Coach has player, 8, hurt to keep him out of game

If all of this is true, then this guy is a MORON and he should be jailed!

I just finished reading this story online. Can't believe some people. They lose all sight of playing the game and kids having fun. Reminds me of another story involving baseball and a handicapped child ~ with a different ending. Coach puts the child in the game final ending when the team had a chance of winning. I'll try and find the story. It's a real tear-jerker.

This guy needs to be locked up!

I was sure you were making this up (ala Dibble) but the link indicates that story is true.

But I wouldnt be surprised if it turns out to be a hoax. I sure hope so!

Fox just picked up the story. O'Reilly will surely run with it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162680,00.html

sorry anyone with 1/2 a brain can tell when I made up a story.


It is real bad when a nut job parent thinks a little league game is so important that he has to win at all costs.
Both the player who hurt the other player and the coach should be throw in jail for a very long time.

This may be an all time low....I tend to be fairly forgiving, but this one is worthy of real punishment.

Sorry to double post...but I had a few extra thoughts...

Dib...the Child that hurt him was very likely 8 years old...the adult is the villian here, and jailing an 8 year old will not do much to make society safer...Mom and Dad on the other hand might "explain" why this was inappropriate.

This coach is the one with a real handicap here. The child just wanted to play ball...

Tig...as the parent of an 8 year old girl, I can tell you she knows right from wrong. Obviously you can't lock the kid up, but saying the kid has no responsibility in this matter is ridiculous. If mom and dad need to explain to their 8 year old why hurting someone is wrong, then they have surely been laying down on the job for the past 8 years. Suspend the kid from the team for the rest of the season. He will have more time to spend with mom and dad to learn right from wrong!

I think that would be appropriate...jail time..no.

The problem here, from my viewpoint, is that this has to have a horrible effect for the kids on that team. Adults just are not supposed to ever do something so heinous. This is something no parent should ever have to explain to their kids.

Just read where the 'treasurer" for a youth sports club just got "caught" stealing close to 30 thousand dollars now this. Just have to shake your head. organized sports? Look at those doing the organizing.

hmm, as reported it seems the reporter was confused about who really had a "disability"

but - oh my, the lock 'em up mentality?

the coach doesn't seem to have the character or judgement to be around people, let alone kids

limit his role to cutting grass, lining fields, and picking up trash - all accomplished with no one else around (mandantory community service)
then issue him a special liscense plate for his car - bright yellow "I B IDIOT"
and finally give his Steeler's season tics to the young kid whom he put "the hit" on

the 8 yr old "hit man" should just be told to move on - sadly, someone who'll do anything for a buck will probably surface in the news again sooner or later

the kid that got hit will probably go on to great things, unless those adults around him convince him he's suffered "lifelong irrepairable damage"


BUT - while playing catch (standing there with a baseball glove on your hand), how is it that ya get hit anywhere by a thrown ball from another 8 yr old??? unless - - - one kid did not even have the fundamentals required to catch a ball coming at his head or his cup area (ouch)

sooo, maybe he whole incident might be explained by a couple 8 yr olds playing catch, one of whom could not catch and an anxious mom with an imagination

My local paper indicated that the victim was a disabiled child and that it was a tee-ball game. The coach did not want to play the child the mandatory three innings so he had the other child throw to him in a manner that would cause injury and he would pay the kid $25 if he was successful. Based on that story, it sounded like more than 2 kids having a catch, a mom that needs to be anxious and a coach that should be taken to the public square and stoned(with baseballs) until he is no longer wasting our oxygen.

"my local paper indicated"? bee careful with that!

so am I to assume your delaware paper had reporters on the scene? or maybe it was good press if they leave out alot of facts

I'm just saying it doesn't seem to add up
a Pittsburgh paper says it happened during pregame infield, the coach has 8 yr old twin daughters on the team, and the coach's family and the "hit by ball" kid's family were longtime friends and he & MOM arranged for that boy to be on his team.
coach then told the boy he could take the night off after being hit, mom flipped out and complained to league officials who checked witnesses & found nada.

hmm, no mention of Dad here? is that significant?

" League president Eric Forsythe said he thought the incident had been blown out of proportion, and that the boy simply missed the ball. He said he told Bowers (the MOM), however, if you feel this happened, call the police. She obviously took my advice."

anyway I conducted my own tests with my 4 yr old nephew and a hardball (t-ball use softies)
I threw several at his head - he caught 'em (fingers up!) then threw some below the waste - he missed the first one (fingers were still up), but after we discussed the mechanics we had a nice little catch - he still turns his head on short hops, but we'll work on that - - "and no charges were filed"

recently we had an incident localy in a 15U tourny where and umpire was "reportedly attacked" by the 1B coach after ejecting his son - the ump had a bloody nose & broken hand - it was all over local then national news wire picked up on it and lynch mobs were forming to deal with that coach

however, upon investigation and witness interviews, during the heated discussion following the ejection the ump grabed the coach around the neck, only then did the coach pop him and the ump broke his hand falling back - ump has now been charged, but that follow up story barely made the local news

I was merely relaying the facts as reported by my local paper. A judge and jury will soon decide where the truth lies.

