Maybe I Am Too Old School But IMHO Crisp Should Be Given Chin Music His First AB Today

[Redskins Rick]

Somebody needs to ask Jason Weyward how his jaw feels.

I am old enough to remember Tony C getting beaned for Boston, what an ugly incident, it pretty much ended his career, and he was never the same person again.

[Tx Oriole]

Somebody needs to ask Jason Weyward how his jaw feels.

I am old enough to remember Tony C getting beaned for Boston, what an ugly incident, it pretty much ended his career, and he was never the same person again.

I remember Tony C getting beaned. Baseball can be dangerous. You remember

when Moose was hit by a batted ball?

Old Fan and I come from a time when pitchers pitched inside to back off batters.

If they got hit take your base. The Giants had a player that would walk into

pitches just so he could get on base. I can't remember but it seems like Tony C.

was the only one that was seriously hurt. The Atlanta player hurt was it a purpose

pitch?

[Redskins Rick]

I remember Tony C getting beaned. Baseball can be dangerous. You remember

when Moose was hit by a batted ball?

Old Fan and I come from a time when pitchers pitched inside to back off batters.

If they got hit take your base. The Giants had a player that would walk into

pitches just so he could get on base. I can't remember but it seems like Tony C.

was the only one that was seriously hurt. The Atlanta player hurt was it a purpose

pitch?

It can be dangerous, which is why I think it's beyond stupid to throw at somebody.

Brady used to wear a special pad on his arm and step into the pitch for the team, all well and good since he was a Bird, but if he was an opposing player, we would be yelling foul.

I am okay with pitching inside to keep the hitters off the plate.

Thats different then hitting somebody on purphose.

Tony LaRussa is one heck of a manager, but he was a head hunter and demanded the eye for eye thing, and that doesn't sit well with me.

But, I guess it's because I am such a poor sportsmanship.

[Number5]

I remember Tony C getting beaned. Baseball can be dangerous. You remember

when Moose was hit by a batted ball?

Old Fan and I come from a time when pitchers pitched inside to back off batters.

If they got hit take your base. The Giants had a player that would walk into

pitches just so he could get on base. I can't remember but it seems like Tony C.

was the only one that was seriously hurt. The Atlanta player hurt was it a purpose

pitch?

I think that you may be thinking of Ron Hunt, who was a Giant for several years, although I think of him more as a Met and Expo.

[Old#5fan]

Okay now I get this guy Old #5.

All kids should play and there are different leagues for that opportunity. I coached youth sports for years and I know that guys like Old No. 5 are desperate to win at any age. The kids know the score... but that is unimportant. Youth sports especially those between 5 and 12 years old are all about development and not victories. There is such pressure on kids to make the travel team, that if they don't..... well, they quit. WE should be more about getting kids running around than worrying about wins and losses( I say again the kids KNOW the score). Who cares if little Jimmy can't hit, play him, let him play the whole game and he might get better. He can't get better by sitting on the pine while Old No. 5 piles up the victories in the T-ball games.

Just a different mind set that likes winning, showing man hood by dusting guys back and acting like if 2 or 3 things had gone differently in their lives... they could be Buck Showalter. Known as the "Uncle Rico" syndrome.

You don't "get" me at all son. ( I use son in a friendly way like Shelby Stanga, Swamp Man). I agree with you that T-Ball and even Minor League ball isn't at all about winning but development of skills and interest in the game as well as activity.

However, when it comes to Little League and 11-12 year olds, they should be able to be competitive by that age and in fact kids with abiity are. (You ever watch the Little League WS those kids are good)? And by the time they are 13 and in Senior or Pony League are pitching out of the stretch and stealing bases just like the regular baseball. S

o there is where I disagree with you. You shouldn't have to field a team with kids picking their nose in the outfield and having no clue in how to catch a fly ball or make a halfway accurate throw to the right base.

