This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. Paige Leckie contributed to this week's newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Mets manager Carlos Mendoza got a bit of a surprise when the team was already en route to Williamsport and the Little League Classic on Sunday morning. One of the two teams greeting his club at the airport upon touchdown? The Latin American team from Venezuela -- from Mendoza’s hometown.
Memories came rushing back, and Mendoza spent the whole ride from the airport to the Little League complex chatting with members of Cardenales Little League, based in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. They compared notes like old acquaintances.
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“It was just like, ‘Who's your coach?’” Mendoza said. “You know, ‘What part of the town are you from? Favorite player? Would you like to be a Major League player? What are you doing to do that?’
“[I was] telling them, school is important. But there's so much going on around them that I'm talking to one kid, and Juan Soto walks by, Francisco Alvarez walks by -- it was hard to maintain that conversation, but in general, just keeping it light and keeping it calm.”
After the fact, Mendoza lamented not having the chance to attend an event like this when he was younger -- but also appreciated the perspective it gave him, and was more than happy to have played a part in making the Cardenales’ experience as great as possible.
“If I had an opportunity to have an event like this, man,” Mendoza said. “I can tell you, just getting out of Venezuela -- and that's what these kids are telling me, their coaches [are telling me]. They've been on a pretty long road trip here, you know, but just to be able to compete internationally -- you play locally, nationally in Venezuela -- but facing teams from other countries -- and see where you are as far as the competition goes, and just different culture, different language and food. And kind of like what I went through when I first came over as a player, back when I was 16 years old. For them, it's experiencing this for the first time, and it's pretty surreal for them.”
That’s part of the joy of the Little League Classic, and the Little League World Series as a whole. Kids who might not otherwise interact get to go head-to-head with teams from around the world, and -- on one day -- get to meet Major Leaguers whose shoes they hope to one day stand in.
And, in turn, the kids remind the big leaguers of their own more humble roots and the unbridled joy they had for the game before it became their job. Even Mendoza was reminded -- something much needed as the final months of the season slog on.
“I'm watching the kids, you know, staring at Francisco Alvarez or Francisco Lindor, and you just see that smile in the face like, 'Oh my God, this is Francisco Alvarez,’ or ‘This is Francisco Lindor!'” Mendoza said. “And it takes you back to when I was that age, and being around professional players, even from a distance -- or walking through a baseball field -- and the fact that they were able to be that close, it was just -- it was a pretty cool experience.”