8 year old grandtwins have their first game today. Coach pitch. Some players get 6 pitches, some get 10 before they're told "maybe next time". Coaches always holler "throw to first" no matter which bases have someone on. They only allow one base advance per hit. I get that's just for the kids but the thing that baffled me is the boys' team got two outs then the second twin got a single. Directly after the single, the only hit of the inning, they changed sides.

This is anarchy. Anarchy, I say!!

That's not how we played the game. But, I'm not surprised at what all the helicopter parents have done to the game, so as to not hurt the ever-so tender feelings of their special, special little guy err girl, asexual biological unit, whatever.

Three strikes. That's all you get, and maybe they'll throw to first and maybe they won't. It depends. That's how it works. What are you gonna do? Send them down to the minors?

Do they keep score? A few years back went to nieces softball, no score was kept, didn’t want to hurt feelings and wasn’t fair. Never went again.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
What are you gonna do? Send them down to the minors?

Hahahaha! Thanks, that helped me put the noose away.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
Do they keep score? A few years back went to nieces softball, no score was kept, didn’t want to hurt feelings and wasn’t fair. Never went again.

They unofficially keep score in the dugout but there's no scoreboard. I have no idea who's "winning".

Definite anarchy.

It could very well be due to time constraints. Another team may have the field afterwards at a specific time. Pace of play for 8yr olds can vary greatly.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt

More studpidity. I remember playing ball as a kid that they put the smart kid at shortstop because he had to know where to throw the ball based upon the number of outs and if there were runners on first. Baseball is a cognitive game. The games went on even if the score was 80 to 0, because that is how life is.

Desperate times call for desperate measures to keep up with the woke times. But the coach's son, daughter, or indeterminate gender offsprung will still be the Pitcher regardless of their natural abilities. Some things never change.

As long as I can remember I've heard it's not whether you win or lose. The last several years it's become as long as you have fun it's not whether you win or lose. Funny thing is that it was always the losers that said that.

Don't worry, everyone gets a trophy.

quote:

But the coach's son, daughter, or indeterminate gender offsprung will still be the Pitcher regardless of their natural abilities

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i
I pitched despite the coach having two sons on the team and an NFL Pro Bowler as well. Kids know who the best players are. The traveling baseball teams play the best players.

"It doesn't matter whether you win or lose."

The fuck it doesn't. The entire point is to win. Why people want to shy away from this truth, is beyond me.

File that crap with "There's no such thing as bad publicity," and "There's no such thing as a stupid question." It all boils down to the same platitudinous nonsense.

If you keep score, it's a competition and 2nd Place is 1st place in the losers.

Life is competition and kids should learn that as early as possible.

I don't get this at all.

If there are folks that don't want to actually play the game and prefer to dress up in baseball costumes and practice, they should create their own organization for that activity. If they don't care about winning or losing, that's wonderful. Go do it elsewhere. Little league believes in balls, strikes, winners, losers and the lot.

Why poison a perfectly good organization with this social justice nonsense?

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
But the coach's son, daughter, or indeterminate gender offsprung will still be the Pitcher regardless of their natural abilities. Some things never change.

I taught my son how to pitch in my backyard. Finally convinced the coach to let him pitch.
Would pitch one or two innings, zero walks, zero ERA. Coaches kid, 5 walks, 3 hit batters
and probably a 5 ERA. I will admit most of the coaches kids were good players because they
would practice with them. Too many parents bring their kid to little league without even
teaching them how to throw the ball.

I am VP of a little league here in Florida, we ahve 385 kids registered this season which started today. At that age it is very likely that there are special rules for pitching. Some have a 3 strike rule, some have a 5 good pitches rule, so bad pitches don't penalize a kid. Also many leagues bat the order 1-9 every inning then switch, so when you get to #9 the inning is over even if you don't have 3 outs.

Ask the coach, in a calm and polite manner and see what the reason is.

Good news is they are 8 and have plenty of time to learn.

I have given the speech to "yoots" and adults alike. "It's not whether you win or lose, it's that you play the best you can, that you enjoy yourself, and that you have fun. With that said, 98% of the time, winning is more fun than losing!"


Little league is unbearably painful to watch. I did with my nephew and now with his boys. With few exceptions, none of the kids can play worth a lick. But they can all imitate the stupid bullshit they see the millionaires do on Tv, adjust their batting gloves, hold their hand up to the ump in the batters box while they get ready, tap the non existent mud off their shoes.

It's funny watching them play, the two boys are a year apart. (6&7? or 7&8 now?) The older one can take it or leave it, he's plays well enough, but a little ADHD, it doesn't hold his interest, little does. But the younger one! He lives and dies baseball! You almost feel bad for him watching him play. He doesn't say anything, but his body language is unmistakable. ("OMG how can they be this bad! Why are they here? Aren't there some older kids I could be playing with!?") He's an "old soul" when it comes to baseball for sure.

Is this actually “Little League”, as in the governing body that plays the Little League World Series? I know nothing about that organization with younger kids. This sounds like a YMCA league, developmental in nature. I think 8 is a little old to be playing coaches pitch, but maybe not. It’s been a long time for me. But I’d be willing to bet that there is a different league playing games with normal rules and kids pitching.

I just did a quick search and found Little League’s pitch count recommendations of no more than 50 pitches for ages 7-8. So obviously kids pitch at that age.

https://www.littleleague.org/h...seball-pitch-counts/

"It pays to be a winner."

It wasn't like this when I was a kid. Adults hadn't ruined kids sports by that time and I'm 43 years old.

I help coach kids in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the competitiveness is very much there. In fact, the kids have no filter whereas the adults will help each other, "when you did that move that didn't work, what you should've done was... Let's try that again." The kids will stand up and say to me, "I tapped him, coach! I won!!!"

There was a dad who tried to coach from the sideline, this dad didn't train himself, but one day, one of the BJJ brown belts promoted some of the kids and challenged the adults to come out and train while looking directly at him. If you know about BJJ, it's not like TKD or karate where everyone gets a black belt at 2-3 years, it takes someone training 4-5 times a week 10-12 years to earn that black belt. And there is a lot of sparring done in those 10-12 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Timdogg6:
I am VP of a little league here in Florida, we ahve 385 kids registered this season which started today. At that age it is very likely that there are special rules for pitching. Some have a 3 strike rule, some have a 5 good pitches rule, so bad pitches don't penalize a kid. Also many leagues bat the order 1-9 every inning then switch, so when you get to #9 the inning is over even if you don't have 3 outs.

Ask the coach, in a calm and polite manner and see what the reason is.

Good news is they are 8 and have plenty of time to learn.

it was coach pitch so there were no fast or inaccurate pitches. He basically threw like he was throwing darts. However that would explain the random number of pitches. Maybe if they didn't swing they don't count that pitch. Dunno.

My favorite part was in the rare occasion that the ball rolled into the outfield, no one was paying attention so no one moved until the coaches got the kids' attention and then they all ran toward where the ball was, sort of.