<p>I’ve sat through years of little league baseball. The only fights were between parents/coaches. My s was a pitcher, sometimes an inconsistent one. During one game up in Conn, he hit a batter right in the face with one of his rare fastballs. Batter went down, taken out of the game, icepack, blood, and all that. No fights, no yelling, no problem. As soon as the inning was over, my son ran to the other team’s dugout and asked if the batter was okay and apologized. The coach was taken aback, and our coach walked over briskly thinking there was a problem. After the game, the other team’s coach spotted us in the parking lot. He walked over, shook my son’s hand, and complimented him on what a classy thing that was to do.</p>
<p>Major league pitchers have such excellent ball control that you almost have to assume they mean to hit a batter on purpose.</p>
<p>My son’s last year playing in HS, he hit a batter in the butt with a slow ball. His coach walked out to the mound and whispered, “If you’re going to nail a batter, use your fastball.” Huh? He was so shaken up that he couldn’t hit the side of a barn door the rest of the inning!</p>