Everybody talks about doing things for the players in Babe Ruth. In today’s Babe Ruth world that is more true than false.

The days of having eight to 10 teams in a Babe Ruth tournament and making tons of money are long gone.

We are lucky to be in Pennsylvania. It is one of the last states to still hold a state tournament in the Mid-Atlantic. Northern New Jersey had a state tournament for 13-year-olds this summer.

People ask me what happened to all the Babe Ruth leagues in Pennsylvania?

What happened is the same thing that has happened in major college football and basketball.

Pennsylvania Babe Ruth is being dominated by four major programs, Broomall-Newtown, West End of Williamsport, Altoona and Mifflin County. Since the turn of the century (2000), those four teams have won 48 of the 75 state championships and over the last 10 years they have won 25 of the last 30.

It was Mifflin County that started the trend toward super leagues in the state when it expanded in 1999 and has continued to get bigger through the years. West End didn’t win its first state title until 2005. But, since then it has become a super power. Both Williamsport and Altoona are mid-size cities with sprawling suburbs. Broomall sits right on the edge of Philadelphia.

Of all the leagues in the state that continue to play tournament ball, Mifflin County is the only one that has a town-versus-town league. All those other leagues have all their games played at one field or are travel ball teams.

What we have here in Mifflin County is something we should cherish and hang onto as long as we can. It might be the best form of nostalgia left in Mifflin County.

The league competition of Beaver Springs, Belleville, Belltown, Burnham, Lewistown, McVeytown, Milroy, Reedsville and Strodes Mills is what makes the Mifflin County league unique. It is what gives not only the Babe Ruth League a feel of a real baseball league, but it gives the people of Mifflin County something to be proud of.

There is nothing more exciting than a local pennant race that gives each community something to talk about. Once a team wins the league that town has a special glow for the rest of the summer.

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Here is one last statistic from the tournament trail. McVeytown’s Denny Yetter set a league record for most consecutive times as a manager or coach in the Mid-Atlantic regionals. Yetter was manager of the 2021 13-year-old state championship team; 2022, coach on the the 14-year-old World Series team; 2023, coach on the 15-year-old team that was tied for third in the regionals; 2024, manager of the 15-16-year-olds that were third in the regionals and in 2025 was the manager of the 14-year-old team that was a regional runner-up.

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Congratulations to Evan Strohecker for making second team All-State at the highest level of Pennsylvania High School baseball. Evan was a two-time All-Star in Babe Ruth and was a big part of the 2021 13-year-old state championship team. As a 14-year-old in 2022, he was injured and didn’t play, but came back in 2023 as a 15-year-old and made the All-Star team.

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I wanted to thank my drivers who helped me get to the All-Star games during the tournament trail. They were Denny Yetter, Josh Snook and Ed Molek.

This was one of my best years going to the games. I missed just one game (two played at the same time) and went to 25 of 26 games. The last time I did that was back in 2005.

I have now gone to 949 Mifflin County All-Star games since I started in 1970.

During the regular season, I went to 39 games and going into the 2026 season, I will have gone to 3,082 Babe Ruth games, regular season and All-Stars.

Thanks to all the people who have helped me get to games and also to the Sentinel.