Integrity of Youth Baseball

quote:

Originally posted by Mizzoubaseball:
Not only was it not a BBCOR, but I find it odd a 14 year old would be swinging a -9. I think my son last swung one of those when he was 12.

-3's are not required by many sanctioned tournaments till 15. Couldn't believe it last Spring that some big 14's were swinging -9's when there were a bunch of well balanced hot -3 bats to choose from.

The reason I asked about the -9 bat is that when my son played that age, you had to use a -3. One game in the first inning, an opposing kid hits a two run double. As the catcher grabs the bat to get it out of the way, he looks at it and hands it to the umpire. It was a -5. big ordeal about what to do. Is he out, is it a redo, or what. We just decided to let it go and just not use the bat anymore. Coach told me after the game it was an honest mistake, since it was early in the season.

Not to sound all moral or whatever, but what do you really gain by cheating at this age.

We couldn't figure out why we saw a few 14U teams last Spring in -9 bats. It's not like they were small undersized kids with painfully bad swings. All we can surmise is they felt they needed the bat speed. Last Spring my youngest was in a 32-29 and stayed in it & hit very well, even when he faced the most velocity he'd yet seen off a mound (mid 80's).

Had a middle-aged opposing coach scream at one of our 14U players this past summer for allegedly "looking into the dugout" after being walked. Seems like many parents and coaches forget its only young kids out there.

Yep. Same thing in our first tournament a few weekends ago. Kid walks up and hits with a -5 BESR.

Former Major League All Star coaching the opposing team. Amazed at the fit he threw when his player was called out and ejected.

Not like he wasn't sent a reminder email prior to the tournament and all of these governing bodies have it prominently displayed on their website.

quote:

Originally posted by Mizzoubaseball:
Not to sound all moral or whatever, but what do you really gain by cheating at this age.

You are correct, but remember some peoples' mentality that Son will not make a pro roster if he doesn't excel in his preteen years.

quote:

Originally posted by AntzDad:

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
CYNICAL ARENT YOU WE WORK ON RESPECT---IT IS AN AG OLD ITALIAN TRAIT

ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

Agree with trhit everyone should go to wood solves all the problems....

It's a shame "adults" have to act so unsportsmanlike around kids.
Win with class and stay humble. Lose with integrity and show respect for the winning team.

I'm with TRhit on this one. Instead of monkeying around with BBCOR and all these other idiotic bats, just go to wood. Regular wood bats. No composites or any other fancy bats they claim is like wood

At least no one got their ear bit off.

Middle School Basketball Coach Bites off Opposing Coach's Ear After Loss

It was a u9 LL game few years back and the other team was using a softball bat. It was old and the paint was chipping so a a lot of the words where rubbed off. But it did say little league on it. I told the ump , but he said it had little league on it. Bunch of BS. its easy to tell a softball bat from baseball bat. But a few games later that team didnt use that bat anymore. Total lack of integrity.

My son was in a 13u tournament and one of his teammate's father was the freshman JV coach at a local HS. The dad recognized one of the boys as having tried out for him in the HS and new he was too old to play on the opposing team in our age bracket. When confronted, instead of apologizing for what was hoped was a mistake, the other coach asked through the tournament rep if it was OK if the boy only batted and did not play the field.

While this was bad enough, we saw the same boy playing for the same team in a later round of the same tournament. I guess winning for this coach and the boys' parents was more important than teaching the boys on this team about integrity and right from wrong.

I was confused for a minute...."Inegrity in Youth Baseball" as a topic I thought I was reading the "Funniest things heard at the Ballbark" string.