Little League Baseball: moron fathers living through their sons.....

[Pulsar]

Just... why? Are you really so desperate to relive your glory days as a 12 year old? Or perhaps you think you can force these poor kids to win through your overwhelming personality?

Sigh. Cut to last night. 24 kids playing, 12 parents present (which is really sad). One team with an exceedingly fast and smart player is using the 'steal all the bases' trick. Kid gets on first base, then waits for the ball to go the pitcher. Kid takes a big lead. If the pitcher throws back to first base, the kid is fast enough that he's safe on second before the throw comes. If the pitcher throws to second and they run him back to first, he's off the base again the second the ball goes back to the pitcher.

Anyone who's played baseball in school knows the drill. It's capitalizing on the fact that doing a rundown is damn near impossible if you don't practice it - hell the pros have trouble and mess it up.

So the 'coaches' on the other team get mad. One of them starts yelling at the coaches on the other team about "poor sportsmanship", and "delaying the game". Another on the same team starts yelling at the volunteer umpire. In this league (small town) it's a high school kid that was given 10 bucks to spend his evening at the field.

WHAT is wrong with these people? I spoke with the ump who actually is a friend of mine and he blew it off. And I quote "it's little league man. That's normal and tame." Since when? Since when did this so-called sport where kids play and don't really keep score become a venue for insecure useless manlets to scream at others?

Later in the game, the first base coach (of the same team before) started yelling at the ump. The ump lost the count once and had to go to the 1st base ump to confirm it. That evidently really got this coach mad. Later, the ump did a poor job of signalling "foul ball" so the runners advanced but had to return. Then the coach was yelling about how the ump 'gassed' his player so his player would be 'winded' running to first base the second time.

What the bloody hell is wrong with these idiots? And why is it universally some dumb guy with a farmers tan acting like he's a paid coach yelling at people while the rest of his team and parents sit buy embarrassed?

I actually manned up in the 6th inning and yelled "They're 12 years old! Trying coaching like you have some integrity" and he shut up after that. But still.

 

[DrunkenSano]

 

[soulcougher73]

It is sad. And i also find it sad that this is considered normal now, or tame. When i played little league in the 80s in CA i never witnesses this type of behavior.

 

[GobBluth]

As an licensed umpire, it is kind of on them for allowing this behavior on their field. Doesn't solve the problem, and you're right, a lot of coaches of child athletes are doing exactly what you are suggesting. The good coaches care less (not to say they don't care) about winning/losing and more about developing sportsmanship, professional courtesy, overcoming adversity, coming together for a common goal, all the things you learn playing sports. The douchebag coaches like you're describing, just toss em, Blue. It's easy, and it works. Toss a coach one time and you'll likely not have any more problems. Same goes for parents in the stands. Throw their ass to the parking lot the first time they say something negative to a child playing a game. That's my perspective from behind the plate.

EDIT: Missed the part where you said the ump was a volunteer high school student. Maybe it's not on him as much in this case.

 

[Stopsignhank]

My brother in law keeps talking about how his son does not have to do well in school. If he is a second round draft pick he will get a million dollar signing bonus and that will get him set for life. He can always go back to school if he does not make it in the majors. He says this in front of his son.

That is some good parenting huh?!

 

[Majes]

Eh... I play in a 3rd division Co-Ed soccer league on Thursday evenings. There are fights and arguments every week. Even I've gotten upset at the ref for not protecting players and walked out numerous times. This is in the third division and we play with women...

So I can understand how Little League games can get wild. It's probably the only competitive outlet any of these boys and their fathers get. I'm not saying it excuses the behavior. They should have learned years ago how to control tempers and handle themselves respectably, but the fact of the matter is they haven't.

Also, for anyone who doesn't know. The solution to the kid's annoying base-running is to simply have the pitcher walk him back to the bag and call time out. You can't take a lead in Little League so if the pitcher is on the mound the runner has to be on the bag. Just call time or walk the kid back and call time if they ump makes you. It only really gets annoying in a 1st and 3rd situation, but ideally you do the same exact thing.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Growing up in Tx in the 80's/90's, there was definitely a huge focus on sportsball, from peewee/early elementary on up. Lots of pressure from parents and coaches, lots of leeway from teachers, lots of aggression from myriad adults. It wasn't uncommon to see adults without kids/from other families showing up to middle, high school games.

Probably helped that we had a solid football team (they brought in the most eyeballs) with some abnormal players.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Obviously, the op has never experienced a bunch of soccer moms.

