Throwing the Bat - LL

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

Josh, I fought this problem back in the 1970's when I actually officiated LL. Somewhere in the early 1980's, Williamsport decreed the exact same thing that they say now, warn then eject. The ejection is under Unsportsmanlike Conduct which is a valid rule that an official is supposed to use when it is needed.

My beef with some people on this board is that they put on the uniform and follow the rules until it requires the official to have the balls to do what has to be done. Many of these officials pussy-foot around so that when these little tykes get on the big diamond, they don't understand why they have been allowed to do this stuff for 12 years and suddenly, here comes Ozzy, kicking the twerp's a$$ out of the game for the very thing that should have been stopped years ago!

I don't do a lot of youth leagues anymore because I seem like the a$$hole half the time because I do enforce the rules as intended.

IE. I had a situation my first weekend out with 10 y/o's. The little tike came barreling home and attempted to run through the catcher to dislodge the ball. Unfortunately, for the runner, he was the smallest guy on the field and the catcher was the biggest. I called time when the MC occurred, ruled the runner was out, and (without showing anyone up) disqualified the player (no words, just a calm signal). The play ended the inning and I walked over to the offenders bench. "Coach, 12 has been disqualified for the play at home." Coaches response, "Ok I understand why. Can you explain to him what he did and what he should have done?" "Absolutely, I need to go inform the other coach and I'll do it at the next half inning, ok?" "No problem" Went over after the next half inning and explained the options to the player and coaches. They appreciated it a lot and hope it minimized damage in the future.

If it were a HS Var game I would let the coach explain to his players but since it was asked nicely and everyone was learning, it wasn't a problem.

In basketball, some of the youth assigners have chosen in the past to not assign me for tourney's (which I respect their right to do that). Usually it's a result of me giving a technical (or two) to a coach or asking a coach/administrator to have a parent leave after they've made a fool of themselves. The subsequent complaint precipitate me not getting a call. Ironically enough it takes a few tourneys without me and they realize that if there isn't that discipline, their tourney turn into a gong show.

If it's not acceptable in high school, then it's not acceptable in youth leagues either.

-Josh