Aug 27, 2015

  • Thomas NeumannESPN.com

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    • Joined ESPN in 2006
    • Former editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune
    • Graduate of San Diego State University

The championship of the Little League World Series will be decided Sunday, with United States champion Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, squaring off against international champion Tokyo, Japan, at 3 p.m. on ABC.

In Saturday's games, Lewisberry edged Pearland, Texas, 3-2, with a walk-off victory, and Tokyo outlasted Mexicali, Mexico, 1-0, in seven innings.

The consolation final pits Pearland against Mexicali at 10 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.

The first LLWS was contested in 1947 between two Pennsylvania teams, with the hosts from Williamsport defeating Lock Haven in the championship game 16-7. In the 68 years since, the tournament has stayed in the Williamsport area, but it has grown into a global event with thousands of leagues involved in qualifying.

Earlier this week, ESPN.com profiled the 13 active major leaguers who competed in the LLWS.

To celebrate the 2015 Little League World Series, ESPN.com presents 15 things to know about the event's history:

• Only two players have appeared in the LLWS, College World Series and major league World Series: Ed Vosberg (Tucson, Arizona, 1973; University of Arizona, 1980; Florida Marlins, 1997) and Jason Varitek (Altamonte Springs, Florida, 1984; Georgia Tech, 1994; Boston Red Sox, 2004 and 2007).

• Future major league player and manager Lloyd McClendon went 5-for-5 with five home runs and five intentional walks in helping Gary, Indiana, reach the 1971 LLWS title game. Earlier this season, McClendon and Kevin Cash became the first two LLWS alums to face each other as MLB managers. McClendon's Seattle Mariners beat Cash's Tampa Bay Rays 4-1.

• Long Beach, California, became the first American back-to-back champion in 1993. The previous year's title was awarded to Long Beach after its championship loss to Zamboanga City, Philippines, was overturned when the Far East champion was ruled to have used ineligible players.

• Sean Burroughs, who became the No. 9 overall pick in the 1998 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres, threw back-to-back LLWS no-hitters for Long Beach in 1993. One of the team's coaches was his father, Jeff, who won the 1974 AL MVP award with the Texas Rangers.

• Four future NFL quarterbacks from the state of California played in the LLWS: Matt Cassel (Northridge, 1994), Gale Gilbert (Red Bluff, 1974), Turk Schonert (Garden Grove, 1968) and Brian Sipe (El Cajon, 1961). Sipe, the 1980 NFL MVP with the Cleveland Browns, was the only one to win the LLWS championship.

• Future major leaguers Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell played for the Tampa, Florida, team that reached the LLWS final in 1980. Bell also competed on the Tampa team that returned to the championship game the following year.

• The first LLWS alum to reach the major leagues was Joey Jay, a pitcher from Middletown, Connecticut, who debuted with the Milwaukee Braves on July 21, 1953, and went on to play 13 MLB seasons.

• The LLWS was first televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" in 1963.

• The first LLWS champion from outside the United States was a team from Monterrey, Mexico, in 1957. Monterrey became the event's first repeat champion the following year.

• The LLWS final has been contested without a team from the U.S. only once. In 1985, a team from Mexicali, which borders Calexico, California, competed in the American tournament and advanced all the way to the championship, ultimately losing to Seoul, South Korea.

• Chris Drury, who pitched Trumbull, Connecticut, to the 1989 LLWS championship, went on to win the 1998 Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top college hockey player and won the 2001 Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.

• Pierre Turgeon, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 NHL draft by the Buffalo Sabres, represented Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, in the 1982 LLWS. One of his teammates was another future NHL player, Stephane Matteau.

• Billy Hunter, the former executive director of the NBA players' union who played two seasons in the NFL, played for Merchantville, New Jersey, in the 1955 LLWS.

• Since 1959, the final game of every LLWS has been played at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. The venue is named after a former Little League executive and son of Dietrick Lamade, the onetime publisher of Grit, a national weekly newspaper geared toward rural residents. The stadium sits on land donated by the Lamade family. Little League Volunteer Stadium opened in 2001 to help accommodate the tournament's expansion from eight to 16 teams.

• Williamsport is the birthplace of former pitcher Mike Mussina, a five-time MLB All-Star who won 270 games as a member of the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees.