Am I the only one that throws up just a little bit...

I have to say that my definition of sportsmanship does not include congratulating the opponent during the contest.  I think there's a lot to be said for players wanting to beat the pants off the other team.  I see nothing wrong with teaching this to 12/13 year olds.

I don't like it either.  I don't mind players talking after games, but during the game, it is on!

Eh.  If I gotta live with half the players in MLB pointing at the sky every time they get on base I can live with this.

I will actually go old school on this particular one.  Not a fan.

Its silly, A giant 13 year old kid hits a pop up on a field built for 8 year old girls and they over do it on the sportsmanship.

Of all the things that annoy me about the Little League World Series, this is low on the list.

 

BTW, Sometimes I think Little League is like Cub Scouts.  Both are pretend versions of wonderful activities: they give a lot of kids a bad taste and make them reluctant to experience the real thing.

 

P.S.  I have a lot of good things to say about Little League, too, but they come to mind more readily when I stop by a local field than when I see the early puberty kids with fortuitous birthdays lumbering around the little diamonds in Williamsport.

I can't say I've ever had a problem watching a child congratulate a child. Now if I saw an 18 year old do it that might be different lol.

300+ foot home runs on a 225 foot field.....ridiculous.  Change the bats or just make them swing wood.   It's not a challenge any more. 

Has anyone computed the ratio of HRs to BIPs and HRs to PAs in the LLWS? I’d like to see that compared to the overall LLI season, and also compared that to any other venue before I’d scream that the sky is falling. But then again, I’m willing to wait and see what’s gonna happen when the new bat rules come into play in 2017.

Agreed. Many of the games are nothing more than homeruns and strikeouts. Would like to see a manufactured run every now and then.

Uh, no.  

 

But haven't seen you post in awhile.  I was worried about you.

Originally Posted by Go44dad:

Uh, no.  

 

Is it because the data needed to come up with the numbers isn’t available, or that it’s just easier to allow people to opine? Would you find those numbers interesting?

 

But haven't seen you post in awhile.  I was worried about you.

 

Thanx for the concern, but it’s only that I haven’t seen many posts that have stirred my interests lately.

I'll add another analogy. LL is like the public school system. Does a tremendous amount of good, but could/should be so much better.

I think they took a step forward with the birthday cut-off change, since that eliminates the 13 year-olds at the LLWS. Then I learned recently about a change to the boundary rule to allow kids to play in the league where their school is located. I've already heard rumors of how this rule was used (legally) to stack a team that made it to Williamsport.

Please LL, just bite the bullet and change the Williamsport fields to the intermediate size!

 

I have a friend who ran into this issue in So Cal.  When the boundary rule changed there were teams being loaded up as one might expect.  A couple of teams had players coming from Tijuana allegedly....I do believe this by the way.  

Its LL folks.  Just take the kids you get, coach them up and have fun.  

Originally Posted by Go44dad:

Much more interested in life than LL stats.

 

I understand, but I’m not sure how what I was talking about was a LL stat. If you’d have said you weren’t interested in anything having to do with reality in baseball and just want to enjoy the game, that would make a lot more sense to me.

 

Can you quantify that for me?  Bubble graphs are nice.

 

I don’t do graphs, but what is it you want quantified?

Especially when you have old 12 yr olds with non BBCOR bats playing with short fences.  

And just a few years ago the fences were 200FT.

My sons 19U travel ball team played a fair share of games this past summer on a field with 300' fence all the way around....an elevated fence in dead center made that equal to 320'.  A field at 4,000 feet elevation with 300' fences and 18 and 19 year olds hitting.  

There were not a ton of home runs.  They swing wood.  Most young kids can't swing wood well, the sooner they start kids on wood the better in my opinion.  

Most LL games I see are walks, passed balls/wild pitches (depending on if the catcher's dad is keeping score or the pitcher's) and errors.

 

Homeruns and strikeouts would be a welcome change...

Originally Posted by FNL:

Most LL games I see are walks, passed balls/wild pitches (depending on if the catcher's dad is keeping score or the pitcher's) and errors.

 

Homeruns and strikeouts would be a welcome change...

 

One of the issues as I see it, is that people look at the just over 200 of over 1,000,000 kids who make it to Williamsport and use them judge what “average” is, forgetting that those kids are all stars from their respective leagues. More often than not there’s not more than 1 or 2 of those kids on any of the LLWS teams playing on the same team in regular league play. That gives a very skewed idea about the average kid playing LLI. I can assure you that in our league of 6 Majors teams, we seldom see pitchers throwing 70+ or hitters bashing out 300+ HRs.

I agree. And if this is the truth, it begs the question: WHAT IS THE POINT of the LLWS anyway? Seriously. 

 

They're selling the notion that it's a wholesome, balanced, every-boy-can success story. I ain't buyin'. 

 

You wanna see that, broadcast Cooperstown 12U games.

Today I was watching what we all know as a LLWS elimination game. After a commercial break they showed the scoreboard graphic and game summary, and at the bottom of the screen it says something to the effect of "winner retains chance to capture LLWS title".

I guess the simple "loser is eliminated" is too harsh for the fragile children involved.

