1998 Langley Little League All Stars: The True Boys of Summer – 2024 Inductee Spotlight

By Jason Beck

With the Little League World Series underway in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, what better time than now to look back at one of the greatest seasons ever by a Canadian Little League baseball team. In over 25 years since 1998 no Canadian team has finished higher at the Little League World Series than the tie for third place the Langley Little League All Stars achieved. As I was to learn while interviewing Langley players and coaches, this team’s story was so much more than perfect pitches and home runs (although there were lots of those too). And it started at the very first practice of the season even before the players jogged out to their positions on the diamond.

The coaching staff gathered their players and the parents together and addressed the group.

“I’m looking forward to coaching you,” coach Dave Mihalech began. “But from my perspective there is a seven-letter word that is going to be the most important aspect of a team having success. And success not necessarily just on the field, but it’s having a good season, a fun season. Getting along well.”

The players eagerly called out guesses like ‘pitching,’ ‘catching,’ ‘running,’ ‘batting,’ and ‘fielding.’ Mihalech shook his head at each until the group ran out of ideas and he paused before the big reveal.

“No, that seven-letter word is H-A-R-M-O-N-Y,” he said spelling the word out for extra emphasis. “Harmony. If you don’t have harmony up in the bleachers or on the field or in the dugout, you’re not going to have the same level of success that you could.”

It could have easily been one of those little things that is acknowledged in the moment but forgotten the instant they donned their gloves. The remarkable thing is each of the players, coaches, and parents really took Mihalech’s message to heart and it propelled them on a magical ride they’re still talking about over 25 years later and will remember for the rest of their lives.

Born in Nanaimo and raised in Surrey, Mihalech was a Little Leaguer himself in the venerable Whalley organization growing up. Although he played on some good teams, they were never quite good enough to make the Little League World Series. He began coaching Whalley teams in his late teens while still playing himself but was forced to stop when he moved to Langley in 1976. When his son began playing, Dave took up coaching once again in 1984 and didn’t stop for over twenty years even continuing on long after his son had stopped playing.

“I have a passion for sports,” he said in an interview at the dining room table of his Brookswood home in Langley earlier this spring. “I love being around young people and having a chance to influence young people.”

Ask many of his players from over the years and they will attest to the positive impact he made on them at a critical age of development.

“You really can’t say enough about Dave’s dedication and devotion to this team in looking at this team’s success,” said Langley All Stars outfielder Brett Logan. “He didn’t have a kid on the team and he dedicated so much time and continues to this day being that leader. He has an incredible skill set in getting people to band together and pull in the same direction. He gave up so much to develop us as young athletes and young men.”

And with that type of ability it was no coincidence that Mihalech’s teams tended to be very good. He coached the first all-Langley team to go to the Senior League World Series (for players aged 13-16) in 1995. It was one of the leading reasons why team manager Brian Sargent and the parent group of the core players asked Dave to coach Langley’s Little League team in 1998.

The core of the Langley All Stars had played together from when they began tee-ball at six years old and included players like Mike Erickson, Andrew Bell, Clayton Deglan, and Sean Sargent. It was apparent from an early age that this was a special group of talented youngsters.

“We weren’t just winning by a run or two, it was an absolute landslide,” remembered shortstop Mike Erickson. “We mercied almost every tournament we went in, to the point where we started going to tournaments for teams a couple years older than us, just so we could have some competition.”

From a young age this group of Langley kids was playing at an advanced level far beyond their years that most teams never reach. Erickson recalled an example to illustrate this point.

“I remember we were playing in a tournament in Nelson,” he began. “It was a ground ball hit to third base and our third baseman Tanner Mikesh checked the runner at second, gunned it to first, and then I was in behind covering. Then the runner at second base broke from second to third and our first baseman Sean Sargent threw it from first to third and we were able to double up this team. That was the level we were playing at, which was wild.”

The All Stars were so good they attracted other talented players to join them, which in Little League rules meant you actually had to physically live in the team’s catchment area to be eligible. The best example of this was Jeff Duda, who became the team’s ace pitcher. Duda had played at the Little League World Series the year before with Whalley, but his family recognized how good Langley had become. They made the decision to uproot and move, parachuting into Langley just so Jeff could play on the team there and have the best chance possible to get back to the World Series.

“He was another key piece in our success,” agreed Erickson.

“There was such a recognition of talent on that team,” said Logan, who had joined the team at age 10 from North Vancouver. “Provincial, national, and international talent.”

