THE MAG.COM PRESENTS:
ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

by Ted Bauer

WHEN IT COMES TO PRO ATHLETES WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES, JASON VARITEK CATCHES OUR HEART

Little League World Series starts today. The thing is amazing for several reasons: (a) at no other time is that area of PA as relevant; (b) it's Little League, which is perhaps the most universal childhood memory for males and (c) there are actually a lot of dudes (north of 25) who have participated in the LLWS and then gone onto MLB. We decided to rank 'em by relevance. Batter up. One thing of note: some websites claim Carl Yastrzemski played in the '54 LLWS for Bridgehampton, NY—that would make him the only LLWS participant to be in the MLB Hall of Fame. Thing is, he didn't play in it. Sigh.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (4)	JASON VARITEK	One of only two players ever to appear in the Little League World Series (1984), College World Series (1994), and World Series (2004/2007). Sad thing for Little League: he'd probably pull a Dante Bichette and manage a youth team to PA in a few years, but oh—he'll be managing in the bigs.
	2 (6)	DWIGHT GOODEN	Gets the nod over fellow Tampa native Gary Sheffield because Gooden, when he was legitimately Doc Gooden, was one of the most dominating pitchers of the 1980s. He played in the '79 LLWS and won the '86 World Series with the Mets. Pretty quick turnaround, eh?
	3 (7)	GARY SHEFFIELD	Dude is a legitimately scary hitter, and was back in the '80 LLWS, but he just got put on waivers by the Tigers. It's cool, though: maybe he'll make a postseason run with the Rays!
	4 (9)	CARNEY LANSFORD	Played in the '69 LLWS, won the '81 MLB batting title, and was a member of the '89 Oakland team that won the World Series. Had a cool 'stache that we secretly hope he learned to grow in little league dugouts.
	5 (11)	JASON BAY	Played in the '90 LLWS for British Columbia. He might be a little high here due to (somewhat) limited MLB experience, but he strikes us as one of those guys that's going to hit a 14th inning triple to win a postseason game at Fenway.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	17 (182)	CHRIS DRURY	Doesn't play in MLB, but check this: he's won a LLWS ('89), a Stanley Cup, the Hank Aaron Award, the Hobey Baker Award, and an Olympic silver medal. He's 32. We're so depressed about our lives.
	131 (1,656)	JASON MARQUIS	Played in the '91 LLWS, won the '06 World Series with the Cardinals and might grab another pro ring this year with the Cubs. Jinx! Kidding. We think.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		LASTINGS MILLEDGE ('97 LLWS)
		WILSON ALVAREZ ('82 LLWS, but recently replaced as pitching coach of a Single-A team)

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