How to get 6 y.o. onto my baseball team...league says no.

March 4, 2009 2:06 PM

How can I convince my local Little League to allow a six-year-old to play machine pitch (MP) without any T-ball experience?

I coach a Little League Baseball team consisting of 6-8 year-olds. One of my co-coaches has an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old and agreed to help me coach if he could have both of his boys on our team. Last year, my other asst. coach's son was 6 without any previous baseball experience and was allowed to play.

For some reason, this year the League refuses to allow the 6-year-old to play without one year of T-Ball experience. They say this is Little League of America rules (they are), but it appears from a net search that local clubs have some latitude particularly when it comes to safety (The 6 y.o. is physically advanced, and frankly might actually seriously harm another 5-6 year-old first timer because he can throw very hard). If the younger boy can't play, this may be a deal breaker for my co-coach AND his other son, because there'd be nowhere his other son could be if he couldn't play.

How should I handle this? Opinions of those with experience in the operations of LL Baseball Clubs under the auspices of the LLBBA are particularly appreciated.

posted by teg4rvn to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 comments total)

Invite one of the key decision makers over for dinner and then to watch the kid play ball. If he's as advanced as you say, it will show.
posted by Pants! at 2:22 PM on March 4

If the kid's dad wasn't your would-be co-coach, would you still want to give the kid this kind of special treatment?
posted by box at 2:23 PM on March 4

Pants! has the answer. Though I wouldn't go so far as to feed anyone dinner. Have the kid go through a skills trial for the board members. Surely the league has some sort of tryouts, anyway?
posted by Thorzdad at 2:42 PM on March 4

<>>

That's just it. It's not special treatment. I had a kid last year with the same *predicament* and they let him play. For some reason, this year the league feels what they did last year was wrong. I feel terrible that I told a friend that he'd be able to coach both his kids; I'm the one looking silly here.

But back to the original question...I want to go through proper channels to fix this, if possible.
posted by teg4rvn at 2:44 PM on March 4

I think Pants! has the right idea, then--if you want to go through the proper channels, getting league officials to actually see the kid play seems like the next step.
posted by box at 3:34 PM on March 4

Maybe you can ask your local club why they are following this rule this year, but didn't last year. Not to try to capture them in some logical inconsistency, but to let you know what you might do to help the kid get onto a team. "We have been audited by the LLBBA and are in danger of losing our affiliation with them for all kids in our town unless we follow all their rules" or "We find that kids who do one year of T-ball have fewer questions about game mechanics and rules, and this makes it easier on the umpires and coaches" would suggest different negotiation strategies.

I played volleyball on travel teams in middle & high school, and both of these have been scenarios I was involved with. For the first, the team was based on age groups and my birthday fell after the cut-off date for the team. So while they'd bent the rules for me being "too young" and let me play for 2 years, I wasn't allowed to play the 3rd year because the organization was already under a lot of scrutiny, and they wanted everything above-the-board. In the second scenario, the coach quizzed me on rules for 10 minutes. I passed and joined the team.
posted by holyrood at 5:39 PM on March 4

FACT: A 6 yo will have a better time playing with children his age.

Who cares if he throws harder than kids his own age? First it is very likely that he will not throw harder as either the years or even the season progresses. Secondly, it's T-ball, he won't be pitching so the opportunity to hurt someone is very low. Finally, he is so young that to encourage him to throw hard is wrong and may cause serious and permanent damage. MECHANICS MECHANICS MECHANICS

This sounds like dads trying to get a ringer from the lower ranks for their own short term gain, or maybe a dad pinning his hopes to the younger son because he doesn't see it from the older, or maybe just convenience.

Little League has developed the rules they have for a reason, and quite possibly your league has seen the error of their ways by letting some kids move up (but never down). Enjoy the game and don't get caught up in these sorts of dramas, the kids will pick up on it and then it sours the experience for everyone.

My personal experience is 8 plus years as a Little League and American Legion umpire and 2 sons have been involved in Little League. Play ball!

Let them have fun first.
posted by pianomover at 6:12 PM on March 4

It could be an insurance issue.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:29 PM on March 4

FOLLOW-UP:

Issue escalated to appeal at national office (Williamsport, PA) They granted kid waiver and he's on the team. We're four games in and he definitely in the top five in skill. Everything worked out pretty well.
posted by teg4rvn at 12:32 PM on April 2