1992 Little League World Series
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | August 25–August 29 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Long Beach Little League Long Beach, California |
The 1992 Little League World Series took place between August 24 and August 29 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The team representing the Zamboanga City Little League, the Filipino representative in the Far East Region, won the International Championship while Long Beach, California, the United States West Region representative, won the U.S. Championship.
In the championship game of the 46th Little League World Series, Zamboanga City defeated Long Beach, 15–4, to become the first Asian team outside of Taiwan,[a] South Korea, or Japan to be champion. However, it was discovered upon further review that the Filipino team violated age and residency rules and Little League Baseball stripped them of their title. Long Beach was awarded a 6–0 victory by forfeit as per Little League rules and became only the fourth American team in 20 years to become Little League champions.
The championship game did not feature a team from Taiwan for the first time since 1985. This tied the record of six consecutive finals set by Taiwan from 1977 through 1982. To date, this record has not been seriously approached by one country or state.
This was the first edition of the tournament to feature night games, as lights had been added to Howard J. Lamade Stadium following the prior year's tournament.[1]
Far East series
Between 1967, when Japan's West Tokyo won, and 1992, the Little League World Series was won 19 of a possible 25 times by the Far East champion. Competing against the national champions of traditionally stronger baseball nations like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, Filipino teams had been unable to qualify for the LLWS.[2] In 1992, however, the Far East was represented by Zamboanga City, which had won the national Filipino title.
The tournament
The 1992 tournament debuted the round-robin format; no longer would a team play against a predetermined opponent in the first round, with the winners facing each other in the semifinal, with the winner advancing to the Saturday championship.
The new format had each team play the other three teams in their bracket, and then having the top two teams play each other in the semifinal, with the winners advancing to the championship.
Zamboanga City defeated the teams from Germany and Quebec before losing to the Dominican Republic, in the round-robin. This was enough to get them into the international final, a rematch with the Dominican Republic, which they won 5–1.[3] The championship game against California was a blowout, with Zamboanga City winning 15–4 after a seven-run first inning.[4] The team was hailed as heroes in the Philippines, President Ramos giving the team a gift of 1,000,000 pesos to contribute to the livelihood of their families.[5] Long Beach head coach Jeff Burroughs remarked that semi-final pitcher "Roberto Placious" had the poise of a high school or college pitcher.[6]
Teams
| United States | International |
|---|---|
| Long Beach, California West Region Long Beach Little League |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Latin America Region Epy Guerrero Little League |
| Hamilton Square, New Jersey East Region Nottingham Little League |
Kaiserslautern, Germany Europe Region Kaiserslautern Little League |
| South Holland, Illinois Central Region South Holland Little League |
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec Canada Region Valleyfield Little League |
| Lake Charles, Louisiana South Region South Lake Charles Little League |
Zamboanga City, Philippines Far East Region Zamboanga City Little League |
Pool play
| Rank | State | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 3–0 |
| 2 | New Jersey | 2–1 |
| 3 | Louisiana | 1–2 |
| 4 | Illinois | 0–3 |
| Rank | Country | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominican Republic | 3–0 |
| 2 | Philippines | 2–1 |
| 3 | Canada | 1–2 |
| 4 | Germany | 0–3 |
| Pool | Away | Score | Home | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 24 | |||||
| US | California | 10 | Illinois | 6 | |
| INT | Dominican Republic | 29 | Canada | 0 | |
| INT | Germany | 2 | Philippines | 14 | |
| US | Louisiana | 0 | New Jersey | 5 | |
| August 25 | |||||
| INT | Dominican Republic | 24 (F/4) | Germany | 0 | |
| US | California | 6 | New Jersey | 4 | |
| US | Illinois | 2 | Louisiana | 3 (F/8) | |
| INT | Canada | 0 | Philippines | 2 | |
| August 26 | |||||
| US | New Jersey | 5 | Illinois | 2 | |
| INT | Canada | 10 | Germany | 3 | |
| INT | Philippines | 1 | Dominican Republic | 8 | |
| US | California | 16 | Louisiana | 1 | |
Elimination round
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| August 27 | ||||||
| Philippines | 5 | |||||
| August 29 Forfeit: see more | ||||||
| Dominican Republic | 1 | |||||
| Philippines | 0 | |||||
| August 27 | ||||||
| California | 6 | |||||
| California | 1 | |||||
| New Jersey | 0 | |||||
| 1992 Little League World Series Champions |
|---|
Long Beach Little League Long Beach, California |
The Zamboanga City Little League team was disqualified for fielding ineligible players, forfeiting the final to Long Beach.
Notable players
- Sean Burroughs (Long Beach, California), MLB player from 2002 to 2012
- Anthony Forsberg, College player Long Beach State 2001
Champions Path
The Long Beach LL had an undefeated record of 12 wins and 0 losses to reach the LLWS.[7][8] In total their record was 17–0, the last win coming from the forfeit by the Philippines.
| Round | Opposition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Section 4 | ||
| Section 4 Winner's Bracket | Metropolitan LL | 5–0 |
| Section 4 Winner's Bracket | Puente Hills LL | 4–0 |
| Section 4 Championship | Metropolitan LL | 10–3 |
| South California Divisional | ||
| Winner's Bracket Opening Round | Eastview LL | 1–0 |
| Winner's Bracket Semifinals | Deer Canyon LL | 4–3 |
| Winner's Bracket Finals | Northridge American LL | 8–0 |
| South Championship | Northridge American LL | 10–1 |
| West Regional | ||
| Round 1 | Raleigh Hills LL | 4–3 |
| Quarterfinals | Northstar LL | 8–2 |
| Semifinals | Pearl City LL | 3–2 |
| Finals | San Ramon Valley LL | 13–4 |
| Finals | San Ramon Valley LL | 11–3 |
Notes
- ^ Due to complicated relations with the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China—commonly known as Taiwan—is recognized by the name Chinese Taipei by a majority of international organizations, including Little League Baseball. For more information, see Cross-Strait relations. LLWS records and news accounts may use Republic of China, Taiwan, or Chinese Taipei to refer to the same entity.
References
- ^ "Little Leaguers are set to play under the lights". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). Associated Press. August 24, 1992. p. 1C.
- ^ "Search by League Name". Archived from the original on March 13, 2006. Retrieved July 28, 2006.
- ^ "1992 Little League Baseball World Series". Archived from the original on July 12, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2006.
- ^ "1992 Line Scores". Archived from the original on June 4, 2006. Retrieved July 28, 2006.
- ^ "Google Groups". groups.google.com.
- ^ "Google Groups". groups.google.com.
- ^ "Southern California Little League Tournament Results". Unpage.com. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
- ^ "West Region Tournament". Unpage.com. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
External links
- "1992 Little League World Series". Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2006.
- "Line scores for the 1992 LLWS". Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2006.