Yankees Mag: Big-Time Fun

The Yankees hadn’t even emerged from the gray sky above Williamsport Regional Airport, but the excitement on the runway was palpable.

Among the people gathered at the small airport in rural Pennsylvania were two Little League teams, one from Venezuela and the other from Henderson, Nevada. The players would be the first to greet the New York Yankees as the big leaguers embarked on a one-day experience in the Little League mecca following two games in Detroit.

On Aug. 18, the Yankees took on the Tigers in the 2024 MLB Little League Classic, a regular-season contest that since 2017 has become one of the most celebrated events of the summer for the Major League teams selected to participate and for the 20 youth clubs from around the world that qualify for the Little League World Series.

A few minutes before the Yankees’ charter appeared in the sky and then landed at 2:25 p.m. in front of a small mountain range that serves as a backdrop to the runway, the two Little League teams began the familiar “Let’s Go Yankees” chant. As the plane quickly came into focus, the chants from the young players -- many of whom were holding welcome signs -- grew louder, until they were drowned out by the sound of the jet streaking down the runway.

Moments later, with the teams assembled in two lines in front of the airport’s portable stairway, Aaron Boone began to make his way to the ground. Wearing jeans and a jersey, the manager slowly made his way through the throng of Little Leaguers, signing autographs, posing for photos and shaking hands along the way.

Boone’s team followed him off the jet, each player engaging with the 10- to 12-year-olds in the same fashion. Then, as if time stood still, the kids momentarily stopped what they were doing when Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton appeared.

“It was great to see those players having fun and enjoying the moment,” Soto said. “When you see that many kids going crazy for you, it feels good. You know that they are there to support you, and it’s something that I appreciate. We really got to experience how much we mean to young players like them.”

From the runway, the Yankees and the youngsters boarded buses and made their way toward the Little League International Complex for an incredibly unique afternoon for everyone on hand. But before they even arrived there, more special memories were created. Whether it was on a city bus that several Yankees traveled aboard or the more conventional charters, players young and not as young were seated next to each other, and during the 20-minute trek, baseball proved to be the ultimate equalizer as well as the main topic of conversation.

On one bus, Gleyber Torres, who is from Caracas, Venezuela, sat next to a fellow infielder from his home country. Within seconds, the two engaged in a long conversation about the sport in their native tongue.

“It was nice to share my experiences with him,” Torres said. “But the thing I enjoyed most was hearing about his experiences playing in Williamsport because I never got to play here. I always wanted to, but the opportunity never came. It sounds even more amazing than I ever thought it was. For the players we are spending time with, I hope that being around the Yankees helps them and gives them more motivation to get to the big leagues someday.”

A few rows behind Torres sat Nestor Cortes and a curious young pitcher from Nevada. After building up the courage to ask the Yankees’ lefty a few questions, the Little Leaguer got comfortable.

“I know that all of the guys you have to pitch to are hard to get out, but who is the most difficult?” the 12-year-old asked.

“A bunch of them,” Cortes answered. “Rafael Devers, Randy Arozarena and Yandy Díaz. There are so many guys at this level who are hard to face, but those guys certainly come to mind right away.”

As the buses weaved through several rural neighborhoods, pitcher Tommy Kahnle provided even more entertainment.

“Dunkin’!” he screamed out loud as the bus drove past the coffee and donut establishment. As Kahnle continued to shout out various landmarks -- and a few people wearing Philadelphia Eagles apparel -- the young players broke out into laughter. The reliever then shared a more serious thought as the bus pulled into the complex in South Williamsport.

“These kids really put in so much work to get here,” Kahnle said. “I remember being that age, and it was only a dream to play here. I’m sure they are on cloud nine, especially being on the bus with us. This has already been so much fun, and there’s a lot left to do.”

A few minutes later, the buses arrived at the complex, and the Yankees were greeted by a sea of fans determined to get a glimpse of their heroes. From a private parking lot, the team walked along a pathway that led to one of the Little League campus’s two stadiums as thousands of fans cheered and screamed for their favorite players.

“It was deafening out there,” Judge said. “Everyone was so hyped. There are a lot of Yankees fans here, and a lot of baseball fans. This is a great spot to grow our game, and I’m lucky to be an ambassador.”

The walk was slow for every Yankees player and coach as they stopped frequently along a barricade that separated the fans from the walkway and signed one autograph after another.

“There’s a lot of excitement; a lot of happiness and joy out here,” Gerrit Cole said as he made his way along the path. “I’m super pumped to be part of this experience. This is where I wanted to get to when I was 12 years old. It took me a long time, but I finally made it.”

Finally, at the top of the hill, the Yankees found some quiet, in an indoor area underneath Howard J. Lamade Stadium.

“This is Williamsport, man,” Boone said as he walked through the door. “I’ve known about this place since before I started playing Little League. That was a little wild; it was crazy.”

The Yankees didn’t take advantage of the serenity within the concrete walls for long. They instead ate lunch quickly and went back out to the madness.

“If I don’t make it back,” Cortes joked as he walked toward the door, “I love you guys.”

At around the same time that Cortes and several of his teammates ventured out to a designated area of seats behind third base to watch a few innings of a game between Pennsylvania and Washington with members of other Little League teams, Judge made his way to the ESPN broadcast booth, but not before being stopped in his tracks on several occasions by young fans. And every time his pathway was blocked, he signed more autographs and posed for more photos. By the time he finally got to the booth, Judge had discovered a new perspective regarding the players on the field.

“I couldn’t have done what these kids are doing when I was 12 years old,” the Yankees’ captain said. “It’s impressive. They’re playing just like they were still on their Little League fields, but now they have fans everywhere, and it’s a lot louder. It’s hard to imagine playing in front of the whole world with as much pressure as they have on them at such a young age.”

As the game moved along, Stanton, Kahnle, Clay Holmes and Ben Rice sat with players from various teams while Torres and Luis Gil spent time in the last row of seats with players from Venezuela.

“I couldn’t imagine when I was in Little League what it would have been like to hang out with big league players,” Stanton said. “For me, the experience was just as cool as it was for them. Getting to talk to them about their baseball journeys was incredible.”

With rain starting to fall, most of the Yankees players retreated to the room underneath the stadium. But Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. took part in a longstanding tradition at the Little League complex. With their teammates watching them on TV, the trio attempted to slide down a steep hill just beyond the center-field wall on pieces of flat cardboard, though not quite as successfully as some of their young admirers.

“Wells really wanted to do it, and he convinced to me go with him,” Volpe said. “I don’t think we even made it all the way down the hill. The kids who were out there with us were a lot better at it.”

Eventually, the festivities gave way to game preparations for the Yankees and the Tigers at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field a few miles away. But before Boone made the trip to the ballpark and began to focus on the game he would be managing, he reflected on the atmosphere in South Williamsport.

“As a little kid, I wanted to play in this event,” he said. “I think this takes everyone back to a simpler time, a great time when we all fell in love with the game. I remember watching this on TV, and I envisioned it my whole life. I’m excited that our guys were able to rub shoulders with the Little Leaguers and to see what they have probably built up in their minds for a lot of years.”

The 2,366-seat ballpark where the Yankees and Tigers would play the rubber match of their series hosted its first game in 1926, and over the last century, it has served as home of the Williamsport Grays of the Negro Leagues, as well as Single-A affiliates of the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates many decades later.

Situated in a public green space, the backdrop of the ballpark features oak trees and pines, as well as several houses that seem close enough for a Major Leaguer to hit a baseball into. Adding to the baseball history in this part of Williamsport, the two small baseball fields across the street from the ballpark are regarded as the birthplace of Little League Baseball. It was there that the first Little League game was played in 1939.

