Walk the Slugger or pitch to poorest hitter

[smokinandjokin]

Somebody should've taken a flagrant foul on the autistic kid in Rochester once he caught fire from 3-land.

 

"Nobody runs it up on us, B word!"

[Fezmid]

You know, this article is SOO slanted, it's not even funny. Look at this quote:

 

"So, you're the coach: Do you intentionally walk the star hitter so you can face the kid who can barely swing? "

 

What the hell is the kid doing playing BASEBALL if he can barely swing a bat? I'm sure that quote isn't even remotely true, it's just another peice of sensationalist journalism. The only way the *team* makes it to the championship game is if either the cancer kid is halfway decent (obviously nowhere near as good as the slugger), or if every team up until that point threw the games to make him feel better.

 

No way the kid plays baseball and can "barely swing."

 

CW

[Dan Gross]

You know, this article is SOO slanted, it's not even funny.  Look at this quote:

 

"So, you're the coach: Do you intentionally walk the star hitter so you can face the kid who can barely swing? "

 

What the hell is the kid doing playing BASEBALL if he can barely swing a bat?  I'm sure that quote isn't even remotely true, it's just another peice of sensationalist journalism.  The only way the *team* makes it to the championship game is if either the cancer kid is halfway decent (obviously nowhere near as good as the slugger), or if every team up until that point threw the games to make him feel better.

 

No way the kid plays baseball and can "barely swing."

 

CW

740801[/snapback]

 

I don't think he gives any indication that the article is anything but an editorial, and I have yet to see an editorial that isn't slanted...isn't that kind of the point?

[Fezmid]

I don't think he gives any indication that the article is anything but an editorial, and I have yet to see an editorial that isn't slanted...isn't that kind of the point?

740803[/snapback]

Yeah editorials are slanted, but this one seems overly so IMHO. You shouldn't lie to make your point, editorial or not.

[millbank]

Life ,like baseball can be unfair

 

I agree with this opinion

 

 

'll confess I would have walked him too, although I would have probably instructed my pitcher to do the "unintentional" intentional walk by not giving the slugger anything near the plate.

 

There was some discussion on the radio asking why the losing team's coach allowed the boy with cancer to bat with the game on the line, but Reilly writes that, by rule, everyone on the team bats, therefore a pinch-hitter could not be inserted. The league also apparently had rules on capping runs per inning as well as a rule against base stealing.

 

That's exactly the point. In games there are rules. Had the league wanted a no-intentional walk rule, it should have had one in place.

 

But here's the biggest rule. They keep score. This was the championship game, which automatically means someone decided there needed to be a winner. That being the case, players and coaches on both teams should do all they can (within the rules) to win. What does the coach on the fielding team say to his team after the star hits a home run to win the game with first base open?

 

"Sorry boys, we didn't want to have to let the kid with cancer bat with the bases loaded. It was better that we just didn't try to win."

 

If 9-year-olds aren't ready to start to learn to accept losing, don't keep score — just like T-ball for 5- and 6-year-olds.

 

At some point, however, kids need to learn to deal with winning and losing.

 

I'm certainly no parenting expert, but with my boys, who are 6 and 4, we often play games of chance and they've learned that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Still, there is sometimes crying and sometimes quitting (and that's just me).

 

But I'd rather have them do that at home in front of me and their mom now, rather than in front of a large group later in life which would add embarrassment to disappointment.

 

Some kids still cry at 9 years old. Should we delay keeping score until they're 12 so they don't? How about 14? Pretty soon football players are losing their Homecoming game and bawling so hard they can't speak afterward, or soccer players will lose a state quarterfinal and cry their way off the field.

 

Don't think it happens? Sure does, I've seen it myself from the sidelines.

 

Before you e-mail to call me an unfeeling so-and-so, let me say I like Reilly and often agree with him. I think I'm as compassionate as the next guy, if not more.

 

Heck, when Reilly solicited money for mosquito nets to protect children in Africa as they sleep, I sent a check, wondering how life can be so cruel to some kids in one part of the world while my boys sleep comfortably every night in their plush beds with blankets, pillows and toys overflowing onto the floor.

 

Does it make me sad that the kid in the story has cancer? Yes, unbelievably so. It bothers me to no end to see children struggle with even the smallest of illnesses.

 

But if the boy was healthy enough to play, he's healthy enough to strike out or drop a ball in the outfield. I hope that his parents explained that well enough to allow him to understand the possibilities.

 

Is it fair? No.

 

Baseball could be the most unfair sports there is. A batter can smack a solid line drive for an out, but bloop in a double.

