It’s Air Force vs. Marines … Tee Ball

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In keeping with the tradition of Tee Ball on the South Lawn games, no score will be kept between the Bolling Air Force Base Little League Cardinals and the Cherry Point Devil Dogs from Havelock Little League. Every player on both teams will play on defense and bat once in the one-inning game, to be followed by a picnic on the South Lawn for players and families. A baseball autographed by President George W. Bush will be presented – by the president himself – to each player, manager, and coach. The time of the game will be announced in June.

The game is the 10th on the South Lawn of the White House since May 6, 2001, when President Bush began the initiative as a way to boost interest in baseball among children and parents. President Bush, the first former Little Leaguer to be elected to the nation’s highest office, played Little League Baseball at Central Little League in Midland, Texas, in the mid-1950s.

This will be the first game of 2004, and the second to feature teams composed largely of dependents of military personnel. On June 22, 2003, teams from Fort Belvoir (Va.) Little League and Naval Station Norfolk (Va.) played in the first Army-Navy Tee Ball on the South Lawn game.

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest youth sports organization, with more than 2.7 million children participating in every U.S. state and dozens of other countries on six continents. Little League is the only youth sports organization to be chartered by the U.S. Congress.

More information on how to apply to be considered to send a team to the White House for Tee Ball on the South Lawn can be found here: http://www.littleleague.org/media/teeballselection.asp