What is it about that small, white ball with bright red stitching that it can motivate an 11-year-old boy to stand out in a field for hours and chase it?

What kind of power does it have that it can consistently outlast the unending stream of Power Rangers and Harry Potters over time?

It's just a game. Yet every year, kids from all over the world line up to field grounders, turn double plays and take their turn at bat on everything from Astroturf to parking lots for the chance to play Little League baseball. And every year, parents sit in the stands, yelling out encouragement and lugging juice boxes and pretzels on their designated snack day.

A Little League game in Homer is no different than in any other Little League town, with the possible exception of fans donning coats and blankets on an overcast June day.

And, you may hear a few words of encouragement you don't recognize. Unless, of course, you speak Russian.

Jonah Yakunin lives with his parents, Masha and Nikolai Yakunin, in the Old Believer Russian village of Nikolaevsk. The village of approximately 250 sits back in the woods between Homer and Anchor Point, and boasts largely an exclusively Russian-speaking population.

The village was founded in 1968 by Russian Old Believers of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church fleeing from religious persecution. Most residents of Nikolaevsk rely on commercial fishing for their livelihood, or engage in a subsistence lifestyle.

Women and girls wear long skirts and scarves, the men, embroidered shirts cinched at the waist with woven belts. Often the village is reminiscent of life in earlier times, with the exception of a few modern conveniences.

Jonah is going into the sixth grade at Nikolaevsk School. He's never watched a baseball game on TV. Nevertheless, when he saw an advertisement for Little League baseball registration, Jonah decided he wanted to play.

"I don't know why I wanted to try it," Jonah said. "I wasn't real sure about it, but I thought it might be fun."

Any doubts Jonah had about playing were quickly quelled by his mother.

"I love baseball," said the elder Yakunin. "When Jonah said he wanted to play ball, I thought it was a good idea."

However, transporting Jonah to practices and games almost everyday across the gravel roads and 15 miles of highway was a bit intimidating.

"I just wasn't sure about how I could get him there for all the practices," Jonah's mother said. "But, his older brother insisted that Jonah get to play. I'm glad he did."

With the decision made, transportation arranged and the "draft" complete, Jonah found himself a member of the Reds in the Major League Division. And according to Jonah, anticipating that first day of practice was the most agonizing.

"I was like, really afraid," he said. "I was thinking that everyone would make fun of me because I didn't know how to play."

But Jonah went to practice. He put a baseball glove on for the first time and braved fastballs from players who had already navigated the Little League road of T-ball and coach-pitch.

"The glove felt really weird the first time I put it on," Jonah said. "I kept thinking it should go on my other hand, but then I couldn't figure out how I would throw the ball."

However, Jonah seemed to catch on pretty quick.

"He had never even put on a glove before, and here we were throwing baseballs at him," said Reds' team manager Bonnie Jason. "He was a real trooper."

According to Jonah, learning all the rules of baseball without watching it much can be a bit difficult.

"It took me awhile to learn all the different rules," he said. "Then I had to teach them all to my brother so he could play with me. That was even harder."

Jason agreed that learning all the rules of baseball while trying to play it often made for some interesting moments on the field.

"When Jonah got a hit earlier in the season, I remember thinking, 'He's not going to have any idea what to do on base,'" Jason said. "I think he made some blatant base-running error, but no one cared."

Running the bases, catching fly balls, fielding grounders, dodging wild pitches; it's enough to drive a mother mad. But Masha Yakunin said she enjoyed every part of watching her son play.

"No, I was not nervous watching him play," she said. "I just wanted him to be able to get more practice so he could get better."

Jonah got better.

In fact, he drove in the game-winning run on a double to right field during the Reds' Tournament of Champions game against the Mariners.

"He got the game ball for that one," Jason said. "All the kids on the team just went crazy when he hit that."

"The best part about hitting the ball was when everyone kept congratulating me and patting me on the back," Jonah said. "I smiled for a long time after that."

"Jonah didn't have a lot of confidence at first because he saw that the other boys had played before and they were very good," said his mother. "But he didn't quit. He built up his confidence. I am very proud of him."

According to Jason, building a team environment that was supportive of everyone was not as difficult as she anticipated. Still, there were a few issues.

"The kids are always making up nicknames for each other," Jason said. "I think the other boys were kind of messing around with Jonah's name and he wasn't sure how to interpret that."

After a few angry words and a couple of tears, Jason said she explained to team members about being more sensitive to certain issues.

"I just explained it to them," she said."I don't think they really understood that this was a cultural issue. I think they were treating him like everyone else. They felt really bad afterward."

Jonah's mother agreed that some of the differences between the two cultures became evident during the season.

"Our lifestyles are just different," she said. "We spend a lot of time fishing and Jonah is a big part of that."

However, she found the support and encouragement Jonah received as more indicative of the similarities.

"People came out and were supportive of everyone on the team," she said. "I think that's what we were all there for, right?"

As for Jonah, the season ended way too soon.

"I wish we were still playing," he said, smiling. "I was just getting good."

And for all the contrasts in culture and lifestyle, baseball remains the same. It's a game that minimizes the differences and multiplies the similarities.

Or, as Jonah put it.

"I'm Russian and I can speak another language. That's all."