[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Jim Porter
Originally posted by PeteBooth
Originally posted by Jim Porter
Originally posted by GarthB



As far as the slide in that LLWS World Championship game, I really feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I cannot believe how many intelligent Internet posters have tried to argue that it was a head-first slide.

Pete, a runner can legally touch the base with his hand. There is no prohibition against that.

Pete, a runner can slide legally in Little League and still touch the base with his hand - or even his head!

Why you equate the action of touching the base with the slide is beyond me. C'mon, now, you know what a head-first slide is. That Japanese runner was sliding feet first - away from home plate.

There is consistent enforcement when it comes to this rule, provided the umpire can recognize a head-first slide. Apparently, that's much tougher than I originally thought. I am absolutely dumbfounded by that. I always thought a head-first slide was easy to recognize.

So, even though you probably saw Pete Rose slide head-first dozens of times in your childhood, even though you now know the intent of the prohibition against head-first sliding, you still think that runner slid head-first???

As Papa C is fond of saying, "Amazing!"

Jim I believe I mentioned that I agreed with the call. I would not have ruled it a head first slide but my point is as follows:

Individuals argue about the safety issue and no matter how you cut the cake , The Japan runner ended up head first regardless if he started feet first or not.

I would venture to guess that if this play happened in your average everyday run of the mill LL game you would get a 50/50 split on the call or perhaps even higher.

I still say, simply put the head first slide back into the game. To my knowledge, there are no known facts that substantiate injuries resulting from them.

You say it's amazing well I think it's amazing that people do not want the head first slide but if's perfectly ok to use metal bats at such a short distance.

We can go on and on about safety. My main point was not the call at the plate but strictly the safety issue and if you do not want head first slides, what about the metal bats, the distance from home plate to the mound when a kid is throwing in the upper 60's from only 46ft. away.

Shall I go on

Pete Booth