poetrychic

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)—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.

Officials for the three-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 offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho’s coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

But Vidro says he didn’t quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league’s field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch.

“He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?”

The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching.

“I feel sad,” he said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.”

Jericho’s coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league’s administrators.

Jericho instead joined a team sponsored by Will Power Fitness. The team was 8-0 and on its way to the playoffs when Jericho was banned from pitching.

“I think it’s discouraging when you’re telling a 9-year-old you’re too good at something,” said his mother, Nicole Scott. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner.”

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.”

Noble acknowledged that Jericho had not beaned any batters in the co-ed league of 8- to 10-year-olds, but say parents expressed safety concerns.

“Facing that kind of speed” is frighteneing for beginning players, Noble said.

League officials say they first told Vidro that the boy could not pitch after a game on Aug. 13. Jericho played second base the next game on Aug. 16. But when he took the mound Wednesday, the other team walked off and a forfeit was called.

League officials say Jericho’s mother became irate, threatening them and vowing to get the league shut down.

“I have never seen behavior of a parent like the behavior Jericho’s mother exhibited Wednesday night,” Noble said.

Scott denies threatening any one, but said she did call the police.

League officials suggested that Jericho play other positions, or pitch against older players or in a different league.

Local attorney John Williams was planning to meet with Jericho’s parents Monday to discuss legal options.

“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?”

9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch - Yahoo! Sports

incredible....

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"it was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation, yes we can!"

Heretic

Does anyone remember that short story about the future society where everyone is brought down to the lowest level of every human aspect? If you were too good looking they'd uglify you to match the ugliest person in the country. Too smart? They dumb you down with earphones that distract you. Too strong, and they put weights on you to drag you down.

This is how that shit'd start.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

DanS.

To a degree I can see why this happened. Not that I agree at all with the way that they handled it. If he's THAT much better than everybody at his age level it could ruin the fun for everybody else playing against him. So I do think that it may be best to move him up against kids a little bit older. We used to have to do that in football, where there were height and weight limitations.

Kana

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. Brilliant story.

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Groovyville

Heretic

We're starting to enter into that era.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

Danimal

This past weekend there were 12-13 year olds throwing 60-65 mph pitches on TV @ the Little League World Series. It would seem to me that 40 mph for someone 3 yrs. younger is not unreasonable or dangerous. I would say he's on track to be a very successful athlete, and the fact that his peer's parents would try to stop him from competing in a league is because they don't want to watch their kids be bested by him. All the circumstances of this story, the timing of the decision, the conflict of interest are very fishy and reek of nepotism. I think it's unfortunate that people would make a 9-year old feel bad because he was better than jr. I would rather my child go up to the plate, take his hacks, and learn from the experience, rather than shield him from failure. Eventually one of 'em is gonna hit the ball, and you'll have a good hitter to go with the pitcher. This is how people learn and improve, through life-experience.

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I don't hate people, I just like it better when they're not around. -Charles Bukowski

JeffinCO

I remember in little league there were pitchers who scared the shit out of me AT EVERY LEVEL. Pee-wees to senior majors.... Some kids can just throw the ball. Yes it's scary sometimes. But you face your fear, and you try like hell to hit it, and smile at the hot-shot when you do. Baseball is like that. You face your fear, overcome it, and there can be great reward.

By this logic, if a kid hits the ball too hard he can be ousted by the other kids' parents.

However, like DRS said, if he has a moustache and is way beyond everybody else, he should be moved up. In fact the kid might excel even faster facing better players. And it does sound like his mom went off the deep end. She could have handled it in a much more exemplary manner for the sake of her obviously very talented son.

I'd love to be a coach of my sons team one day, but I dont look forward to dealing with moronic loudmouth parents.

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красные крыла всасывают

"Oh, what a lovely little.."

Denie

I won't get into the political aspect just yet here...

Does anyone here realize the harm that can be done to a growing 9 year olds arm from pitching? Turns out that this is a problem that is getting worse. Serious problems requiring surgery, sometimes multiple surgeries, that will plague these kids for life are happening and it seem parents are not too concerned.