Little League World Series Run Leads To Influx Of Players In The Taney Baseball League
By Dan Wing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a deep run in last year's Little League World Series by the Taney Dragons, the Taney Baseball League says they're seeing a pretty significant spike in registration numbers this season.
Thanks in part to a parade down Broad Street to honor a nice run by the Taney Dragons, the league is seeing an influx of players of all ages this year according to the Secretary of the League's Board of Directors, Ellen Siegel. She says the league has averaged about 900 players the past few years, but this year the number has spiked to well over 1,000.
"And we could probably accept a lot more if we had more fields, more coaches, more facilities to be able to do it," said Siegel.
Siegel says it's pretty amazing to see how far they've come after founding the Taney Baseball League back in the early 1990s.
"Five of us sat in somebody's den and thought 'let's make our own baseball league,' in 1993. We opened in 1994 hoping to get 300 kids, and look at what it is now. It's like amazing. I still get goose bumps every opening day when I see all these kids march out on the field in their uniforms, and I think wow."
And despite the increase of players, Siegel says they try not to turn anyone away, and even offer a waiting list.
"You know, kids always drop out, and especially when you're talking about little ones. I mean even seven and eight they'll go once or twice, or they'll have too many activities, or something will happen and the parents decide that this isn't for them," said Siegel.