 

If you think your child is too young or too sick to deal with the fair/unfair issue, don't have them play baseball because there's nowhere to hide at bat and the ball seems to find those who can't catch in the field.

[OGTEleven]

You know, this article is SOO slanted, it's not even funny.  Look at this quote:

 

"So, you're the coach: Do you intentionally walk the star hitter so you can face the kid who can barely swing? "

 

What the hell is the kid doing playing BASEBALL if he can barely swing a bat?  I'm sure that quote isn't even remotely true, it's just another peice of sensationalist journalism.  The only way the *team* makes it to the championship game is if either the cancer kid is halfway decent (obviously nowhere near as good as the slugger), or if every team up until that point threw the games to make him feel better.

 

No way the kid plays baseball and can "barely swing."

 

CW

740801[/snapback]

In the history of sports down to the 9/10 year old level, no team has ever made the finals with a bad player?

[KRC]

You never said it.  That's not the point at all.  If this kind of thing is happening ridiculously early in a game full of 10 year olds, what you have is an overly competitive jackass coach.  That kind of stuff was not happening when I was that age.  10 year olds don't care about baseball strategy enough to be walking power hitters in the 3rd inning.

740728[/snapback]

 

Then the coach playing against the cancer kid should have just forfeited the game so that the cancer kid didn't have his feelings hurt. We will make sure that you are there to explain to the kids that they are losing the game because the other kid had cancer. It had nothing to do with their play or the fact that they earned the right to fight for that championship. Just throw away that long season so the cancer kid does not have his feelings hurt. Let me know how it goes.

[OGTEleven]

If you want to blame someone, you should blame the cancer kid’s coach for putting him in that situation (batting behind the best batter). What did he think was going to happen? The other team was going to hand the game to them because they have a cancer kid on the team? Why not get an entire team of cancer kids and walk your way to a championship, because every team would have to forfeit to prevent hurting anyone’s feelings?

 

Think about the kids on the opposing team from the cancer kid. How will they feel knowing that they need to lay down to make one of the other team’s members feel better about themselves? Don’t you think that you are going to create resentment for treating the cancer kid differently than everyone else? Is the cancer kid not going to participate in sports in the future because he is not being treated differently than everyone else?

 

If you join sports, you need to be capable of handling adversity (things like losing for example). He has already dealt with it in the rest of his life. Sports is no different.

740698[/snapback]

The root blame probably belongs with the design of the league. One team can use the strategy of the intentional walk and the other team has no way to combat it (by using a pinch hitter or whatever). Of course, they never thought of that because they had likely never seen somebody INTENTIONALLY WALK A NINE YEAR OLD. In a way this is a loophole. The first coach probably made a mistake in his batting order. The opposing coach decided to take advantage of the loophole.

 

I think what the coach did, while legal, is incredibly bush league. I've coached a lot of baseball and cannot recall seeing a 9/10 year old walked intentionally in any situation. The kid was being treated differently in a negative sense because of the highly unusual intentional walk. They went out of their way to take advantage of him.

 

I'm sure the kid has learned to handle adversity through his cancer. I'm sure he'll be fine.

 

The coach showed a remarkable inability to handle the adversity of the opposing star being at bat at a key time. He ran from the adversity into the awaiting arms of a cancer victim. How brave. This coach probably always has and probably always will run from adversity. I especially liked his claiming ignorance of the kid's condition afterward. That was another brave move.

[Dan Gross]

"He's a scrawny cancer survivor who has to take human growth hormone"

 

The kids juiced, he shouldn't even be playing.

740326[/snapback]

 

I dunno, based on the description, they probably ought to test that slugger.

[shrader]

Then the coach playing against the cancer kid should have just forfeited the game so that the cancer kid didn't have his feelings hurt. We will make sure that you are there to explain to the kids that they are losing the game because the other kid had cancer. It had nothing to do with their play or the fact that they earned the right to fight for that championship. Just throw away that long season so the cancer kid does not have his feelings hurt. Let me know how it goes.

740862[/snapback]

 

I'm not suggesting any of that. All I'm saying is that I don't remember seeing that level of competition at that age. For that coach, being as competitive as he is, he was in a tough spot no matter what he decided to do.

[KRC]

The root blame probably belongs with the design of the league.  One team can use the strategy of the intentional walk and the other team has no way to combat it (by using a pinch hitter or whatever).  Of course, they never thought of that because they had likely never seen somebody INTENTIONALLY WALK A NINE YEAR OLD.  In a way this is a loophole.  The first coach probably made a mistake in his batting order.  The opposing coach decided to take advantage of the loophole.

