If any of you need a laugh, the coach told my cousin to run home as fast as he can and he delivered pic.twitter.com/VpBBzIEtzf
— ratby (@TabbyRodriguez) April 29, 2018
This little leaguer blatantly disregarded his coach’s instructions and elected to run home in slow motion…
*WARNING Heavy sarcasm ahead*
Well, if this little kid isn’t the most disrespectful ballplayer of all time I don’t know who is.
Apparently, in this video courtesy of For Pete’s Sake of the Kansas City Star, after being told to “run home as fast as he can” this little comedian decided to make a mockery out of the whole thing. He showed up his coach, he showed up the other team’s pitcher, and he showed up the game of baseball by dumping all over the unwritten rules. I can’t imagine the next batter was too happy when he started getting settled at the plate only to have to watch his teammate Pablo Sandoval-it to home. How could anyone be expected to put forth a professional at-bat in that kind of atmosphere?
The blatant disregard for the coach’s instructions is what really gets me. Coaches can’t allow players to start thinking and acting for themselves. What kind of madness is that? Next thing you know we’re gonna be seeing hot shots at the Little League World Series “not seeing” the bunt sign and hitting dingers. How are we supposed to protect the integrity of the game if we’re letting our young players hit attention-grabbing home runs rather than playing fundamentally sound small ball?
And how about the clear and distinct disregard for pace of play? All levels of baseball should be enacting the definitely not unreasonably high rule changes. They’re specifically designed to save anywhere from three to five minutes per game. Instead of instilling these values at the Little League level, however, the coaches and fans of this particular team encouraged behavior directly opposed to increasing the pace of play. Rob Manfred would be disgusted.
The viral nature of this video is deeply concerning. It’s one thing if this was an isolated incident. It’s a whole other issue if “having fun” and “making jokes” starts to leak out and infiltrate other Little League organizations. If kids start having fun playing baseball you can officially count me out as a fan of the sport. End rant.
