(top) Pitcher JJ Feliciano delivers to home plate; (middle) Outfielder Luis Calo knocks one into centerfield; (bottom) Outfielder Lathan Norton swings for the fences.

His name is Teraj Anderson. In his yellow and black uniform, he somehow reminds one of Smoky Burgess, the rotund catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they defeated the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series. He is a 12-year-old African American boy, a bullpen and back-up catcher, who bats ninth and plays for the 2024 Williamsport Little League Championship team from Lake Mary, Florida. He stole home plate with the decisive run in his team’s 10-7 win over Texas in the American Championship game on Saturday.

Teraj cites the bonding of his teammates as their key to victory. He says his three favorite baseball players are, in order, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. His team manager Johnathan Anderson (no relation) assured the Lake Mary Little Leaguers of a win speaking in their dugout during the late stages of their 2-1, eighth inning, walk-off, extra-inning win against Chinese-Taipei on Sunday evening.

Jonathan Anderson said to his Little Leaguers in his dugout speech that a man had prayed over him earlier in the week and then told Anderson’s father that God had already put the Florida team’s victory in His book. Anderson explained, “It has already been written.” Now all they had to do was go out and play the rest of the game and experience it. He elaborated in his post-game interview that they simply believed and did what they were created to do.

This 2024 Williamsport Series proved once again why it is probably the best American sports event of the year. Thirty-eight games stretching over 12 days from August 14th to the 25th. Twenty teams of boys 11 to 13 years old traveling to Central Pennsylvania for the renewal of the summer classic from as far away as Australia and the Czech Republic.

The Australians featured the first set of triplets to play for the same team in Williamsport as well as the only girl to appear there this year, the 23rd young lady over the 40 years during which they have been allowed to participate. The Czech team brought a 12-year-old Ukrainian refugee with them for his second straight year. Other International Region represented countries meeting each other were Aruba, Canada, Chinese-Taipei, Cuba, Japan, Mexico and Venezuela.

Puerto Rico was this year’s designated automatic international regional representative, who rotates annually with the Dominican Republic and Panama. The ten international teams played simultaneous to the ten United States regional representatives, competing among themselves, the international and American survivors finally meeting for the Championship game.

The tournament format is double elimination which means you are out if you lose a second game. As a result, the second bite of the apple proved very dramatic when Venezuela eliminated Aruba and Mexico sent Cuba home, both with walk-off wins. Cuba was a story itself, playing in Williamsport for only the second time.

Baseball and diplomacy

Because of the low level of current diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, family and friends of the Cuban players were not eligible this year to obtain travel visas to come and cheer on their team. The Biden-Harris State Department under the leadership of Deputy Secretary Richard Verma, a 1981 Williamsport Little Leaguer himself, worked hard to get the Cuban team here while trying to reestablish the baseball cooperation with Cuba led by President Obama.

Obama traveled to Cuba late during his presidency to attend the special game, along with Raul Castro, between the Cuban All- Star team and the Tampa Bay Rays in the stadium where Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers had part of their 1947 spring training, because they received death threats, ahead of that first year of baseball integration, if they came to Florida.

Under Obama, Cubans had begun to be allowed to play in the Major Leagues in the States without having to defect. The Trump administration all but ended that along with other restrictions placed on Cuba.

Only one Cuban parent, who happens to reside in the United States, was present this year to see his son play. One of the high points of Williamsport each year is the enthusiastic support and chants from the stands of family and friends for their favorite team. In addition to the normal English coverage from the stands, there are interpreted interviews and features with the thoughts and reactions of Spanish-speaking fans.

The presence of their parents, brothers, sisters and extended family members rooting them on often seems to be the catalyst to a team’s victory. This year Cuba had no such support. The Mexican Little League team by contrast had dozens of fans in the stands when they rallied in their last at bat to walk-it-off and eliminate Cuba.

The Little League games can be as heart-pounding as those in the Major Leagues, as in one of the final international elimination contents. Venezuela defeated Japan going down to the final out of the last inning in a one run affair.

Some of the Major League players themselves were present in Williamsport. For the eighth year in what has become tradition, the big guys came to play a game on the first Sunday night of the tournament, August 18th, in the local minor league stadium. It was Yankees versus Tigers. Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, who had 52 home runs already this year, was mobbed by the kids from the moment he got off the team bus from the airport.

The media apex of the two weeks was 14-year-old female African American journalist Pepper Persley’s interview with Judge on the bus as part of the ESPN2 Kid’s Telecast. Judge’s adoptive parents were honored before the Major League broadcast as the George and Barbara Bush Little League Parents of the Year for their support of their son throughout his youth as a baseball player.

The Championship game proved to be one of the most exciting ever. It went beyond the regulation six innings into the bottom of the eighth. Little League rules call for an automatic runner at second to begin the eighth. A 1-1 game that had seen spectacular pitching and defense with both teams leaving the bases loaded several times came down to the only lapse in Chinese-Taipei’s patience and persistence during all the games they played.

With the automatic runner on second base in the bottom of the eighth, Florida bunted on the first pitch. The first baseman came into field it but it was gloved by the pitcher who threw to the uncovered, just vacated first base bag. The ball sailed into right field and the winning run scored from second.

The natural celebration of the Lake Mary players and coaches was preceded by a remarkable display of sportsmanship and compassion as they hugged, held and consoled the distraught and tearful Chinese team. That was the image that will endure from this year’s Williamsport Little League World Series.