[Tx Oriole]

Oh, yeah I agree today is much better for the development of kids. As I stated, back when I played they didn't even have a minor league, much less T-Ball. You basically didn't play organized baseball until you were old enough to try out as a 9 year old. In fact, now that I look back I didn't make the team the first year I tried out. It was the second year I tried out I made the team but rode the bench (me and another kid my age were both treated the same. All the 11 and 12 year olds played regularly. You basically had to wait unil they were too old and were off the team to move up.

Today kids get an earlier start, get to at least play two innings in the field and at least 1 AB. It is great for the kids, but a bit tough on trying to manage a team and actually win games..

I remember they had peewee league before little league. If you were 11 or 12

years old but not good enough for little league but too old for peewee league they

started junior league. I played two years of junior league.

[Redskins Rick]

I remember they had peewee league before little league. If you were 11 or 12

years old but not good enough for little league but too old for peewee league they

started junior league. I played two years of junior league.

If the little league is setup by little league rules, then there is a strict rulebook they have to follow.

Most choose to not be a true little league team, and have their own in-house rules.

[Old#5fan]

I remember they had peewee league before little league. If you were 11 or 12

years old but not good enough for little league but too old for peewee league they

started junior league. I played two years of junior league.

You were lucky. I lived in a rural area and we had no such thing. In fact, I played in what was called "The Ruritan League" which encompassed kids ages 9-13 but you could only pitch up to age 12. I recall one game we were playing against a team that had a kid chewing tobacco (for real) pitching and somehow our manager found out he was 13 (somebody snitched I guess) and he was removed from the game and they inserted a 12 year old kid who was much better and seemed like he was throwing as hard as Nolan Ryan. I recall my teammates and I were upset as we would have much rather faced the 13 year old!

Most fields we played in were barely ball fields at all. There was only one that had a fence. The only homer I ever hit was a grounder that got past the right fielder and rolled for ever. I actually stopped at second until everyone started yelling and I still made it across the plate in plenty of time!

I then played Senior Little League that had fences and dugouts (much, much better) when I was 14-15.

[Tx Oriole]

It can be dangerous, which is why I think it's beyond stupid to throw at somebody.

Brady used to wear a special pad on his arm and step into the pitch for the team, all well and good since he was a Bird, but if he was an opposing player, we would be yelling foul.

I am okay with pitching inside to keep the hitters off the plate.

Thats different then hitting somebody on purphose.

Tony LaRussa is one heck of a manager, but he was a head hunter and demanded the eye for eye thing, and that doesn't sit well with me.

But, I guess it's because I am such a poor sportsmanship.

I didn't know that about LaRussa. I never meant to imply that I am okay with

hurting someone. I can't remember the details on Tony C. I can't remember if that

was a pitch that simply got awAy from the pitcher or a purpose pitch.

[Redskins Rick]

I didn't know that about LaRussa. I never meant to imply that I am okay with

hurting someone. I can't remember the details on Tony C. I can't remember if that

was a pitch that simply got awAy from the pitcher or a purpose pitch.

http://ronroenickestolemybaseball.com/2011/08/03/want-to-be-even-angrier-at-tony-larussa/

Some of the most respected baseball managers and pitchers have openly discussed the fundamental place throwing at batters has in their sport. In George Will’s study of the game, Men at Work, one-time Oakland Athletics and current St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa details the strategic importance of ordering selective intentional throwing at opposing batters, principally to retaliate for one’s own players being hit. (Will, Men at Work (1990) pp. 61-64.)

[radar303]

You don't "get" me at all son. ( I use son in a friendly way like Shelby Stanga, Swamp Man). I agree with you that T-Ball and even Minor League ball isn't at all about winning but development of skills and interest in the game as well as activity.

However, when it comes to Little League and 11-12 year olds, they should be able to be competitive by that age and in fact kids with abiity are. (You ever watch the Little League WS those kids are good)? And by the time they are 13 and in Senior or Pony League are pitching out of the stretch and stealing bases just like the regular baseball. S

o there is where I disagree with you. You shouldn't have to field a team with kids picking their nose in the outfield and having no clue in how to catch a fly ball or make a halfway accurate throw to the right base.

