Every Little Leaguer dreams of getting to hit the winning run in the bottom of the ninth-inning in the World Series. Yet the road to baseball's Major League is a difficult one, indeed. Competition is fierce all the way up. After graduating from Little League, players must prove themselves in the Babe Ruth league, which is specially designed for players between the ages of 13 and 15.

The best Babe Ruth players go on to play high school baseball. This competition kicks up a big notch here. The best high school baseball players can make the jump right into the semi-professional or professional leagues. Several 15-year-olds have actually debuted in the major leagues. Most great high school players, however, either get recruited into the minor league system or go on to play in college.

Division I college baseball teams act as feeder teams to the minor leagues. Once you reach single-A baseball, you are, technically, a professional. However, competition to reach the next rung is tougher than ever. Players who bat .500 in the AA league often find themselves batting .230 in AAA. Sadly, many promising individuals wither away in the minor league farm systems for years before given a shot to play in the majors, which insiders refer to as 'The Show.'

Major league rookies most often come up from the AAA farm system. However, Japanese professional players often migrate to the MLB. Great players from Caribbean nations and Puerto Rico can also skip the farm system altogether and leap into the majors. Even the best baseball rookies don't have much time to prove themselves to their coaches and fans. That said, players who survive the weeding out process can earn million dollar a year contracts and multimillion dollar endorsements.