Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Been away for awhile and have not been keeping up with what is happening in current events. While looking through Sports illustrated recently I came across a columan by Rick Reilly which I find interesting. Reilly wrote about a boy who had survived cancer and was playing on a little league baseball team. They were in the championship game with the tying and winning run on base in the last inning and the best hitter on the boy's team was up. The cancer survivor was the worst hitter on the team and he was to follow the best hitter. The manager on the other team decided to walk the best hitter. The boy then struck out to end the game. Reilly thought that was a lousy thing for the manager to do and that a strategy that is normally used in higher level of baseball should not be used here. He asked what the readers think and that they can vote on his website. I looked it up and the majority agreed with him and that it was a lousy thing for the manager to "pick on the poor kid". I couldn't disagree more.

If this league was meant to be non-competitve then they should not keep scores. They certainly should not have a championship game. When you have an outcome of winners and losers, 50% of the kids are going to be disappointed. If the manager had pitched to the best hitter and he knocks in two run then the manager would have failed his team. During that game, I am sure, many kids struck out or made an error and felt bad. This is part of playing the game and learning from adversity. The cancer survivor did cry after the game but a few days later he said he would practice harder so that the next time they would walk him and pitch to someone else. This is the spirit that would make our society better. We should not protect our kids from failures even if they are handicapped. When the boy signed up to play little league he must have wanted to be treated like everyone else. I don't think he would have liked to get intentional walks just so that he won't strike out. Compare to cancer winning a baseball championship doesn't seem all that important. Having survived cancer, I don't think this kid needs to be protected by the politically correct squad.

I feel bad for the manager who was villified for giving the intentional walk. The other manager said that he would not do the same thing in the same situation. But I find it curious that he would put his worst hitter after his best hitter. Did he make out his lineup card randomly or did he feel the other team would be too embarrassed to walk his best hitter with the cancer survivor up next? Anyways, life is never going to be fair and our society is better off if our children are taught to try to overcome their disadvantages rather than given a free pass. What do you think? Please write in a comment if you have an opinion.