The 1992 Little League World Series took place between August 24 and August 29 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The team representing the Zamboanga City Little League, the Filipino representative in the Far East Region, won the International Championship while Long Beach, California, the United States West Region representative, won the U.S. Championship.
In the championship game of the 46th Little League World Series, Zamboanga City defeated Long Beach, 15–4, to become the first Asian team outside of Taiwan, South Korea, or Japan to be champion. However, it was discovered upon further review that the Filipino team violated age and residency rules and Little League Baseball stripped them of their title. Long Beach was awarded a 6–0 victory by forfeit as per Little League rules and became only the fourth American team in 20 years to become Little League champions.
The championship game did not feature a team from Taiwan for the first time since 1985. This tied the record of six consecutive finals set by Taiwan from 1977 through 1982. To date, this record has not been seriously approached by one country or state.
This was the first edition of the tournament to feature night games, as lights had been added to Howard J. Lamade Stadium following the prior year's tournament.
Far East series Between 1967, when Japan's West Tokyo won, and 1992, the Little League World Series was won 19 of a possible 25 times by the Far East champion. Competing against the national champions of traditionally stronger baseball nations like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, Filipino teams had been unable to qualify for the LLWS. In 1992, however, the Far East was represented by Zamboanga City, which had won the national Filipino title.
The tournament
The 1992 tournament debuted the round-robin format; no longer would a team play against a predetermined opponent in the first round, with the winners facing each other in the semifinal, with the winner advancing to the Saturday championship.
The new format had each team play the other three teams in their bracket, and then having the top two teams play each other in the semifinal, with the winners advancing to the championship.
Zamboanga City defeated the teams from Germany and Quebec before losing to the Dominican Republic, in the round-robin. This was enough to get them into the international final, a rematch with the Dominican Republic, which they won 5–1. The championship game against California was a blowout, with Zamboanga City winning 15–4 after a seven-run first inning. The team was hailed as heroes in the Philippines, President Ramos giving the team a gift of 1,000,000 pesos to contribute to the livelihood of their families. Long Beach head coach Jeff Burroughs remarked that semi-final pitcher "Roberto Placious" had the poise of a high school or college pitcher.
Teams United States International South Holland, IllinoisCentral RegionSouth Holland Little League Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QuebecCanada RegionValleyfield Little League Hamilton Square, New JerseyEast RegionNottingham Little League Kaiserslautern, GermanyEurope RegionKaiserslautern Little League Lake Charles, LouisianaSouth RegionSouth Lake Charles Little League Zamboanga City, PhilippinesFar East RegionZamboanga City Little League Long Beach, CaliforniaWest RegionLong Beach Little League Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicLatin America RegionEpy Guerrero Little League
Pool play +United States Rank State Record 1 California 3–0 2 New Jersey 2–1 3 Louisiana 1–2 4 Illinois 0–3
+International Rank Country Record 1 Dominican Republic 3–0 2 Philippines 2–1 3 Canada 1–2 4 Germany 0–3
PoolAwayScoreHomeScore August 24US California10 Illinois6INT Dominican Republic29 Canada0INT Germany2 Philippines14US Louisiana0 New Jersey5 August 25INT Dominican Republic24 Germany0US California6 New Jersey4US Illinois2 Louisiana3 INT Canada0 Philippines2 August 26US New Jersey5 Illinois2INT Canada10 Germany3INT Philippines1 Dominican Republic8US California16 Louisiana1
Elimination round
1992 Little League World Series ChampionsLong Beach Little LeagueLong Beach, California
The Zamboanga City Little League team was disqualified for fielding ineligible players, forfeiting the final to Long Beach.
Notable players Sean Burroughs (Long Beach, California), MLB player from 2002 to 2012 Anthony Forsberg, College player Long Beach State 2001
Champions path The Long Beach LL had an undefeated record of 12 wins and 0 losses to reach the LLWS. In total their record was 17–0, the last win coming from the forfeit by the Philippines. RoundOppositionResultSection 4Section 4 Winner's Bracket Metropolitan LL 5–0Section 4 Winner's Bracket Puente Hills LL 4–0Section 4 Championship Metropolitan LL 10–3South California DivisionalWinner's Bracket Opening Round Eastview LL 1–0Winner's Bracket Semifinals Deer Canyon LL 4–3Winner's Bracket Finals Northridge American LL 8–0South Championship Northridge American LL10–1West RegionalRound 1 Raleigh Hills LL4–3Quarterfinals Northstar LL8–2Semifinals Pearl City LL 3–2Finals San Ramon Valley LL13–4Finals San Ramon Valley LL11–3
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