Free.

Interesting. I did not know THIS about Little League, and I suspect that few others knew it either.

People making a buck (or a lot of bucks) off kids' sports has become pretty endemic, I'm afraid. So much so that, even though the publicity for our church summer soccer program says "free" and even though the website says "free", virtually every parent who has showed up with their offspring has asked me how much it costs and if a check is okay. Furthermore, they seem to expect to have to pay for the free tee-shirt we give each participant. (They don't, of course -- generous parishioners underwrite them.)

I suspect that many churches that offer sports for young people sometimes are tempted to consider them a revenue stream. Their logic probably runs along the lines of "Well, worship is free, but this isn't."

Let the founder of Little League -- and Jesus himself -- be your guide instead.