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Would you walk a star player in order to face the cancer kid?

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My guess is that they put cancer kid in behind the slugger in order to force them into pitching to the slugger. My guess is the coach figured that the opposing coach would feel too guilty to intentionaly walk the slugger in order to get to the cancer kid. I guess he figured wrong. IMHO the opposing coach did the right thing and taught the cancer kid a good lesson about life. It also sounds like the kid learned the lesson well.
 
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You don't do strategy at this level... hell, most of the time your lineup is so sophisticated you might go in alphabetical order... then next game reverse it... or as kids came to the park... you make a game out of creative ways to make your batting order...

This isn't "place Manny Ramirez behind David Ortiz to ensure they pitch to Ortiz" ...

There's a time and place that winning is the only thing... and time to be a good person... the coaches proved their life priorities are screwed up... and they taught their kids how to be ass holes...
 
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NJ-Buckeye said:
You don't do strategy at this level... hell, most of the time your lineup is so sophisticated you might go in alphabetical order... then next game reverse it... or as kids came to the park... you make a game out of creative ways to make your batting order...

This isn't "place Manny Ramirez behind David Ortiz to ensure they pitch to Ortiz" ...

There's a time and place that winning is the only thing... and time to be a good person... the coaches proved their life priorities are screwed up... and they taught their kids how to be ass holes...
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Uh, if winning isn't important, why keep score? :roll1:

Gee, nobody seems to mention that the kids on the winning team probably felt great after the game. Gee, but that goes against the Pussy Code - that everybody must feel like a winner after the game and get a shiny ribbon.
 
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In that situation - it doesn't matter who was batting behind the best player on the team - even if it was the second-best hitter on the team, walking that kid was proper baseball strategy. The manager of that team owes it to his kids to do right by them and play for the win.

The fact of the matter is - if the cancer survivor hits a double, Rick Reilly is writing a completely different yet equally disgusting column. Will somebody shoot that motherfucker already?!
 
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scooter1369 said:
First off, tibs makes a valid point in the lineup about not protecting his best hitter with a solid batter behind him in the lineup. Its just not smart baseball.

After that, any 9 year old kid, cancer survivor or not, is going cry after striking out with the title on the line. Hell, grown men do it.

The fact that they are playing the "cancer survivor card" is somewhat deplorable. What is the message here? Are they saying:

A. my son should be treated differently because of his cancer
B. my son should be treated differently because he's not as good
C. my son should be treated differently only when it favors us.

If the kid can "barely swing the bat" as the article says, why is he playing baseball? Is it to prove he isn't different? That he can hang with other kids who are healthier?

The manager/coach just taught everyone there a life lone lesson. LIFE AINT EASY. And every kid there learned that to win, aim for the weakest link.
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Ding, ding, ding...GPA winner! I haven't even read the subsequent posts, but this says it all.

Hell, I had testicular cancer myself in 1991, and I don't go around whining that I didn't do as good in my triathlon as I thought I should have just because I'm not as strong as I otherwise would've been...if I want a damn trophy then I need to finish in the top three of my age group, and if it means working harder than other "normal" folks then so be it.

If the kid can't play, then he shouldn't play, period. Fuck it, life ain't fair...never has been, never will be. Shut the fuck up and quit playing the "Feel sorry for me!" card. At least the kid is a cancer survivor and not a cancer statistic.

Oh, and on the manager's decision to walk the opposition's best hitter to get to a weaker hitter, it happens every fucking day from Little League to the majors...I agree 100%.
 
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tibor75 said:
Uh, if winning isn't important, why keep score?
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The key to my post was PRIORITIES... when you play competitive sports winning is important... but if winning a 9/10 year old Pony game is THE most important thing in your life.. at all costs... you're sad

If you pitch to the best hitter and he wins the game.. you could sit your kids down and explain why you did it... As a coach you DO have opportunities to teach life lessons... your kids are impressionable... use the opportunity...

As far as the posts that imply or flatly state... the terrible kid shouldn't play if he's no good... you're also missing the point of the game... Terrible kids don't want to be terrible.. but they want to belong... He'll never get to play in a few years... Let him enjoy it while he can...
 