The Pennsylvania team from red land little league is a 12u travel team that went undeafted and placed 6th out of 110 teams at Cooperstown. Also, the team won their region for PG Super 25. But, they are not playing on 300'+ fences and no BBCOR Bats so if you throw that in it makes for a completely different ball game. The best improvement LL can make is to switch to the 50/70 field (although some kids have already have experienced that) move the fences to about 250-285 and take the pop out of the bats.
Btw, Redlands LL is part of the GoWags organization in york county, PA for the people interested.

ditto the Pearland (Southwest) team, they play a lot of games as a travel team.  I'm sure most of the teams do.

There is a 50/70 intermediate world series. My friends grandson (he is 10 going on 11)  was on the  southeast team that lost to Korea. It was also televised on espn but not as extensive as the LLWS. The championship is played in Livemore, CA.  

IMO 13 year olds playing 46/60 is ridiculous. I havent watched the series in years.

 

A few years back when LL was planning the 50/70 league they requested input from leagues. Ours was an early adopter and we pushed hard for the Majors division to be moved to 50/70, including building a convertible field to show you could play both games on the same field.  LL decided to make 50/70 its own division, which is too bad, but they said it was necessary because far too many leagues were playing on fields owned by cities, counties, schools, etc. where they had no hope of getting permission to change from 46/60 to 50/70.  I think that was a big mistake, but the age change will help a bit.  As for the change allowing kids to play where their school is, that's making life easier for a lot of league officials, but it's also a mistake. IMHO.

quit watching LLWS years ago, distances are a joke as others have said.  If your kid plays at a high level at this age why would you send him backwards or even bother trying to go through whatever you have to qualify for it. 

When my son played 12u travel at 50/70 he was invited to play in a league tournament at 46/60. He had 21 strike outs in seven innings. Lol

Pitching against softball teams doesn't count, lion 

 I really love the mic'd up coaches on their fake best behavior, That's ok Johnny, that's OK, you look great, your working good, we are all behind you, one more out and we will go eat some pizza, come on Johnny your a Tiger, Grrrrrrr, I love you Johnny! ....... Oh boy I think I'm getting sick over here!

Most of them are kids, so let's cut them some slack.  There are vastly more annoying things going on at the LLWS every year than high fiving your opponent..  

 

First on my list would the bountiful & plentiful strike zone which extends another  6" on each side of the 17" (+ 2" of black) theoretical & traditional home plate. Second would be the pitching distance. If LL isn't gong to do anything about their miniature playing distances & ballfield,they could easily do something about the strike zone or provide a discounted vision/medical plan for their umpires.

 

 

 

The Doctor - You got that right.  Put a mic on them and they turn from a coach into a cheerleader.  

 

As always, JMO.

This is the USA and the point is money. 

 

Little League is working of a 8 year $76MM contract from ESPN.  As of 2014 they had an endowment of $85MM and the 100 full time employees raked in $7.5MM.  The Head of it made $430k.  To be fair some of that money funnels out to the local leagues but the LLWS is a cash cow first and foremost.

 

Last year while biking I came across the first day of the local district tournament. Each evening I biked to the best game in the district. I skipped sections. But states were within biking distance. I had more fun observing and talking to parents than watching the game. This year states were in the district. I watched two days. It's interesting to watch and talk with delusional parents versus those who get it.

 

On TV you're watching the game. You only get glimpses of the parents. At the LLWS level I'm not awed watching thirteen year olds too big for the field compete. Last night I turned on the PA-SC game while reading the news. The game just didn't hold my interest.

 

Back when my son played there was a mother who was so intense she threw up several times over the course of the week at states. At least twice a game she was under a tree on her knees with rosary beads. She must have broken a pair of sun glasses every game. She was more interesting than the game. At the LLWS Tony Gwynn commented on her. He said anyone who gets that stressed over LL baseball is taking it way too seriously. Ironically the father was the calmest person there.

Originally Posted by luv baseball:

This is the USA and the point is money. 

 

Little League is working of a 8 year $76MM contract from ESPN.  As of 2014 they had an endowment of $85MM and the 100 full time employees raked in $7.5MM.  The Head of it made $430k.  To be fair some of that money funnels out to the local leagues but the LLWS is a cash cow first and foremost.

 

Of course $$$$$ is a driving force. My question is, would the other organizations be any better if they were in the same position?

       
       
Yep, same here.  We had a team from our area go pretty deep.  They ARE a travel team and simply play in LL only for that year end tournament.  By the way as a travel team they are very solid but not great.  And now that their 12 yr old season is in the rear view mirror guess what?  They broke up!  It was all about that LLWS.

LL has rules regarding eligibility for the year end all star team.  Whether everyone follows them or not is a different story.  The kids are supposed to play in 60%  of the league's games to be eligible to compete in the tourney.  I was the president of our LL for a year.  We had too send in signed forms stating that all the kids played enough games to be eligible. 

When I look back at my years as a LL father, coach, and league official, I have many fond memories, but I wish I could go back and tell myself not worry so much about winning and losing and this issue and that issue and just enjoy the joy that is  youth baseball.

 

Like this guy: 

 

 

JCG,

 

That is beautiful! Would you throw at him the next at bat to retaliate for the bat flip?

best regards,

 

Ted