Little League - Baseball Article Summaries

Little League(r) consitutional crisis? - Jon Toner (length=4117)
Being Jon Quixote, jouster of windmills (with apologies to Cervantes), I'd make a stink. Of course idealism is proportional to one's distance from the problem. Tyrants rely on people not wanting to ro ...

Running A Youth Baseball Fall League - Marty Schupak (length=2087)
Youth baseball seasons seem to be going longer and longer. Some leagues enter All Star tournaments which run through August. Come the fall, do some of these players who have played the last six months ...

Why Little League? - Jon Toner (length=3086)
Coaching in LL minors, I agree that 1st and 3rd is an "automatic" steal more often than not, however I ALMOST ALWAYS contest the steal. In order to get the out, you need 5 things to go right. If anyt ...

Why Little League? - Jon Toner (length=1935)
I "inherited" a 45 year legacy of Little League affiliation. The area of our district is heavily affiliated with Little League. Little League is the McDonald's of youth baseball. I cannot say whether ...

AAU v LL {Rec} No Difference @ Allstar Time(Long) - Walter Kiriaka (length=1592)
Well, In your part of the country yes, in mine no way. The travel Teams have too much bickering and stealing each others players that it truly demoralizes their Teams. Now Japan was in Town a couple o ...

Little League has changed - Jim J. (length=2447)
Runners in LL aren't allowed to lead off and they aren't allowed to leave the base until the pitch has reached the batter. That is very significant. Not trying to take the martyr role, but in our loc ...

Playing AAU and Little League with a new twist - Fred (length=1942)
You may recall back last winter I inquired regarding the pros and cons of AAU baseball and any insights on playing both. Here’s the new twist. My son has been invited to try out for the AAU 13U team f ...

Little League - PONY League - Will (length=1114)
I agree generally with Wayne and Jon. Little League uses 60 foot bases through age 12. Pony gradually increases the distance, so at ages 11-12 the bases are 70 feet apart. At age 13-14 PONY uses 80 fo ...

Why Little League? - Coach Mike (length=705)
I don't have as much experience as the previous postings regarding your question but; I think LL is a good program for the younger rec players because of it's strict participation rules. As far as the ...

Why Little League? - Gary (length=1136)
I would agree that little league pitching/base distances may be too short for the cream of the crop 12 year olds. However, I will say that as far as pitching development goes, there is so much more to ...

Why Little League? - Gary (length=841)
Jeff, I appreciate your comments. All youth sports must/should be fun otherwise kids will not want to participate. I feel,however, that technique development is much more important than strategy (to ...

Why Little League? - Jeff T. (length=1262)
Gary, this is fun. I have a travel team that is 10-U and has played both sets of rules in various tournaments. All our players play L.L., too. Without exception, the players and parents prefer "real b ...

Why Little League? - Jeff T. (length=575)
I am a board member of our local L.L. and would change in a heart-beat. My primary beef is the rules. I am interested, that as an Independent, what rules you play. AABC orgs seem to have it right when ...

Why Little League? - Jeff T. (length=1415)
You are correct, as am I, I feel. Certainly the basic fundementals need to be taught (AT ALL levels)--the meaning of Spring Training. Unfortunately, regular league play, with its variety of talent lev ...

Why Little League? - Joe Zander (length=1006)
Jon, you are absolutely right! Great post and very instructive. For my own teams, I publish a team manual that I distribute to players each season. Included is a section on double steal defenses. We ...

Why Little League? - Neill Riddell (length=833)
I have been watching this board for several weeks now. I have been impressed by the thoughtful insights offered by the posters, both on the game and on league administration. One thing I have notice ...

Why Little League? - Roger (length=976)
Make no mistake about it LL is not for everyone. It can be and is often very political but has structure even at a national level which is matched by no youth sports organization. LL is the largest yo ...

Why Little League? - Ron Bing (length=1308)
Neill, you are absolutely right when you said that the stole base was almost a given. As highly competitve as our 11 year old league is, no one ever threw to second when there was a runner on third, w ...

