Did you catch any of the Little League World Series over the last two weeks? I watch it every year because I like baseball and because they’re just kids who play for the love of the game. No agents, no unions, no endorsement deals. And while I’ve never met any of the players, I’m reasonably certain none of their names will come up in connection with the BALCO investigation. Just kids having fun. One game, as the players were being introduced, the announcer was providing neat little facts about them. This one likes pizza; that one watches “The Simpsons.” But the one that caught my attention was the outfielder whose ambition in life is to be “an eccentric billionaire.” Only in America.

Billionaires are still made in America. The eccentricity seems to follow. No one has to really try to be eccentric — it just comes from having enough money to do what you want and to not care what anyone else thinks about it. Say for example your stock goes through the roof and you’re finally rich enough to build that guitar-shaped pool you’ve always wanted. “There he goes,” your neighbors would say. “That eccentric billionaire with the guitar-shaped pool.”

With the recent Google IPO, two new billionaires have entered the foray of U.S. capitalists. This is a good thing for the country. You can never have enough billionaires, I say. Not that we haven’t had our fair share. Throughout the Internet boom of the 1990s, it seemed like a new 25-year-old billionaire was born every week. According to Forbes, there are currently about 600 billionaires in the U.S. (Curiously, Forbes doesn’t track the number of guitar-shaped pools.) But while it’s now popular to decry the excesses of “the IPO decade,” let’s not take lightly its rich technological yield: digital photography; 3-D animation; plasma screens; wireless routing; super-dense hard disks; high-speed processing; high-speed apps; Tablets; PDAs; HTML; XML; DIMM; USB; and, oh yeah, that thing called the World Wide Web.

Technology breeds technology. And the Web has inspired its own share of vertical industries, and spun-off a whole new generation of inventors, developers, investors, traders, and billionaires.

By now, you know that the Google guys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, made their money in less than ten years with a lot of energy and a better idea. What you may not know is that, despite all their loot, each of them drives a Toyota Prius, which, in addition to being a moderately priced hybrid vehicle, will never be mistaken for a Lamborghini. What a couple of eccentrics.

Like all young startups, Larry and Sergey met with some bumps along their path to riches. But they always believed in themselves and in their product, a mantra which seems to play itself out over and over again in the lives of successful people, whether athletes, doctors, or eccentric billionaires.

A friend who, while no billionaire, is nevertheless wealthy enough from the sale of his software company to spend the rest of his life golfing, fishing, or dining along the Champs-Elysees should he so choose, explains the importance of self-confidence to the entrepreneur. As he was preparing to mortgage his house for the eleventh time (not a misprint) to keep his company afloat, he was offered a six-figure job from a local technology company. “Turned them down flat,” he said. “I wanted to make a fortune my own way, developing something that I knew would make a difference.” With great risk comes great reward.

Which brings me back to the Little Leaguer who dreams of joining their ranks. Did I mention that the team he plays for is from Redmond, Washington?

Now remember, this is America, and if you don’t like the idea of some brash young 12-year-old Redmondite aspiring to add his name to the Forbes list of billionaires, you’re free to bet against him.

But don’t bet the house.