Little League team kicked out of Ohio League for...get this...being to good...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I hear ya, that's all fine and good..

But would you condone the hand-picking of supposed All-Stars in a Recreational League ??

Does that not say something about the integrity of those parents as well ??

[POJO_Risin]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
But would you condone the hand-picking of supposed All-Stars in a Recreational League ??

First of all...we don't know that that is the case...and the way that the league is set up...I DOUBT that is the case...

Even if it is...IT'S A RECREATIONAL SUMMER LEAGUE...A REC LEAGUE as you so eloquently stated...and was stated in the article...and rec leagues are run like Legion teams...at least the ones in PA were...

Hell...the regular little leagues that I played in...the teams were essentially hand picked...the 13 year olds were on one team...the 12 year olds on another...two teams...and all the other counties did it the same way...and we played them all...Generally speaking...each town had one or two teams...Cussewago always had 1 really good team of 13 year olds...and one shit team of 12 year olds...Cambridge...Edinboro...Saegertown...and yes...even the teams we played in Meadville...that's why there SO MANY highly competative little league teams in that region...

If it fits under the rules (and it would in a rec league), than so be it...

they should fix the rules before you have to CHOOSE to quit the league...

When it's all said and done Va...it's been done SINCE LONG BEFORE we laced on our cleats.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
First of all...we don't know that that is the case...and the way that the league is set up...I DOUBT that is the case...

I disagree, it sounds like your typical, non-"Legion", non-"AAU", Little League....

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Even if it is...IT'S A RECREATIONAL SUMMER LEAGUE...A REC LEAGUE as you so eloquently stated...and was stated in the article...and rec leagues are run like Legion teams...at least the ones in PA were...

Hell...the regular little leagues that I played in...the teams were essentially hand picked...the 13 year olds were on one team...the 12 year olds on another...two teams...and all the other counties did it the same way...and we played them all...Generally speaking...each town had one or two teams...Cussewago always had 1 really good team of 13 year olds...and one shit team of 12 year olds...Cambridge...Edinboro...Saegertown...and yes...even the teams we played in Meadville...that's why there SO MANY highly competative little league teams in that region...

If it fits under the rules (and it would in a rec league), than so be it...

they should fix the rules before you have to CHOOSE to quit the league...

When it's all said and done Va...it's been done SINCE LONG BEFORE we laced on our cleats.

All of that is assuming that this was a hand-picked league, which I've said I don't believe was the case....

I don't agree with the quitting aspect either, if my son were in this situation, on one of the teams that was getting the shit kicked out of them by this All-Star team, I would talk to him about making that a motivational factor in making him better.... Maybe after that, maybe he's ON that All-Star team the next time around....

[POJO_Risin]

C'mon Va..you know our kids would be on the All-Star team in the first place...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Well, yeah, under normal circumstances...

My son is in a different situation right now.... He was picked for the normal 11-12 year old league last year as a 10 year old to fill the teams.... So even now as a 11 year old, he's up against 12 year old kids that are bigger than I am at 5'10" and throwing serious heat....

[POJO_Risin]

Nothing that the cages won't fix...if he wants to goto the cages...

or of course...the old man heaving pitches to him...if you've got someone to shag balls...

Usually...kids have hitches in their swing early on because they either use bats that are to big or to small for them, and they are copying pros swings...if you can get rid of the hitch...it doesn't matter what kinda heat they are throwing...he'll be able to get the bat around...

[Redballjets88]

when i was in 11-12 year old league there was a team that my team beat four times and like 10-0 each time. but their coach was one of the league commisioners so after we beat them the third time he went and reconfigured some stuff so he got the 3 best players from another team on his team and then they went on the take the championship. and then 2nd in state which my team got 3rd in. it pissed me off so much

[Redballjets88]

Nothing that the cages won't fix...

i disagree. when i was like 8 i got hit in the head by a pitcher. so i was scared for while. but when i was in the cages i did great. but when it came to a game i sucked it took like a year to get over it.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Nothing that the cages won't fix...if he wants to goto the cages...

Yeah, lots of time in the cages...

His arm strength and swing are great, just working on his hips and legs....

And lot of work on his defense...

Luckily his elementary school (actually his "old" school, he graduated 5th grade last week) is in my back yard, with a baseball field, so I can work with him a lot....

Unless I'm always on a Van Halen message board, that is....

[POJO_Risin]

I never said cages fix being scared...

you just don't goto cages for the fuck of it either...

We had a cage at our school...and it is THE BEST way to get the repetition to work out kinks and hitches...bat speed...etc. It's not about going and doing great...it's about going and working on specific things...where you move your lead foot...what you do with your arms...etc...

There's nothing you can do after you get beaned...other than step in and face the music...

