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."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/08/25/pitcher.toogood.ap/index.html - Thanks Tiffany and Stratoblogster!
League Attorney on TV looks like a tool, too.
Put the kid with 13 year olds or something.
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.
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).
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.