NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.
The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said. Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho’s team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho’s coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.
But Vidro says he didn’t quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league’s field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch. “He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?” The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching. “I feel sad,” he said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.” “I think it’s discouraging when you’re telling a 9-year-old you’re too good at something,” said his mother, Nicole Scott. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner.”
League attorney Peter Noble says the only factor in banning Jericho from the mound is his pitches are just too fast.
I suspect that these over-sensitive parents didn’t want to see their little snowflake humiliated. In the age of idiocracy, mediocrity is becoming the standard. Well done.
How are the little leaguers supposed to get better if they never see any better competition. More is learned from failure than from success.
#30, Dr.
You make sense. I did some quick checking and it seems 35 to 38 MPH is the standard speed for the pitching machine. When I saw a clip of this kid on TV, he threw two balls, one outside low and the other inside.
But if he is out there throwing junk, expect his arm to be hamburg by the time he hits 12. It would be in his best interest NOT to be throwing hard.
I know with our Softball girls, the pitchers regularly throw harder than the machine. Since the mechanics are so different though, it is much easier on their arms.
There must be something else to his suspension.
I want to see a major league team snap this kid up when he’s older. He deserves it.
Boot him up to the next age groop.
Get the Yankies on the line !
#6 Bobbo is a quitter. Surprise, surprise, the precious little snowflake couldn’t handle it. 🙁
I’m a LL Ump in Tucson, Arizona, and I noticed one thing that EVERYBODY else here has missed: this is NOT a “Little League” team — it’s a “Youth Baseball League”, which is apparently governed by rules other than those of LL baseball http://www.littleleague.org — here’s a story I found in the New Haven Register:
New Haven Register – Baseball brouhaha goes into extra innings
“… Liga Juvenil De Baseball De New Haven, Spanish for Youth Baseball League of New Haven. The league is not affiliated with Little League baseball.”
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20089039&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=635049&rfi=6
Obviously Bobbo sucked at sports as a kid, So did I but I got over it. 🙂
#43–Pedro==yes, thats what I thought of too. Probably all springs from that day I quit little league. Organized Anything has pissed me off ever since.
I like sports but I turned to individual competitions. As “Ode to a Grecian Urn” reminds us, the beauty and truth of life/sports/love is in the doing, not the representation of it.
Much like veganism, anyone that makes too much out of sports, leads an unexamined life.
So, lets see: asswipes? Inaccurate and lazy on my part. But thats what comes of off the cuff remarks.
The sad truth is that the decision was made without thinking of the kid. Criminy, he’s 9 years old, and he now has the weight of his team being dissolved because of him.
Disapointment and failure are a part of life. There are plenty of life lessons these kids can learn now when the stakes are just a baseball game. Parents protect their kids so much that when a teen fails at something a bit more important than a game, they haven’t yet learned how to deal with it. Is our society perfect? No. But, parents need to develop their children to adapt and accept the way society is because it isn’t going to change. Let the 9 year old play and let your kids strike out. It will be nothing but beneficial to them in the future.
#6
Here’s the thing, all kids want to have fun, but it is far more fun to win than to lose. Questioning whether a coach should bring in a base runner is exactly why people do not want to coach little league. Yes, the kids want to have fun but should the coach throw out any type of strategy that improves the chances that the team wins? Should he play any player at any position regardless of ability?
#15
Actually, contact football is safer for kids younger than teenagers than all other organized sports. It is *a lot* safer than baseball because the kids are far more armored.
Part of youth sport leagues is to teach kids how to be competitive and how to win and lose gracefully.
#18
> Winning is all important to
> the adults, NOT the kids.
Right. Perhaps in your family. My family has a long history of being competitive from early ages. When I played on pop warner football, we wanted to win and guys harped on other guys who played sloppy. If anything, my folks used my experience in pop warner football to meter my competitiveness and to learn how to win and lose gracefully. As I said earlier, sports are for fun, but it is far more fun to win than to lose and I could not stomach playing for a coach that put in a bad player, even me, if there was a better player and it decided the outcome of the game.
> Not every kid has the
> potential of to make
> the big leagues.
You can be competitive even if you realize you are not going to the big leagues.
#39, Blue,
Thank you for the link. It explains a lot. As I suspected, the adults are screwing it up, not the kids.
Wow, how pathetic is that. I have a son in minor baseball in Canada. He is at the bantam level. We have seen the so-called politics get more and more intense as the years go on. I shudder to think what this poor kid will go through when he reaches the higher levels. I say all the power to Jericho, if he is a great pitcher, then let him do what he does best. Batters need to work harder and need to strive to hit the pitches of this boy. Parents give it a rest and let the kids play ball!
#45, Thomas,
If winning is everything then who is going to want to play anything with you. Not just football, but board games such as Monopoly or card games such as Crazy Eights. While you also play those games to win, who cares. The fun is in the playing.
While I don’t disagree that losing sucks more than winning, I’ve played on several sports teams just for the chance to play. But then each play is it’s own “game” to win. No one wants to play against (or even with) someone with a “win at all cost” or “winning is everything” attitude. Nor would I enjoy playing with someone that just goes through the motions. Although I haven’t for some time, I used to play hockey and softball for the fun of it. Usually the best part was when we would all sit down together for a beer and laugh at how we fell down or tripped or whatever.
So play hard and enjoy the game.
#48
No one is saying that winning is everything. However, playing to win is fundamental to competiting. You should always strive to do your best as there is no point otherwise. That does not mean you pull out all stops and break the rules or win at all costs but it does mean you try to make the best decisions you can to give yourself the best chance of winning. If you are playing Crazy Eights with a buddy do you randomly pick cards with zero strategy or do you put a little thought into your card choices? If so, why? If winning is not important why care what cards you choose other than stay within the rules?
The fundamental lesson that competition teaches people about life is to always try to do your best. You are not always going to win doing your best but if you did your best and lost that is honorable. If you are not trying to win, meaning that you are not trying to do your best, then there is no point in playing.
If is no fun to play any game if your opponent is not trying to win.
CANT BELIEVE IT.. First of all my daughter is a very gifted ball player. Played dixie youth baseball untill the age of 10. decided to put her on a organized softball program of her age group.it didnt take but one practice with her team, knowing that we needed to move her up so she would be competative. doesn’t do anyone any good to dominate there age. My daughter is 16 and is one of the top recruits in the state.