Author Topic: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch  (Read 10136 times)

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kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2008, 01:47:36 PM »
ok
I think I need to remind people the aboslute truth about little league and it alt sports counter parts.
it`s only meant to be fun
not truely competitive.
I know some folk will disagree
but they are totally wrong.
if you look at the history of little league the creator left it out of disgust at how ugly it became.
he wanted it to be a fun thing for kids to do .
shouldn`t that be the overriding goal?

BT

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #16 on: August 27, 2008, 01:59:55 PM »
Let's review:

The kid is 9 years old.

He pitched in a league for 8 to 10 year olds.

Seems that he is in fact pitching in his age group. So Kimb seems to be wrong when he says he isn't playing in his age group.

They say this is an instructional league, i find this very instructive:

Quote
Jericho's coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league's administrators.

I guess the kids are learning a valid life lesson here.

It would be OK if the kid pitched for the opposition, but not OK if he pitched against them.

Harrison Bergeron deja vu.

Baseball is a competitive sport. They keep score. Championships are won, even in instructional leagues. Unless they had a pitch speed restriction in their rules prior to the start of the season, then banning the kid is nonsense and a travesty of justice.

Frankly i think the best thing that could happen to Little League would be to ban the parents.

Let the kid pitch!

kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #17 on: August 27, 2008, 02:14:35 PM »
that is strange he`s getting a pass if he joins the league champion
and why is one team forfetting against that kids team but not on the champion?
now it`s sounds more like little league nonesense

Kramer

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #18 on: August 27, 2008, 03:54:02 PM »
I second kimba's motion.  It's the obvious solution.  The kid's out of his league, as they say. 

When my son was in Little League, there was a rule that the game would be called in favour of the leading team if they opened up a thirty-point lead.  This would spare the losing team the embarrassment and the depression of being whipped 120 to 3, once it became obvious that's where the game was headed.  Kids play for fun, and not everyone in the Little Leagues is going to be headed into the majors.  The league is a service and its users are the players.  They come looking for fun, not life lessons, and if there's no fun for a 9-year-old in being whipped 100 to 1, the league has to remove whatever it is that makes it not fun.

It's the same with a Little Leaguer and a 40-mph fast ball.  Every kid who steps up to the plate is going to be struck out or walked.  In addition, in return for the pleasure of being humiliated in every one of his at-bats, the kid has to run the risk of being hit by a 40-mph ball and seriously injured.  A parent would have to be nuts to put his kid into a "game" like that.

Bumping the pitcher up to the next division is an obvious win-win solution to the problem.  It's pure common sense, something that once again the conservatives who comment on this issue have proven they completely lack.

This is silly -
How should we handle Obama's loss so liberals don't develop a complex because they are losers?

kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #19 on: August 27, 2008, 04:34:14 PM »
did you say losers
then whats the point of playing the game if your gonna lose.
were not talking about a kid with a small edge here
and were not talking about teenagers.
were talking about a young kid so talented that some  teams are are forfetting.
yes it`s a competition but it`s not a primary goal.
and I never said he shouldn`t play
I said he should get bumped up.
how is that a problem?

BT

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #20 on: August 27, 2008, 05:09:32 PM »
Quote
did you say losers
then whats the point of playing the game if your gonna lose.

Because losing is not predetermined.

You have to play to either win or lose.


sirs

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2008, 06:10:16 PM »
did you say losers  then whats the point of playing the game if your gonna lose.

Kimba, with all due respect, do you follow sports much?  Remember the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team?  Remember the 1988 L.A Dodgers baseball team?  There are so many examples of where a team has no business winning, everyone expecting them to lose, and somehow, almost magically...they win.  The point in playing is having the chance to win, even when the odds are greatly against you that you won't



"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #22 on: August 27, 2008, 06:23:40 PM »
I got nothing against cinderella stories but this is a different situation.
this about a talented kid who should get a chance to use his talent where it can be apreciated.
I think the problem is people think him being there will raise the level of the other kids.
yes that can happen to his team-mates.
but not possible to the other teams since thier not practicing with him.
if the lawsuits wins and the teams are not allowed to forfeit.
I`m guessing thier not gonna worry about the score and just use the time as practice sessions for the real games.

BT

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #23 on: August 27, 2008, 06:31:19 PM »
Quote
I think the problem is people think him being there will raise the level of the other kids.
yes that can happen to his team-mates.

The only difference between hitting a 30 mph fastball and a 40 mph fastball is timing. Let a batter see a pitchers stuff enough and they'll hit them, that's part of the game.


kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #24 on: August 27, 2008, 06:47:54 PM »
as I said the other team are gonna throw the game and just use him for practice.

BT

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #25 on: August 27, 2008, 07:03:49 PM »
Quote
as I said the other team are gonna throw the game and just use him for practice.

What the other team does is up to them. Saying the boy can't play because he is too good is flat out wrong.

This is just adults trying to rig the outcome, and that's a hell of a lesson to teach kids.

They really should be ashamed of themselves.


kimba1

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #26 on: August 27, 2008, 07:17:28 PM »
hey!
it`s little league
at least the parents aren`t stabbing the umpire
oh yeah that happens too

sirs

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #27 on: August 27, 2008, 08:17:06 PM »
I got nothing against cinderella stories but this is a different situation.

Again, with all due respect Kimba, Cinderlla stories start with a 9yr old phenom.  This 9 year old is the 1988 Oakland A's.  Just because the A's were dominating at the time, doesn't equate that the other teams pack up, and go away, or worse, say the A's can't play.

I have no problem if this kid is allowed to move up to a higher age bracket, to play.  I saw that alot in my tennis playing years, 12 year olds playing in the 16 and older groups.  But saying this kid CAN'T pitch, in the age group he does belong to, simply because he's so dominant, and makes the majority of opposing batters feel bad, is ludicrous


"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

BT

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #28 on: August 29, 2008, 06:12:46 PM »
The more i think about it the more this whole story pisses me off.

9 year old kid- the best of the best- too good it seems for the parents of opposing teams. So they rig the system and they cheat the kid of his glory days.

And who knows if he will ever have them again.

« Last Edit: August 29, 2008, 06:30:40 PM by BT »

Plane

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Re: 9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch
« Reply #29 on: August 29, 2008, 06:23:43 PM »
What keeps them from haveing a rule against balls thrown faster than a certain speed?

When a ball was too fast it could be called a "ball" just like one that is too low.


Hey! why not a rule against hitting it too hard also?

Or a rule against getting too many outs on a play , doubbles no tripples.


A speed limit on running speed would enhance safety .

A rule against Lawyers attending games might be the best rule.