Redtree Times

I watched a documentary last night on ESPN, Little Big Men, that tells the tale of the Little League team from Kirkland, Washington as it marched through the 1982 Little League World Series to face  and defeat the mighty Taiwanese team in the final game.  It was considered a huge upset at the time as Taiwan had thoroughly dominated the World Series for the past decade, winning 9 times out of 11 years.  The only time they didn’t win came in a loss to champion Japan one year and in 1975 when foreign teams were temporarily banned from competing.  Apparently, the Little League wasn’t quite committed to the term “world” in World Series in 1975. 

It’s a nice documentary of a group of kids accomplishing big things.  All of the team members carry great memories from their experience but the documentray is not just about the glory of the moment.  No, it’s concerned more with the aftermath and the treatment of one player, Cody Webster, by other parents.

Cody Webster was the big star of the 1982 Kirkland team.  He was a 5′ 7″, 174 pound 12 year-old who threw the baseball hard and hit it even harder.  In the final game, he baffled the Taiwan team with his fastballs and curves  and at the plate hit a tape-measure homerun that sealed their fate.  After he struck out the final Taiwanese batter, his teammates poured onto the mound and he carried his first baseman in one arm like a child.  He certainly seemed larger than life.

But he was simply a 12 year old kid who wanted to just be part of the team, not be the big star.  Even at the time, he expressed concern that his teammates weren’t getting the recognition they deserved, that there was too much focus on him. 

And there was focus on him.  Parades.  Rallies.  Television appearances.  It was pretty heady stuff for a shy 12 year old.

But the worse part came soon after.  His celebrity made him a huge target.  In the years after, as he competed in baseball, other teams wanted to beat the kid who won the World Series.  In their minds, to beat the champ made them the champ, which is all fine and good.  However, the parents of these other  teams took it to another level.  Cody Webster was swore at repeatedly and even spat on by opposing parents.  In the documentary, one of his teammates broke down in tears, recalling all the terrible taunts Cody had to endure as a kid but saying that he was glad that it was Cody, of all the team members, who had to take it because he was the only one of them who could have endured it.

And he did.  Thankfully, this is a cautionary tale that doesn’t have a tragic end.  Cody doesn’t end up dead or living in a cardboard box.  He did give up baseball several times in this teens until throwing it in for good as a college freshman.  As he said, he was a good baseball player at 12 but not at 17.  The fun had left the game with every curse hurled at him as a 12 and 13 year old until the joy that was so apparent in the team’s victory seemed like ancient history. 

But he did endure.  And as he says, it’s okay.  He coaches and instructs elite players in the Seattle area now and I’m sure he has a lot to pass on about handling the pressures put on these kids by parents with grand expectations.  Adults who take the joy out of a little boy’s game.