With young ballplayers, youth coaches and their families packing the stands at Historic Bowman Field, the Yankees are scheduled to make their Little League Classic debut against the Tigers in Williamsport, Pa., on Sunday.
The special event, regular-season contest — the seventh of its kind — is supposed to start at 7 p.m. and air on ESPN, weather permitting. It will count as a home game for the Tigers after the two teams opened a three-game series in Detroit on Friday, but Little Leaguers will certainly gravitate toward Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and the Yankees’ other household names.
“It’s going to be a fun day,” said Luke Weaver, who attended the first Little League Classic as a member of the Cardinals in 2017. “Now being a dad with that perspective, I’m going to probably have a greater respect for these kids and what it’s taken to get there.”
With the Yankees set to interact with Little Leagues during their visit, the Daily News asked a few Bombers to share their advice for young players. Here’s a look at what they had to say.
Weaver, who had a 5.14 ERA before finding success with the Yankees this season:
“Learn to accept failure sooner than later. Using failure is the best tool to succeed. And though it’s hard to understand failure in the moment, when you take those steps forward, it’s going to allow you to escape some of those moments quicker to get back to success. That’s probably a lot to tell an 11 or 12-year-old, but I think the premise would just be to have fun and to try to learn from the mistakes and not dwell on them. Use them to motivate you.”
Soto, whose Little League team once lost in the Caribbean regionals:
“Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the memories. It’s gonna be a really nice experience that you will never forget in your life. I will say that it doesn’t matter if you win or not. At the end of the day, they already won a championship to be there.”
Austin Wells, whose mom and dad spent their free time schlepping him to games and practices:
“Thank your parents for sacrificing the time to allow you to play the game that you love. My parents were driving me to tournaments all over the place, going to every game. I won’t ever be able to repay them. So the best thing to do is thank them and tell them that you love them.”
Gerrit Cole, a strong enough student to get into UCLA:
“Keep your grades up. It will give you more opportunities for more schools to continue playing baseball. Save your parents a little bit of money.”
Ben Rice, a natural catcher who transitioned to first base this season:
“Play all the positions if you can. Be an athlete… If you’re out there, try to find ways to get to different parts of the field.”
Clay Holmes, who pitched in the 2019 Little League Classic while with the Pirates:
“I know it’s cliche, but it’s a lot of fun there. There’s a lot of exciting things, so just make the most of it and have fun. There’s a lot of kids that wish they were there, so enjoy it and make the most of this opportunity.”
Carlos Rodón, who focused on baseball when he got to high school:
“Nowadays, parents and kids themselves seem to get real one-track minded with sports… I wish, when I was that age, that I just kept playing every sport. I wish I kept playing basketball. I wish I kept playing football. I feel like it builds a complete athlete when you get a break from baseball.”
Anthony Volpe, who didn’t play much Little League baseball growing up in New Jersey:
“When I think back to when I was that age, I don’t remember any game, any at-bat, any anything, but I remember the relationships. I still talk to a lot of guys I played with when I was that little. So have a lot of fun and enjoy everything. It’ll be an awesome opportunity for them to be there and go out and compete and meet everybody here.”