It was an added bonus that Jeff’s dad George was also an outstanding pitching coach. He joined the Langley coaching staff, working specifically with the team’s pitchers and catchers, rare for a team that age to have a dedicated pitching coach. It was no coincidence that most often cite Langley’s phenomenal pitching as the All Stars’ greatest strength.

“Jeff and George began training with us in the fall,” remembered Logan. “Having been to the Little League World Series they said, ‘This is what it takes to get there. We recognize this special group of talent and we don’t think we can just get there, but we think we can do well there, maybe have a shot at winning.’ That was a key piece in helping everyone set our eyes on that target and starting to believe that we could achieve it.”

After winter training, the 1998 season started in the early spring with six Langley ‘major division’ teams of 12 players each playing one another in a local league. The best players were spread over the six teams and it had been decided ahead of time that after tryouts the coaching staff would select the 14 All Stars that would represent Langley in summer ball. In the meantime, Mihalech coached one of the six teams in the Langley league, the Red Sox, who featured three future All Stars in Deglan, Brad Fraser, and Karl Reddick, and ultimately won the Langley league championship.

Little League Baseball is the world’s largest organized youth sports organization with over 180,000 teams and millions of young players participating in over 100 countries in the various age categories (Little League, Intermediate, Junior, Senior, and Big League). The most well-known and prestigious is the youngest age division (for nine-to-twelve-year-olds), first established back in 1939 and from which the entire organization derives its Little League name. It’s estimated that over 7000 boys teams around the world were competing to qualify for the 1998 Little League World Series.

According to Little League rules, teams cannot form before June 15^th each year. After the coaches selected his 14 players at that time that left the Langley All Stars with three weeks to practice and prepare for district championships. They based their home field out of Langley’s City Park on 207^th Street, not always the easiest diamond to play on.

“You had to be a civil engineer and a good groundskeeper,” chuckled Mihalech, “because the field was in a bowl. In the rain you had to dig ditches and bring pumps in.”

Getting out of District 3 in BC was often considered the toughest challenge. With Langley, perennial power Whalley, as well as White Rock, Surrey and Coquitlam among others, District 3 was considered a hotspot—maybe the hotspot—for baseball in Canada. Of the 66 Canadian Little League national championships held since 1952, BC teams have won the most titles with 31, more than double the next closest province. And the bulk of those 31 titles won by BC have come from teams originating from District 3. In 1998, Langley had over 1100 kids registered in its association across all age levels. On the other side of the coin, you’d get no better preparation and competition from your local opposition anywhere else in the country, which could only help you as you progressed to higher levels.

“We had as much competition getting out of the district as we did at the national level,” emphasized Logan. “Our matchups against Whalley were a really good test. They had a deep talent pool and a great multi-generational program. We were able to prepare pretty effectively at the local level, which then prepared us well for the international level.”

After Langley walked through their district undefeated, smashing Whalley 11-1 in the District 3 final, the All Stars proceeded to ‘mercy’ Prince George 11-1 in the provincial final in West Vancouver. In Little League, to mercy another team requires one team to be up by 10 or more runs by the fourth inning of a six-inning game, at which point the game is ended early. Mercying happens all the time, but in the provincial final?!

“We did have a bit of a habit of mercying teams for sure,” laughed Logan. “Some footballesque scores on the diamond there.”

It was clear this was a team built on more than just a deep pitching staff. They were a tidy fielding team all over the diamond. And with six left-handed hitters out of 14 players on the roster, they matched up well against either left or right-handed pitchers. More than that, every single person in their batting order was capable of launching bombs every trip to the plate. That might have been their secret. There wasn’t one or two dominant players they relied on game-in, game-out, quite the opposite actually.

“Any given game it seemed like one or more players would step up in their own right,” said Erickson. “There was such a wide range of talent that we didn’t necessarily rely just on one person to get us to the finish line. We had great camaraderie as a team. We understood what it took to win and work hard. We operated like a family. We really did. We shared in each other’s success.”

The formula continued as they moved on to nationals in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. It was at this point that this team of 12-year-olds embarked on what amounted to a grand adventure. Imagine stepping onto a plane in Vancouver with all of your buddies and then flying clear across the country. They landed in Halifax and then bussed to Glace Bay. They were dropped off at the local hockey rink where they were paired up with the billet families the players would stay with for the duration of the week-long tournament.

