Respecting the game

metsfan1,
Yeah I'm in my senior year of hs and it's crazy some of the stuff I see nearly every game. I know I'm not always perfect on the field, but I can't count the amount of kids who don't run out ground balls or flyouts. It's getting outrageous.

I've only seen antics at the semi-pro level where the has beens think the umpires are robbing them of what they have left. I never allowed my players (LL to 18U) to act up. My son forgot in a high school game soph year. He asked the umpire if he was kidding on a bad third strike call. His coach benched him for the remainder of the game. Then my son had to deal with me when he got off the bus. Otherwise I haven't seen antics since some bush 14U travel teams. I attend A10, ACC, CAA and Ivy games. I've never seen a problem other a coach in the CAA has a habit of making a donkey's behind of himself. He claims he's old school.

RJM,
You're very lucky. The amount of players who think they're entitled to everything is crazy. It might be because I play in a division with mostly small schools who haven't been around teams who respect the game but I don't know.

Junior this happens at all levels. From 9th grade jv games to division 1 baseball. Players for some reason do feel entitled... I dont know why either? Why does kids act this way? Its not like college coaches are recruiting this behavior. HS kids have to know that there attitude can be a turn off to college coaches. Flip side is that a good player with a great work ethic and attitude will be recruited by many good teams.

metsfan, don't forget the major league players like soriano who doesn't run out much. I have never seen a player watch more long singles off the wall than him, all of which should have been doubles.

However there are many that play the game right also, most that I see.

After watching youth, middle school, high school, college and pro-ball for many years it is amazing to me to see the level of disrespect for the game that is out there. It is hard to tell in college and pro-ball - however - in youth ball and school ball it has been my experience that "the apple does not fall far from the tree". Players that are raised to believe they are above the rules or deserve certain things tend to behave poorly.

Sometimes it goes even beyond that. I once observed a 9 year old catcher at a regional tournament that was taunting every batter that came to the plate with ugly remarks beyond his years. You guessed it - catcher's dad was behind the backstop telling the kid what to say to each batter!I am guessing it would be impossible for that kid to have grown up with a proper respect for the game.

Players like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Pete Rose are all great examples of how players should conduct themselves. Those were the "good old days", back then players were great role models...

"Sometimes it goes even beyond that. I once observed a 9 year old catcher at a regional tournament that was taunting every batter that came to the plate with ugly remarks beyond his years. You guessed it - catcher's dad was behind the backstop telling the kid what to say to each batter!I am guessing it would be impossible for that kid to have grown up with a proper respect for the game."

I agree Yes, but I'm guessing that it would be impossible for that kid to have grown up with a proper respect for anything or anybody.

Agreed.

Funny how it's acceptable for MLB managers to act like (bad words). "Boy, Old Joe is fired up, today!"

I always enjoyed watching my son play. Never took a play off that I could recall. Ran hard out of the box every time, often was rewarded by beating out routine grounders, reaching base numerous times on dropped third strikes because he forced the action by not giving up on the play causing the defense to panic, rush and make a mistake. Wore his uniform right..High socks, not the low baggy look they wear today and never once got in an umpire's face after a bad call in all the years he played. Never got even a warning from an umpire ever.

Once on the HS team, got his chops busted by a teammate for diving for a line drive to the outfield because it was a scrimmage or practice and turned to the player and looked at him like an idiot for making such a stupid comment, shook his head and went back to his position. He felt he should be practicing the same way as a game so he's fully prepared and ready, don't get into bad habits and things like that.

Nothing was handed to my son and anything he got, he earned it thru hard work. He was never the benefactor of "daddy ball" and I taught him at an early age that if he acted like a jerk, he'd be on the bench. All he had to see was how it looked when a player disrespected the game. He got it.

I suppose there's a number of reasons why kids don't respect the game such as parents egging them on, lack of any discipline from the parents in general, or just not being taught how to act as a ballplayer. Whatever the reason, itall starts on how they act at home.

Maybe I'm the lone ranger, and I'm a bit young so maybe I'm not a good judge, but I don't think kids today are all that much different than they were in past generations. Sure some kids today act entitled, but I would be that was true of some kids in the past as well. I seriously doubt players today are any more or less disrespectful of the game than kids have always been.

I think it's all an extension of "the older I get the better I was" except that it's "the older I get the harder I used to play". One thing that annoys the 7734 out of me is hearing older people with the "kids these days" BS. Kids are kids are kids, and if they've changed it's because parents have let it happen. I don't think they're any more or less respectful of the game now than kids were in times gone by.

