Another quality installment of ESPN's sports documentary series debuts at 8 Tuesday night.
"Little Big Men" follows the baseball team from Kirkland, Wash., which won the Little League World Series in 1982. The team, led by power-hitting pitcher Cody Webster, upended a team from Taiwan in the championship game -- but that's just part of the story.
Filmmaker Al Szymanski, with 11 Emmy Awards to his credit, capably recaps the team's upset victory in South Williamsport using game footage from ABC Sports (including TV sports legend Jim McKay) and goes beyond that to make the story more compelling and personal by following the team and its players after the victory.
Even two years removed from the U.S. hockey team in the Lake Placid Olympics, the Little League game did pack an nationalistic punch in 1982, which the film accurately conveys. Also, the general underdog story (teams from Taiwain had won five consecutive LLWS and 10 of of 12 before 1982) always makes for a good sports story.
As an added benefit, the film provides an interesting time capsule -- especially just two days after the latest Little League World Series concluded.
Specifically, the LLWS in 1982 included just one field, Lamade Stadium, and that was before the turf was so well manicured -- so viewers get a sense of the heat and dust that day 28 years ago.
Plus, the area around the ballpark was less commercialized and made-for-TV, but it was more cluttered than in recent years with fans. Back then, before the Internet, Twitter updates and even live broadcasts from the Series (it was tape delayed until the late 1980s), many baseball fans in central Pennsylvania were listening to the game on radio and as a victory for the U.S. team became more likely they did flock to the stadium.
To Szymanski's credit, the film feels right. It's not always easy to capture something like that years later, but that game that day was a remember-where-you-were moment for those involved and for many watching the game in person or on TV.
Emotional insights from Webster and his teammates about the aftermath of the victory only make the film more powerful -- because they touch on topics that always (unfortunately) remain timely, including how adults treat children and teenagers participating in sports.
Rebroadcasts of the film are scheduled: Sept. 1 (Midnight, ESPN2); Sept. 2 (11 p.m., ESPN Classic); Sept. 11 (1:30 a.m., ESPN2); Oct. 25 (Midnight, ESPN Classic); and Nov. 28 (1 a.m., ESPN Classic.)
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