International baseball organization for children and youth, started in 1939 in Williamsport, Pa.
, by Carl E. Stotz and brothers Bert and George Bebble. The league originally included boys aged 812; girls were admitted in 1974. It now includes two upper divisions for youths aged 1315 and 1618. In the junior division the game is played on a field two-thirds the size of a professional baseball diamond. A season comprises about 15 games. The organization expanded rapidly after World War II; by the 1990s there were about 2.5 million players in some 30 countries. The Little League World Series is held in Williamsport each year in August.