You should be a better coach. Chasing kids away because they are late bloomers is WHAT is happening in youth sports. There are tons of kids NOT playing(but playing video games) because guys want to win and plant little nose picking kids on the bench. The kids KNOW the score, but they do NOT hold on to the losses like their parents do. Perspective.

I'll give you and idea of what I have done. One year I was commissioner of a 9-10 basketball league of 6 teams with 8 kids per team. We(the coaches and I) did our best to split the teams evenly. It was close, but due to some car pool situations, one team was a little better than the rest. To give EVERY CHILD his time in the sun I had an all star game . In fact I had 4 ALL STAR GAMES. I had the coaches rate their players from 1-8. All star game 1 (1and 2's vs 1 and 2's) All star game 2 (3-4's) etc. The games were fantastic. The 7 and 8th rated players ALL STAR Game was 30-29 with a kid making a basket at the buzzer. Shortest kid on my team had 16 points. .

Coaches NEED to keep players in the game, not have some sort of macho code that excludes.... and leads to guys having to throw at other guys to prove something.

[Redskins Rick]

You should be a better coach. Chasing kids away because they are late bloomers is WHAT is happening in youth sports. There are tons of kids NOT playing(but playing video games) because guys want to win and plant little nose picking kids on the bench. The kids KNOW the score, but they do NOT hold on to the losses like their parents do. Perspective.

I'll give you and idea of what I have done. One year I was commissioner of a 9-10 basketball league of 6 teams with 8 kids per team. We(the coaches and I) did our best to split the teams evenly. It was close, but due to some car pool situations, one team was a little better than the rest. To give EVERY CHILD his time in the sun I had an all star game . In fact I had 4 ALL STAR GAMES. I had the coaches rate their players from 1-8. All star game 1 (1and 2's vs 1 and 2's) All star game 2 (3-4's) etc. The games were fantastic. The 7 and 8th rated players ALL STAR Game was 30-29 with a kid making a basket at the buzzer. Shortest kid on my team had 16 points. .

Coaches NEED to keep players in the game, not have some sort of macho code that excludes.... and leads to guys having to throw at other guys to prove something.

Amen.

As a coach of many little league sports while my son was growing up, it wasn't about winning, which is always nice, but teaching sportsmanship and fundamentals is the key.

In fact, one year, I had nine year old soccer team, strictly non-travel. One kid could have been Pele's kid, he was fast and brilliant player and should have been playing up, but the commish wouldn't allow it.

But, I never let him play more than two quarters, and one of them was in the goalie, so we wouldn't run up the score.

His father thanked me, for treating his son as an equal and not playing favoritism and letting him play every minute of every game.

[radar303]

Amen.

As a coach of many little league sports while my son was growing up, it wasn't about winning, which is always nice, but teaching sportsmanship and fundamentals is the key.

In fact, one year, I had nine year old soccer team, strictly non-travel. One kid could have been Pele's kid, he was fast and brilliant player and should have been playing up, but the commish wouldn't allow it.

But, I never let him play more than two quarters, and one of them was in the goalie, so we wouldn't run up the score.

His father thanked me, for treating his son as an equal and not playing favoritism and letting him play every minute of every game.

I get it. I once had a 5 year old soccer player who easily could have played 8-9. The hardest job in my youth coaching career was keeping Alejandro from scoring 10 goals a game. I once told him NOT to leave the defensive box(as a goalie). He was a smart kid and realized what I was doing. He got the ball and teed one up from the opposite end and made a goal from about 50 yds. Short field.

The kids forget the score during "snack time". Only adults worry about some kid mis-playing the ball. It is sad commentary on our culture. I used to have parents come to me and ask "What can I do to make Josh better"? I always said the same thing "tell him to read a book".