Little League Museum Telling Easley Stories

Little League International's Museum is getting a redesign and Easley stories will be a part of the museum's new look.

Stephen Keener, President of Little League International, told Easley Patch in an earlier interview that the museum, located at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is undergoing a renovation

“Little League Baseball will celebrate its 75^th anniversary in 2014,” Keener said. “Little League was founded in Williamsport in 1939.”

The Little League headquarters and complex is still located there today, he said.

As preparations for the diamond anniversary got underway, Little League officials decided the museum needed work.

“Our museum had gotten quite stale,” Keener said. “The technology that was used back then, it opened in 1982, the technology was very outdated and in many cases not fixable.”

The LLI board of directors decided to completely redo the museum.

“We're going to enhance the presence of our other divisional World Series in that museum,” Keener said. “There's actually a theater in the museum that will have kind of a World Series gallery. There will be video highlights of each of our World Series Championships.

“The Big League World Series will certainly be a part of that,” he continued. “The Big League World Series will have a greater presence in the museum. In the past, we just kind of listed the champions. So now, we'll have a more audio-visual interactive presence. Easley will be more included in the new museum when it's ready.”

The museum is set to reopen in mid-June of this year.

“We wanted to get it open about a year in advance of the anniversary, so we can work out any bugs we might have,” Keener said.

The museum will be filled with “story moments,” he said.

Taylor Harbin recorded a story moment about his experience at the Big League World Series on his way to Arizona for spring training with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“What it was like, what it meant to him,” Keener said.

Big League World Series Tournament Director Jon Humphrey played Harbin's “story moment” at a recent Chamber Business After Hours that focused on the upcoming BLWS.

“I was a member of the back-to-back Big League World Series Championship South Carolina District 1 team in 2003 and 2004,” Harbin says. “My best memory of playing in the Big League World Series, aside from hoisting the Big League banner with my team as champions, was being able to meet and hang out with kids my age from all over the world that shared my love for the great game of baseball.

“These are memories that I will carry with me forever along with all the friendships that will never be forgotten.”

Harbin went on to play for Clemson University. He now plays for the AAA Arizona Diamondbacks. He was part of the Diamondbacks team that won the AAA Championship last year, Humphrey said.

“The millions of people that go through the museum will all hear about Taylor Harbin's experience here at the Big League World Series in Easley,” he said.