“You’re in a new province and they speak a little different and their cooking is different,” remembered Erickson. “That was kind of the whole excitement of it.”

“I remember Pat, our billet dad, coming over and he opened his mouth and he was making noise and it lasted for about a minute and a half,” laughed Logan. “I looked at Jared Krause at that point and said, ‘Do you understand anything that he is saying?!’ And Jared said, ‘Nope!’ It was total cultural immersion coast to coast in Canada which was really eye opening at that age.”

The Glace Bay tournament organizers did the Langley boys no favours scheduling their opening game early the morning after their arrival. Still adjusting to new surroundings and their body clocks to the Atlantic time zone after the long flight, the All Stars trudged through a tight 1-0 win over Alberta’s Calgary Fish Creek, decided on a game-winning solo home run by Tanner Mikesh, a line drive over the left field fence.

Langley found their feet after that and returned to their ‘mercying’ ways. First, they downed Sydney, Nova Scotia 12-0, then escaped with a narrow 2-1 win over host Glace Bay in front of approximately 8000 mostly pro-Glace Bay fans.

“Another close, close game,” remembered Logan. “They were a good match for us.”

A 15-0 shellacking of Quebec’s Valleyfield followed and the All Stars concluded the round robin with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Ontario’s Stoney Creek Optimists. Langley’s perfect 5-0 record put them in the national final for a highly anticipated rematch against host Glace Bay, whose only loss had come at Langley’s hands.

Not unlike Langley and Whalley, Glace Bay was another Little League power, punching far above its small-town weight (2001 population: 21,000). Of the previous 11 Canadian championships prior to 1998, the Glace Bay Colonels had remarkably won four of them. They’d been to the Little League World Series many times over the years and had a powerful program. Although they’d dropped the round robin game to Langley, they were more than expecting to go off to Williamsport for the World Series once again.

“This was the tenth anniversary of the last time they hosted Canadian nationals and they won it then,” explained Mihalech. “In their dugout they had a big plaque that read ‘Road to Williamsport’ and they weren’t cocky, but they were very confident they were going to win.”

Local organizers had produced red and white tracksuits to give to the tournament winners to wear in Williamsport while representing Canada. It was hardly a coincidence that Glace Bay’s colours were also red and white. Clearly, they were planning to win and to wear them.

An estimated overflow crowd of 20,000 spectators turned out to the Cameron Bowl for the final, plus more watching from atop neighbouring buildings and climbing up trees to get a view. It felt like the entire town and surrounding towns were there, nearly all supporting host Glace Bay except for a contingent from traditional Glace Bay rival Sydney who were cheering for Langley. TSN was covering the game for a national audience. Even the 50-50, which they called an “even-split” with a heavy Cape Breton accent, brought $11,000 to the winner.

“They collected $22,000 from that one Little League baseball game,” said Mihalech, shaking his head in wonder.

The game, as might be expected, again proved tight, a pitcher’s duel between Langley’s Duda and Glace Bay’s Jared Volkey. Duda broke the ice and helped his own cause by hitting a solo home run in the third inning before returning to the mound and retiring the sides in the ensuing two innings. He later finished with a five-hitter and nine strikeouts. Logan hit a two-out two-run double and later scored on an error during a double-steal attempt. Glace Bay scored a single run on an error, but Langley held on for the 4-1 victory. As they celebrated, the boys grabbed the water cooler and soaked Mihalech with the customary Gatorade shower. TSN grabbed Logan for a few post-game words.

“I got interviewed and sounded like a total idiot,” he chuckled. “Mike still bugs me about that to this day.”

They didn’t know it at the time but having to make big plays to win and persevering in front of massive crowds and a somewhat hostile environment in Glace Bay, it was a huge moment that would prove excellent preparation for the upcoming pressures of Williamsport. Before leaving the players dipped their feet in the Atlantic Ocean after earlier dipping their toes in the Pacific back at home. Unlikely Langley was off to the Little League World Series.

At this point, the media back home in Vancouver began to anticipate a burgeoning story about to explode province wide. Three reporters travelled to Pennsylvania to cover the team: the Vancouver Sun’s Gary Mason, The Province’s Steve Ewen, and BCTV’s Jay Janower. The All Stars 16-game winning streak through districts, provincials, and now nationals had them a nightly feature story on CKVU’s Sports Page and often the supper hour newscasts. It was all pretty heady stuff for a group of 12-year-olds who previously played largely in anonymity at Langley’s City Park in front of a few scattered parents.

