I am sure that anyone reading this has been told to find something you are good at and excell at it one time in their life or another.  Did you ever think that finding the thing you were good at and excelling at it would lead you to be told you cannot do it anymore?  Well that is exactly what happened to a 9 year old little leaguer in New Haven, Conneticut.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)—Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player— too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Are you kidding me?  They are not going to let a kid play ball because he is throwing the ball past their kids.  That sounds crazy to me.  Yesterday I wrote an article about the Little League World Series and how the kids that play Little League are playing for the love of the game and that the game is bigger than any single player.  Obviously some parents (obviously in New Haven) do not agree with me.

League officials have said that Jericho cannot pitch in the league and that his team will be dissolved with the players on his team being spread out amongst the other 7 teams in the league.  This is obviously a ploy by the parents of the other teams because they cannot stand to see their kids getting beat by another 9 year old.

There are rumblings by the parents of young Jericho that the reason he is being singled out is not because he throws 40+ MPH, but because he turned down an offer from the defending champions team to join them and instead joined another team.  Coincidentally the team is sponsored by an employer of one of the league’s administrators.  Sounds like some adults have their panties in a bunch because their precious boys got denied by the best player in the league.

So this kid throws a baseball just over 40 MPH.  That isn’t that fast for a 9 year old as those in the LLWS (11-12 yr olds) are throwing in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s.  This kid is also showing outstanding command as he has not hit a single batter in the league this year.  There are definately different and better ways the league could handle this situation:

  •  First and foremost the officials could man up and see that this kid is a real talent and let him pitch in the league. 
  • Second they could move him up an age level where that speed would be the norm and still let him compete.

There is no way in hell that parents and league officials should be trying to kill the dream of a talented 9 year old boy who has obviously found something that he is good at.  Not only is it unethical to suggest that he play other positions and not pitch it is just plain wrong.  And then to dissolve the team that he is on when the coach puts him on the mound is a travesty.  Not only are they punishing him now they are punishing a whole team of 9 year olds that want to play a game they love. 

This is all about parents who believe that winning is the only thing that matters when their kids play a game.  These are the type of parents that we hear about every once in awhile who go to blows in the stands when their kid gets beat by another kid.  These guys are so upset by their short comings that they cannot stand it that their kids are not the best.  That the best kid in the league turned them down was a direct attack on them so they must do whatever they can do to keep him from beating their kids and thus beating them. 

These parents cannot accept that they are not Major Leaguers or NFL, or NBA, of NHL stars that they believe that if all obstacles are removed from their child’s lives then they will be the best and thus will make it where they couldn’t.  Now as most of us know the only way to become the best is to play against the best.  These guys just don’t realize that by excluding the best pitcher in the league from competing against their kids that not only are they serving an injustice against Jericho Scott they are also injusticing their own by not allowing them to compete against the best competition that is out there.  Hopefully this travesty can be rectified and this kid will be allowed to beat down the opposition.