Attitude problems

If you have the right coaches to begin with this will never happen---if one of our kids does it he has to face the wrath of the coaching staff and a possible suspension

It is not the kids--it is the coach that allows it to happen !!!

Mr.3000

They only do it because they can. In my coaching days I told my players to act in a certain way on and off the ballfield. A coach only has to discipline a kid once to get the message across. I took a kid out of a game for using profanity and throwing equipment. I also took a kid out of a playoff game because he did not run a ball out. Does not matter who does it and when they do it. Be consistent.

"What do you coaches usually do about this?

1. The coach should make it clear at the beginning of the season that childish behavior
will not be tolerated.

2. The first time it happens, make an example of the offender and pull him out of the game.
Doesen't make any difference who the player is-the rest of the team will get the message.


It happened in the Florida Collegiate Summer League this year-first game-the coach made
an example of the first player to toss his bat and guess what-it didn't happen the rest
of the year.

TR & Will, Sorry to be redundant-you are right on-you beat me to the punch .

I agree with all of you that the coaches play a vital role in stopping this kind of behavior. However, don't let parents off that easily neither. A parent should have off the field consequences as well for a kid that chooses to behave this way.

lafmom-

It's called "immaturity".

Know someone who lost a nice amount of money towards a baseball scholarship because he threw his helmet and bat and swore after a called third strike--Unbeknownst to him, the assistant coach of the Big Ten university was at the game.

I always told my kids they always know I am watching but never know who else is.

Those players still havent figured out that baseball is a game of failure and they think they should get a hit every time at bat.

Which we all know is unrealistic.

And yet... in the major leagues, where the very best players are, that kind of reaction is not uncommon. And nobody seems to get upset about it, either. So exactly what is the issue?

p-dog...The issue is "discipline".

No one cares about what adults do, especially in pro ball where many of them make millions.

General managers don't have the "ba..s" to launch one of their superstars for acting like spoiled children.

When you're a teenybopper, parents and friends and coaches still care that you "mold" your life to prepare for years later...assuming that you will not be playing in the major leagues, but rather, in the bigger game of LIFE.

You rarely see actions of this type in college or minor league baseball. Why? It isn't tolerated by coaches, umpires or teammates.
Listened to Giants announcer Mike Krukow this morning talking about a tantrum thrown in the dugout last night. He was really down on the player. Gave a great summary of how, in his view, this temper tantrum affects everyone on the team around him, it is disruptive to the team, the focus, and gives off the aura of losing/negative instead of remaining positive and focused. So P-dog, Krukow, who was a pretty good pitcher in his time, says somebody does get upset about it. Even if they didn't,that should not be a reason to justify the conduct.

During my coaching tenure I always tried to see the younger players freshman and Jv play as much as I could. it was great to see a kid do well but I always made a point to see how a player reacted to failure. Your better players know how to handle it.

After watching a lot of Little League World Series action in the last 2 weeks I have to hand it to the kids and coaches for keeping their cool with the balls and strikes called. It borders on ridiculous at times. Except for touching, why even use a plate if a strike zone is made independently by the umpire. I've always advocated a large zone but this year seems out of hand.

I want my guys to show class when they succeed and class when they fail. It says more about the coach than it does the player when you see this type of behavior. There is no place for it, period. I went to watch a young man that I had heard was an outstanding pitcher. I was told that he was mid to upper 90's. Of course I was a little skeptical about the velocity but after hearing it from quite a few folks I made the drive to see him throw. Well he was everything I was told he was. He was consistently in the low 90's and hit 97 several times. But what I remember more than anything else about this kid is after he struck out a batter he pointed at the kid and "Shot him down with his hand like he had a six gun and then holstered it after he blew the smoke from the barrell of his gun". It made me sick. What made me even more sick is the laughter than he got from the hometown fans and the dugout. A total reflection of no class period. Now all I can think of when someone mentions this kid is the act of no class not the fact that he is extremely talented.

What quirks me to death is that players leave their equipment on the field for someone to come and get after they make the third out. If you cut down the teams chances of an inning going on, why should you leave your stuff like you don't even care?

I'm not saying I disagree with any of you folks who don't like it -- I'm just wondering if our preference is actually anything but the way we'd like to see people act, or if it actually has any relevance to the team's success. I'm not talking about a guy going on rampage in the clubhouse - I'm talking about a player throwing his helmet or glove to the ground after he makes an out (or an error) like the OP described. All I'm hearing is that the major league players do it because there's no one who has enough leverage over them to make them not do it. Which makes it sound like it's an authority issue rather than a performance issue.