Why Little League? - Ron Bing (length=659)
Our league is also independent and I like it that way. Why shouldn't 11 and 12 year olds be allowed to lead off? Our bases are 70' and the pitching mound is 50'6". I believe Little League distances ar ...

Why Little League? - Steve Condie (length=849)
We run a separate summer league for our 7 -12 year old non-tournament players after our regular season is over. (I don't know how this would work in snowy parts of the country - our regular season end ...

Why Little League? - Steve (length=1362)
When we established our league four years ago, we chose LL, primarily because it provides a ready-made administrative structure and rules format for you. There is no debate about rules. You just follo ...

Why Little League? - Wayne (length=1745)
There is a very good solution for the independent league. I served for a number of years on the largest youth baseball league in our area. We choose after a number of years to affliate with PONY. PONY ...

1st Game at Williamsport - Scorekeeper (length=1879)
It does look that way, but the camera angle for one really does foul perception. Pitches that look like they're at least 6" inside or low are really well in the zone. Another thing is, I don't know ab ...

1st game of the LLWS Regionals - RD (length=1542)
Not to be funny but in this case, size does matter. However, these kids will be tested when they get to the next level. Here(in NY) in most cases we go from little league right up to the 60ft. pitch 9 ...

1st game of the LLWS Regionals - Scorekeeper (length=2109)
I'm so glad there are people like the announcers they get for the LLWS in this world! People like that make people like me feel superior! I'm watching the game and all of a sudden in a 0-0 game, with ...

Anyone else disgusted? - Scorekeeper (length=2453)
I didn't see it, but probably would have been PO'd too. But what do you expect? Everyone wants these kids to be miniature Major Leaguers, with all of the attending celebrity. It isn't enough to just p ...

Anyone else disgusted? - Scorekeeper (length=1747)
I totally agree! However, I honestly don't think what that kid did with the monster walk was directed at the other team nay more than when the kid hit that HR tonight that beat NY and ran around the b ...

Anyone else disgusted? - Scorekeeper (length=1886)
It all depends on your mindset. Like I said, I laughed, BB mom and CoachJT were disgusted. During today's game, Brent Mushberger had the audacity to say almost the same thing I did. These are 12 YO in ...

Are there too many teams? - roddnet (length=1444)
I have seen where a team is built around a couple of kids by daddy in AAU. The team struggles every week. The dad has his kid playing second base and only second base with no other kids playing there. ...

Article: Little League Losing it s Grip on Kids - Baseball mom (length=8982)
Little League Losing Its Grip on Kids Thu Aug 12, 7:55 AM ET Add Top Stories - Los Angeles Times to My Yahoo! By Dave McKibben Times Staff Writer A summer ritual will unfold next week in Williamsp ...

Freedom From Little League - Repost for Knowledge Base - Baseball Nut (length=42628)
Great Post......And you see I do agree...I can tell from your written thoughts that you are not the guy that I am realy trying to get after.... Their are about 50 teams in our District for minors and ...

Going to Williamsport? - Floyd (length=1274)
I remember posting last year about our AS major team that I thought had a chance to at least get to the west regionals. Pitcher 1 - 5'11", mid 70's cruising, great CU Pitcher 2 - 6'1", low 70's, CU, g ...

Guam v Canada and Ca v NY - Scorekeeper (length=2827)
To tell the truth, I wasn't too impressed with either Guam or Canada. Canada's #1 was a good pitcher, but certainly not great, and when he got tired, it was all over. Guam pitching wasn't much better ...

How would I restructure Little League - Navy (length=1642)
I have coached LL for five years from coach pitch to juniors and while I would not object to a return to wood bats, I do not believe it would solve the problems I see in LL Majors. In my opinion the L ...

I'm Sort of Sad - Splitter (length=4923)
Coach9, I really didn't take Bean's post the way you did. I saw it as a lament that there are so many well meaning and under trained coaches out there. I also took it as a lament that fundamentals oft ...

Interesting LL Article - Navy (length=1452)
Little League's problem is twofold. It is losing the marginal players to other sports or activities(i.e. soccer, lacrosse, skateboarding, computers) and it is losing the advanced players to travel bal ...

