The Evolution of Little League

Little League was founded in 1939 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as a baseball program for boys. Eighty years later, it is still headquartered in Williamsport, but now there are three million boys and girls that participate in Little League each year. Little League has evolved into a worldwide organization dedicated to being a leadership training program for children around the globe, and has become an important part of the childhood development of a large segment of our society. The purpose of Little League is to provide healthy activity through the enjoyment of baseball, while teaching the values of teamwork,sportsmanship and fair play, to help children to become good and decent citizens as they grow up.

Little League is a program of service to youth. It is geared to provide an outlet of healthful activity and training under good leadership in the atmosphere of wholesome community participation. The movement is dedicated to helping children become good and useful citizens. It inspires them with a goal and enriches their lives towards the day when they must take their places in the world. Little League establishes the values of teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play.

The term “Little League” and the Little League logos are trademarks of Little League Baseball Canada and Little League Baseball Inc., Williamsport, Pa., extended only to local chartered leagues for purposes of identification and publicity.

The Structure of Little League

While three million children play Little League Baseball worldwide, there are fewer than 100 employees of Little League in the world, because the Little League program is provided on the local level by adult volunteers from within the community. These volunteers give freely of their time to provide a fun, healthy and wholesome, family oriented activity for the children and the community. Every three years, local league Presidents within each designated district elect a District Administrator to assist their leagues, including to oversee the district level of summer Tournament Play. (For most levels, this is the first step towards the Little League World Series). The District Administrator also represents that community program’s interests at the tri-annual International Congress of Little League Baseball. The International Congress and the Little League Board of Directors establish common rules and provide overall direction to local Little Leagues around the world.

History of OLLB, Orleans Little League Baseball Incorporated

The Orleans Little League Baseball Incorporated (OLLB) has been in operation since fall 1983 when Bob Cliche and Ron Thompson helped start Little League Baseball in Orleans. We have been fortunate to have had a strong executive leadership and volunteer support from our community. Our hard-working Presidents include Bob Cliche (1984), Peter Miller (1985), Lou Riopelle (1986), Ken Boettger (1987-1988), Frank Dugal (1989-1991), Bill Walsh (1992), Sergio Di Gioacchino (1993), Gordon Crookston (1994-2018) and Rob Lay (2018 – present).

We are part of District 6 within Little League Ontario.  Little League Ontario is a Division within Little League Canada