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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — One of the fundamental aspects of any sport that involves a ball — keeping your eye on it — ended up being the spark that gave Little League baseball a start.

It was a hot August afternoon in 1938 when Williamsport, Pa., resident Carl E. Stotz went back for a fly ball hit by a child from the west side neighborhood.

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Carl E. Stotz Field is the birthplace of Little League Baseball. Stotz formed the league in 1939. It consisted of three teams playing 24 games the first year. The first 12 Little League World Series games were played here from 1947-58.Click to enlarge

Making good on his own teachings, Stotz didn't see the lilac bush at his feet in the rear yard of 1108 Isabella St.

Rubbing his ankle and sharing a glass of water with his makeshift teammates, Stotz asked a pivotal question in Little League history: How would the children like having a real ball field, real bats and a different ball for each game. How would they like to play in an organized league.

And so it began.

Nearly seven decades later, Little League baseball is a force that spans generations and brings together countries whose diverse cultures all speak the same language of the American pastime.

This weekend, 16 teams from all over the world have been whittled down from thousands to participate in the Little League World Series in the league's birthplace.

"Williamsport is what we consider the mecca of Little League baseball," said Jim McKinney, president of Original League Inc., the organization originally created by Little League founder Stotz in 1939. "It's tourism, sportsmanship, friendship, everything that people would ask for when it comes to baseball."

Shortly after tripping over the lilac bush, Stotz went from house to business in the small lumber town of central Pennsylvania asking for donations to field what would become three teams.

Based on the only three sponsors Stotz was able to secure, the three teams were short on mascots, but high on pride.

"It was strictly a new venture then," said Bill Bair, 80, the first batting champion of the 1939 team of 12-year-olds. "We had a pro(fessional) team, but to finally have a kids team was really great."

After obtaining the sponsors, Stotz — a religious man who forbade playing on the Sabbath — took the first crop of Little Leaguers from a Sunday school class.

After playing for a year at the spot on Williamsport's northwest side, Stotz and his players erected a second field that was quickly replaced by a factory producing goods for the World War II effort.

"We cut down trees, we dug out the stumps," said Bair, the childlike pride swelling in his thin, hunched frame. "We made a field. It was our field."

Then in 1942, Stotz obtained a lease from the city for a few acres of parkland along the Susquehanna River. And from 1947-58, the pristine ball diamond housed the first 12 Little League World Series games.

Today, the Carl E. Stotz Field is the site of hundreds of games each year, but not the world series, which has moved some eight miles east in two state-of-the art stadiums.

The players who call the facility their home cannot qualify for the Little League World Series because of a rights transfer that has created a rift between the original organization and Little League baseball, McKinney said.

But the site will always be an important one for anyone donning a cap and glove.

"This has really put Williamsport on the map," Bair said. "Not just for two weeks, but for the entire year because anytime you mention Williamsport, people automatically think Little League baseball. And that's the way it should be."

McKinney agreed. Despite the fact he's charged — as he has been for the past six years — with maintaining a 68-year-old game, the next two weeks will be nothing short of thrilling.

"It's my favorite time of year," he said beaming. "It's my vacation. Look around you, this is the past, present and future of Little League baseball."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.