President Bush to Meet with Little League Champs Jan. 6, 2006

"In August 2006 Little League Baseball will celebrate its 60th World Series," Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball and Softball. said. "The 16 teams that travel to Williamsport from around the world will write the latest chapter in the storied history of the Little League Baseball International Tournament. As is the case each year, the players' teamwork and athletic prowess along with the sportsmanship of all the managers, coaches and fans will set the benchmark for what makes each of the World Series tournaments the special events they have become." Last August, all 32 games of the 2005 Little League Baseball World Series were televised on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, or ABC. It was the first time that all of the World Series Tournament games were televised.

Hawaii won it's first Little League World Series championship and prevented the Pabao Little Leaguers from Willemstad, Curacao from becoming only the fourth team to win back-to-back titles. In 2005, all eight U.S. regional championships were broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2. The semifinal and championship games of the Little League Softball World Series, as well as the Junior League Baseball and Big League Softball championship games were also carried on the ESPN family of networks.

Williamsport has been the home of Little League since it was founded there in 1939, and the final game of the tournament is traditionally on the weekend before the Labor Day weekend. Labor Day in 2006 is Sept. 4.

The other seven World Series dates and sites are: Junior League Baseball (13-14-year-olds), at Taylor, Mich., Aug. 13-19; Senior League Baseball (14-16-year-olds), at Bangor, Maine, Aug. 13-19; Big League Baseball (16-18-year-olds), at Easley, S.C., July 29-Aug. 5; Little League Softball (11-12-year-old girls) at Portland, Ore., Aug. 10-17; Junior League Softball (13-14-year-old girls), at Kirkland, Wash., Aug. 13-19; and Senior League Softball (14-16-year-old girls), at Lower Sussex, Del., Aug. 6-12; Big League Softball (16-18-year-old girls), at Kalamazoo, Mich., Aug. 14-19