OLIVIA: Hello, Little Fox readers, and welcome to People in the News. Today Ben has a cool story about a baseball player named Mo’ne Davis. She’s the American girl who drew worldwide attention while pitching in the 2014 Little League World Series. What’s so unusual about Mo'ne, Ben?
BEN: First of all, Olivia, most Little League players are boys. Mo’ne was the 18th girl to ever play in the World Series. But she was the first girl ever to pitch a shutout in the World Series. That means she pitched so well, the other team didn't even score! This was such an incredible feat that her baseball jersey is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Mo’ne Ikea Davis was born on June 24, 2001, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her stepfather is a construction worker and her mother is a nurse’s aide, studying to be a nurse. Mo'ne is the second of four children.
The first sport Mo’ne played wasn’t baseball; it was basketball. When she was seven years old, Mo'ne was tossing around a ball with some other kids, and a coach noticed her amazing throwing ability. So Coach Steve Bandura asked if she’d like to join the Monarchs, a basketball team at a local recreation center.
Mo’ne was eager to join the team, but her mother was unsure. This was a boys’ team! Mo’ne’s mother worried that Mo'ne would get hurt or that the boys would be mean to her.
OLIVIA: Was it hard for Mo’ne to go to her first practice?
BEN: She felt shy, but she was excited too. She joined right in, and was soon playing in games and scoring lots of points. In fact, many people think she’s better at basketball than baseball.
Every Monarch player was required to play two other sports: baseball and soccer. Mo’ne quickly excelled at all three. Coach Bandura taught the basics of each sport as well as good sportsmanship. Monarchs were expected to be gracious whether they won or lost. Most of all, the coach encouraged the kids to have fun.
Coach Bandura also took an interest in Mo’ne’s education. When he realized how smart she was, he encouraged her to apply to one of Philadelphia’s best private schools. She became an honors student at the school, even though it was a very long bus ride every day and she was busy with sports. Some nights Mo'ne had to stay up until one in the morning to get her schoolwork done.
When Mo’ne was ten, she almost quit baseball. She thought it was slow compared to basketball. She also hated the team’s demanding schedule. That summer her family visited five water parks; Mo’ne missed every outing!
OLIVIA: What changed Mo'ne's mind?
BEN: Her teammates didn't want her to quit, and the Monarchs were about to take a trip across the country to play other baseball teams. So Mo'ne kept playing. In her autobiography, Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name, Mo'ne encourages other kids to stick with activities too: "Look at all the things I would have missed out on if I had quit baseball."
Mo’ne’s schedule got even busier when she started playing baseball for a team called the Taney Dragons. Unlike the Monarchs, the Dragons were an official Little League team. Mo'ne became the Dragons' best pitcher. She could throw a fastball that traveled about seventy miles per hour! In a playoff game in 2014, Mo'ne pitched so well, she shut out the other team. And the win advanced the Dragons to the Little League World Series!
By the time the Dragons arrived at the World Series, everyone was talking about the Dragons and the girl with the fastball. Outside Philadelphia’s city hall, giant TVs were set up so people could watch the Dragons play.
In the team's first World Series game, Mo’ne pitched another shutout. The crowd watching her in the stadium went wild! TV stations and newspapers wanted to interview her. Everybody wanted her autograph. Many famous people—sports stars, movie stars, even Mrs. Obama, the U.S. president's wife—tweeted about her accomplishment! Mo'ne was the youngest athlete ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, which was a huge honor. And the next time she pitched, more than five million people worldwide watched on TV.
Some people worried that all this attention was too much for a 13-year-old. But Mo’ne stayed cool on the baseball field and in front of the cameras. Although Mo'ne liked being a role model for girls, she didn’t like the media focusing just on her. She insisted that baseball was a team sport, and she couldn’t have achieved her success without her teammates. Many people admired her even more because of this humble attitude.
In the Dragons' fourth game, they were defeated by a team from Chicago. This team went on to win the U.S. championship, but lost the world championship to South Korea. That year, among seven thousand Little League teams in the world, Mo’ne’s team came in third.
By 2015 Mo’ne was too old to play Little League anymore, but she continued to play sports for her school. Her goal is to someday play women’s basketball for the University of Connecticut, a school that has won many national championships. Since the Little League World Series, Mo’ne has had many other opportunities. Disney began making a TV movie about her life, and since she loves sneakers she helped to design a line of them. Some of the profits from these sneakers go to a charity that helps impoverished girls around the world.
Even though Mo'ne is famous now, everyone says she’s still the same Mo’ne—a girl who likes to have fun and is always ready to cheer up a friend.
OLIVIA: Thanks, Ben. It sounds like Mo'ne will be a champion, no matter what she does next!
See you soon, Little Fox readers!