Sons varsity high school team has an 8 year old bat boy, while he has not gotten in the way of a play, I have seen him come very close to batters taking full cuts in the on deck circle. The hitter cannot see the child as his back is turned to the bat boy. Three things,
1,) Why should players have to watch out for an 8 year old.
2.) Bat might get seriously hurt, then what happens?
3.) Bat boy is coaches son
I really have a bad feeling about it.
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Sons varsity high school team has an 8 year old bat boy, while he has not gotten in the way of a play, I have seen him come very close to batters taking full cuts in the on deck circle. The hitter cannot see the child as his back is turned to the bat boy. Three things,
1,) Why should players have to watch out for an 8 year old.
2.) Bat might get seriously hurt, then what happens?
3.) Bat boy is coaches son
I really have a bad feeling about it.
So do I.
I had the dish a college-pro exhibition game last year where they had local youths as bat boys, mostly about 8-10 years old. The kids thought they had to get the bat right away, so they'd run out as soon as the ball was hit. Had a couple of close calls, including one on what was the potential winning run at the plate--kid tried to run just around home plate to get the bat in the LH batter's box. I was on 3BLX, and saw him run into the cutout as the throw came in to the catcher. Thankfully, the throw was up the line a bit, and he didn't get tangled with the catcher or in my way of the call.
On the least negative side, at least he's the coach's son, so there is no one to blame but his own father if something goes wrong.
I used to be the bat boy growing up. I had to wear a skull-cap helmet and I can remember going out and getting my own! I wore my uniform and always had my big bag to drag to the dugout too. It didn't matter that I wasn't going to use any of it; always had to have my bat and everything else ready to go! The booster club bought the players all jackets one year and they got me one as well. Instead of my number on the sleeve, it said "BB."
I remember when a left-handed batter would come up, I had to go hide in the corner of the dugout where the side of it would block any foul balls. I got hit several times by errant throws and even took a bat right to the chest once. I also learned some fun words early on in life 
But the biggest thing really was I learned A LOT about the game of baseball and I really had the baseball virus!
I think I had started being the bat boy when I was 5...
So you did get hit several times......
Small kids at games make me nervous in general. The kids outside the fence make me just as nervous as the ones inside. A foul ball to the skull could kill a little one. That being said, my 5 yo is in the dugout most games with us. I do not let him get on the playing surface except to run balls to the plate umpire between innings or during time outs. Lol, even though he did get hit in the dugout 2 months before he was born (my wife keeps the book and usually sits in the dugout).
Bulldog.... My son turns 6 next week and his first practice of the year is today. He too has the virus as bad as any. He crawled up in the chair with me last night to watch a little WBC.
And speaking of learning fun words, when my son was of day-care age he rode the team bus home with us after a game one night.....the next morning he was sent to the office for calling one of his friends a dumb*ss (I am sure he heard it on the ride home). Anyway, my wife went by and took care of it. I asked him about it when I got home. I asked him didn't he know that was a word he was not supposed to say? He said, "I DO NOW!!!"
Small kids at games make me nervous in general. The kids outside the fence make me just as nervous as the ones inside. A foul ball to the skull could kill a little one. That being said, my 5 yo is in the dugout most games with us. I do not let him get on the playing surface except to run balls to the plate umpire between innings or during time outs. Lol, even though he did get hit in the dugout 2 months before he was born (my wife keeps the book and usually sits in the dugout).
Bulldog.... My son turns 6 next week and his first practice of the year is today. He too has the virus as bad as any. He crawled up in the chair with me last night to watch a little WBC.
And speaking of learning fun words, when my son was of day-care age he rode the team bus home with us after a game one night.....the next morning he was sent to the office for calling one of his friends a dumb*ss (I am sure he heard it on the ride home). Anyway, my wife went by and took care of it. I asked him about it when I got home. I asked him didn't he know that was a word he was not supposed to say? He said, "I DO NOW!!!"
When I was in second grade, I told a kid he was an "F****ing idiot" out at recess. One of the kids went and told the teacher who happened to be the head baseball coach He and I got to have a little chat about language.. 
You can ask CoachB25, this coach never cusses
