What do you guys think? http://lufkindailymuse.com/ From my favorite sportswriter Rick Reilly: This actually happened. Your job is to decide whether it should have. In a nine- and 10-year-old PONY league championship game in Bountiful, Utah, the Yankees lead the Red Sox by one run. The Sox are up in the bottom of the last inning, two outs, a runner on third. At the plate is the Sox’ best hitter, a kid named Jordan. On deck is the Sox’ worst hitter, a kid named Romney. He’s a scrawny cancer survivor who has to take human growth hormone and has a shunt in his brain. So, you’re the coach: Do you intentionally walk the star hitter so you can face the kid who can barely swing? Wait! Before you answer…. This is a league where everybody gets to bat, there’s a four-runs-per-inning max, and no stealing until the ball crosses the plate. On the other hand, the stands are packed and it is the title game. So … do you pitch to the star or do you lay it all on the kid who’s been through hell already? Yanks coach Bob Farley decided to walk the star. Parents booed. The umpire, Mike Wright, thought to himself, Low-ball move. In the stands, Romney’s eight-year-old sister cried. “They’re picking on Romney!” she said. Romney struck out. The Yanks celebrated. The Sox moaned. The two coaching staffs nearly brawled. And Romney? He sobbed himself to sleep that night. This is a very emotional story for me. I ask what would you have done had you been Romney’s parents or the Yankees’ coach. Had I been the kid’s dad, I don’t know what I would have done. My first instinct would be to ask the coach to sub for him. But, then again, would I want the pressure on another kid? And, don’t I want my son to be treated like everyone else? Had I been the Yankees’ coach, I would have never walked the best hitter to put the game on the shoulders of a cancer survivor. I don’t care how much you want your own child to win, you have to have some sportsmanship to enjoy a championship. Sadly, I know several coaches in Lufkin Youth Baseball who would have walked the best hitter to get to the cancer survivor.
man I was reading that hoping Romney could come through with a game winning knock. Bush league of the coach for walking Jordan. HOWEVER....I do wonder if the coach of the team with Jordan and Romney batted em that way to try to shame opposing coaches into pitching to Jordan. After all...seldom do you bat your best hitter right before your worst.
That's not the way you play the game. Period. And these are just kids. Sad that some parents don't seem to realize this. Unfortunately in that kind of league, you wouldn't be able to sub for him as everyone on the team is in the lineup, regardless of whether they are actually in the field or not. The kid had to bat regardless. So then you have to ask yourself if your the other team's coach, is winning worth perhaps scarring someone for life.
Well besides the fact that is a low ball move and pretty pathetic honestly... The one thing i am wondering regardless of him being a cancer survivor and stuff...why does the coach have the worst player on the team batting after the best player...wouldn't they always walk him then? That's just a simple observation not meaning to take away from the fact that it was pretty low of him to do.
I'm torn on this one. It is kinda ****ty to intentionally walk the kid to get to the worst player, but that's what you do in baseball. I know these are kids, but aren't people always whining when people do things outside of the scope of the game in order to make people happy? There have been uproars when they let that injured UConn girl score a basket to take over the career scoring lead or when little leagues have decided to stop taking scores during games to not hurt anyone's feelings. I kind of think this incident falls into that category. I'm going to go ahead and lean towards the guy who intentionally walked the best player to get to the worst player. Would there be any uproar if the kid batting next wasn't a cancer survivor? If he just flat-out sucked at baseball and struck out, would this be news? I doubt it. I don't understand why the other team would have to change their gameplan just because this kid used to be sick. That's the risk they took whenever they signed him up to play little league. Did the opposing coach even know that the kid was a cancer survivor?
In a league where everynbody gets to bat and there is a 4 run per inning max and the players are 9 and 10 years old, why is there a championship game? When I played Little League, we simply played out the schedule and had trophies for 1st place. There was no championship game. There was no run limit per inning when we were 9-10 although there was a mercy rule. I would not have walked the batter. There are some things you teach at 9 and 10 that don't involve winning and losing.
I would be pissed if I payed money for my 10 year old kid to play baseball and he gets intentionally walked.
On the Dan Patrick show yesterday, Riles kept repeating that it was a non-competitive league where every kid gets to bat regardless of how many outs there were. If truly non-competitive, why keep score at all and, more to the point, why have a championship at all? Most games that keep score are competitive by nature. If they didn't want anyone to be walked intentionally, they should have specified that in the modified rules with the rest of the modifications. Personally, I would have purposely hit the better batter before this kid instead of walk him. But what do I know?
