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June 21, 2006
Fields of dreams II
No story this week has drawn more response from Monitor readers than Eric Moskowitz’s piece Tuesday on the forfeiture of a youth baseball playoff game. Several letters will appear in tomorrow’s paper.
I must put in my two cents.
I know of the incident only what I’ve read in the paper. I coached in the 10-12-year-old playoffs more than 10 years ago. It was intense, and I loved it – even though my team lost in the league finals and I had to console a bunch of teary-eyed boys. (There is crying in baseball.)
Here’s what I think:
It is hard to believe a veteran coach did not know his own daughter was ineligible to pitch. But what is more disturbing is that some adults are arguing in letters to the editor that the rulebook doesn’t matter. What kind of lesson does that teach kids? I understand from the coach’s letter that the rulebook also says forfeits should be rare in the league, but the power to interpret the rules is not his.
Here’s what the coach should have said to the team (and maybe he did say it – I don’t know – I wasn’t there): I made a mistake, and I’m sorry. The umpires and the league president have the authority to enforce the rules, and we have to accept their decision and move on. This is nobody’s fault but mine.
Baseball is supposed to be fun, and there's no doubt this rhubarb took the fun out of this particular game. But it also created a teaching moment. The worst thing that could come of it is not the loss of a ball game; it is a child losing respect for the rulebook and the system put in place to enforce it.
Posted by Mike Pride at June 21, 2006 07:00 PM