Japan Vs Curacao - RD (length=1740)
You hit the nail on the head by saying if an adult acts in a sorry way how can you blame a kid for his actions. That should also go for your first comments on the Japan game today. I wish most kids we ...

Japan Vs Curacao - Scorekeeper (length=2667)
I don't often openly criticize an ump, but the guy behind the plate at the Japan/Curacao game left a lot to be desired! In the top of the 1st when the kid laid down the bunt, he not only was running t ...

Japan Vs Curacao - Scorekeeper (length=2656)
I guess that those things just don't bother me as much as they do other people, and maybe they should. Its not that I'm an angel about it either as some have pointed out. I remember playing a 14U tou ...

LL vs Pony - SJC (length=1676)
I serve as president of a local youth baseball association that has an official little league program and then jumps to Pony and Colt. The problem I have is that most programs in this area play Pony r ...

LLWS Championship - Scorekeeper (length=1315)
A lot of throwing isn't going to affect every kid the same way, or even affect the same kid the same way on different occasions. My beef with high pitch counts is that other people see them and then a ...

LLWS Championship - Scorekeeper (length=1106)
Great post and I couldn't agree more on just about everything. I'd go a bit farther on not taking Alvey out and say it was no different than when everyone on the BB was calling that other idiot an id ...

LLWS antics so what's wrong with hav'n fun - Scorekeeper (length=1415)
OK, OJ is a good guy and they should leave it up there. How about those other princes of sport who were drunks, addicts, wife beaters, child abuses and lets not forget all the wonderful married guys w ...

LLWS antics so what's wrong with hav'n fun - Scorekeeper (length=1785)
When I was 11, my mom took us to Chicago to visit our relatives. My cousins invited to play ball with the kids in the local neighborhood. It didn't take very long to find out that I had no Idea how to ...

LLWS game last night - lefty (length=1578)
LL was at its finest Monday night during and after the championship game. People will never probably know how those teams were established, but what they will know is what they saw. The play was great ...

LLWS kicks Selects butt - Scorekeeper (length=2253)
All I know is our 14U team played a lot of 54/80 games and the rest were 60/90. I don't mean to demean the play of kids below that age, but IMHO the truth is there are too many differences from progra ...

LLWS kicks Selects butt - Scorekeeper (length=1099)
I don't care who you have hitting, a kid who throws between 75-80 at 46' is going to dominate the batters. If he throws the ball around the plate in addition, he will dominate even more. If he actuall ...

LLWS - RD (length=2373)
One thing I hope parents teach their kids is commitment. Yes it is a privilege to play LL All Stars after your season but it should also be an obligation. Don't join a league if you are going to use t ...

LLWS - Scorekeeper (length=2119)
There is only one person I've seen on the BB during any of the recent back and forth about LL vs Select who does nothing but bash LL and chest thump about select ball. Unlike you, I've only been invo ...

Little League/How to Fix - Cam (length=1159)
There have been some interesting ideas set forth here. One thing that is apparent is how different LL programs are. We then must be talking about changing things that are not the same. Down here in o ...

Little League/How to drive kids and coaches away - lefty (length=2754)
"(4) Sons of managers and coaches are not included in the team composition until the manager and coach assignments are made, and then the sons are added to those teams." Where the equity if Coach A's ...

Louisville vs Aptos - Scorekeeper (length=3955)
This game was not exactly exciting for me to watch because there was so little action. It seemed more like a FP softball game. That didn't mean it wasn't a good game, just that it wasn'tt the kind of ...

Major Leage Equivalent Pitch Speed during LLWS?? - Scorekeeper (length=2724)
Whew! I'm sure glad no one got nasty with me, and I'm sure you know the question was more to make people think about what they were really doing. I really believe we all get too carried away with the ...

My Son did!!!!!!!!!HELP!!!!! - Mel (length=2560)
Dear DAD: You sound like my husband about 21 years ago when our second son made his first All Star team. Like you, both of us were very involved and we couldn't be sure if Kev got on honestly or beca ...

