How Mike and Ike candy has become tradition for Nolensville Little League World Series team
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — When a Nolensville player reaches first base, Mark Carter reaches into his back pocket.
That's where he keeps Mike and Ikes, his favorite candy. The fruity, chewy confection doubles as bait that awaits every Nolensville player who makes it to the base where Carter coaches, which he's doing now in the 2023 Little League World Series.
The superstition is an abridged version of a tradition that was started last year by Evan Satinoff, a coach for Nolensville's Little League World Series teams in 2021 and 2022.
Unsure exactly when, perhaps before last year's district tournament, Satinoff came up with the idea to give each player a few before every game.
"I thought, 'What better way to get them amped before a game than to give them a few Mike and Ikes,' " Satinoff said. "The rest is history."
This year the Mike and Ikes returned and became an in-game tradition that has found its way back to this Pennsylvania town where an oil company clerk named Carl Stotz founded Little League Baseball in 1939.
Just like the tradition of everyone on the team touching the black, pin-filled hat that belonged to manager Randy Huth's father, who died in 2018.
It's a tradition the players can't get enough of.
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"It's cool," Nolensville player Carter Gomillion said. "When we have a Mike and Ike it just keeps us in the game, keeps us energized. It also helps us pay attention to our coaches."
"It's fun because it gives us a challenge to get to first base," Nolensville player Turner Blalock said.
Not every player actually eats the snack while standing on first. Carter's son Nash takes a pass, instead letting his father eat his share.
"He doesn't eat sweets and he drinks milk and water," Mark Carter said with a laugh.
Also, like his teammates, he finds himself at first base a lot.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mike and Ike a tradition for Nolensville Little League World Series