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NJ-Buckeye said:
The key to my post was PRIORITIES... when you play competitive sports winning is important... but if winning a 9/10 year old Pony game is THE most important thing in your life.. at all costs... you're sad

If you pitch to the best hitter and he wins the game.. you could sit your kids down and explain why you did it... As a coach you DO have opportunities to teach life lessons... your kids are impressionable... use the opportunity...

As far as the posts that imply or flatly state... the terrible kid shouldn't play if he's no good... you're also missing the point of the game... Terrible kids don't want to be terrible.. but they want to belong... He'll never get to play in a few years... Let him enjoy it while he can...
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I agree with you in part. If I was a coach, I probably wouldn't have walked the guy. But not b/c there was a cancer kid behind him. Maybe I would have come up to my pitcher and said, "Hey, this guy is tough, but I have faith you can get him and win this game for him. Show him your best stuff."

But we don't know the exact details of this event. Maybe the 2 teams had faced each other before and this star slugger had murdered my team. Maybe I could tell my pitcher was petrified and wanted to walk him.
Maybe I wanted to teach my team another life lesson - Discretion is the better part of valor.

You are being overdramatic when you say that walking the batter constitutes "winning at all costs." Give me a break. Walking a guy is part of the game.
The Cobra Kai sweeping Daniel's leg - that is "winning at all costs"
 
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NJ-Buckeye said:
The key to my post was PRIORITIES... when you play competitive sports winning is important... but if winning a 9/10 year old Pony game is THE most important thing in your life.. at all costs... you're sad

If you pitch to the best hitter and he wins the game.. you could sit your kids down and explain why you did it... As a coach you DO have opportunities to teach life lessons... your kids are impressionable... use the opportunity...

As far as the posts that imply or flatly state... the terrible kid shouldn't play if he's no good... you're also missing the point of the game... Terrible kids don't want to be terrible.. but they want to belong... He'll never get to play in a few years... Let him enjoy it while he can...
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And what life lesson are you imparting to these impressionable kids? That cancer survivors should be treated differently than everyone else? There are plenty of cancer survivors who hate that more than anything. It only leads to exclusion.

Tibs is right. You're "winning at all costs" melodrama is off. They didn't cheat. They didn't try to injure anyone. They simply intentionally walked the other team's best hitter in a key situation. That's baseball.
 
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Well... if winning isn't important... why is the losing team crying that their best player got intentionally walked?

Suppose they pitch to him... the kid jacks a 3 run walk off... wins the game... and the cancer kid gets left in the on-deck circle wondering what could have been....

But... the kid who K'd got the chance to win the game.... so what if he struck out? He... as he appears to be doing... has a chance to grow from this experience... and evaluate on his own what success and failure is....

I mean... the thing is... of course that what's missing here is that his teammates had the whole game to win... and they didn't... its a team game...

One of those stupid moments you rmemember.... I was 12... I think 2 guys on base... down by 3... 2 outs... bottom of the last inning (I think the sixth) and I jacked one to center... the deepest part of the yard... hits the top of the fence... bounces stright up... and back into the field of play... I end up with a triple... next kid grounds out to end the game... I mean... we lost... and did I think to myself... boy... I got a two run triple? No... I didn't hit a home run when my tema needed it.... if close... felt like I struck out...

Also... what if to save the Cancer kid's feeling... the opposing coach had "Unintentionally" walked the best player.... (ie, told his pitcher to bounce 4 in front of home plate, or thrown way the hell outside... )

At least the winning coach had balls enough to let everyone know what he was doing...
 
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Obvious a number of you never coached at that level... Obviously you can't empathize with the kids or the parents... being a cancer survivor is not the point... and if I have to spell out the life lessons here vs the importance of winning a Pony League game... I'll pass
 
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NJ-Buckeye said:
Obvious a number of you never coached at that level... Obviously you can't empathize with the kids or the parents...
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why all of the assumptions? I'll make sure to teach my kids that winning is not everything, it does not define them, and they play for the love of the game.
being a cancer survivor is not the point...
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you're right, this article/outrage should not even exist. Intentional walks are a vital part of baseball. If the following batter is incompetent at the plate, that's not the opposing team's fault. What if that final batter didn't have cancer, was an average hitter, and merely had a horrible at-bat? Is it still a deplorable act?
and if I have to spell out the life lessons here vs the importance of winning a Pony League game... I'll pass
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Either don't keep score, or treat it as a competition. You can teach your kids that failure is more than wins and losses without cheapening all forms of competition...
 
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