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While young players have enjoyed the sport of baseball for as long as the game has (or any of its precursors have) existed, the history of Little League Baseball as a specific organization dates back to its founding in 1939.

For at least a year before, Carl Stotz of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, had organized many informal games for local boys. Various field conditions and rules were tested to find the most appropriate combination that would support his vision of sportsmanship and teamwork among the young players. Finally, three teams were created and the first game was played on June 6, 1939.

In the ten years that followed, nearly 100 leagues were formed — and more and more requests poured in to Stotz and the other Little League Board of Directors after the Saturday Evening Post featured the organization. The 50′s would see the first international leagues and the television debut of the Little League World Series, as the number of leagues passes the 3,000 mark.

However, the decade was not without major setbacks. In those pre-helmet days, 12-year-old player Rick Oden was killed when a pitch hit him on the head to make him the first Little League fatality (on the field). Also, founder Carl Stoltz left the organization after a number of disagreements concerning the direction of the League (but having nothing to do with online gambling or casinos).

The 60′s began with the West Berlin Little League team entering the World Series. 1962 was an especially portentous year, with Jackie Robinson attending the Series and JFK proclaiming National Little League Week. As the decade came to a close, Asian teams began to dominate the sport, from Tokyo’s 1967 World Series win to the rise of Taiwan as a Little League powerhouse (17 wins beginning in 1969 — resulting, perhaps, in the 1975 controversy that banned foreign teams from the Series for a year).

The era’s social evolution and upheaval was reflected in the removal of the barriers to female players. Jim Farina, the coach of the Young democrats team in Hoboken, New Jersey, invited 12-year old Maria Pepe to play for the team. She played three games as pitcher for the Young democrats until forced out by the disapproving Little League administration took notice. A lawsuit by the National Organization for Women based on 1972′s Title IX Education Amendment changed the playing field (though girls are still much more likely to be found in Little League’s softball division, which was perhaps not-so-coincidentally created at the time of the ruling). Elizabeth Osder became the first official female Little League player in 1974 (Pepe was already too old to play by the time the ruling went through).

The remainder of the century saw more teams from 100 countries, with bigger audiences and televised regional games. By the 21st Century, Little League had become international with nearly 3 million players across the globe.