Play Ball! NOT!

A Connecticut kids’ baseball team who has a very good 9-year-old pitcher has been disqualified because the team is too good. No, you didn’t read that wrong. The team has been disqualified because one of their players is too good.

The team goes by the name Will Power Fitness. Until they were disqualified from playing, they had a perfect 8-0 record thanks in large part to pitcher Jericho Scott. His pitching is so fast and accurate, the Liga Juvenil De Baseball De New Haven asked the team’s coach, Wilfred Vidro, to replace him so he wouldn’t frighten other players.

“The spirit of the league was community, family, well-being, nurturing,” Peter Noble, the league’s attorney, told the local newspaper. Notice, who’s doing the talking here—the league’s attorney. Kids’ baseball leagues now have attorneys? Are we keeping them on retainer? Or, do they show up at the first sign of blood?

This past Saturday, Jericho and his team showed up to the ballfield despite the fact the league canceled the game because they feared an “unhealthy environment” due to parental bickering, Noble told the paper. Jericho’s parents, Nicole and Leroy, planned to meet with an attorney on Monday. So, now, are you keeping up with the score? Kids 0. Lawyers 2. Parents -2,000,000!

The Scotts said the league wanted Jericho to play for a stronger team (read between the lines here—any other team but one in their league). The parents and the coach claim the reason is because that team is sponsored by a local barbershop where the league’s president currently cuts hair.

Leroy Scott said, “If you keep these kids on the field you keep them off the streets. I’d rather have him [Jericho] in the midst of this controversy on the field than dealing drugs on a street corner.” Hard to argue with that concept, isn’t it?

I played organized sports from the time I was five or six years old. I was always very small for my age, in height and weight (I caught up on the weight part as an adult!). As a very small child, I started out in right field—I think that’s where all players start out, especially the bad ones! Then, I moved to third base because I had a good arm and was pretty agile on my feet.

One thing I picked up on fairly quickly was this: coaches normally played their biggest players at the pitcher position! Always! When I first started playing, it was called “minor leagues” at the time. The division was for 6-10 year olds. Guess where the 10 year olds played? Right! They were always the pitchers!

Was I scared? Only every time I batted. I’ll never forget one game in particular where the opposing coach “ordered” his 10 year old pitcher to hit every batter that came to the plate. His team was in last place, and he didn’t like something our team had done. So, he ordered him to hit every player. And, he did. I got mine square on the thigh. Left a bruise for days. Did my parents storm the field? Well, no. Did we go to see a lawyer? Again, no. What happened? Well, I wore that bruise with pride! I wore shorts just so I could show it off! I was proud of my team and what I had done for the team.

Now, parents want to complain because a player is too good and the team is too good. Lawyers are involved and games are cancelled because it might create “an unhealthy environment.” Give me a break folks! What are we teaching our children? What attitudes are we passing along to them? What values? How sad this event is for sports, baseball, parents. Yes, all of those. But, most it is sad for the kids. How sad. Sounds like to me some parents need to grow up!

What do you think?