And it was about to get even bigger for them. The very next day after the national final, Little League Canada chartered a plane down to Williamsport.

“It was just us on the plane and they had Subway sandwiches waiting for us, I remember that,” gushed Logan. “It was the best. Hey, a championship with Subway sandwiches and white chocolate chip cookies?! It was the best!”

Owing to heavy fog and problems with the runway lights, the plane had to circle several times after aborting an initial landing attempt. Eventually they were forced to land in Hershey and then bussed to Williamsport, arriving quite late around 1am. Despite the late hour, the lights at the storied Howard J. Lamade Stadium were still on as they rolled in.

“Seeing this iconic stadium under the lights for the first time was pretty special,” said Logan.

As the Langley players and coaches checked into their dorm room of bunk beds in the International Grove where all Little League World Series participants stayed during the tournament, the kids were just buzzing as you can well imagine. This was the greatest adventure they’d ever been on, and they hadn’t even played a game yet.

“So you can imagine a bunch of 12-year-olds getting in late, giddy as can be, trying to get to sleep and the shenanigans that were going around,” laughed Erickson. “I think the coaches came in at least three times just to be like, ‘Get to bed!’”

“There were players on the team who got zero sleep,” agreed Logan. “I don’t know if anyone got any sleep our first night. Too many nerves, too much excitement and we didn’t have a game the next day. I think there was a press day, the parade, maybe batting practice. It was a pretty excited night.”

The next day for the tournament’s opening ceremony, the players for the first time donned their brand-new blue Canadian jerseys with a bold red-and-white ‘Canada’ emblazoned in cursive font across their chests.

“When they paraded the teams from each country all around the diamond, I stepped back and took it all in,” recalled Erickson. “My heart dropped a little. I still remember we were standing in the left field corner, waiting for our team to be announced, and when they announced Canada and we walked a loop and waved to everybody, that was to me like wow, we’re on a big stage here. We’re not in Kansas anymore!”

The Langley boys were also given a Little League World Series hat, souvenir glove, and a bat, to go along with their Glace Bay red-and-white track suits.

Most Little League experts didn’t expect much from Canada’s team and why should they?

“Nobody ever expects Canada to do well,” said Mihalech. “You might win a game. Two if you’re lucky.”

But within Langley’s inner circle, they were quietly confident, hoping to win the entire tournament.

“We knew we had a shot,” confirmed Logan. “We knew we weren’t a one-horse wonder.”

Langley opened International pool play against Mexico represented by Guadalupe Linda Vista, the defending Little League World Series champions. Langley built a 3-0 lead when the skies opened up and a 90-minute rain delay ensued. It was the kind of distraction when combined with the pressure upon this stage that could cause less experienced teams to unravel. Not Langley.

“We got to Williamsport and suddenly you’re playing in front of a stadium with as much as 8,000-10,000 people every game and press everywhere,” explained Logan. “If you’re going in totally blind from a place like City Park in Langley to that, that can be pretty overwhelming. But we’d had the right level of exposure to know we could handle the pressure and just focus on doing our job.”

When the game resumed, Mexico stormed back to tie the game 3-3. The deadlock was broken when Erickson hit a solo home run and the All Stars held on for a 4-3 win.

The next day was the match-up everyone agreed would be Langley’s toughest: facing Japan, represented by Kashima. No Canadian team had ever beaten Japan at the Little League World Series to that point in time. And for most of the game it looked like that record would stand another year: Japan was leading 5-1 after five innings. The coaching staff knew something had to be done in an attempt to salvage this game and the tournament. With thousands of people in the stands watching expectedly, they sat the team down in the dugout before the final inning and proceeded to give the boys one of the best motivational speeches any of them has ever heard to this day.

“Look guys, you’re here. You’ve made it here and you’re playing Japan. No Canadian team before you has ever won in this position and no one expects you to either. And that makes you very dangerous going into your last couple of at-bats. You have nothing to lose. Everyone expects Japan to win this game. We’ve trained a long time to be here and let’s give them heck.”

The crazy thing is the talk worked. Like lighting a wick, the All Stars ignited and then exploded.

“We won that game 10-5,” said Logan, the awe in his voice still apparent over two decades later. “We just absolutely lit up, home run after home run. That gave us a lot of confidence going into the next couple games of the tournament. That win was probably one of the best games we were ever involved in.”

