Aug 18, 2025
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette New York Met Edwin Diaz fist bumps Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
When the New York Mets and the Seattle Mariners stepped off their airplanes, they were greeted with a tunnel of Little Leaguers, eager to welcome them to Williamsport.
Each year, the players that meet the teams at the airport bring hats, balls and baseball cards to get signed, as well as create signs to wave. This year, the Little Leaguers also had a surprise: cardboard cutouts of the Major League players made from pictures when they were that age.
The Mariners came up with the idea to get the pictures, so Major League Baseball reached out to the families of the players to provide the pictures. After both the Major Leaguers and Little Leaguers got on their buses together to go back to the Little League World Series Complex, the signs were gathered up so they could be displayed in the clubhouses in case the Major Leaguers missed them or wanted to see them again, explained Jaime Whittington, with Major League Baseball.
When Mason Schutte, of the Mountain Region team, had a chance to pick out his Major League Player cardboard cutout, he knew he wanted to pick out a catcher to hold.
One of the coolest experiences for him was having one of the Mets players greet him by name.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Francisco Lindor signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
“He knew my name,” Schutte said. “He called me Mason.”
He had all of the players sign his hat as they walked by him.
“I’m going to play with it in the next game,” Schutte said. “Hopefully I get some special powers from it.”
As the Mets walked down the carpet laid out for them, with players from the Mountain and Latin American teams on either side, they gave out fist bumps and signed balls as the crowd cheered, “Go Mets!”
For Starling Marte, outfielder for the Mets, seeing all of the Little League players gathered to see him reminded him of when he was younger and playing Little League, although he said he never got the chance to get to the Little League World Series.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets are greeted byLittle Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
“It’s great to see the kids here,” Marte said.
His advice for any Little Leaguer is to play hard, thank your parents and never give up, he said.
After the Mets boarded buses with the Little Leaguers, the teams from Southeast Region and Caribbean were on hand to welcome the Mariners with their own signs, such as “Take me out to the ballgame” and “We love the Mariners.”
Also there to greet the Mariners were Henry Kransen Jr., 13, and his father Henry “Hector” Kransen Sr. Kransen played on the Caribbean team last year and his father coached them. This year, Kransen aged out of Little League, but his father still helped put the Little League team together.
“We have to cheer for the boys,” his father said, since three of the players on last year’s team came back to play again this year.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Gregory Soto signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
The Kransen family was joined at the airport by the Marzo family, of Williamsport, who are hosting them this year.
Kransen and David Marzo, 10, had the chance to ask the Mariners players about their flights, give them high fives and get some pictures with them, as well as the Mariner Moose.
The families went back to the Little League Complex after everyone left the airport. Once the Major League Baseball players arrived, they spent time hanging out with fans and going down the famous hill.
Marzo’s goal was to get his Julio Rodriguez card signed.
“He went through his collection this morning,” his mother, Jess, said. She made sure Kransen and Marzo had permanent markers for the signatures they wanted to get.
“It’s the mothers that bring the markers,” she said.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Starling Marte signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Juan Soto signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Juan Soto signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
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KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The New York Mets Francisco Lindor signs autographs for Little Leaguers after landing at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The Seattle Mariner Moose greets the Little Leaguers at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Seattle Mariners Cal Raleigh greets the Little Leaguers waiting at the Williamsport Regional Airport on Sunday morning.
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