Twenty Six Years & Counting

The Little League World Series will always be special to me, because it's one of the annual sporting events my mom actually showed an interest in.  Like I mentioned before, she was the one who signed me up to play baseball when I was a little kid.  She also volunteered to be the team mom at least once... and played catch with me on our front lawn numerous times.  So every year when it rolls around, I'll monitor the box scores and root for teams from California, Hawaii, or Japan.

The 2023 Little League World Series kicks off tomorrow and to celebrate the event, I wanted to post three books that I've been sitting on since January.  Back in the early 90's, Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo published several books dedicated to professional athletes and their boyhood stories.  Within each of these books, there are five uncut sheets of cards with each sheet containing nine cards.

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

Now I had seen the Mark McGwire card at some point, but didn't really know where it came from.  Then in January, Nachos Grande wrote about his Barry Larkin card... which led me to discovering this book online:

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS

This book includes the Barry Larkin, Mark McGwire, and forty-three other baseball players including Ken Griffey Jr.:

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

The cards aren't numbered, but they do include stories about the athlete from their youth.  In the case of Griffey, he never made an out at the plate or lost a game he pitched during his first season of Little League.  That's pretty impressive.

I was hoping that Tony Gwynn or Rickey Henderson would be included in the book, but they weren't.  However Gwynn was included in the 1990 book:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS

Here's a look at the Gwynn:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

He's so young and skinny as a kid, I wouldn't have recognized him without his name being plastered on the card.

According to the back of his card, Tony and his teammates would sneak onto their opponent's home field and practice the day before big games.

Anyways... getting back to the books.  Instead of purchasing the Gwynn for $1.74 (+ tax), I decided to buy the book and all forty-five cards for $10 (+ 94¢ tax & free shipping).  The seller also had the 1991 book for the same price, so I grabbed that too.

I also picked up the football version for the same price from the same seller:

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS

There wasn't a Steve Largent in the book, but two other Seahawks made the checklist: Brian Blades and Kelly Stouffer.  The lone Green Bay Packer was Perry Kemp.  I didn't think there'd be much interest in any of those guys, so I took a picture of the John Elway instead:

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

I'm not sure how accurate some of the stories printed on the back of these cards are, but at the very least they're interesting.  And the childhood photos are pretty cool too.

If any of you are interested in seeing the checklists for each of these books... I'll add links to them right here:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS

There's also a basketball version of these books, but I haven't been able to land one within my budget yet.  The issue has to do with Michael Jordan being on the checklist... which means they aren't really cheap (at least to me).

Well... with the arrival of the Little League World Series... it usually signals the end of my summer break.  Although i've been going into my classroom the past ten days... I'll be officially returning for professional development on Thursday for the start of my 26th year of teaching.

1986 Topps #230

That's the same number of years that Tommy John pitched in the MLB.

1971 Topps #39

That's the same number of years that George Blanda played in the NFL.

1985-86 Topps #51

1968-69 Topps #29

And that's the same number of years that Chris Chelios and Gordie Howe each played in the NHL.  In case you are wondering... that does not include the six seasons Howe played in the WHA.

Teaching might not be in the same category as playing a professional sport... but just like Little Leaguers... sometimes guys like me need to dream a little and draw comparisons.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!