 

[SearchMaster]

I've had kids playing baseball for the last 15 years so I've seen it all.

When my middle son was 10, he had a coach that was particularly...competitive. He was one of the coaches who yelled *something* after every pitch, every throw, every hit, etc. He was never negative, just constructive, but this was a very casual city league where most coaches were just saying "it's ok Johnny you'll get it next time". The first time he had this coach, most of the team from the previous year had moved up a level so my son and one other kid were the only returners. This coach had been previously blackballed from this city league for basically yelling too much, but they needed a coach and begged him to come back. But because he came back late, he got the last pick in every round of the draft process (usually the last pick from one round goes first the next round). He picked the biggest kid available every time even though they had never played baseball and it showed in the tryouts. By the time the season started, he had them competent to play baseball and with their size, they generally hit and threw harder. So when the season started and they rolled through never winning by less than 8 runs, the parents start screaming at him about having a team full of ringers, that he was cheating by having all the biggest kids in the league, etc.

My son liked him so much that he started playing travel baseball with him for the next 4 years.

 

[SearchMaster]

My brother in law keeps talking about how his son does not have to do well in school. If he is a second round draft pick he will get a million dollar signing bonus and that will get him set for life. He can always go back to school if he does not make it in the majors. He says this in front of his son.

That is some good parenting huh?!

LOL...how old is the son?

A kid that my son played with was drafted out of HS in the second round with a $2.9M signing bonus. But you get a MUCH higher signing bonus if the team fears you might go to college, so if your grades are crap you won't get nearly as much. FWIW, he's been on the "will he ever get it together" list of minor league prospects ever since. His younger brother, who was on a team with my son a couple of times, saw how "easy" it was for his older brother and was a complete fuckup in high school. He got kicked off Team USA for smoking weed, got kicked off his HS team for a DUI, and has gone undrafted in two drafts even though he is a hard-throwing lefty pitcher (at one point he was considered a shoe-in for round 1/2). I don't know how he didn't see how hard the older brother worked, both on and off the field - great grades, great kid, great work ethic, etc. but baseball is a really tough game.

 

[GobBluth]

LOL...how old is the son?

A kid that my son played with was drafted out of HS in the second round with a $2.9M signing bonus. But you get a MUCH higher signing bonus if the team fears you might go to college, so if your grades are crap you won't get nearly as much. FWIW, he's been on the "will he ever get it together" list of minor league prospects ever since. His younger brother, who was on a team with my son a couple of times, saw how "easy" it was for his older brother and was a complete fuckup in high school. He got kicked off Team USA for smoking weed, got kicked off his HS team for a DUI, and has gone undrafted in two drafts even though he is a hard-throwing lefty pitcher (at one point he was considered a shoe-in for round 1/2). I don't know how he didn't see how hard the older brother worked, both on and off the field - great grades, great kid, great work ethic, etc. but baseball is a really tough game.

Our coaches son dedicated his entire life to baseball, got drafted by the Braves out of high school, and is now is 2x divorced and works in a car detail shop. Also, hes an asshole. Education is important, without it, you're going all in on a 0.015% chance of becoming a professional baseball player. Those are slim odds.

 

[pete6032]

Eh... I play in a 3rd division Co-Ed soccer league on Thursday evenings. There are fights and arguments every week. Even I've gotten upset at the ref for not protecting players and walked out numerous times. This is in the third division and we play with women...

I did co-ed soccer once too. The league offered three different tiers of competitiveness which people could sign up for. I played in the least competitive tier (novice) and there were always 3-4 players on every team that treated it like they were professional soccer players. They'd complain about the refs and complain to the refs, make hard tackles, complain that people were faking falling down to draw fouls. These people basically ruin it for everyone else.

 

[OutHouse]

Just... why? Are you really so desperate to relive your glory days as a 12 year old? Or perhaps you think you can force these poor kids to win through your overwhelming personality?

Sigh. Cut to last night. 24 kids playing, 12 parents present (which is really sad). One team with an exceedingly fast and smart player is using the 'steal all the bases' trick. Kid gets on first base, then waits for the ball to go the pitcher. Kid takes a big lead. If the pitcher throws back to first base, the kid is fast enough that he's safe on second before the throw comes. If the pitcher throws to second and they run him back to first, he's off the base again the second the ball goes back to the pitcher.

Anyone who's played baseball in school knows the drill. It's capitalizing on the fact that doing a rundown is damn near impossible if you don't practice it - hell the pros have trouble and mess it up.

