Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, Former Pitcher Orel Hershiser, Lead Little League World Series Broadcast Team

Print

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Aug. 14, 2006) – Joe Morgan, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and former Major League pitcher Orel Hershiser, will be among those making up the broadcast teams for the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series.

The World Series for 11-12-year-olds will be played Aug. 18-27, with all 32 games to be televised on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN Deportes.

Mr. Morgan, a nine-time All-Star during his 22-year Major League career, will be in the ABC broadcast booth at Howard J. Lamade Stadium for the first time, for coverage of the U.S. Championship Game on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 3:30 p.m. He will return to Lamade Stadium the next day to call the World Championship at 3:30 p.m.

Mr. Morgan will be the 15th Baseball Hall of Fame member since 1964 to be on ABC’s broadcast team at the Little League Baseball World Series. While this will be his first visit to Williamsport, Mr. Morgan has lent his talents to a promotional public service announcement in support of the Little League Urban Initiative.

Joining Mr. Morgan for those two games will be longtime ABC Sports announcer Brent Musberger, and Mr. Hershiser. For Mr. Musberger, who will also work several of the ESPN games, it will be his seventh consecutive Little League World Series, and 11th overall.

Mr. Hershiser pitched for 18 years in the Major leagues, winning 204 games with a lifetime earned-run average of 3.48. This will be his third time at the Little League Baseball World Series, having been an analyst for ABC in Williamsport in 2000 and 2001. He will be covering the 2006 Series from the first day until the last.

Returning for play-by-play on many of the ESPN games is Gary Thorne, who has become a favorite of fans in the Williamsport area. Mr. Thorne covers Major League Baseball for ESPN, as well as the National Hockey League.

Five newcomers to the Little League Baseball World Series will be among those working the ESPN and ESPN2 games.

One is Eric Karros, who played 14 seasons in the Major Leagues, with a lifetime batting average of .268 and 284 home runs. Jon Sciambi, former radio voice of the Florida Marlins, also is making his Little League World Series play-by-play debut.

The third newcomer is former Major Leaguer Orestes Destrade, who is from Cuba but also played baseball in Japan, so he is fluent in English, Spanish and Japanese. Roving through the stands during several games will be ESPN sideline analyst Erin Andrews, making her first visit to the World Series. Also on the sidelines for games involving the Caribbean, Latin America and Mexico region champions will be Ivon Gaete.

For a complete Little League Baseball World Series schedule, visit www.littleleague.org.

Below is a list of Baseball Hall of Fame members and the year(s) they were the ABC broadcast booth at the Little League Baseball World Series.

Johnny Bench (1986)
Don Drysdale (1980)
Carlton Fisk (1974)
Bob Gibson (1976)
Mickey Mantle (1969, ’70, ’71, ’72)
Jim Palmer (1984, ’85, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’97, ’98)
Kirby Puckett (1996)
Brooks Robinson (1978)
Jackie Robinson (1965)
Willie Stargell (1980)
Don Sutton (1977)
Bill Veeck (1964)
Earl Weaver (1983)
Ted Williams (1967)

For more information on the 2006 Little League Baseball World Series log on to: www.littleleagueworldseriesonline.org