<p>But also, the ones hit in the chest are usually fielders. Kids at bat should not be getting hit in the chest.</p>
<p>[STLtoday</a> - Boy, 13, is fatally injured playing catch](<a href=“http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/special/srlinks.nsf/story/2DC114843E4A041F862574A600794840?OpenDocument]STLtoday”>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/special/srlinks.nsf/story/2DC114843E4A041F862574A600794840?OpenDocument)</p>
<p>This was simply playing catch. All it takes is one at the wrong moment…</p>
<p>Sure the game has risks, but so does everything in life. There is not one single thing that has absolutely no risk.</p>
<p>Our friends’ son was a phenomenal player, just still small for his size at 13. After being hit in the neck, knocked unconscious and rushed to the ER, he turned out to be okay, but they decided to call it quits.</p>
<p>baseball is a lot more dangerous than a lot of other youth sports.</p>
<p>See [Baseball</a> Safety by John T. Reed](<a href=“http://www.johntreed.com/baseballsafety.html]Baseball”>http://www.johntreed.com/baseballsafety.html)</p>
<p>Not directly on point here, but food for thought. </p>
<p>I like Reed and if you want to read an hilarious rant, read his “blog” about his son’s experience in Ivy recruiting and playing football at Columbia. There is a lot of interesting stuff in it about elite academic institutions and athletics.</p>
<p>“playing football at Columbia” is a non-sequitur.</p>
<p>This is ridiculous. I was a fast pitcher when I was young, they moved me up because none of the kids my age could hit the ball. It wasn’t a big deal when I moved up, I fit right in. I don’t understand why the parents need to make such a fuss over it. Just because the adults can’t grow up, doesn’t mean the child should suffer.</p>
<p>Where has common sense gone?</p>
<p>The whole story sounds a little weird but from the facts given I have more problems with the parents than the league. Running a youth sports program you’re trying to balance a bunch of goals … get the kids active, make sure they have fun, let them play with their friends, and help them learn and develop in the game. For kids at the extreme of the skills spectrum within an age group this creates issues. If they are not as skilled as all the other kids … they don’t achieve as much success on the field and don’t improve as much. For kids at the high end dominating opponents when more equal competition is readily available (play up a year) doesn’t make much sense and it also is not very fair to the other kids in the league … who signed up for a developmental league. We do not know the specifics of the set-up but almost every youth baseball set-up I’ve seen has overlap so kids at one age can be in a couple different tracks depending on their skill level. </p>
<p>In this case, as described, the admin folks offered two options … you want to stay with your friends play other positions … you want to pitch then we’re going to have you pitch against people who can handle your pitching and you’ll have to play against older kids … OK, family pick. Then the family picked option C … which as a league administrator isn’t really fair to the other kids in the league since there are other options. Finally, I’d add as a administrator I tell parents I’d suggest you find a field where your kid will be a really solid contributor on the team … typically this conversation occurs with parents who want their kid to be on a team for which they really aren’t qualified and the kid will struggle … but occationally with a parent who wants their kid to be the big star which I would advocate isn’t even best for their kid (never mind all the other kids in the league).</p>
<p>drb wrote:</p>
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<p>He,he,he. Well played!</p>