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By RAY WILDE
Sports correspondent
In my last media guide for the Mifflin County Babe Ruth League (2024), I wrote this in the introduction.
"The All-Stars have criss-crossed the Mississippi River 10 times, traveled along the Hudson River in New York, played just south of the Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington, were so close to the Rio Grande in Texas you could hear the river flow and won a national title on the banks of Des Moines River in Iowa."
Now make that 12 times criss-crossing the Mississippi River.
It takes a major operation to transfer a Babe Ruth team from Mifflin County to play somewhere in the United States.
Through the years we have had good parents and coaches that helped that cause. We also have had good backing from the community.
The first six World Series we went to were only a week long with just teams from the United States.
This is a different tournament compared to the other six. It has teams from all over the world in it. Instead of one week, it will take two. Which in turn will be more costly for the team and the parents. It's called the high cost of winning.
For the parents, players and coaches this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I have always said that one of the keys to Mifflin County's success through the years has been the parents. In baseball terms, they have to do a lot of sacrifice bunting to make this all come together.
Since 1999, Mifflin County has gone to seven World Series. The keyword here is expansion. From 1955 through 1999, Mifflin County was a very good league that won nine state titles. Only two of those teams did very well in the regionals, the 1960 14-15-year-old team and the 13-year-olds of 1973.
The 1960 team set the standard for 42 years. They won the state title, were second in the regional and lost to the national champion in the regional final. They did that with only having five teams in the league, McVeytown, Belleville, Reedsville, Milroy and Burnham.
The 1973 13-year-olds were third in the regional with an eight-team league.
But, in 1999, the league expanded its territory. In 1999, Mifflin County took in the city of Lewistown. Then in 2009, it expanded to ( Beaver Springs) Snyder County. And in 2016, it expanded its area to include Mill Creek (Belleville area).
Every year, the expansion has helped the local league achieve success to get to a World Series.
In 2002, there were four players from Lewistown (West and East); 2004, two players from Lewistown; 2016, one player from Lewistown, one player from Mill Creek; 2018, one player from MIll Creek and one player from Beaver Springs; 2021, three players from Lewistown and two players from Beaver Springs, 2022, three players from Lewistown and one player from Beaver Springs and 2026, four players from Beaver Springs.
The two other leagues in Pennsylvania that have gone to seven or more World Series are West End of Williamsport and Boromall-Newtown. West End draws from a population of 100,000 people and Broomall is a suburb of Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the United States.
Mifflin County draws from maybe 66,00 people.
A thank you goes out all to all those people who have made all these World Series trips possible from Mill Creek to Middleburg and from McVeytown to Belltown.
I'll be thinking of all of you as we cross the Mississippi River for the 11th time.