Dodgers star Steve Garvey reflects on Little League experience
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All 20 participating teams, plus umpires, media members and other dignitaries, gathered at Penn College Tuesday afternoon for a picnic lunch, some lawn games and general camaraderie ahead of the 79th edition of the Little League World Series.
Those in attendance were in luck, as they heard from one of the best first basemen of all time, 1974 National League MVP Steve Garvey.
Garvey, a 10-time All-Star who played 19 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, served as the grand marshal for this year's Grand Slam Parade, held Tuesday in downtown Williamsport. Garvey, alongside Vanderbilt Commodores baseball head coach Tim Corbin, provided some wise words to those in attendance.
"This is truly the mecca of youth baseball. This is where it started. This is where dreams began," Garvey said of the Little League World Series. Garvey himself got his start in baseball playing in Little League as an 8-year-old in 1956 when his father and a few of his father's friends started one of the first Little Leagues in the Tampa, Florida, area. Garvey remarked that he was the youngest player on the team and could be found not paying attention and playing with puddles in the outfield. But that was his start in a game that made his dreams come true.
Garvey also gave prescient advice to this year's group of players.
"Eventually, two teams will be at the top, and then one will be considered the world champion. But getting here has taken, as my dad taught me, family commitment. I've always said each night, you should hug your dad, kiss your mom and thank them for the opportunity to give you a chance to someday be part of this, like you are today. Maybe someday playing at the next level, maybe high school, maybe college. And if you're blessed like I was, to end up with 20 years of professional baseball, but I never forgot that life is God's gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to Him. And He gives us free will and choice. And you players have to determine who you want to be," he said. "Life is about memories, family memories, and I've always said to be glad to play baseball, which is the memory business, has allowed me to do many, many things and travel the world. But today, at this moment, I'm honored to be with you. I look forward to how you play and why you play in celebration of what this country is all about. This timeless game. We need 18 more outs, one more run, and the remembrance of that's what life is all about, running a good race, fighting a good fight."
Corbin, a two-time College World Series champion with the Commodores, known in baseball as the "Vandy Boys," was a repeat visitor to the Little League Baseball World Series Picnic, having attended last year.
He stressed just how much attention these Little Leaguers have now, and they are now role models, just like the players they watch on television.
"But I want you to know this: all of our team, our Vanderbilt team, college baseball, professional baseball, is now watching you because you are going to be on TV for the next 11 days, and that is a true statement. When we get together every afternoon in our classroom, our team wants to talk about the teams that are playing here that they are now rooting for. And it's interesting because I say, 'Why are you rooting for this team?' And they always go back to, 'That team looks like they play the hardest. That team looks like they respect the game the most. That team right there seems to treat each other really well. That team celebrates one another like no other team.'
"So understand that people will see you. They'll remember your personality, but they won't remember so much what kind of player you are. They'll remember how you played the game, and that's really important."