"Bases Loaded" turns the street intersection into a baseball diamond. Positioned on each corner is a "base" with life size bronze statues playing baseball
“Bases Loaded” entails the painting of the street intersection into a baseball diamond. Positioned at each corner or base pad will be life-size bronze statues representing Little Leaguers throughout the 75 years of Little League Baseball. A total of 10 bronze statues have been commissioned by the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau. The statues are being created by Matt Glenn who owns Big Statues in Provo, Utah. There will be 8 statues of Little Leaguers representing first, second and third basemen, catcher, batter, and first, second and third base runners. A statue of the umpire and manager will round out the statues. Only one statue will be of any person with that being the manager. The manager will be a statue of Carl E. Stotz, founder of Little League Baseball.
Each position player will represent something significant within the history of Little League Baseball. The first, second and third basemen will be in the uniforms from the first three teams back in 1939. Those teams were Lundy Lumber, Lycoming Dairy and Jumbo Pretzel.
The first base runner will be a Hispanic girl wearing the 25th anniversary logo on her right sleeve. She will represent both the growth of Little League Baseball in Mexico and other Latin American countries during the initial 25 years of Little League as well as the first girl to play the sport.
At second base, the runner will be an Asian boy wearing the 50th anniversary logo on his right sleeve. He will represent the rise of Little League Baseball in Asian countries such as Taiwan and Japan during the second 25 years of Little League.
The third base runner will be an African American boy wearing the 75th anniversary logo on his right sleeve. He will also be wearing leg and arm braces and will represent the development and growth of the Challenger Little League program.
Our catcher will be an African American boy in 1950s era gear. He will be representing the 1955 Cannon Street YMCA Little League from Charleston, South Carolina. This was the only all African American team in South Carolina and unfortunately had to deal with the racial prejudice that was prevalent in the South during this period of our national history. His hat will be on backwards and will have the letters “C S” on them along with the jersey number 42 representing the number of Jackie Robinson.
The batter will be shown making contact on the ball as he hits the homerun that every youth and those young at heart dream about with the bases loaded. He will represent both the present and future of Little League Baseball and will only have on his modern day uniform the Little League patch on his left sleeve.
There cannot be a baseball game without and umpire and manager and those adult volunteers will be recognized in completing the project. The umpire will be in 1940s/1950s era gear.
The manager will be the only statue to depict an actual person; that being Carl Stotz, founder of Little League Baseball. Carl will be seated on the bench allowing for all those wishing to sit next to him to have their photo taken.
“Bases Loaded” entails the painting of the street intersection into a baseball diamond. Positioned at each corner or base pad will be life-size bronze statues representing Little Leaguers throughout the 75 years of Little League Baseball. A total of 10 bronze statues have been commissioned by the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau.
