Will somebody please tell the Little League TV commentators...

[TwoBits]

...that "the hands" ARE NOT "part of the bat"! People watching on TV take that as gospel and make it hard for us umpires out there!

[TriggerMN]

Yeah, they also need to tell the coach he can't question the ruling after another pitch has been thrown!

Umpire grabs the bat by the barrel and says to the coach, "Show me where the hands are." End of discussion.

[David B]

You think its bad now, just wait until next week when they are televising every game and treating it like its the MLB's World Series.

They try to put on this act that its just kids etc., then the announcers treat them like they are adults.

I personally wouldn't want to be a coach under these circumstances. You can't just be yourself, you have to think that so many million people are watching and analyzing your every move, and you have to act accordingly.

If this were real then you would have fans being thrown out of the games, and coaches arguing every pitch, moms yelling at coaches, board members trying to run the teams etc.,

Thanks
David

[TwoBits]

Personally I don't care for Little League. It's not the rules, players, nor umpires I dislike; its the organization. Little League prides itself as being all volunteers, from the higher-ups to the league presidents to the coaches and umpires, but I think we all know a league somewhere that pays for such "volunteer" work. And let us not forget the black eye the organization got in the Danny Almonte situation a couple of years back.

But, they are the league with the TV contract, so I guess they have got room to boast.

[bluezebra]

Do you really think those ego-inflated jerks would believe anyone? Heck, Doug Harvey couldn't tell them about rules.

Bob

[TyroneThunder]

While I enjoy watching the Little League World Series, I wish other leagues would have their playoffs televised. My son’s team has played in AABC and USSSA leagues for years and I have seen some teams that would embarrass the best Little League All Star teams.

We played in the Cooperstown Dreams Park tournament last year and the Little League All Star teams that were there, were not of the caliber of many of the other teams. In our area, Little League has just about died. Most kids want to play regular baseball. We start leading off in our 9/10 league and have the larger distances for the mound and bases. We use continuous batting orders and free substitutions so all kids play more than just one at bat or three outs. I like the idea of taking the best off of each team to make an All Star team; I also see the merit in keeping the team together in the post season as we do.

[Rich Ives]

Tyrone, how do you reconcile "regular baseball" with "continuous batting order" and "free substitutions"?

It always amuses me when people say the don't do LL or Ripken because they want to play "real baseball" and then add an EH and things like you mentioned.

Many times it appears that what they really mean is "get these slugs off my team".

[TyroneThunder]

Don’t take it as a personal attack. By regular baseball I mean we play by MLB rules with a few exceptions. We have implemented a couple of special rules to allow for full participation of all kids, since at this level it’s still a kids game and all should play. We use the MLB rules with the exception of a few modifications for our special rules, some written (Free substitution and continuous batting order), some just understood (like balks, we don’t hold 9 year-old to the same level of expectations you do a 14 year-old).

I’m not sure what you mean by “Many times it appears that what they really mean is "get these slugs off my team".”, We have all kids play. If any kid in our area feels some league doesn't want them, come to ours, you are always welcome.

The leagues mention previously must be doing something right to be as popular and growing as fast as they appear to be. It seems that most tournaments we consider participating in, play by the same type of rules. While some use strictly the nine-man rule some give the team the choice. We've played in some tournaments where one team is using the continious order/free substitution method and the other the straight nine. No problems, no issues, of course the teams intent has to be announced prior to the games start to the umps.

[David B]

Rich,

We have a lot of our teams, even the American Legion teams that use free substitution all summer long.

Its great. I love it as umpire, I don't have to worry about the lineup.

Then we implement the Speed Up rules for pitcher and cather.

The game is not changed a bit, its a lot faster.

The only restrictions are for F1. They follow the rules for "regular baseball" as you call it.

In our kids leagues, I like the continuous batting order also. The kids are all playing even if not in the field.

And I love it when the coach is behind 3 runs and his bottom four guys are up and he can't do anything about it.

Now for tournaments, this would never work, but its great for regular season.

Thanks
David

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by TyroneThunder
My son’s team has played in AABC and USSSA leagues for years and I have seen some teams that would embarrass the best Little League All Star teams.

Well, sure. With absolutely no National regulations limiting the area from which players are drawn, what do you expect? A team could be comprised, and often is, of players from several different communities. While we do not have USSSA here, I have read their regulations. We do have the Connie Mack division of AABC, however. Those teams are always comprised of players from various communities, and they play other teams comprised of players from various communities. Those teams are often stacked with talent.

With Little League, players must be drawn from distinct boundaries. In fact, in order just to qualify for tournament play, a Little League All-Star team must provide a map marking where each player lives and show that they are within the alotted league boundaries. Neither AABC nor USSSA have such National regulations for boundaries. Instead, they leave such a dicey rule up State Directors.

So, you're comparing apples and oranges. You cannot expect Little League, with its strict protected boundary regulations and unprecedented number of member leagues, to play on a level playing field with either AABC or USSSA. While you say those leagues are for, "everyone," their regulations are set up so that a team can pick and choose talent. Little League is truly for everyone in a community-based fashion, and has the national regulations to back it up.

[TyroneThunder]

I understand the limitation LL uses; I played LL as a kid. My original comment was “I'd like to see some of the other leagues on TV.” I like to even was minor leagues. I'm just a baseball junkie.

