Strange Local Rules

[greymule]

Obviously, younger kids need some protection from chaos. However, sometimes leagues adopt too many restrictive rules. When the rules force station-to-station baserunning, things can get quite boring. On the other hand, if you let the kids come home on passed balls, take extra bases, etc., they stay awake and also have a lot of fun. They kids themselves don't notice that the game isn't "pretty."

Some leagues play that when the ball gets back to the pitcher, the runners must retreat unless they are more than half way to the next base. Naturally, any time a kid fields the ball and it's not an obvious easy play at 1B, she throws the ball to the pitcher. If you protect the fielders from the runners doing anything, how do any of the players learn the game?

I do agree that you want to avoid walk-fests and 25-run innings. Some of the leagues for younger kids have coaches pitch after a certain number of walks, or after ball 4, or something like that. Others have limits on the number of runs or batters in an inning. Those rules are good because they don't alter (too much) the way the game is played—they just limit how long the inning can go on.