If this is a non-competitive league, then why were they having a championship game (like bobrek said)? If the non-competitive aspects are what is truly important then the league is set-up incorrectly. It seems scummy that the coach walked the kid, but the league has a championship game and while it has rules to protect some non-competitive aspects one of those rules isn't disallowing intentional walks. My opinion would be the league should not allow intentional walks and shouldn't create a pressure situation where winning is clearly the goal (you don't have championship games for any other reason) if they don't want teams to try and win. Finally, what coach puts his worst hitter behind his best one? Has that coach no idea how to protect his big bat? I kid, I kid.
We lost our local tournament champ because of an intentional walk to our best hitter. I can see giving the best hitter nothing to hit and if you walk him fine, but to true intentionally walk him so you don't have to face him was cheap. This is not pro-ball. We weren't too happy, but we know the coach for the other team and thats just par for the course. But karma is out there waiting for it's turn.
Not having kids, or remembering when I was one, my perspective may be a little skewed, but... couldn't it be something on the path to eventual pro-ball for one or more of these kids? I mean, what's the matter with teaching some game situations, even at this age? And why can't a 9-10 year old monster hitter realize that he is getting walked because he is just too good?
I would have made the Sox forfeit the game because they have a kid taking an illegal substance. HGH is not an approved substance. I'm glad he struck out. Cheating ass kid.
Oh I think there are plenty of lessons to be learned in baseball and any sport. And you do want to teach them the in's and out's of the game - when to do what and in what circumstances. However, at that age, you have kids that are from all skill levels and even the best won't sniff semi-pro ball - that's just the odds. There are more important lessons that will carry with them regardless of their skill level that can and should be taught. And if the kid is going to The Show, I'm sure he can pick up the when to intentional walk a player before then. And that player that was walked, didn't feel good at all. We tried to pick his spirits up telling him it was an honor, but losing is losing and he wanted to bat. When you get up into the jr high and high school ball, that's when you learn the game. I have a son that just made the high school team as a freshman and what he is learning now is stuff I've never dreamed of. They wear wrist bands to tell them what to do on what plays and the coach says it will take all year to learn. They've been having daily practices 2 weeks before school starts and their first game is in Spring 07 with 70+ warmup games before then.
ooohhhh, you lobbed up a softball... Most of the time Garner has been batting Ensberg behind Berkman.
I put all blame squarely on Romney. He should have got a hit, and won the game. If he isn't up to par with the rest of the league, he should have been water boy. Romney is roided up these days, and should be the best one on the team instead of the worst one.
Absolutely. I'm sorry the kid had cancer but if he can barely swing the bat, why is he out there? Doesn't the kid want to be treated like everyone else? Was it a crappy thing to do? Sure. Did the opposing coach break any rules? No. I think it is right to question why this non-competitive league has a championship game. Eventually someone has to win. Why not the other team? They're kids too.
If there are NO rules preventing something, then it's legal. ALSO, how did Riley know what the umpire thought? I don't care if someone walks the best hitter in my daughters' team to get to my daughter. I tell my daughter to make their *ss pay for it. I would have had to prepare my daughters for that type of situation. Did the coach NOT teach the formerly-sick kid to bat properly? Master Baiter, that's some funny stuff about the HGH. RocketMan95, you and I probably would not have let that other autistic kid score 20 points by putting our best defender on his ass; meaning, we have NO heart but we follow the rules, yo.
oh wow you have to have HONOR in that situation and pitch to the star player, this isn't the pros where every player is a star. what a terrible thing to do to that little boy
I think we'd all be pissed if you had kids. It won't be worth it for the Yankees coaches any longer. They will now always be the guys who got exposed on the national stage by Sports Illustrated. I love how the assistant coach said he didn't know Romney's condition when he was one of his basketball coaches, it was in the paper and the kid is wearing a helmet in centerfield. And this gem of a quote: "Isn't that strategy? Isn't that trying to win? Do we let the kid feel like he's a winner by having the whole league play easy on him? This isn't the Special Olympics. He's not r****ded." Yeah, Utah! No doubt another Jazz fan gem. Sadly, I got married in Bountiful.
