"Too good" to play?

You have probably heard this story already but if you havent, here is a quick recap.

Nine-year-old Jericho Scott has a 40 mph fastball and since no player has even gotten a hit off of him, his team has gone 8-0 in the Youth Baseball League of New Haven. The Youth Baseball League requested that he not pitch anymore and when he took the mond anyway the opposing team packed up and forfeited the game. Officials for the 3-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and have offered to refund $50 sign-up fees on request.

[Source]

This decision is bothersome to me and apparantly other people as there has been a lot of discussion as of late.

The league sites safety as a concern for Scott pitching. It is a developmental league and parents were concerned one of the pitches would get away from Scott and injure a player, although that has never happened. The league asked him to play a different position, but he refused. There was also apparantly an outburtst by his mother at some point where she threatened some officials and there is hostility and dare I say over reacting by other parents.

In my opinion, there are multiple faults in this situation and things were escalated unneccesarily. First, I can see where the league is coming from and their concern for the safety for all of the players. There has also been rumblings that safety really isnt the concern but jealousy is the issue. Jericho was recruited by Carlito's Barber Shop (a local sponser), and his parents' decision to join Will Power Fitness left coaches and parents from other teams envious. I am not going to address this because I have no idea if there is any merit in this claim so I am just going to assume that safety is indeed the concern.

By all accounts, he is not a dangerous pitcher. He hasnt hit anyone, he is just good. If he were to be pitching widly without control then the league would have a case to ask that he not pitch due to safety, but in this case he is being punished for something that hasnt happened but may happen in the future. Now I havent played softball in awhile but I believe there is also a chance you can get hit by a line drive and a 30 mph pitch can probably hurt too. Sports have inherent risks that you accept when you take the field or court, this risk feels like it is blown out of proportion though.

What concerns me is the message we are sending the kids involved in this. First, you are telling Scott that he shouldnt persue something he is obviously good at because he is better than most kids his age. Say what? I would never tell a kid, you are too good and therefore you need to either play poorly or play a different position. That makes no sense. He is good at it and enjoys doing it, adults should be encouraging him, not holding him back.

Secondly, for the kids he is competing against, the message is give up if you come across someone who is better than you. Just throw in the towel. Have these parents never seen Rudy? You improve by playing against people that are better than you because in order to compete you have to step it up. If you dont step it up or arent able to compete though, it is not the end of the world. Everyone should experience loss, it teaches you a lot about yourself and it is a life lesson that needs to be taught. So these kids cant hit against Scott, they still have other pitchers in the league they can hit against. They are getting the typical experience but also going up against a really great player that they can learn from. By making a team forfeited you are telling them that they arent good enough nor do we have any confidence that you will be in the future.

Third, the mother and other parents screaming, yelling, and threatening the officials is the most sad thing about this story. Once again, parents are showing their kids that if things dont go their way then yelling and throwing a fit is an acceptable way to deal with the situation. The parents on both sides need to start acting like adults. The opposing team's parents should stop unneccesarily babying their kids and let them play and the parents of the team that was disbanded should conduct themselves like adults and calmly and rationally deal with the situation.

Bottomline, kids shouldnt be punished for being good and kids shouldnt be protected from kids that are better than them. Let them play and let them learn and develop. By taking this pitcher out you are also taking away the opportunity for one of those kids to get a hit, maybe even a homerun off of him. Imagine how inspiring it would be for that kid and that team to score off of Scott. Sadly, the thrill of experiencing the underdog beating the big bad undefeated team can never happen now and there are at least 100 kids in that league that will miss out on the magic of pulling something off that no one thought was possible.