Terry Parker once refereed the Little League World Series and then tried his hand at security before moving on to refereeing visiting teams.
Dale McClintock started as a presenter three years ago.
“In some ways we’re kind of babysitters, but we’re here to help the teams, the managers and the coaches in any way we can,” Parker said in his thick Texas accent.
“Yeah, I look at it more as a chaperone than a babysitter,” McClintock said. “But as a chaperone, you’re making sure they’re where they need to be on time and, like Terry said, you’re scheduling their workouts in the batting cages and on the field.”
Team hosting offers another unique insight into the volunteer work that goes into running a Little League World Series.
McClintock lives in the Williamsport area, but Parker flies in from Texas every year at his own expense.
“It can get expensive. But I’ve made friends here and luckily they have good housing for me and they’re super nice people, Chris and Cherie Rogers, they put me up in kind of a little basement apartment and it’s really really nice,” Parker said. “And they’re just very welcoming people. And that’s what you meet when you work through Little League, are often very welcoming people. And they’re more than willing to take care of the people who come from out of state or out of town and that makes it a lot easier. It’s easier on the wallet because we have to pay all of our expenses out of pocket.”
The organization of team hosts began with the introduction of the World Series in 1947, says Sam Ranck, senior director of strategy and development who has been in charge of managing the hosts since 2008.
“If you love baseball, especially at this level — which is probably the purest level of baseball — the kids here are becoming superstars. If you like that aspect of kids playing, it’s a great two weeks,” McClintock said.
Originally, hosts were called uncles and aunts.
“We’ve moved to using team hosts because it’s more comprehensive and better describes the role they actually fulfill,” Ranck said. “They’re here to mentor the players and guide them through the process. But ultimately the manager and the coach are still responsible for the team.”
The group of 46 volunteers are responsible for the players and work with managers and coaches to coordinate the teams’ game schedules and ensure they arrive at the right locations on time and with the necessary equipment.
“When they arrive, you have to show them all the places they are going. You have to tell them what is expected of them and what they should and should not do,” Parker said.
According to Ranck, this includes having players plan their training sessions, accompanying teams through pre-game procedures, making sure they get to the stadium on time, and much more.
“This could include scheduling practice times, but also helping the team choose side activities to participate in. They could plan a visit to a museum, take a trip to the original Little League field to take a tour, or check out other attractions in the area,” Ranck said.
Each host works with another to mentor a team. Parker and McClintock have worked together since McClintock first hosted three years ago.
“We interact more directly with the players, coaches and managers than most other employees, aside from probably the staff and media personnel, but we spend a lot of time with them,” McClintock said.
Little League officials declined to allow players and managers to speak through the hosts.
The hosts select their teams through a drawing a month before the World Series. They draw a random ball from the 20 in a bucket, Parker said. One ball for each region.
McClintock and Parker were in charge of the Hawaii team this year.
“Thanks to him (McClintock), he was able to pull the ball out for West and that’s how we ended up in the West region,” Parker said.
Parker hosted Hawaii for the first time in 2018 and Hawaii won the World Series.
In 2022 they co-hosted with Hawaii and Hawaii won again.
“We had the exact same three coaches in 2022 as we did in 2018 and we won the World Series again. I was fortunate to win it twice in six years and now we have Hawaii again and we’ll see how that plays out here,” Parker said. “I couldn’t find a better partner than Dale. We work very well together.”
There will be no third win in a row. Hawaii was eliminated on Wednesday.
Parker first got involved in 2011 when he umpired the World Series, but you can usually only umpire once. He came back from Texas every year. Eventually, he wanted to get more involved and worked in security.
“I know a lot of people here and they said, ‘If you get ahead, we’ll give you work.’ And we said, ‘Give us work,'” he said. “I worked in security for three years and worked my way up to uncle.”
Hosts receive exclusive embroidered shirts and jackets and three free meals a day. They eat with the players and coaches. The shirts, jackets and meals are second only to the experience with the players, Parker said.
“The interaction and watching the other players in the recreation room,” he said. “These kids have no enemies. They meet and talk to each other through interpreters on their cell phones. If adults were more like them, this world would be a much better place.”
Anyone interested in recording a guest appearance can contact Small League.
