Boy Banned from Playing Baseball For Being Too Good

Posted by Alex in Baby & Kids, Sports on August 27, 2008 at 1:54 am


Can a boy be too good a baseball player to play? Here’s a story of 9-year-old Jericho Scott, whose fastball (clocked at 40 mph) was deemed too fast/good/dangerous for the youth baseball league he’s playing:

"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."

Link – Thanks Tiffany and Stratoblogster!


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COMMENT

15 comments to "Boy Banned from Playing Baseball For Being Too Good"

  1. Ola Amigo
    August 27th, 2008 at 4:42 am

    Hitting a baseball is a tough thing. Might as well learn that early. Also, if you want to be the best you play against the best. As long as the kid is in whatever age range they got it's good. I've heard of guys who played against Lawrence Taylor in HS football when they were kids and they could see him just get off. That's the whole point. If you're going to compete then compete.

  2. sw
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:20 am

    poor kid. make him second base then, let him play with the big kids, don't ban him from little league!

  3. sw
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:24 am

    never mind. always read the article BEFORE you post, lesson learned.

  4. Blaze
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:53 am

    This is HUGE news in my area. According to mom, he has never hit anyone, and there are other kids who throw faster who have. General census is that this is local baseball politics, who wanted a different team to win the league series.

    League Attorney on TV looks like a tool, too.

  5. Edman
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:23 am

    This may sound like a silly idea, but why not just put him with the older kids who are more on his level of talent?

  6. Sammy
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am

    My brothers are 6 years apart and both played ice hockey. The younger of the two was so much bigger than the kids his age, that they played on the same team.
    Put the kid with 13 year olds or something.

  7. Marlin Casey
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:38 am

    Slightly beyond ridiculous is my take on this. Pitching machines that some leagues use (with kids this age or younger) are set 35-40 mph. I would bet that there are zero rules against being too good in the league bylaws. How sad for the lessons a few adults are teaching kids--mediocre is wonderful. We always wanted to play and practice against better opponents because it forced us to improve ourselves. These kids just got robbed of that opportunity.

  8. Jimbo
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    I know how he feels, I am perfect in every way! :)

  9. Jason G
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    When I was 10 there was a kid who could throw 45-50 MPH. No one complained, we just practiced. And thanks to him I became really good at baseball and stayed with the sport through high school.

    So I find it pathetic that they won't allow this kids talent to shine so that other kids will practice and persevere in the name of competition.

  10. Jason
    August 27th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    Oh, the irony. Today every kid is supposedly "special," to the point where a kid who actually IS special isn't allowed to utilize his gifts.

    Guess we don't dare risk damaging little Johnny / Sally's false belief that they can do anything they want (except apparently hit a 40 m.p.h. fastball).

  11. Thomas
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    No part of this makes any sense.

  12. Zombie79
    August 27th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    It might be interesting to note, the president of this league is also the coach of the long standing league champions, who were losing to this boys team. This issue is more about the other teams being pissed off this boys team was on an undefeated streak. We can't have all those precious and unique children learning that they can't win everything they do. It would be unfair to expect children to learn how to deal with defeat and being gracious losers.

  13. Rocky
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    I think you nailed it, Zombie. There's nothing to be learned from a sport when all the sportsmanship has been sucked out of it. These kids will just learn that the only way to win is to cheat. It also sounds as if Ms. Scott was exhibiting the same kind of underhandedness herself with her little temper tantrum.

    Poor Jericho just wants to play baseball. Maybe he and his friends should just play after school and leave the immature parents out of it.

  14. Snerd
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    Perpetuating mediocrity by banning a player who is better than the others; ain't America great!

  15. Noelegy
    August 30th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    "The Incredibles" comes to mind...


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