At that point, those following the tournament at home in BC and across Canada, or in person in Williamsport had been completely swept up in the drama of this lovable, underdog team. Who were these Canadian boys from Langley anyhow?! Almost never was Japan beaten like that. The All Stars had always had strong pitching, but what was apparent now was they were smashing the ball like never before. By the end of the tournament the All Stars would set a record for any Canadian team playing at the Little League World Series by clubbing ten home runs. Sean Sargent smacked four of those homers and Mike Erickson swatted three, while Jared Krause, Jordan Lennerton, and Jeff Duda each had one.

Observers were looking at the weight of the Langley players as a factor, given that Langley was the heaviest team on record to that time in Little League World Series history (a record that has since been broken). Former Major Leaguer Harold Reynolds was up on the broadcast booth commentating for ESPN and at one point cracked: “What are they feeding those kids up there in Langley, British Columbia?! They should be playing Pop Warner football!”

The All Stars final game to round out pool play was against Saudi Arabia represented by Dhahran and it proved a rout. Langley took it 9-3 on the strength of Jared Krause’s strong pitching (5 strikeouts, allowing just 4 hits) and two RBIs at the plate. Langley finished first in the International pool with a perfect 3-0 record, running their winning streak to a remarkable 19 games.

Everything seemed to be going the All Stars’ way on and off the field. There was a ping pong tournament amongst players from all teams in the International Grove dorms. The two finalists were Langley’s Mike Erickson and Todd Frazier from Toms River, New Jersey, the same Todd Frazier who later went on to an 11-season Major League career with six big league clubs, earning two All Star selections. “And Mike beat him,” marveled Mihalech.

In the tournament’s semifinals, Langley was pitted in a rematch against Japan, who finished second in the International pool. It had been building game-by-game but now everyone in Williamsport seemed to be behind these smiling, likeable Langley boys who played the game with such obvious joy. Despite finishing first in the International pool, Langley was still considered the underdogs. The crowd didn’t care.

“Ninety percent of the people there were cheering for us,” remembered Mihalech.

Prior to the game, the All Stars received an unexpected boost from a surprise arrival. An Abbotsford businessman named Bob Fletcher had paid for Erickson’s dad Dave to fly to Williamsport to watch the semifinal. The team had been away from home for over a month by this point, the longest most of the boys had ever been away from their parents. No one knew Mike’s dad was coming.

“I’ll never forget the reaction of Mike and the rest of the team when Dave came in,” recalled Mihalech. “We were warming up and Dave walked through the tunnel. Mike was just smiling ear to ear and the whole team was just delighted to see him because he’d coached a lot of those kids from the time they were six years old.”

There were a lot of emotions floating around the diamond that day. When Mihalech was a boy his Little League team didn’t make it to the World Series, but he brought along a photo of his boyhood Whalley team and kept it with him.

“I told the guys I keep in contact with, ‘We didn’t make it as 12-year-olds, but I’m bringing you to Williamsport,’ said Mihalech. “I get emotional just thinking about it.”

With a trip to the Little League World Series championship game on the line, everything heightened for the nationally televised game between Langley and Japan.

“That was the first time in the entire season where it was tense,” remembered Erickson. “It felt like every pitch mattered. We were on pins and needles. From every out, it just seemed like even though the game was within reach, it felt like our backs were against the wall. Everyone feared making a mistake. The bats got cold. The most emotion we experienced collectively as a team was in that game.”

“What a game,” agreed Logan. “Some extremely tight and tense moments. A pitcher’s duel between Jeff Duda and Tetsuya Furakawa. Both teams played strategically, trying to get runs how they could, move runners along.”

By game’s end Duda set a Little League World Series strikeout record with 17, a record that was broken over a decade later.

Late in the game, Japan was leading 2-1 when another emotional moment played out. Earlier that year, Jared Krause’s mom had passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. At first no one was even sure whether Jared would be able to play for the All Stars that season because of it. He did end up coming out and he picked the biggest of moments to pay tribute to her. Patiently waiting for the right pitch in the fifth inning, he cracked a solo home run bomb to right field to tie the game.

“I’ll never forget it,” said Mihalech, his voice heavy with emotion. “He jumped for joy around the bases pointing at the sky. I’m getting a tear in my eye just thinking about it. It was such an emotional moment. ‘We’ve tied the game! We’re still in this thing!’ Jared was generally one of the quieter boys on the team and didn’t show a lot of emotion. But I think he was thinking about his mom as much as the accomplishment he had just achieved.”

