Kids Choose To Name Their Baseball Team ‘Illuminati,’ Donations Pour In Worldwide

What happens when you let 10-year-olds take control of their little league baseball team? If you’re from La Grange, IL, the money starts rolling in!

Parent-coaches of a youth travel baseball team for 10-year-olds in the Chicago suburb decided to let the kids pick their own team name earlier this spring. Their decision: ‘The Illuminati.’

‘Illuminati’ caps and jerseys were ordered, and upon, delivery, this post:

The response was something no one saw coming.

“A couple hours after I posted the uniform on Twitter it was bouncing around social media pretty rapidly,” said Kevin Guilfoile. “I started getting request after request from people who wanted to know where they could buy caps and jerseys and t-shirts. The response was overwhelming and completely unsolicited.”

Within hours, Guilfoile’s tweet went viral and it was clear the team had more than just a catchy name that made them smile. It was also fundraising goldmine with hundreds of requests to purchase ‘Illuminati’ swag.

“I guess it’s mostly from people like me who think it’s funny to wear a sports jersey announcing you are a fan of an imaginary and sinister secret society,” said Guilfoile.” And the stuff is nice, too. You look good wearing it.

A GoFundMe campaign was started and has, so far, raised more than $6,000 for the team, which, may not sound like much, but for a little league baseball team?? That’s incredible. It took me two summers of lifeguarding in high school to save that much money.

“The money will go to defray equipment costs for next year’s team (this year’s season is almost over). If we raise more money than we need, we will donate the excess to our local Little League to help with maintenance and upgrades of the fields we share with them,” said Guilfoile.

The little league dad said that he believes the kids only chose ‘Illuminati’ because of the Disney show Gravity Falls and by watching YouTube parody videos. But he’s happy they went with it.

“I think most of the parents thought it was hilarious. A few might have been unsure what to make of it, but even they were like, ‘If that’s what the kids want, go for it,'” he said.

And just in case you want to ‘go for it,’ here’s a glimpse at what the team is offering for sale, the most accidental yet genius youth fundraiser I’ve ever seen.

And you have to love their unofficial team slogan, “trust no one.”

I never want to hear people complain about this generation’s kids. The ones in La Grange, IL rock.

Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.