The Summer Fever (1972)

[Music] it descends upon the Earth with a summer sun a strange fever that stalks the young among us as relentless is the heartbeats of time it hunts its victims around our world honoring no border sparing no [Music] people it's the summer [Music] fever o [Music] [Music] beautiful job beautiful job each year the Summer sun infects The Young and the young of heart with a strange and happy fever it's diagnosed as baseball and nowhere is it more rampant than with an international sports family called Little League born in the United States of America and now spreading to other lands as a spirited and popular epidemic little league is a controlled eruption of youthful energy and enthusiasm for boys 8 to 12 from father to son the baseball fever has been passed from generation to generation as America's national sport for little leers everywhere is the joys and lessons of competitive life and the dream of playing against boys from around the globe in a World Series Championship the peak of each year's competition held in Williamsport Pennsylvania [Music] [Applause] some say baseball is a scientific sport a slow game of strategy to be analized on a lazy Summer's afternoon quietly without [Applause] emotion for those not infected by the summer fever baseball is simple to understand it's a game of two teams of nine players each and it's normally reserved for humans it involves a 5 o sphere called a baseball a club called a bat and assorted gloves obviously borrowed from Giants to catch the baseball and has played Upon A prescribed field called a [Music] diamond the teams take turns on offense and defense and the one scoring the most points by hitting the ball advancing around three bases and returning to the starting point wins the game simple no well no not quite to score a player must first reach the bases usually by hitting a ball hurdled past him between 70 and 100 m an hour [Music] the defense meanwhile tries to prevent runs and their strength is the pitcher he pitches the baseball with such speed and control the batter can't hit it [Music] nothing to worry about though the pitch is backed by sure-handed teammates defending the field and they stop the Batters by catching the hits or by intercepting them on the [Music] bases or by use of their own special [Music] magic it all happens the scrutiny of officials called umpires who enforce the game rules to the complete satisfaction of all [Laughter] concerned from Farm pastures to City playgrounds from Hawaii to more than 30 Nations around the world Little League Embraces a family of 2 and 1 half million Boys in tens of thousands of [Music] neighborhoods it's a community program of adults leading boys through the shadow of manhood teaching them the responsibilities of teamwork and the disciplines of sportsmanship Bola in [Applause] [Music] there in the Cascade Mountains of America's Northwest and the neighborhoods around the world 400,000 adult volunteers provide the foundation upon which Little League flourishes they raise the needed money build the needed play fields and provide the needed supervision billory on the playing fields of New Mexico in America's Southwest or anywhere on the globe the faces of little league may vary in shape and in color yet the important qualities the commitment of adults and the contagious spirit and open friendliness of Youth of all youth these are [Music] Universal in New York City as in other lands the competition burns more intensely with each new game of tournament play one loss eliminates a team while each Victory gains another precarious step toward the World Series [Music] [Music] [Applause] and so was our planet spins its Timeless way between spring and Autumn thousands of boys scale step by exciting step up the international pyramid of competition in the world's largest organized sports program [Music] [Applause] only a lucky few climbed to Within Reach of the summit with a Summer full of baseball behind now just one final victory in America's Northeastern State of Connecticut stands between one of these teams and the dreams of millions of other boys it's merely a game yet it also teaches young and old alike some rather profound lessons of life [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] half [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Grand I'm [Music] for I trust in God I love my country and will respect its laws I will play fair and strive to win but win or lose I will always do my best [Music] [Applause] [Music] from around the world come the players from the Orient and Europe from Latin America and Canada from four regions of the UN United States to determine a champion among them since his beginning near here with just three teams in 1939 little league is spread across the world like the warming rays of the Summer [Music] sun Little League's Game of Life continues both on and off the playing fields [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the tongues and faces may vary but the honest hearts of the young see and speak only a common [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] language from the 2 and A2 million boys who begin the summer play the competition Narrows to eight teams and then to [Music] [Applause] four and now two teams boys from Taiwan and boys from America's Midland State of Indiana stand at the very peak of the Little League pyramid in the final showdown for the World Series championship winners or losers all who play win a lasting Treasure of experiences and friendships and memories [Music] [Applause] second B got h [Applause] the team from Indiana scores first but this is for the world championship of Little League baseball and the contest is far from [Applause] over one no ST [Applause] [Music] one ready man [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this year the boys from Taiwan are the world champions of Little League Baseball but next year's winners could come from Mexico or Japan or from one of the tens of thousands of hamlets or cities around the world where boys learn The Game of Life by while playing a game of fun it comes with a summer sun this strange fever and then vanishes as quietly as the footsteps of approaching Nightfall but it will return so long as our world has its young and it's young of heart