PICKENS – Beginning next month, baseball players from all over the world will come to Easley for seven days of great games, as Easley hosts the Big League Baseball World Series for the ninth time.

Big League Baseball World Series Tournament Director Jon Humphrey gave a presentation on the Series to County Council Monday night.

This year’s tournament runs July 29 – August 5, with 5 US teams and 5 international teams coming together to play, along with a host team comprised of players selected from SC District 1, which covers Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties.

The tournament kicks off July 28 with a Family Fun Fest featuring a concert by We The Kings.

Most of this year’s games will be played at night, Humphrey said.

The Championship game will be played 8 p.m. August 5, and will once again be broadcast live on ESPN.

“This will be year number three for ESPN,” Humphrey said. “It’s been a wonderful thing for us.”

ESPN will focus on Little League baseball every Wednesday throughout the month of August, with the Big League World Series kicking off that focus, Humphrey said.

Organizers hope to broadcast every game on the Internet this year.

The goal of Big League Baseball isn’t to make great baseball players, but great citizens, he said.

“That’s our first mission,” he said.

The Series relies solely on volunteers and is a non-profit organization, he said.

“We do this because we love baseball and we love youth sports,” Humphrey said. Every dollar that we have to spend, we have to raise.”

Anyone interested in volunteering with the Series should visit www.bigleagueworldseries.org.

Those seven days of play have a big impact on Pickens County’s image and economy, Humphrey said.

“It brings recognition that Easley, SC is the home of Big League Baseball,” Humphrey said. “Families and friends will come in from all over the world. They’re staying in our local hotels, they’re eating in our local restaurants. It’s a win-win for all of us. We get some tourism money back into the county.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Willis said she believes the Series brings an additional $150,000 - $200,000 to the local economy during that week.

During their meeting, county council voted unanimously, with Councilmen G. Neil Smith and Tom Ponder absent, to allocate $10,000 in matching funds to the Big League Baseball World Series this year.

Last year, council allocated $25,000 in matching funds to the tournament, after the Series unexpectedly lost state funding in the weeks leading up to play.