And using Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth in the same sentence with "role model" is a great bit of sarcasm. How many kids held Mickey Mantle up as a role model? Looking back, was that a good thing? Probably not but most of those kids probably turned out ok.

quote:

Originally posted by YesReally:
I once observed a 9 year old catcher at a regional tournament that was taunting every batter that came to the plate with ugly remarks beyond his years. You guessed it - catcher's dad was behind the backstop telling the kid what to say to each batter!I am guessing it would be impossible for that kid to have grown up with a proper respect for the game.

Chances are dad never played the game or he would have more respect. 9 year olds can't learn about respect if adults don't teach them.
There is a strong correlation between respect and success.
JMO.

emanski's heroes,
You are very right about the older generations saying kids these day. It almost always falls on the shoulders of the parents or lack there of. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be the person or player I am without my mom and dad.

"Most" of the kids we see respect the game.

More so than we did when we were younger. I think kids learn how to respect the game. They learn what is the right or wrong way to play the game and conduct themselves accordingly. Again, we see lots of kids these days who know how the game is supposed to be played. To me that is respect for the game.

I would agree that most kids do respect the game.

However the one thing I don't see in today's kids is the passion for the game like a generation or two ago and beyond. They don't have the same love for the game like we did as kids. Not by a long shot.

quote:

Originally posted by zombywoof:
I would agree that most kids do respect the game.

However the one thing I don't see in today's kids is the passion for the game like a generation or two ago and beyond. They don't have the same love for the game like we did as kids. Not by a long shot.

I see the passion, but perhaps we just don't see it in as many kids as you did when it was America's game. Times have changed, there's alot more to do these days than go out to the sandlot and play ball.
I think in order to respect the game you need to have a sense of it's history, I am not sure lots of kids (including my own until recently) these days really do understand that. JMO.

Why do kids/players act this way? Because they are allowed to

My experience tells me that kids today respect the game and do things the right way way more than when I was a player.

I found it interesting that after seeing this earlier today I would see a play that screamed disrespect towards the game. A jv player who consistantly complains about not being on varsity walked to first base after a walk on a pass ball. Then he jogged to second after the ball was thrown away. Ball is then thrown by the second basemen into the outfield he turns and looks at it for a good 5 seconds and then decided to run to third. He was confused on what he did wrong by the way.

Respect is such a funny word because what does it truly mean? If 10 of us wrote our definition of the word down I would guarantee that there would be 10 different definitions to it. To go off on a tangent it amazes me how many kids in the school use "I was disrespected" as an excuse for getting into trouble. This raises a great question - should everyone respect you first before you give respect or should you respect others first in order to get respect from them?

Maybe I'm wrong but what I've experienced is that if you as a leader, teacher, coach or parent establish structure, expectations and acceptable behaviors then kids will meet them. If you don't provide those things they will be out there doing whatever they want because they don't know any better. Coaches crack me up when they bemoan about how bad their team is or how they don't have enough players. Well last time I checked you were the one who picked the team and you're the one writing kids off before attempting to make them better. Same with attitudes and respect. If you don't develop and cultivate it then it won't exist just like talent and depth. Nothing irritates me more than anything is when during the national anthem kids talk, spit, fidget or other things like that. That happens because the people in charge of them allow that to happen. Every team I've been apart of never did this because I tell them how important it is to show your respect to those who have served our country.

In the classroom I get the troublemakers most of the time. The ones other teachers gripe and complain about but they don't bother me. When other teachers stop by my room they are amazed to see these kids working and participating. It's a pretty simple solution - tell them what is expected in terms of behavior and work ethic. You would be amazed at how often they will reach your expecations.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach_May:
My experience tells me that kids today respect the game and do things the right way way more than when I was a player.

I started umpiring in the 70's. In my experience, many of today's players (HS and College) are more argumentative, ruder and act more entitled than those thirty years ago. Coincidentally, so are their parents.

Jimmy I certainly can not argue with your points because that is your experience. I played in the 70's and started coaching in the 90's. My experience with players today is that they are more respectful of each other and the game than they were when I played the game. But then again that's just my experience.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach_May:
Jimmy I certainly can not argue with your points because that is your experience. I played in the 70's and started coaching in the 90's. My experience with players today is that they are more respectful of each other and the game than they were when I played the game. But then again that's just my experience.

This is my impression as well, I feel like there is much more attention by young players to being professional and keeping their noses clean than there was in years past. Today everyone knows everything about everybody, kids in baseball today look like angels compared to some of yesterdays legends.

I'm not sure that there is less respect.

I do know that kids in general tend to speak their minds a lot more than they used to. When I was in high school we would never openly question a coach or official.

These days many of these kids know so much more about the game than we did at that same point. If a coach taught me to do something a certain way I did it because I had no other frame of reference to go by. Today kids have so much more instruction and knowlege on the mechanics and the implementation of the game. Yes, some kids are just jerks, there have always been those and there always will be, but I also believe that kids are much more knowlegeable about the game than we were at the same age and are unafraid to state their opinions about it.