[Redballjets88]

yeah i know i was just sayin

[stringfelowhawk]

I played baseball in a league with an age limit. You could play up until 15 unless your 16th birthday fell before midseason.

I was a cub. We were pretty good we made the playoffs our first year. Alot of close games that were won or lost by 1 run. We made it to the Championship game. The team we played were like the Yankees of the league the year before. They WERE that good. It was tied till the 6th inning. Their catcher was crowding the plate without the ball which in our league was a rule violation. Yes, its what a catcher does. But only if they have the ball otherwise they can't be in the base runners path to slow him down. The umps didn't call it and they ended up winning because of that violation. Its also considered poor sportsmanship to pull something like that. After the game the officials decided to make us play again because of that action and another rule violation which allowed them to initially get away with having an injured player in uniform, in the dugout and on the game roster but never playing him. League guidelines address' the issue by clearly stating that action was intolerable. The rule says an injured player could be in uniform to support his team. He can be in the dugout but if he is on the roster he must play at least one inning. Since the lineup was decided on game day and the player had been injured for over 2 weeks it was mandatory but he never played an out. It did eventually uncover the un-sportsmanlike conduct this coach had. It came out that he'd been sitting his "less talented" players for the sake of personal accomplishment. Understand something before you get sarcastic and take this out of context.

This was not a "draft" league perse'. Parents paid for their kids to play. Its not like the NFL or NBA where you get "chosen" by a team. It is a legal rule to make sure every kid is a part of the game so everybody on the team plays 3 innings at least (unless they are injured). This is so parents don't waste their money by coming to a game and watching their kids sit on the bench and never play. This coach was not playing all his players cause some were not very good. This is acceptable in pro sports but not for kids who had to pay in order to get on a team. It's poor sportsmanship and non verbally saying its ok to cheat to win.
We won the second game and the following year we were better than they were before they lost to us. Only, we NEVER cheated. We were that good. Our closest game was 12-0. We were undefeated and won the championship game that year too. The most runs scored against us all season was 3 in a 27-03 win. By the next season we were to old to play so there were no original team members. They won 2 games all season.

[POJO_Risin]

Well...again...I agree with everything that you posted...

Little League IN EVERY town is set up like that...for someone to take advantage...

hopefully you have people running the league that have some balls...if not...well...shit falls apart like in Ohio...

Here's what I wonder...how long after that team was forced to leave the league...did some of those kids get calls to play on other teams?

I'd love to know that...

[diamondsgirl]

Too bad for the kids that it had to come down this way and I think that the the coaches who have their team refusing the play "the Stars" are pussies and using safety as an excuse is lame. They are just as responsible for hurting their players self-esteem with that "we can't win" attitude.

But, "the Stars" really should be playing at a higher level with greater competition. They are not going to gain any decent experience or develop any kind of character as a team by blowing these other teams away game after game.

Looking at these scores, this shit sounds more like batting practice for "the Stars".

Its probably not to late for them to enter into some more decent summer tournaments.

[stringfelowhawk]

I'm from a small town where this was the only league. At that time we had one high school and one middle school. Now there's two middle schools but we had a league with 12 teams. So, what I'm saying is there was no other place for them to play. Of course there were "All Stars" but you are chosen based on league play. All Stars traveled to compete in the Little League state tournament after the regular season was over but they had to travel a long way just to make it to the tournament playoffs so there was no regular competition for the better players. With only one middle school and more than enough talented kids to play on that team the league was the only other option. I had a blast even after that bad experience.
Sure, we beat teams by alot of runs that second year but we had a coach that didn't tolerate ego and arrogance toward them. Both of his sons were on our team and there was NO nepatism. They deserved to be there and earned their spot. The only time he didn't correct us is when we played a team where the kid pitching was actually on the team involved with the bad coach the year before. The pitcher intentionally hit one of his sons in the ankle. How do I know it was on purpose? Cause he didn't even go through a windup. He was standing in front of the pitchers mound and threw the ball as hard as he could. This pissed alot of parents off and several grabbed their kids and left after seeing it. He got thrown out and banned for it. They still had enough players to continue so we played on. His son, Doug, was our catcher and he couldn't play. He stayed till the end of the game before going to the hospital and finding out he had a fractured ankle bone and had swollen up to almost the size of the palm of his catchers mit. Needless to say when we got up to bat in the third inning we went through our batting lineup 3 full times before the umps called the game cause that action pissed us off and we just started hammering everything. That's the game I'm referring to earlier. Final score was 27-03. If he hadn't pulled that they may have beaten us. They were ahead 3-1 before that incident. Should probably tell you when the game was called they hadn't even gotten the first out.
His other son was invited to try out for the Reds. He ended up destroying his knee during a scrimmage game for them so didn't make it. The last time I talked to Doug he enlisted in the Marines and was going to law school to be a Marine Corps lawyer. That was about 8 years ago.