NC coach is an idiot! - Scorekeeper (length=1106)
Ya know, I've asked LL and NFHS why an umpire can't do something about this problem. After all, he is in charge of the game and the safety of the participants. The answer is that they don't want to ta ...

Official Little League - Eligibility - Playing on 2 teams - Mel (length=1179)
If your league is indeed Official Little League then the player can not be on two rosters. Since the All Star teams are decided by age, ie; 9-10 years old, and 11-12 (aka Majors) All-Star team can onl ...

Open Letter to Parents of Little Leaguers - Coach Bill (length=2925)
To: Little League Parents From: Your Little League Coach In striving to make our team the best around and to insure that the kids have a great baseball experience, I’ve come up with a few suggestio ...

Special LL waiver??? - Scorekeeper (length=6913)
"LL did this to themselves by putting themselvs on national TV... and claiming they are the game for everyone" I understand what you're saying and you're right! They set themselves up for criticism. B ...

Special LL waiver??? - Scorekeeper (length=1469)
I don't understand why you're so vehement on this one. There are probably 5,000 players in the country where this is an issue, and probably less than 1,000 are for reasons neither one of us care for. ...

Special LL waiver??? - Scorekeeper (length=2843)
I'm not absolutely positive, but I am pretty sure about this. Our league encompasses something like 400 square miles south west of Sacramento. Our development alone is over 4,000 and we get a bunch of ...

Special LL waiver??? - Scorekeeper (length=4062)
I'm not disagreeing, but why 9-12s? Why not 0-8 or 13-18? See, we do agree that the problem is when the rules are stretched just because of the AS tournament. Reduce the value of the tournament and y ...

Special LL waiver??? - Scorekeeper (length=3040)
Of course the rules will be stretched and even broken, but you shouldn't imply that LL is the worst any more than you should imply that USSSA is the best. If the waivers are the only problem you have ...

The NW Regional game - Scorekeeper (length=6076)
Well, I couldn't stand it anymore and just had to score a game! Withdrawal is a terrible thing! So, I sat and watched the entire Idaho vs Hawaii game, and I must admit, it was a very exciting game and ...

Wooster vs Texas - Scorekeeper (length=3393)
This game was a little different. Again there was a great contrast between the two pitchers, but the way the two teams played seemed different. Texas could afford to lose a game and went with a pitch ...

happy to see new york go! - Scorekeeper (length=1126)
I don't want to get into a pissing contest with you, but I think you're confusing self righteousness with compassion. I just wanted to see the kids play and honestly didn't care who won the game. I h ...

happy to see new york go! - Scorekeeper (length=1661)
I'm glad Worchester won because they played hard and didn't give up. But I'm sorry Harlem lost because of the same thing. I don't know abut the rest of you, but it makes me smile whenever I see any ki ...

little league hypocracy-again - Scorekeeper (length=1553)
It might not be a "common" occurrence, but there are a some people who send the kids off for the summer to Gram or Aunt Ethel. I'll give you that sending them to Uncle Ed 15 miles away is a pantload, ...

little league world series (under-rated) vs AAU,USSSA (over-rated) - Scorekeeper (length=1584)
All of the arguments I've seen so far don't prove anything conclusive, at least to me, other than drawing from a larger talent pool will generally make more "better" players available. That's not the ...

little league world series (under-rated) vs AAU,USSSA (over-rated) - Scorekeeper (length=2019)
I'm amazed at the total disagreement on LL vs any other program. In general, as Rich has pointed out so many times, anytime you can draw from a larger "pool" of players, its "more likely" that the tal ...

little league world series (under-rated) vs AAU,USSSA (over-rated) - Scorekeeper (length=2562)
Is it safe to say that at least it seems we all agree that a larger "pool" or "base" from which to draw talent is likely to provide more talent. When I said LL teams were "select" I meant it in the se ...

staying with little league or not - Cam (length=1073)
Normally I would totally agree --it should not be a big deal if it had not ended up effecting so many kids. One kid now has left our league and will play in another LL. One other is caught in the dile ...