Halting of 9-year-old’s pitching career ridiculous

Anyone who has ever received a speeding ticket knows speed limits can irritate. Nevertheless,… Anyone who has ever received a speeding ticket knows speed limits can irritate. Nevertheless, for the most part, they’re necessary. But the speed limit just issued in New Haven, Conn., isn’t. It isn’t fair, either. It’s pompous, if anything, because it’s right down the lane from the pitcher’s mound to home plate on a youth baseball field. It’s apparently 39 miles per hour, and because 9-year-old Jericho Scott’s fastball clocks 40 on the radar, he’s not allowed to pitch in his youth baseball league. Reported earlier this week by ESPN, league officials of the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told Scott’s coach that Scott is no longer allowed to pitch in the league because he throws too hard. When Scott, a kid who just wants to play his favorite position, wouldn’t surrender and took the mound again after hearing the news, the other team packed up its stuff and left. His team was forced to disband. The story also quotes the league attorney as saying that it’s dangerous for kids of that age to face that kind of speed. The attorney said, according to the story, that parents expressed concern over possible injury, should one of their children be hit with one of Scott’s pitches, though he’d never beaned anybody before. Forget for a second that a youth baseball league has an active attorney, and the league’s action ranks up with the George Brett pine-tar ruling on the are-you-serious scale. Granted, this league is new, just three years old, and developmental in nature, and its ‘main purpose is to promote the sport,’ said the attorney. But isn’t part of promoting a sport also promoting kids to work for success in it? And then when they achieve it, they’re supposed to be honored, right? Not banned. If the league wanted to move Scott to another league with more experienced players, it should have waited until the end of the season and then told him to do so. Or, maybe it should have even helped him make the move now. But don’t tell him he can’t play because he might hurt someone. That’s the risk of playing sports. There’s no 100-percent-injury-free guarantee. That’s why the kids wear helmets. My friends and I were all playing baseball by age 9, and I know I faced other kids who threw 40 or harder. That’s actually (gasp!) how you get better! By facing kids better than you ‘- not by telling them they can’t play. These parents should have taken their kids to a batting cage, where the slowest machine in the place might throw 40 in the same spot every time, so they could get used to it. If you get hit, it stings. Then you get over it. ‘I feel sad,’ said Scott in the story. ‘I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.’ You don’t make a 9-year-old get over that. Continuing the Jeff Greer legacy: ‘mdash; I remember saying before this year’s Olympics started that I wasn’t really excited to watch them. Then I spent hours in front of the TV, almost every day, addicted to seeing events like weightlifting, water polo, kayaking and even the gymnastics they do with the hula hoop. Why the change? The Olympics were fresh competition ‘- new stars, new storylines to follow. It was great, even though I agonized for two long weeks about the status of Tom Brady’s foot. ‘mdash; And to think, all this time, I thought Audrina was nice. ‘mdash; On a side note, how can I just get on a reality show and be instantly famous? What did she do? She did nothing! None of them did! It could be a spinoff ‘- The North Hills. This week, my buddies and I host a wine and cheese party. Except the wine is beer, and the cheese is on a pizza. ‘mdash; ESPN reported on Tuesday that Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman was seeking a fourth opinion on his injured knee. In turn, I decided to seek a fourth opinion on the status of my fall modeling portfolio. I continue to remain optimistic. ‘mdash; My roommate Pede and I were trying to figure this out: By the time we’re 40 (we’re both 21), how many times will the Pirates make the playoffs? We set the over-under at five … and both took the under. Don’t agree? Well just imagine if we had figured these odds in, oh, say 1993. Hmm? ‘mdash; I couldn’t miss Joe Paterno’s press conference to announce Penn State’s starting quarterback ‘- without a translator! ‘mdash; Heisman Trophy dark horse: Todd Boeckman. E-mail Pat at pmitsch@gmail.com.