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The Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox are the next teams to travel to Williamsport, Pa., To compete in the “MLB Little League Classic presented by GEICO” in 2022, as announced today by Major League Baseball (MLB ) and Little League International. The game, which takes place on Sunday, August 21 and serves as the home game for Baltimore, will be broadcast nationally that evening exclusively on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” at 7:00 p.m. ET. The special event related to the Little League Baseball World Series will also be available on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app and ESPN Deportes. Both clubs were originally scheduled for the Little League Classic 2020, but that event has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are delighted to have been selected to compete in the Little League Classic next year,” said Mike Elias, executive vice president and general manager of the Orioles. “Our players and staff were very excited to spend time with the next generation of players and fans at the 2020 event prior to its cancellation, so that we have the opportunity to compete against the Red Sox next season at Historic. Bowman Field while supporting the Commissioner’s efforts to grow the game are a tremendous honor for our club.
“We are delighted to be part of one of MLB’s last traditions that directly connects Major League players with the next generation of potential stars of the game,” said Red Sox president Tom Werner. “Playing the Orioles at Historic Bowman Field is an honor and we look forward to deepening the connection between today’s youth and the American hobby.”
As is tradition for this annual occasion, the major leagues of the Orioles and Red Sox will attend Little League World Series games earlier today on August 21, demonstrating their commitment to helping develop the game to the youth level and to engage with young fans. Later in the evening, Little League World Series players and their families will fill Historic Bowman Field for the Little League Classic game, part of the “GEICO Summer Series”.
Youth baseball participation continues to grow significantly, according to a leading independent source collecting data on youth sport participation. In early 2021, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) announced its Topline participation report for 2020 for individual and team sports played in the United States. Despite the pandemic severely affecting formal leagues, occasional baseball participation increased by + 22%. Overall, casual participation in baseball has increased by 90% since the launch of PLAY BALL in 2015. Also according to the SFIA, baseball and softball have combined to rank among the most popular team sports in Canada. United States in four of the past five years.
The Little League Classic kicked off at the refurbished Historic Bowman Field in August 2017. The Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the St. Louis Cardinals at this inaugural event and were followed by the Philadelphia Phillies who hosted the Mets de New York in 2018, with the Pirates returning to face the Chicago Cubs in 2019, and the Cleveland and Los Angeles Indians competing in this year’s iteration.
Historic Bowman Field, in which Major League Baseball and the State of Pennsylvania invested in a multi-million dollar renovation before the 2017 MLB Little League Classic, opened in 1926. More than 560 major leagues, including the Hall of Fame Nolan Ryan, Bill Mazeroski, Jim Rice and Jim Bunning wore professional baseball uniforms for Williamsport.
The Little League Baseball® World Series is an international championship tournament for children ages 10 to 12, held annually at Williamsport, the home of the Little League International. Traditionally, countries around the world compete against each other on the global stage every year, with games airing on ESPN and streaming through the ESPN app. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 Little League World Series featured only US national teams.
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