The game went to extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Japan’s center fielder Sayaka Tsushima came up to bat. She was the only girl playing in the tournament, only the sixth ever to appear in Williamsport, and as of 2024 one of only 23 girls to play in the Little League World Series all-time. Earlier in the game she had made a couple really nice plays that snuffed out Langley rallies and already had two hits. Facing Duda with a runner on third base and two out, Tsushima laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line that caught everyone off-guard. By the time the ball was fired to first base, Tsushima was safe and the baserunner at third scored the winning run. And that was the difference between these evenly matched teams. The 3-2 victory for Japan was a devastating heartbreaker for the Langley boys. But man, what a game.

“I’ll never forget it,” wrote the Vancouver Sun’s Gary Mason. “I’ve been to Super Bowls and Stanley Cup finals. But I haven’t covered a game as exciting as that one.”

“They got the better of us, fair and square,” said Logan years later. “That Japanese team was outstanding. It was great to get the opportunity to see where you stacked up in the entire world. To come from Langley, British Columbia, we had to go far to meet our match. It was a great run. We’ll never forget it.”

“Had we not come back and beaten Japan by five runs in the round robin game in the last two innings, hindsight is 20-20, but had we not won that game, we still would have qualified for the International final,” reasoned Mihalech. “They probably don’t put their ace pitcher in against us and I think we have a better chance to beat Japan in that International final. I also think we would have had a good chance to beat Toms River in the final.”

Todd Frazier’s Toms River team from New Jersey ended up defeating Japan 12-9 to take the world title.

After the loss to Japan, naturally the Langley boys were devastated. There were a lot of tears and some hanging heads. The coaching staff brought them together for a post-game discussion like they always did. Mihalech said, “If someone said to you all the way back in March in Langley that you’re going to be playing in the Little League World Series semifinal and you lost, would you be happy? Would you be proud of how far we came? Well, yeah, of course.”

They always say kids bounce back quicker from things and within half an hour back in the International Grove, the Langley boys were happily frolicking in the pool alongside the team that had just beaten them. The coaches and parents were affected a little longer.

Knowing it was their last night in Williamsport, after dark Mihalech snuck into the unlit stadium. He went out onto the field to grab a handful of dirt from every position. As he was gathering dirt and putting it into a little bag, a security guard yelled at him from within the stadium.

“Hey, what are you doing here?!”

“Well, I’m just getting some dirt,” Mihalech called back. “We’re from Team Canada. We wanted to bring some home.”

“Oh, you’re from Canada, you go ahead!” the security guard replied.

When Mihalech got home, he had the Williamsport dirt put in little glass bottles for each of the boys along with a team picture on a plaque.

The next day the All Stars were bussed up to Toronto to be honoured at a Blue Jays game at SkyDome. Alex Gonzalez and the other Jays shook each of their hands. Roger Clemens at one point said to Jeff Duda, “You’re kind of a mini-me!”

“That helped some of the sadness,” said Erickson. “We were on the third base line through the national anthems and introduced. They put us up in a box with all the popcorn and pop we could want. That was pretty neat to just enjoy what we’d accomplished.”

“The welcome home to Canada starting from then and continuing to Vancouver was unbelievable,” agreed Logan. “We were treated like royalty. Being out on a professional diamond, meeting the players. I still remember the sights and sounds, like hearing the ball whiz through the air at the speed a major league player throws it, the snap of the leather, it’s unique. And like Mike said, the snacks were first-class in the box. It was a pretty great way to get back to Canada.”

After flying back to Vancouver, former Township of Langley mayor and businessman George Preston of Preston Motors organized a charter flight for the team from YVR to Langley airport where several hundred people were waiting to greet them.

“We expected maybe 20 people there,” said Mihalech.

There were a lot of tears and hugs as the boys reunited with their families whom they hadn’t seen in person in more than a month.

Preston also donated the use of a fleet of convertibles for the players to ride in during the largest civic parade in Langley’s history. On a beautifully sunny late August day, a massive crowd estimated at between 5,000-10,000 turned out all cheering on the returning boys of summer. The players and coaches were legitimately shocked and moved by it all.

“That was super special,” marveled Erickson. “It really felt like a city was behind us and as time went on, we realized the country was behind us. That was pretty remarkable.”