Last time I looked T-ball is just that T-ball. I have read a few posts here and people are pitching to T-ballers? Last time I looked T-ball is T-ball not people pitching to each toher.

Any new up to date information on this story?

Post Gazzette, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005

- EXCERPTS FOLLOW -


Key parts of baseball incident in dispute
Youth league leader says accounts differ

Eric Forsythe, who heads the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League in North Union Township, said he was shocked when Mark Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar was charged last Friday with bribing player Keith Reese, 7, with $25 to hit teammate Harry Bowers Jr., 9, in the face with a baseball to keep him from playing.

When hitting Bowers in the ear with a ball didn't keep him off the field, he intentionally hit him in the groin with another throw, State Police charged.

Forsythe said that when he and eight other board members last month investigated the June 27 incident at the urging of Reese's mother, they were told that the alleged bribe was $5 and that Bowers was struck only in the head. The board could find no proof that the allegations were true.

Forsythe said other coaches in the league for boys and girls ages 5 through 8 told board members the ball that struck Bowers' left ear had glanced off his glove as the two Falcons teammates were warming up. Moreover, while the state police said Downs suggested that Bowers sit out the game after the incident, the board was told Downs and others urged him to play in the game. He sat down only after his mother, Jennifer Bowers, said he was too shaken up to play.

Forsythe said numerous people reported that after the game Jennifer Bowers, Harry, and his brother and teammate, Brandon, got ice cream with other Falcons players and coaches, including Downs and his twin daughters, who play on the team.

The state police complaint said there had been ongoing arguments between Jennifer Bowers and Downs about her son not getting sufficient playing time -- all players are guaranteed three innings -- but Forsythe said he never heard that allegation until after the criminal charges were filed.

The complaint also said Jennifer Bowers told police that Downs looked for excuses not to play her son because he is not as talented as the other players. But Forsythe said Harry Bowers "isn't one of the best players on the team but he's not the worst."
Forsythe said it was decided on a close vote before the season to keep Bowers one year past (age) eligibility in the league -- where coaches pitch or players hit off a tee -- rather than move him up to "minors."

"The story seemed off-key to begin with. It has become so exaggerated," Forsythe said, adding he wasn't offering a defense for the first-year head coach, whom he said he barely knows.

Downs was charged with criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 28.

END OF EXCERPTS


other peports do not place the coach at the field until after the boy had been hit in the ear

hmm, MOM's story changed alot since her June complaint to the league officials

prolly right after she talked to an attorney - -
"we gotta think big lady, no self respecting T-baller would sniff at that for less than $25 - also, the bruised ear thing, boring - - add a groin shot, now that'll hit a nerve & get us sympathy

your honor; defense request's that he try on the "cup" over his pants - if it does not fit you must acquit

do I smell made for TV movie - title "the real bad news Bears" (state troopers)

maybe if I can get the swat team & channel 8 news out to my nephew's games, he could see more PT in the infield - oops, his dad's the coach

sorry to run on, but I couldn't help myself temporary insanity

Yeah - it's interesting -- my initial reaction to this story was that I wouldn't be surprised if it played out very differently when more information came to light. But of course, that additional information won't be plastered all over the newspapers, radio, internet, etc.

This is how people get an exagerated idea about "how bad things have gotten" in general - whether it's crime, pollution, lack of courtesy, etc. "If it bleeds, it leads" is the media watchword, so any horrifying story is breathlessly repeated; perspective, correction of false stories, etc. are just too much trouble.

Bee....looks like you called it right from the beginning....lessons to be learned....

Heres the sad thing to me. The coaches name and reputation has been smeared. People will not hear about the fact that the incident really didnt happen as initially reported. People see the Headline "Coach has player intentionally throw at player" and everyone wants to read it. If there is a retraction or factual account of what really happened printed it will not be sensational enough for people to want to read it. It really is sad that all the facts were not gathered before the story was printed and reported on. I feel sorry for the coach no one deserves to be tried in the public and found guilty without all the facts in. I feel sorry for the kid as well. He is also a victim in this. Just get the all the facts in before you report something like this. What a shame for everyone.

yea, nothing but the facts

well the fact is, I beat my wife regularly!

more at 11



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altho it's in golf & board games - she just kicks my a** in card games


oh yea, one more guess - - - as part of the settlement, her kid gets to play at that level another year (with kids 4 yrs younger), is guaranteed PT at SS : ,and she will become the head coach (but others will have to spring for the ice cream)

this is very sad. the kid who was hurt had a mental disabilty. for probably the first time in his life he gets to be part of a team and gets to be one of the guys without being the "stupid" kid, and the coach pays his teamate to hurt him so he can win a tee ball game. wat a *****. i feel very sad for the boy who got hurt that he had to go through this just because he wasn't as good as some others on his team.

DJeter2 - Go back and read Bee's post at the bottom of the first page. It probably didn't happen the way it's been reported.