Baseball is romantically described as a kids game. The diamond is at the center of childhood in its purest form. Baseball cards, a game of catch or pepper, watching the game with dad, making the trip to the big ballpark. Yes, the love of baseball is developed at a young age in many ways.
But playing the game is where the magic is. The feeling of smoking a line drive off the sweet spot and rounding first with a single is sweet. Or charging a ground ball and throwing out the runner a split second before he hits the bag for the out and then throwing it around the infield with confidence is sweet. The competition and sense of accomplishment in baseball is so rewarding and magnetic. For a few hours, you get to play the same game Derek Jeter plays – you get to feel the excitement that he does every day.
The romantic relationship with baseball hits another level when a kid finally gets to take the field in a game. The kid gets to experience the magic for himself.
It all starts with Little League.
Thousands of kids sign up for Little League every spring. They break out their gloves and bats and play ball. It should be simple and beautiful. It should be magical.
But Little League has taken away the magic over the years. The kids game is losing its innocence sooner with every passing year. Baseball in reality is not a kids game anymore – not when it comes to playing the game.
Little League is spoiled by a climate of politics and by a win-at-all-costs attitude. The innocent and fun spirit that Little League is supposed to stand for was lost long ago.
Kids used to play pick up games in the park for hours. Today, it’s never done. The only baseball games going on are controlled by adults. They umpire, coach, and complain at every game at Little League complexes across the country.
The result: a growing culture of superstar 12-year-olds who already know it all. They have the most expensive equipment. They can rattle off their batting average at the drop of a hat. And they let you know that they are God’s gift to baseball.
To make matters worse, ESPN is there every summer to add to the vicious cycle. These kids are already arrogant. Now, they have TV cameras to pose for and commentators telling them how great they are.
The Little League World Series has become a spectacle every August thanks to ESPN. It has also become a joke. Televising 12-year-olds playing baseball takes away the simple joy of the game. The tournament should not be a national event putting more pressure on kids to perform; it should be for the parents and families to enjoy – without the TV crews and flock of strangers to Williamsport.
Then, maybe Little League could keep perspective. It’s supposed to be about fun and learning the fundamentals of the game, not winning trophies and becoming a star.
Youth sports are supposed to instill respect for the game and for others. But that lesson in reverence for the game has disappeared. These kids are on TV hitting 250-foot home runs with aluminum bats. They’re stars. Who needs respect when you have talent?
This attitude is what has caused major league baseball so many problems over the last decade. Players are caught up in personal image and success rather than playing the game the right way. The need to be a star is at the root of the steroid era.
Just look at Roger Clemens and where vanity landed him in life.
Or Sammy Sosa who has lost all significance after a power surge likely boosted by steroids.
The obsession with the strikeout and the home run in baseball made for the superficial era.
Ryne Sandberg asked how this all happened in his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2005: “When did it become okay for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?”
The answer: Little League.
Puerto Rico played Germany today to open the international side of the bracket in the Little League World Series. The kids representing the Caribbean won in four innings over Ramstein Air Base, 11-0.
But the Germans aren’t the ones who should be embarrassed after Friday’s game. No, that distinction goes to the Puerto Rican team for its poor sportsmanship during the win.
ESPN made sure everyone knew Puerto Rico had big league connections. Jose Valentin who hit 249 home runs mainly for the Brewers and White Sox has a son and two nephews on the team coached by his father who also played ball in his day.
Unfortunately, Jose didn’t teach his son about respect.
Yomar Valentin hit a three-run home run early in the game to put Puerto Rico up 5-0. Yomar then flipped his bat in the air and jogged around the bases with a little too much swagger. He then greeted his teammate at the plate with a handshake and point to the sky. Wow.
All that for one home run. All that from a Little Leaguer. From start to finish, it was a model of disrespect. It’s not about him having fun with his teammates or being excited that he hit a home run. He showed up the other team and it looked like he had some practice too. And it’s not about culture either. Baseball only knows one language. There are no other interpretations.
Yomar disrespected the other team. And ESPN ate it up.
A little later in the inning, his cousin Victor Valentin hit a homer and he too gave the bat a nice flip on his way to first.
Yomar would hit another homer later in the game and he showboated again. This time, he flipped the bat and pointed to the crowd on his way to first. Obviously, this team knows how to celebrate a little too well.
The atmosphere surrounding the Little League World Series with the cameras and commentators only makes it worse. Bobby Valentine overanalyzes errors and base running mistakes made by 12-year-olds. They’re supposed to make those mistakes even if they are superstars.
The mistakes they should make are simple. They should know the rules of sportsmanship and respect every time they take the field. The only other rule: have fun.
That’s what Little League is about because no one cares who wins these games. These kids aren’t going to play in the big leagues (only a few have ever played in the LLWS and MLB) so they should just enjoy being kids and playing baseball.
In case the coaches and players need a refresher on the first rule about sportsmanship, Ryne Sandberg’s speech is perfect.
“I was in awe every time I walked on to the field. That’s respect. I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform,” he said. “Make a great play, act like you’ve done it before, get a big hit, look for the third base coach and get ready to run the bases, hit a home run, put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back. That’s respect.”
A lesson in respect will be much more valuable for these kids in life anyway. Baseball may not work out, but treating others right is the first step to living a good life.
If this is the best it ever gets for these kids, something’s wrong.
It means baseball has lost its magic. It’s not a kids game anymore.
And that’s a shame.