Rain continued to come down as the Yankees arrived at Journey Bank Ballpark and settled into their makeshift clubhouse -- a large tent down the third-base line. Fortunately, the wet weather gave way to sunshine just as the Yankees took the field for batting practice.

During a roughly 30-minute pregame ceremony, the 20 Little League World Series teams from around the United States and the world were introduced. Holding banners with their team names, the players lined up in the shallow outfield behind third base and extending to the grass just beyond first base.

Following baseline introductions of the big league players and the singing of the national anthem, several Yankees jogged out to the outfield to spend a few more minutes with the Little Leaguers. For Cortes, who donned the jersey of his native Cuba during pregame warmups, the chance to wish his younger brethren well was special.

“Every kid wants to make it here,” Cortes said. “I finally got the chance to make it here today, and I just reminded them that they are here as a result of accomplishing something that is incredibly difficult. I wanted them to know that I was proud of them.”

Before taking the field, Volpe also praised the players he had spent time with earlier in the day.

“We came here just as excited to watch them today as they are to watch us,” the shortstop said. “I grew up watching the Little League World Series. They are the superstars here; we’re just coming in to play a game.”

Before Detroit starter Tarik Skubal toed the rubber in the first, the pregame events came to a close with a most unique first pitch. Starting from the center-field wall, one player from each of the 20 Little League teams tossed a baseball to the next player in line until the ball was relayed all the way to home plate.

Through the first five innings, Skubal and Yankees starter Marcus Stroman matched zeroes on the scoreboard. The Tigers nearly took the lead in the fifth, when outfielder Parker Meadows lined a double to deep center field with two outs and third baseman Jace Jung on first base. But Judge fielded the ball cleanly in front of the wall and fired a strike to Volpe, who threw the runner out at home.

Although he wasn’t able to participate on the field due to an arm injury that had sidelined him about a week earlier, Chisholm made the most of his time in Williamsport. A few hours after the Yankees star befriended Russell McGee, an 11-year-old shortstop from Nevada who has long admired him, Chisholm appeared on the ESPN broadcast during the game and shared that he had exchanged phone numbers with the young fan.

“He reminded me so much of myself when I was younger and first got into professional baseball,” Chisholm said. “I told him that I would be his big brother from here on.”

When he wasn’t in the booth, Chisholm was interacting with any one of the 20 Little League teams seated in the first few rows of the ballpark around the infield. At one point, he initiated the Yankee Stadium roll call, getting a large gathering of kids to chant the names of every Yankees player in the field. Chisholm’s teammates heard the chants and all responded with some form of acknowledgment.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, when Torres scored from third on a wild pitch. Stroman kept the lead intact, finishing his outing with six scoreless innings. After Luke Weaver and Kahnle combined for two more scoreless innings, Holmes took the ball in the ninth.

That’s when things got interesting. Holmes struck out the first batter in the frame, then yielded a double to Detroit second baseman Colt Keith. Two batters later, Jung came through with a two-out RBI single, and the game headed into extra innings.

The Yankees scored a run in the top of the 10th when DJ LeMahieu led off with a single, driving in the runner that began the inning on second. But in the bottom of the frame, the Tigers proved to have a few more hits in their bats on this historic night for both teams. Facing Mark Leiter Jr., pinch-hitter Zach McKinstry tied the score with a leadoff single to right, and Meadows won it with a single to left.

Although the 3-2 Tigers victory became final when McKinstry touched home plate, the two teams gave the crowd of 2,532 one final and lasting memory at the end of the night. Just as they did when they were in Little League, on this night in Central Pennsylvania, the big leaguers lined up at home plate and shook hands with the players they had just faced. The show of sportsmanship brought the crowd to its feet one last time.

“This was an amazing event,” Boone said. “The Little League World Series is a longtime staple in our society and in the world. What Major League Baseball has done for almost a decade now, marrying the two events, is really cool for everyone involved. I’m glad we got to be a part of it.”

Alfred Santasiere III is the editor-in-chief of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the September 2024 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.