For a period after their return, the Langley All Stars remained local celebrities. They appeared on The Vicki Gabereau Show on CTV and were interviewed by many of the era’s biggest names in Vancouver media like Rock 101’s Bro Jake. They were introduced to large crowds at Cloverdale Raceway and at a Canucks game at GM Place. Letters of congratulations flowed in from politicians including one from Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Just over a year later, as the new millennium beckoned, Troy Landreville of the Langley Advance named the All Stars the sports team of the century in Langley, quite the distinction.

After that year, Mihalech managed to keep the bulk of the All Stars together for three more seasons. Besides their third-place finish at the 1998 Little League World Series, Langley also finished second at the 2000 Junior League World Series in Michigan and fifth at the 2001 Babe Ruth World Series in Hamilton, New Jersey.

Over 25 years after one of the greatest Little League seasons in Canadian history, Mihalech is clear on why the All Stars succeeded.

“This group of players and their families were outstanding people,” he said. “They came from different walks of life. There were some people that were very religious. There were some heathens. There were some people in the middle who hadn’t made up their mind yet. But they were so harmonious. These players were all devoted to the team. No complaining if you didn’t get to play or if you dropped down the batting order. They were very unselfish that way. They were products of their parents. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and the parent group were very supportive.”

Almost annually a BC-based team wins the right to represent Canada at the Little League World Series, but something about this Langley team set them apart and caused not just a city and province to fall in love with them, but a good portion of the entire country. Maybe the Sun’s Gary Mason put it best:

“If Williamsport taught me anything it was that the best sports stories aren’t always about people who get paid millions of dollars to play a game. Sometimes the best stories are about athletes who do their best, not because that’s what their contract says, but because of the pure love of what they’re doing.

And that’s why people loved this team. Yes, they were great ballplayers. Every one of them. But it was the expressions of unmitigated joy that jumped from their faces, in the newspapers and on our TVs.

They reminded us that this is what sports is really about. Because so many of us had forgotten. The boys took us back to our childhoods. To dusty diamonds and long summer nights. And big league dreams we once had.

They gave us back, if only for a summer, an innocence lost. A purity that went missing from professional sports a long time ago.”

Now in their late thirties, many with kids and families of their own, the Langley All Stars have gone on to largely successful careers in vastly different areas.

Mike Erickson works as a senior financial advisor. Brett Logan is the principal of an outdoor education academy. Jared Krause is a former member of Canada’s men’s national volleyball team and now runs a local volleyball academy. Jeff Duda is the head coach of the Okotoks Baseball Academy in Alberta. Sean Sargent is a senior executive with Pepsi. Jordan Lennerton hit three home runs helping Oregon State to the 2007 College World Series title and later played nearly a decade within the Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves farm systems. He currently owns a landscaping company. Karl Reddick is a senior manager for a credit union. Andrew Bell owns a healthcare consulting company. Brad Fraser is an eco-construction consultant and Nanaimo fireman. Faizan Choudhry is a business development manager in Dubai. Brad MacDonald is a distribution manager for a large trucking company. Clayton Deglan is the owner/operator of an excavating company. Mark Henderson is a senior executive with Suncor Oil. Sadly, Tanner Mikesh passed away in 2018 at the age of 32.

On the twentieth anniversary of the team’s appearance at the Little League World Series in 2018, the Langley players and coaches gathered for a reunion at coach Mihalech’s house before heading over to City Park and having a home run derby. It was like a day hadn’t gone by since they’d all last been together.

With their induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, the 1998 Langley Little League All Stars became the first youth sports team to be honoured by the province’s sports shrine.

Said Mihalech: “I’m really proud for the boys. Because when they’re 12 they don’t realize the significance. But they do now. And for the community too. We brought a lot of attention to the community. We were good examples for a lot of the players who came after. After the birth of my children and marriage to my wife, it’s the third most significant event in my life. It’s something that I didn’t ever expect.”

Said Erickson: “Now I realize how special it is. We get to be a part of history. And that’s amazing. As someone with two young boys myself, there’s a sense of pride and just knowing that we accomplished something special to get there.”

Said Logan: “Everyone’s getting to relive that incredible summer of 1998 through this induction which is great. The world needs more success stories and happy stories and to let this whole province and community that surrounded us relive it is pretty special.”

As part of the Class of 2024, the 1998 Langley Little League All Stars baseball team were formally inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in the Team category at the annual Banquet of Champions held May 16, 2024 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

 

 

Previous Post