So the 'coaches' on the other team get mad. One of them starts yelling at the coaches on the other team about "poor sportsmanship", and "delaying the game". Another on the same team starts yelling at the volunteer umpire. In this league (small town) it's a high school kid that was given 10 bucks to spend his evening at the field.

WHAT is wrong with these people? I spoke with the ump who actually is a friend of mine and he blew it off. And I quote "it's little league man. That's normal and tame." Since when? Since when did this so-called sport where kids play and don't really keep score become a venue for insecure useless manlets to scream at others?

Later in the game, the first base coach (of the same team before) started yelling at the ump. The ump lost the count once and had to go to the 1st base ump to confirm it. That evidently really got this coach mad. Later, the ump did a poor job of signalling "foul ball" so the runners advanced but had to return. Then the coach was yelling about how the ump 'gassed' his player so his player would be 'winded' running to first base the second time.

What the bloody hell is wrong with these idiots? And why is it universally some dumb guy with a farmers tan acting like he's a paid coach yelling at people while the rest of his team and parents sit buy embarrassed?

I actually manned up in the 6th inning and yelled "They're 12 years old! Trying coaching like you have some integrity" and he shut up after that. But still.

sounds just like my little league games when I was a kid in the 70's.

 

[Majes]

I did co-ed soccer once too. The league offered three different tiers of competitiveness which people could sign up for. I played in the least competitive tier (novice) and there were always 3-4 players on every team that treated it like they were professional soccer players. They'd complain about the refs and complain to the refs, make hard tackles, complain that people were faking falling down to draw fouls. These people basically ruin it for everyone else.

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. I've played for about 10 years here and I think I've yelled at a ref 3 or 4 times. Generally it's after I've been taken out 3-4 times in a game with no calls. In Co-Ed soccer the ref is there simply to keep players safe and a lot of the guys we get just want to stand on the side and get a paycheck for nothing.

But almost every game if the ref misses a call they get screamed at by someone. Everyone misses calls. It generally takes a few before I even begin to get upset.

 

[Fenixgoon]

I've had kids playing baseball for the last 15 years so I've seen it all.

When my middle son was 10, he had a coach that was particularly...competitive. He was one of the coaches who yelled *something* after every pitch, every throw, every hit, etc. He was never negative, just constructive, but this was a very casual city league where most coaches were just saying "it's ok Johnny you'll get it next time". The first time he had this coach, most of the team from the previous year had moved up a level so my son and one other kid were the only returners. This coach had been previously blackballed from this city league for basically yelling too much, but they needed a coach and begged him to come back. But because he came back late, he got the last pick in every round of the draft process (usually the last pick from one round goes first the next round). He picked the biggest kid available every time even though they had never played baseball and it showed in the tryouts. By the time the season started, he had them competent to play baseball and with their size, they generally hit and threw harder. So when the season started and they rolled through never winning by less than 8 runs, the parents start screaming at him about having a team full of ringers, that he was cheating by having all the biggest kids in the league, etc.

My son liked him so much that he started playing travel baseball with him for the next 4 years.

there's something to be said for being able to teach and coach the game, versus teaching and coaching to win.

my dad and a neighbor's dad coached my sisters' soccer team. they taught the game and dominated the soccer league so much that they were not allowed to coach together the following seasons.

 

[clamum]

Ugh, people like the OP described are fucking losers. It's a frickin young kids game, get a grip on reality.

 

[FerrelGeek]

It's been that way for a good while, and not just baseball. And the moms can be just as bad.

It is sad. And i also find it sad that this is considered normal now, or tame. When i played little league in the 80s in CA i never witnesses this type of behavior.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Our coaches son dedicated his entire life to baseball, got drafted by the Braves out of high school, and is now is 2x divorced and works in a car detail shop. Also, hes an asshole. Education is important, without it, you're going all in on a 0.015% chance of becoming a professional baseball player. Those are slim odds.

Yeah, but dude's right - you can always go back to school. Pursuing nonacademic opportunities while that's an option is probably ok.

But you have to actually do it, and not blow your tuition money on drugs or something.

 

[Homerboy]

Meh

Much like @SearchMaster my kid has been playing ball for a decade now. I've seen it all many times. If it's a local town/city league there's just no real place for it. You can talk a little trash as, in all honesty, it's just part of sports IMO. Once they get into more travel ball etc, things can get a little more serious and probably should. My kid played (and still plays) highly competitive travel baseball. His teams have always been some of the best in the area and pretty much stacked with talent. We'd hear it all from opposing teams demanding birth certificates (yes, opposing coach... some kids have beards at 14 years old), bitching about how we played... whatever argument/defense they had to throw at us that meant we weren't just better.

