What Dreams Are Made Of Boston Red Sox Display 2005 Major League Baseball World Series Trophy at the Home Of Little League Baseball By Nick Williams Saturday, next to the gift shop outside the ballfields in the central concession area of the Little League Baseball World Series, under a blue canopy, resting on a table and surrounded by groups of people pointing, taking pictures and essentially gawking, rested a piece of baseball lore. This piece of history has been sacred to baseball for years now, but it was this year that it became something bigger, something even more historic. So when Edgar Renteria hit a tapper back to Keith Foulke and the Boston closer underhanded the ball to first to officially end the Red Sox 86-year-long World Series drought, the Commissioner’s Trophy instantly became a celebrity. With Sox management looking to satisfy the craving of a fanbase finally touched by the feeling of victory, they vowed to bring the trophy to every one of the 351 cities and towns of Massachusetts. And with that goal already accomplished, the trophy has made its way to the mecca of youth sport—the Little League World Series—for adults to see, for kids to conjure fancy dreams of one day hoisting the holy grail of hardball, and for a completion of the already buzzing baseball atmosphere here in Williamsport. “This is amazing,” said Marc B. Cooley, 48, who hails from Williamsport but now lives in neighboring Montoursville. Cooley’s father introduced him to Red Sox fandom when he was only five or six. Now, for the first time ever, he gets to see the trophy. “I’m shaking,” Cooley said shortly after touching the trophy, sticking out his hand to show the feeling of what it’s like to finally come in contact with something that ended a lifelong amount of heartache. “I’m still so touched with their win last October.” Fred Carbone, 50, of Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts, feels the same way. “It’s surreal,” Carbone said of being able to look at and touch the trophy. “It’s like a dream. Did we really do it?” This is Carbone’s third year at Williamsport in what has become an August weekend tradition for him and his son. They usually arrive Wednesday and stay until the championship game on Sunday. While they enjoy their time here ever year, this year is exceptionally special because it’s their first time seeing the trophy. “I’m really happy,” said his 12-year-old son, Cam Carbone. “All my other family and friends have seen it, but I always seem to miss it. So, now I finally can see it.” It was also the first time Lee Schatz got to see the trophy. The 45-year-old from Maine said he barley got any sleep for two weeks during the Sox’ World Series run. Schatz can get all the sleep he needs now that the curse is over and he’s seen the trophy. “Unbelievable,” he said after taking a picture of him and his family with the storied piece of metal. “It’s like a dream.” Janette Konick, 46, of White Haven, Pennsylvania said she never really had a team she rooted for until some of her relatives moved to Massachusetts a few years ago and she got hooked into Red Sox Nation. “It’s cool,” Konick said of being with the trophy. “I was at the rolling rally (parade) in Boston and saw it from afar, but it’s so close [to home] I just had to come down here and get a picture with it.” It wasn’t just Red Sox fans who flocked to get pictures and look at the trophy. Baseball fans in general were drawn to Major League Baseball’s top prize. Dan Brunst of Spanburg, PA, and Cincinnati Reds fan, said he was attracted to the trophy simply because he’s a baseball fan. “When I saw it, it was basically the whole baseball aspect that brought me over to it,” Brunst said. Even Yankee fans were enticed by the trophy. Some just looked and walked away, some took pictures of it, and one Yankee hat-toting boy took a picture next to it with his thumb down, conveying his love for baseball, but showing his hardball allegiance to the Bronx Bombers. Yankee fan Eddie Bankes of Bloomsburg, PA, stopped and got a picture taken of him and trophy. “I’ve seen it before in Yankee Stadium,” Bankes said. “But it’s nice to be this much closer to it.” Bankes said it doesn’t take anything away from the experience knowing that the trophy, for this year anyways, belongs to the Red Sox. “It’s okay,” the 38-year-old said. “I know the Yankees have had the trophy more times than this.” Robbie Mariacher of Newcastle, PA, was wearing a Curt Schilling jersey and Sox hat, but said he wasn’t really a supporter of the Red Sox, but more of a Schilling fan. “He’s a warrior,” Mariacher said. Robbie’s brother, Richard, quickly came over and adamantly cleared things up. “He’s not a Red Sox fan, don’t listen to him,” Richard Mariacher said. “I’ve been rooting for this team for ten years now. This is great.” “He’s wearing my jersey,” Richard added about his brother. “I’m the die-hard fan.” Don’t worry, Richard. The trophy’s for everybody.