Twenty years later, Fort Worth’s Little League World Series team finally formally reunites
On the same field where they won so many games as kids, and formed a bond that will last for the rest of their lives, the players from the Fort Worth Westside All-Stars that reached the Little League World Series 20 years ago were together again.
The run to Williamsport, Pa., and the Little League World Series was 20 years ago, but for the players the memories built on these fields, and playing in these games, it will always be 20 minutes ago.
While many of the players and coaches from that team have remained in contact over the years, Friday night was the first time they held any sort of official reunion.
Along with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, the players and coaches gathered for a reunion at the Westside Little League field in Fort Worth on Friday night.
They’re no longer boys. They’re grown men with careers, families and lives.
The irony is not only did these people not expect to be here on Friday night, because 20 years ago the idea of making the Little League World Series was not something any of them expected.
Coach Jon Kelly freely admitted to the large audience in attendance that before the kids played the team from Sugar Land his hope was simply not to be embarrassed on national television.
“I don’t want us to get run-ruled,” he said.
The team defeated Sugar Land to make the Little League World Series.
They have all since experienced the typical highs and lows that are unavoidable for any life, but this time in their lives is nothing but a shared extended period of innocent joy, largely made possible because they were just 11 and 12 years old.
No one was worried about select ball, or pitch counts. It was just about playing baseball, and when the game was over having fun.
Theirs is the bond built from innocence, and shared trust. They all knew each other before anything went sideways in their lives, and can now enjoy the loyalty that comes with relationships established when they were kids.
Status of Westside Little League All-Stars movie
Also in attendance on Friday night was actor/screenwriter Lane Garrison, who had a co-starring role in 12 Mighty Orphans, and is one of the film’s screenwriters.
He has written a screenplay based on the story of the Westside team’s run to the Little League World Series. Last year he hoped to have the funding secured to proceed with filming for the movie in 2022.
That’s still the plan.
The project has the support of ESPN, which has agreed to provide archival game footage, and the Little League World Series. The fundraising remains a work in progress.
Expect the film to be done, but not to the scale as 12 Mighty Orphans.
The film will focus on the team’s run around the relationship between player Robert Ratliff, and his dad, Bobby Ratliff, who was fighting cancer that summer. He died the following year.
Garrison still would like to complete shooting this summer, with the idea that the film could be released in the spring of 2023, around the start of the baseball season.
The plan is to shoot the film in Fort Worth, with some shooting in Williamsport.
Garrison said actor Luke Wilson, who had the lead role in 12 Mighty Orphans, has expressed interest in appearing in the film, tentatively titled, “You Gotta Believe.”
As for the stars of that 2002 Westside Little League All-Stars, here’s where they are now:
Michael Valdez, who played baseball at Texas Wesleyan, runs youth sports teams that focus on select baseball.
Rand Ravnaas lives in Fort Worth and works in the oil and gas business. He played baseball at Georgetown University in D.C., and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2011 MLB Draft.
Chris Rivera works for Google.
Robby Lebus lives in Fort Worth and works in real estate.
Robert Ratliff played football at Ole Miss. Lives in Fort Worth and works in insurance. Aspiring little league coach.
Walker Kelly played baseball at TCU, and lives in Fort Worth. He works in commercial real estate.
Mark Grace lives in Fort Worth and works in insurance.
Patton Eagle lives in Oklahoma City and works in the oil and gas business.
Mitchell Belew lives in Fort Worth and works in aerospace sales. Also coaches his nephew’s little league baseball team.
Chester Hamilton lives in St. Louis and works as an engineer for IBM.
This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
