We’ve Found The Next Cy Young
Not to put too much pressure on a nine-year old or anything, but you know that you’re pretty good when the other team shows up, sees you on the mound, and then packs their junk up and leaves. And then you get kicked out of the league. From SI:
Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.
The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.
Not only that, because of this incident, his team is being forced to disband by the league:
League attorney Peter Noble says the only factor in banning Jericho from the mound is his pitches are just too fast.
“He is a very skilled player, a very hard thrower,” Noble said. “There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport.”
If by promote the sport they mean promote the sport as a bunch of freaking pansies, then they are certainly doing a great job of it. He’s nine. He’s just better and he should be allowed to play with the other kids his age. This is just the flip side of what happens when every kid is given a trophy and when every kid is told how good of a player that they are; all of a sudden a great player comes out, and he’s not going to be allowed to pitch because he makes the other kids look bad.
To this league and its parents; get over yourselves. The Declaration of Independence says that all men are created equal, but nature tells us a different story. This kid is skilled, and because of that skill, he’s getting denied the opportunity to do something that pretty much every kid has a right to do. By teaching your kids that it’s acceptable to not play against this guy because he’s so good, is to teach them that they are never going to run into some one who is more talented than they are. That they are not going to run into obstacles in life. Don’t think that at nine that they are too young to figure out that’s what you’re teaching them. This league is teaching kids that it’s okay for them to be mediocre, but it’s not okay for Jericho Scott to be great. I think that the attorney quoted in the article said it best:
“You don’t have to be learned in the law to know in your heart that it’s wrong,” he said. “Now you have to be punished because you excel at something?”
And don’t drop me any of those, “it was to protect the other kids” comments, because if you do, you should know that you’re just part of the freaking problem.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I do have to say, that most 9 year olds are inexperienced enough that possibly getting hit by this kid’s fastball could definitely injure them. As a mom, I’d be scared for my kid to go up against him. However, that doesn’t give me the right to say he can’t play. It sounds like he’s a once in a lifetime talent, and to stifle that, especially at such a young age, is wrong on so many levels. This is something that’s life-changing for this boy, regardless of if he’s from a rich family or the ghetto. His parents need to find a team somewhere, even if they have to move, that will foster his abilities and help him move forward. We’re talking Olympian, MLB, etc. You can’t just take that away before he’s even begun it.
August 26th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I just ran across an AP article about this on AOL, heavily quoted from the SI article you reference, if not copied. I feel so sad for this little boy.
“I feel sad,” he said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.”
He couldn’t possibly understand why he’s being punished. This is just all wrong.
“He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro [his coach] said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?”
August 27th, 2008 at 1:06 am
That’s the thing I have the problem with is that his feelings are being left out of the equation. And if I really thought that the parents are scared for their kids welfare it would be different. The fact is that the kid had hit no one, and has incredible control. The chances are better that a kid could trip running the bases and hurt themselves, or take a ground ball to the nose (happened to me in little league). I just feel it’s a weak way for our “all kids get a trophy” society to avoid having to explain to some kids that sometimes you’re going to run into someone who’s just better than you. My dad would have told me something like, “you’re probably not going to get a hit, because this kids really good. But go up there, take your three swings and maybe you can do something”. I think that’s the best approach. As for moving him up in age group, the fact is despite his talent, he’s nine and his friends are nine and he wants to play with his friends. It’s just a bad situation. I don’t blame people for wanting to take care of their kids, but it’s a fine line between being protective and being soft.