Little Big Men

In 1982, Cody Webster and a small group of friends from Kirkland, Washington, sat anxiously in a dugout waiting to take the field for the championship game of the Little League World Series. Their focus matched what you'd expect from twelve-year-olds: hit the ball, throw strikes, cross your fingers and maybe—maybe—you'll win. Adults in the stands and watching from home saw a far broader field of play. The memories of American hostages and a crippling oil crisis remained fresh; the economic malaise of the late 1970s lingered; and the new President, recovering from an assassination attempt, faced new threats from the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, back on that tiny baseball field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, no American team had won a true international Little League World Series Championship in more than a decade. When the Kirkland players rushed from their dugout that day, they stepped onto a much bigger field than the one they saw.