The end game is there's assholes in every crowd for anything in life. I've been to countless baseball games, and I'd say in more cases than not, the coaches, the fans, the players all mind their manners well enough.There's always going to be be some exceptions to rule though and they are going to stick out like sore thumbs

 

[PowerEngineer]

My brother in law keeps talking about how his son does not have to do well in school. If he is a second round draft pick he will get a million dollar signing bonus and that will get him set for life. He can always go back to school if he does not make it in the majors. He says this in front of his son.

That is some good parenting huh?!

So very sad. I suppose your brother-in-law's retirement plan is to win the lottery. No one can say it can't work for an individual, but it is guaranteed not to work for the vast majority of people who try it.

As my kids went through high school, I was sad to see how many parents devoted more time and energy to following and supporting their kid's sports than to their kid's academics.

 

[Viper GTS]

My brother in law keeps talking about how his son does not have to do well in school. If he is a second round draft pick he will get a million dollar signing bonus and that will get him set for life. He can always go back to school if he does not make it in the majors. He says this in front of his son.

That is some good parenting huh?!

The MLB draft happens about 50 feet from where I sit every day. I pay it no mind whatsoever, but even I know that isn't how it works.

Viper GTS

 

[rh71]

I coach kids including mine in travel hockey and it has nothing to do with reliving one's own glory days. When one yells, it's just the feeling that you know better than the kids who won't speak up for themselves and it just gets out of control. I'm always cognizant of what I look like in front of parents so I'm always under control, but some parents really do let loose. The worst part is the kids are incredibly embarrassed and it's all supposed to be about them enjoying their time with their friends out there.

As for the incident in the OP, that kid running the bases is making a mockery of the sport and his coaches should learn & teach integrity. Unless you're in the 1% with a 100% chance of going to the pros, youth sports is about life lessons and memories with friends. But instead parents these days have been paying a ton of money for training and clinics to coaches/organizations who see kids as $ signs and so you have more occurrences from invested parents. Thankfully, shaming videos and stories keep a lot of it at bay.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My brother in law keeps talking about how his son does not have to do well in school. If he is a second round draft pick he will get a million dollar signing bonus and that will get him set for life. He can always go back to school if he does not make it in the majors. He says this in front of his son.

That is some good parenting huh?!

Wow, your brother-in-law is a complete and total fucking moron. The kid is hopefully smarter than him.

You should ask your BIL one day that if it just that easy, why didn’t he do it?

 

[Exterous]

Moms are just as bad - particularly when it comes to their daughters and dance

Unless you're in the 1% with a 100% chance of going to the pros, youth sports is about life lessons and memories with friends.

Yeah - memories with friends of winning

 

[Pulsar]

I coach kids including mine in travel hockey and it has nothing to do with reliving one's own glory days. When one yells, it's just the feeling that you know better than the kids who won't speak up for themselves and it just gets out of control. I'm always cognizant of what I look like in front of parents so I'm always under control, but some parents really do let loose. The worst part is the kids are incredibly embarrassed and it's all supposed to be about them enjoying their time with their friends out there.

As for the incident in the OP, that kid running the bases is making a mockery of the sport and his coaches should learn & teach integrity. Unless you're in the 1% with a 100% chance of going to the pros, youth sports is about life lessons and memories with friends. But instead parents these days have been paying a ton of money for training and clinics to coaches/organizations who see kids as $ signs and so you have more occurrences from invested parents. Thankfully, shaming videos and stories keep a lot of it at bay.

Making a mockery of the sport? Really? It's illegal to do at U10 (under 10). At U12, little league has decided it's time for the kids to start learning how to stop people from doing this - because it's 100% legal from then on at every level. The reason you don't see it at the Pro-Level is because they've learned how to effectively defend it and actively practice rundown drills, specifically to STOP this from happening! If you could do it every time in college or major league ball, you'd be a legend (and rich).

So how is it making a mockery of the sport? It's legal, and the point is to score runs, right? If the other team can't stop him then I guess he's contributing to his team winning isn't he? He's not mocking the other competitors, he's challenging them to stop him. It IS a competition. They do keep score. The goal is to win. If it wasn't a part of the game, they'd have a rule to prevent it.

Might as well call tennis players who do a drop-shot at the net a 'mockery'. But I've never seen them turn down a point either.