Youth Baseball Frustation!!! My son ejected from 2 games Very Long!

[chager]

Our kids have been told to "run him over" if the catcher is in the baseline or blocking the plate. They are to slide feet first in that situation to try to avoid him but if they hit him they hit him. This is a 10-12 yr old league. Of course that may be only in our league too. I have never seen a runner called out for soley hitting the catcher. I have seen them called out if the catcher has control of the ball when they hit, just not for unecessary roughing at that point. Sometimes things happen so fast that it is impossible to avoid a collision. Sounds to me like the blue was being a butt that night! I've seen kids at our games intentially do things but they never get called on it. I have also seen some blues let coaches carry on something fierce and never say anything and other blues kick coaches out for mumbling comments ..Such as..."He just wants this game done becuase the game (meaning the OSU football game) is starting in 15 minutes!"
Good luck to your team in their next game!

edit to add..."run him over" means slide to avoid hitting him, but if you slide into him unavoidably it's ok.

 

[WDWFAN9]

It's been a few years since my DS played ball, he was a catcher for many years, and as a jr in HS was on the IL State championship team. Even in HS the rule was that if there was going to be a play at the plate the runner MUST slide. If the runner ran into the catcher he was automatically out, and if I remember correctly, ejected from the game. This is actually for the safety of both players. We were at a jr high game when the ambulance came to the next field over. The runner had collided with the catcher and both had broken bones. As the mom of a catcher I have to say I was very glad this rule was in place. However the "malicious" taunting on the part of the other team's parents is out of line. The ump made the call and that should have been the end of it. Parents in general are way too vocal in their criticisms.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Quick update before I go to bed. We went to the game, but my son could not be in uniform. He did wear his hat and his team jacket. Our team had their first loss of the season. When the 2 teams lined up and shook hands after the game the other coaches patted Zach on the back, obviously sympathetic to what he was going through. That was nice.

The teams got trophies for 1st and 2nd place. Our coaches spoke about each player and when he got to Zach he mentioned how of all the kids that were there, he deserved to be there the most, had been the biggest asset to the team, was a great all around ball player and nice kid. Wow, that was nice and of course I was all misty eyed. Then before the other coach gave his team trophies he spoke to my son and told him how he'd heard from lots of different people what a nice kid he was, that it was too bad that adults had to get in the middle of it and and how sorry he was that Zach couldn't play the game. Very nice of him to say!

What was said about Zachary will stay with him forever. It's not how I wanted it to be, but we've got to make lemonade out of the lemons, right?

So, a bittersweet night and I'm so glad it's over.

I'm bushed and will read and respond to the posts in the morning.

 

[Tinkim]

My son is 12 and has played baseball for about 6 years. There have been a number of collisions and my son is the biggest kid so I always cringe when he is the one doing the sliding/colliding. If the catcher is in the baseline and the runner is sliding I always thought they were supposed to do the best they could to avoid hitting the catcher but if it happened it was not considered malicious. Kids baseball can really make you crazy when you are trying to understand the rules and different officials seem to have different interpretations. I'm sure your son felt bad enough that he had accidentally collided with the catcher that he didn't need to hear about it from the opposing teams parents. That is just rude.

As an aside my brother's daughter (my niece) is also 12 and she plays softball. The parents were told right up front in the beginning of the season that they were allowed to cheer on their team but anything other than that would result in them being asked to leave the game. Seems kinda sad that you have to tell the parents these things. Hopefully your son's team will remain undefeated. That would really be the best revenge.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Sounds to me like the blue was being a butt that night! I've seen kids at our games intentially do things but they never get called on it. I have also seen some blues let coaches carry on something fierce and never say anything and other blues kick coaches out for mumbling comments ..Such as..."He just wants this game done becuase the game (meaning the OSU football game) is starting in 15 minutes!"
Good luck to your team in their next game!

edit to add..."run him over" means slide to avoid hitting him, but if you slide into him unavoidably it's ok.

Yes, blue had issues for sure. I go into the games having a lot of respect for the umpires because it's a hard job, but he was terrible. Besides the big issue with my son, his strike zone was dramatically different with each pitch (for both teams).

 

[iwantahemi]

If the catcher can't handle getting run over by a player stealing home he ought not be catching! LOL

The the name of the game baby!

Not in youth baseball, safety should be first!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It's been a few years since my DS played ball, he was a catcher for many years, and as a jr in HS was on the IL State championship team. Even in HS the rule was that if there was going to be a play at the plate the runner MUST slide. If the runner ran into the catcher he was automatically out, and if I remember correctly, ejected from the game. This is actually for the safety of both players.

And I agree if the player is not trying to slide. I think it all happened so fast and the play was so far from the plate there was little time to react. The catcher ran up to where the ball bounced and at the time my son was running stealing. And being ejected for one game would have been one thing, but 2 games was overkill.

One real issue was the umpires pride and he wasn't about to back down even though the league talked with him several times.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

My son is 12 and has played baseball for about 6 years. There have been a number of collisions and my son is the biggest kid so I always cringe when he is the one doing the sliding/colliding. If the catcher is in the baseline and the runner is sliding I always thought they were supposed to do the best they could to avoid hitting the catcher but if it happened it was not considered malicious.

And that's what is in question--he was trying to avoid contact. The 2 game automatic ejection is what I have the biggest trouble with. I think that when a player is ejected that it should be for just that game, unless possibly it's at the very end of the game. Then the league should look into the past conduct of that player. If that player has a clean record, it should then be dropped. If not, go for the extra game ejection.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Not in youth baseball, safety should be first!

Of course safety is very important. But sometimes contact is unavoidable and the intent of the player should be kept in mind (and any record of malicious conduct).

And catchers do need to be tough. They wear the protective gear, which helps, but it's not a position for the meek.