This Oriole was a Little League World Series champ

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The video has more than 15,000 views and has gone viral on social media at various times over the past 17 years. It has followed Josh Lester through his baseball career -- from high school to college to the Minor Leagues to the Majors.

Lester was a 12-year-old on the All-Star team from Columbus, Ga., that had just won the 2006 Little League World Series championship in Williamsport, Pa. And with a national audience watching on ESPN2, Lester was fighting through tears of joy when reporter Erin Andrews posed him with a question.

“Josh Lester, tell me what’s going through your mind. You’ve been a star here at this Little League World Series. What’s going through your head right now?” Andrews asked.

“Just real happy,” Lester said with a sniffle.

“You certainly are,” Andrews replied.

During that moment, Lester was surrounded by his Little League teammates. His future teammates have made sure to not let Lester avoid seeing the humorous, heartwarming clip.

How often has Lester watched it over the years?

“Every locker room I’ve ever walked in, it’s been shown,” said Lester, now 29 and playing for Triple-A Norfolk in the Orioles’ organization.

However, it’s not the only memory Lester has from his time at the Little League World Series. With the 2023 edition currently taking place, he recently shared what his experience was like 17 years ago at the event, which has been a showcase for the best baseball youngsters in the world since its inception in 1947.

“I still, to this day, tell people that it was probably the most fun week of baseball that I’ve ever played,” Lester said.

First and foremost, though, Lester remembers the off-the-field fun shared by his friends on the Columbus team and other kids from all over the globe.

Lester’s squad from Georgia shared housing with the team from Mexico. When the kids weren’t battling it out in baseball contests, they’d be competing in various other games and sports.

“They set it up almost like it was college for 12-year-olds, all in the same little area. I thought that was really cool,” Lester said. “We’d go to the game room, and you’re playing ping-pong, pool, video games vs. kids from Japan that the only way you can communicate is numbers.”

It was a bonding experience for Lester and his friends from Columbus, most of whom went on to play together at Columbus (Ga.) High School. Many of them stay in touch, and Lester is in a fantasy football league with a handful of them to this day -- although he’s the only one playing professional baseball, which he’s done since getting drafted by the Tigers out of the University of Missouri in 2015.

Lester is primarily a corner infielder now -- playing mostly first and third during his 11-game stint with Baltimore earlier this year -- but he was a second baseman/shortstop during the 2006 Little League World Series. Lester said he was a high-average hitter who would set the table for the sluggers in the heart of the lineup.

Columbus went 6-0 in the Georgia state tournament and 5-0 in the Southeast Regional to advance to the Little League World Series, where it went 2-1 in pool play and then beat teams from New Hampshire and Oregon to reach the championship game.

“At that age, I don’t even think I realized how good we were until years after,” Lester said.

Lester’s Columbus squad captured the title with a 2-1 win over the team from Kawaguchi City, Japan, and Lester recorded the final out to seal the championship. He fielded a grounder hit to second base, then turned and tagged the runner coming from first to end the game.

Lester immediately tossed aside both the ball and his glove to begin celebrating with his teammates.

“Unfortunately, I threw the ball down and didn’t keep the ball,” Lester said. “That was a rookie mistake of mine that will never happen again.”

Lester is hopeful he could play in another game in Williamsport someday. MLB holds the annual Little League Classic there each August -- the 2023 edition featuring the Nationals and the Phillies is set for Sunday night at Historic Bowman Field -- so it’s always possible Lester makes a return trip in the future.

But even if Lester doesn’t get an opportunity to play in the Little League Classic at some point, he’d like to go back to Williamsport to attend some Little League World Series games once his professional playing days are over.

“There’s just something about that atmosphere that’s so nice and welcoming,” Lester said. “That type of baseball is just so fun to watch because there’s not a care in the world other than, ‘Hey, let’s play some baseball today with our closest friends.’”