 

I think what the coach did, while legal, is incredibly bush league.  I've coached a lot of baseball and cannot recall seeing a 9/10 year old walked intentionally in any situation.  The kid was being treated differently in a negative sense because of the highly unusual intentional walk.  They went out of their way to take advantage of him. 

 

I'm sure the kid has learned to handle adversity through his cancer.  I'm sure he'll be fine. 

 

The coach showed a remarkable inability to handle the adversity of the opposing star being at bat at a key time.  He ran from the adversity into the awaiting arms of a cancer victim.  How brave.  This coach probably always has and probably always will run from adversity.  I especially liked his claiming ignorance of the kid's condition afterward.  That was another brave move.

740865[/snapback]

 

 

Turn it around. The cancer kid coach could have specifically put the cancer kid after the slugger, knowing that they would have to pitch to the slugger to keep from hurting the cancer kid's feelings. Play the guilt card.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

You Make the Decision

 

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?

 

-Interesting split on what people would do.....

740275[/snapback]

 

I intentionally walk the star hitter so I can face the kid who can barely swing. But then, if I'm the other coach, I pinch-hit for the kid who can barely swing.

 

And that is how nine year olds learn that life is, in fact, unfair, and there's no inalienable right to have your self-esteem boosted by others. That's how I learned it...by having pitchers walk the guy ahead of me to get to the kid who could barely swing.

 

 

And anyway...the kid survived cancer! Being pitched at to get the final out in a little league game hardly qualifies as hardship.

[VABills]

If the cancer child was Teddy Bruschi, we would all be singing his praises as he would walk on water, feed 5000 people with 3 loaves a bread and 2 fish, before he hit the game winning homerun. But alas, he was just a normal kid who struckout.

[smokinandjokin]

The coach showed a remarkable inability to handle the adversity of the opposing star being at bat at a key time.  He ran from the adversity into the awaiting arms of a cancer victim.  How brave.  This coach probably always has and probably always will run from adversity.  I especially liked his claiming ignorance of the kid's condition afterward.  That was another brave move.

740865[/snapback]

 

Why does having cancer even matter? He walked their best player to pitch to their worst player. Forget the cancer part of it. If the kid has a uniform on, he's on the team. If he sucks at baseball, tough titties.

[KRC]

And that is how nine year olds learn that life is, in fact, unfair, and there's no inalienable right to have your self-esteem boosted by others.  That's how I learned it...by having pitchers walk the guy ahead of me to get to the kid who could barely swing.

 

740889[/snapback]

 

...and look how you turned out.

[Guffalo]

And anyway...the kid survived cancer! Being pitched at to get the final out in a little league game hardly qualifies as hardship.

740889[/snapback]

Sure beats the alternative.....

[VABills]

...and look how you turned out. 

740904[/snapback]

Damn that cancer kid is going to turn out like Tom. We are so screwed. There will be two walking encyclopedias in the world.

[Dr. Fong]

You win as a team and lose as a team. They didn't lose the game because he struck out on the last out of the game they lost because they didn't score enough runs. I really don't have a problem with the decision to walk the good batter. You have to take the good with the bad and it sounds like the kid that struck out is taking it well and is on his way to growing stronger as a result of the experience.

[shrader]

My only problem with the whole thing is where the one coach said that the other would do the same exact thing (which by the way, isn't actually quoted in the article). I hate when people play that card. It's the equivalent of a 5 year old and his "no, you're stupid" reply.

[OGTEleven]

I intentionally walk the star hitter so I can face the kid who can barely swing.  But then, if I'm the other coach, I pinch-hit for the kid who can barely swing. 

 

And that is how nine year olds learn that life is, in fact, unfair, and there's no inalienable right to have your self-esteem boosted by others.  That's how I learned it...by having pitchers walk the guy ahead of me to get to the kid who could barely swing.

And anyway...the kid survived cancer!  Being pitched at to get the final out in a little league game hardly qualifies as hardship.

740889[/snapback]

Pinch hitting is against the rules of the league. That is where the real flaw lies. Of course, they probably didn't think of it because they had probably never seen a 9 year old intentionally walked.

 

Having seen my share of 9 year old baseball games and nary one intentional walk, I feel qualified to state the the intentional walk was not just an exception, but an extraordinary one.

 

You're right about kids learning lessons through victory and defeat. I have no argument with that. The lesson here (for the winning team) of victory by any means necessary no matter how small the prize, is not a good one. Hopefully they'll see that when they are older and realize that their coach was a cowardly loser. It is more than likely that he has already given them thousands of other examples.