drury is on the mound from Trumbull.

1990: Little League Baseball launches the first full season of the Challenger Division for mentally and physically disabled children. ... Little League in now enjoyed by children in thirty-nine countries. ... Taiwan regains the championship of the Little League World Series with a 9-0 victory over Shippensburg, Pa.

1991: Taiwan defeats Danville, Calif., 11-0 in the final game of the Little League World Series.

1992: Carl E. Stotz, founder of Little League, dies. ... The Little League World Series undergoes a series of changes: A "pool" format is adopted in which each team is assured a minimum of three meaningful games in World Series play; A state-of-the-art Musco Sports Lighting System is installed at Howard J. Lamade Stadium, and the first Little League World Series night game is played. ... Long Beach (Calif.) Little League is named World Series Champion following the disqualification of Zamboanga (Philippines) City Little League. ... Guests at the Series include former Little Leaguers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Will, Tom Selleck and Vice President Dan Quayle.

1993: Long Beach becomes the first U.S. league in history to win consecutive Little League Baseball World Series championships with a thrilling 3-2 victory against a team from Panama. Long Beach is led for a second year by Sean Burroughs, who pitches two no-hitters in the World Series, and later would later play in the Major Leagues.

1994: After a record three hour, six minute rain delay, Coquivacoa Little League of Maracaibo, Venezuela, becomes the first Latin American team to win the Little League World Series since 1958. ... Stephen D. Keener becomes the first Little League graduate to be named president of Little League Baseball, succeeding Dr. Creighton J. Hale.

1995: Hall of Famer Stan Musial throws the ceremonial first pitch for the Little League World Series. ... After a three-year drought, Taiwan defeats Spring, Texas, 17-3, for the world title.

1996: Little League celebrates the fiftieth World Series. ... Little League's first full-service Regional Headquarters outside the U.S. is opened, in Kutno, Poland. ... The Little League Education Program for Managers and Coaches is launched. ... The John W. Lundy Little League Conference Center is dedicated at Little League Baseball International. ... Taiwan wins a seventeenth series title.

1997: Little League and Major League Baseball enter an agreement for the first time, co-producing a magazine that is mailed free of charge directly to nearly 2 million Little Leaguers. ... An all-time record 2,993,760 Little Leaguers participate. ... Sharon Robinson (daughter of the late Jackie Robinson) is a guest at the Little League World Series. ... For the first time, U.S. Regional championship games in Little League Baseball are televised nationally on ESPN2. ... Linda Vista Little League of Guadalupe, Mexico, wins the Little League World Series with a 4-run rally in the last inning. … The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association decides leagues in Taiwan will not charter with Little League.

1998: Little League expands to include ninety-five countries. ... Toms River (N.J.) East American Little League wins the Little League Baseball World Series, defeating Kashima (Japan) Little League 12-9 in a championship game featuring eleven home runs and 41,200 fans. ... It is announced that the Little League World Series will expand from eight teams to 16 in 2001, and a second stadium will be built.

1999: The number of countries with Little League programs hits 100 for the first time as Burkina-Faso joins. ... Hirakata Little League of Osaka, Japan, wins that nation's first World Series title since 1976, defeating Phenix City, Ala., 5-0. ... Little League begins the first capital campaign in the program's history, to raise $20 million for a variety of projects.

2000: Construction begins on Little League Volunteer Stadium, just north of Lamade Stadium, in preparation for expansion of the Little League World Series from eight to sixteen teams in 2001. ... Fraser Valley of British Columbia wins Canada's first World Series, taking the Big League Baseball title in Tucson, Ariz. ... Sierra Maestra Little League of Maracaibo, Venezuela, defeats a team from Bellaire, Texas, 3-2, in the Little League Baseball World Series final. ... Little League graduate George W. Bush, son of former President George Bush, is elected to the highest U.S. office.

In 2001 Construction is completed on Volunteer Stadium in time for the expansion of the 55th Little League Baseball World Series. … George W. Bush becomes the first U.S. President to visit the Little League Baseball World Series, watching as Japan defeats a team from Apopka, Fla., 2-1 in the final game. … The third place team, Rolando Paulino Little League, is stripped of its wins for the use of an ineligible player. … A special field is constructed by Little League Baseball International personnel as President Bush invites Little League Tee Ball teams to the White House for three historic baseball games on the South Lawn. A fourth game, scheduled for Sept. 16, is postponed because of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Firefighter Michael Cammarata (1991 Little League World Series participant for South Shore Little League of Staten Island, N.Y.) perishes in the attack at the World Trade Center, and is posthumously enshrined in the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum Hall of Excellence at the 2002 Little League Baseball World Series.

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