Jackie Robinson West Little League: 'They're An Inspiration'

With their towering home runs and inspiring play, the kids on the Jackie Robinson West Little League team are capturing hearts throughout the Chicago area and well beyond.

“These young brothers are phenomenal!” Will Starks, 51, said Tuesday night at a game-watching party on the South Side at Jackie Robinson Park. Starks told the Chicago Sun-Times that he drove in from South Holland to watch the team play. “I had to come and support them. They’re an inspiration.”

On Thursday night, the team from Morgan Park plays in the semifinal round. Tuesday night, Jackie Robinson West beat Pearland, Texas, 6-1, with two double plays and no errors.

Last week’s opening round game drew the highest viewership ever on ESPN for a Little League World Series broadcast — higher than what the White Sox and Cubs have been averaging.

The last time Jackie Robinson West sent a team to the Little League World Series was in 1983.

While their World Series games are drawing crowds to viewing parties on the South Side, their presence in Williamsport, PA, is even more notable for inspiring Major League ballplayers.

Count Curtis Granderson, a south suburban native who played in the Lynwood Little League and high school ball at TF South in Lansing, as one.

“The cool thing is the way people talk about it,” Granderson, a right fielder for the New York Mets, told the New York Times. “Like, ‘Wow, there is an all-black team out there; I didn’t know there was an all-black team playing.’”

Five Major League ballplayers donated $20,000 to ensure that the parents of every player could make the trip from the South Side of Chicago to Williamsport to cheer on the team. And Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford gave the team a pep talk by phone before its first game.

For Claudia Harvey, who enrolled her 13-year-old son Darion in Little League to keep gangs and drugs from touching her child, this is a dream come alive.

“We would watch the Little League World Series on TV, and my dream was to have him play,” Harvey told the Tribune. “Now, my son, he gets to experience it. It’s not a wish for me anymore.”

On Thursday night, they will face Philadelphia Taney. They’ll be one win away from Saturday’s championship game. Regardless of the final score, these kids have won over many hearts already.

» Watch: Thursday night’s game at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN

» See Tuesday night’s game on ESPN.com