The problem is that teenagers tend to say things at the wrong time. That has been a teenager trait as long as there have been teenagers.

"The fish rots from the head down." If the coach respects the game and demands no less from his players, they will play the game the right way...or ride the pine or, in the case of travel ball, play elsewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach_May:
Jimmy I certainly can not argue with your points because that is your experience. I played in the 70's and started coaching in the 90's. My experience with players today is that they are more respectful of each other and the game than they were when I played the game. But then again that's just my experience.

Coach, obviously everyone has their own experience and perspective. We may be influenced by different factors. I work around 150 games a year these days. When I started out, I worked about 50 games a year. That may influence my observations...I'm seeing a lot more players and, some players, a lot more often.

I give you this. Today's kids, by and large are more serious about the game, and more of them are better trained and have a better understanding of the game.

However, again, in my experience, more of them seem to think they can act like the bad examples they see on TV.

I never had a 17-19 year old throw a temper tantrum on the field in the 70's. I see it every summer now, multiple times. I never saw parent go into a dugout and physically attack a coach in the 70's. I saw it last year at a tournament.

I never heard f-bombs yelled at opposing players from the dugout in the 70's. I hear it now and wonder where the coach is and what the parents have taught their kid

quote:

Originally posted by metsfan1:
Im new to this forum but is it me or is more and more kids not playing the game right. In the last 5 years I have seen a ton that made my head spin. I see kids not hustling out of the box, throwing gloves, talking crazy to umpires, and much more. Heck I even saw a juco game where the batter and pitcher were cursing one another....Neither got tossed....No umpire nor coach said anything. Its not everywhere but its more prominent now than I have ever seen it before. Anyway its nice to meet you all. Play Hard. Respect the game.

Good post Met! To me it is simple, you respect what you love.

Thanks Sd Lefty.... Everyone here has there on oponion and thats what is great about having a forum. I believe a ton of the problem is with parents and coaches. I would of never said anything to an adult, cursed, or not hustled. I had a hardcore coach who wouldnt of put up with it. My dad would of beat me if I would of embarrased my family like that. I have found you can be a hardcore coach and still allow your players to have a good time playing the game. I see some coaches who have 0 control over there team and I just feel bad fo them. Im 28 years old and Im a head coach. I have learned it starts with me and everything will trickle down through my assistants and players. We take baseball serious, we play hard everyday, and we have a good time.

quote:

Originally posted by metsfan1:
Thanks Sd Lefty.... Everyone here has there on oponion and thats what is great about having a forum. I believe a ton of the problem is with parents and coaches. I would of never said anything to an adult, cursed, or not hustled. I had a hardcore coach who wouldnt of put up with it. My dad would of beat me if I would of embarrased my family like that. I have found you can be a hardcore coach and still allow your players to have a good time playing the game. I see some coaches who have 0 control over there team and I just feel bad fo them. Im 28 years old and Im a head coach. I have learned it starts with me and everything will trickle down through my assistants and players. We take baseball serious, we play hard everyday, and we have a good time.

Good for you Met. It sounds like you are doing it right.

I believe the issues we see start at the home, just like most of the issues in society today. But as the head coach we have an opportunity to significantly influence young men in a positive manner. To me this is the most gratifying. Keep doing what you do!

Lefty...

My son's high school team just played the one mouthy team in their conference. I forgot about this team when I first posted. It was nice to see them silent with their heads down by the sixth.

Sdlefty, I like the way you said that: you respect what you love.

Exactly Trojan...Lefty has spoke the truth... Just like work.... If you love it you will respect it and be better at it.

I am not saying all players are disrespectful. Im really just pointing out that I see more and more incidents than I use to. Baseball players as a whole are good people

check out the video clip
https://www.allshoremedia.net/...e-stories&Itemid=207

That was bush...But why did the umpire throw a ball back into play so quick for TRS to pull that nonsense. That Ken Frank is supposed to be some so called legendary HS coach and yet his team acts this way.

I wait until the batter/runner crosses the plate before getting a new ball to the pitcher.

#12 would have been close to an ejection. POE from a few years back was about taunting.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:
#18 would have been close to an ejection.

What did #18 do? If you mean #12, what would have put him over the line?

quote:

Originally posted by AntzDad:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:
#18 would have been close to an ejection.

What did #18 do? If you mean #12, what would have put him over the line?

You're right...#12. Taunting was a POE recently. Ejection is the penalty. Taunting is a behavior identified by FED as leading to worse behavior between players/teams. Watch his chest beating behavior toward the pitcher from the front of the dugout.

As I said, he'd be close. I'd at least have had words with the young man and the coach. Depending on behavior previous to this, and his reaction to a warning, he may or may not have gotten to sit out the rest of the game.