I know what you mean by stacked teams. The biggest one I’ve ever encountered was the Woolsey Yankees. They are, or should I say were, a team that had a sponsor and/or coach who was a millionaire. They were out of a small town south of Atlanta Georgia. It is my understanding that they had kids from Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, who were flown in for major tournaments. The kid from Texas was supposed to have won some kind of home run title for the country. I tell you one thing, that boy could hit. In one of our game against them he hit a ball out of the field, over the concession stand and into the field up the hill from ours, easily 375 feet and probably closer to 400.

Please be careful about painting all of the AABC and USSSA team as stacked teams, most could qualify for LL. To the best of my knowledge all of the teams currently in our league are made up of kids from the same school, city, or as in our case a very small town (we have one four way stop).

[insatty]

Little League is like pro sports used to be before free agency. And I hate to admit, because I'm a free-market Republican, that I wax nostalgic for the "good ol' days." I can still at 44 years old recite the entire lineup for the S.F. Giants of the late 60's and early 70's. These days, no team could hold Mays, McCovey, Spier, Bobby Bonds, or Tito Fuentes past their contract. I am loathe to know who plays for any team from season to season.

While I enjoy umpiring USSSA, Connie Mack, Super Series, etc. because of the superior play, such ball is free agency applied to youth ball and is great for the few kids that will get scholarships. But I also am nostalgic enough to work Little League because it's devoted to all kids playing for the team in their neighborhood.

[Jim Porter]

I took specific issue with this statement by you -

My son’s team has played in AABC and USSSA leagues for years and I have seen some teams that would embarrass the best Little League All Star teams.

It's just a silly thing to say. In my neck of the woods, there isn't another choice for youth league baseball at 12-years-old other than Little League. I have a hard time believing your 12-year-olds would embarass our 12-year-olds simply because of which National organization sanctions them. However, they might embarass them because your national organization has absolutely no regulations covering the area from which players are drawn.

I'm not painting any pictures. I'm merely speaking the truth. Neither AABC nor USSSA have national regulations limiting the area from which players can be drawn. Little League does. The difference on the field should be obvious to a buffoon.

If your USSSA and AABC have superior ball-playing 11- and 12-year-olds, I'd like to know what you're feeding them. Because it ain't the national sanctioning body that makes that difference.

[TyroneThunder]

Last entry;

I will stand by my statement. I have seen "some" teams that would "embarrass" what I have seen on the LL World Series. Does that mean all, no way; I'm not that stupid. I've seen "some" teams who couldn't beat any of them on a consistent basis; hey, my son's team would probably be a .500 team at best. And I will say; remember that what we are seeing on TV are the hand picked, best players in the entire league, the "ALL STARS". I'd say that that would usually be equal to any "normal" single team playing in other leagues and tournaments.

We have participated in the "Wood Bat Classic" here in Atlanta. We have seen that the teams that have participated in that tournament and won the tournament have, 8 out of 10 times, been non-LL All Star teams. Is that because of how the teams are constructed, the style of play, or where the kids are from, I can't truly say? I can say that when we played, there weren't any powerhouse teams built from pulling in kids from all over Atlanta. Most of those teams don't play in tournaments like that. I've had other coaches say it is the more aggressive style of play taught in the AABC/USSSA leagues as to why those teams seem to win more often; is that why, I don't know, am I an expert, not even close just an assistant coach and parent! Maybe it could be worth looking into or just a total waste of computer time. I will say that the Little League All Star, Dixie Youth All Star, Pony League All Star and American Legion All Star teams WE HAVE PLAYED OR WATCHED play haven't been tournament winners either, good teams, but not great. For a playing rules comparison; the only such team, an American Legion All Star team, we played in a tournament was a 14 year-old team, we were 13 year-olds at the time. They were using the tournament to prepare for the post season and while it was a good close game, we did win. Does that mean anything, probably not.

I close by restating; I'd like to see some of the other tournaments televised so I can see those stacked teams go at it rather that just beating up on teams like my son's. That way I can see how good our team really is.

Go Thunder

http://tyronethunder.home.att.net/
If you'd like to see what we are up to or would like to play a game sometime.

P.S. Remember a Cobb County team from the Atl. area, won the LLWS a few years back. Also the team from Alabama that won it just a year or so back, they were in the tournament I was mentioning earlier and came in third out of eight.

[Jim Porter]

Not to belabor the point, but you offered the link to the Tyrone Thunder Baseball Club. I couldn't help but notice the following on that site:

We currently accept team members from Tyrone, Fayetteville, Peachtree City and other cities in Fayette, Coweta, Clayton, and Cobb Counties, Georgia

Some of that area is covered by Georgia Little League District 4. Peachtree City alone has two separate Little Leagues, an American and a National. There's also a South Coweta and a West Coweta Little League to go with the Senoia Area Little League that covers all of Coweta County. So far, I've found more than 5 different Little Leagues and 2 Little League Districts that the Tyrone Thunder Baseball Club draws from. Any team with such a large area to draw from should embarass any one of those leagues. You simply cannnot draw comparisons at all between the two.

I understand you wish to see the stacked baseball clubs of USSSA and AABC go at it in the national spotlight. The sole reason you won't anytime soon is that they do not have anywhere near the number of worldwide participants that Little League has. That large number of participants adds up to bigtime ratings. so that's why we see all the regionals and all the LLWS games televised.