Every year has it its anniversaries. In 2014, we noted the Beatles’ arrival in America 50 years earlier. This year the anniversary celebrations are as diverse as marking the end of the Civil War 150 years ago and taking in the 50th anniversary of What-A-Burger No. 10 in Kannapolis.

One anniversary that will go largely unnoticed in 2015 but is important to celebrate nonetheless is the 60th birthday of Rowan Little League baseball and softball.

Depending on your era as a youngster, you remember playing baseball or attending Little League games at the field off West Innes Street near the Ketner Center, the diamonds next to the Food Lion headquarters or, most recently, the city-owned baseball/softball complex at the Salisbury Community Park off Hurley School Road. No matter the time period, the Little League mission of teaching teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play has held fast throughout.

Founded in 1939, Little League as a national organization is the  oldest and largest youth baseball operation in the country. As Dan Wales, president of Rowan Little league, said recently, “They must be doing something right.”

But Wales hit on something even more important about Little League when he said, “I believe Little League does the best job of catering to the average kid.” Everyone makes a team, and all the kids get to play.

The late Derwood Huneycutt is considered one of the fathers of youth baseball in Rowan County, but there are hundreds of others who put their hearts and souls into making sure the program flourished and, like every baseball season, kept returning in the spring. So much is owed to the parents, coaches, scorekeepers, ground crews, umpires and sponsors who allowed Rowan Little League to persevere all these years.

They volunteered their time, and for many of the devoted adults today, it continues to represent a second full-time job.

It reminds one of an oft-repeated quote from New York Yankees great Yogi Berra: “Little League baseball is a very good thing, because it keeps the parents off the streets.”

As for the kids who start in T-ball as early as age 4 and play until they are 13, Little League baseball  and softball for girls provides outdoor exercise through throwing, hitting, fielding and running. Just as valuable are the social lessons that come with the sport, such as how to win graciously, how to deal with defeat or setbacks, how to work to improve, how to get along with others and how to accept instruction.

“The Little League pledge says win or lose, always do your best,” the late ballplayer Gary Carter once remarked. “That is what I learned most from Little League.”

And who knows, after the game you also might swing by What-A-Burger.