Bat Flipping Incident

Another day, another youth sports controversary and yet another parent running to court to have the court overturn a decision by a youth sports organization because their “little darling” was wronged.  Of course, it does not seem to matter that their “little darling” was wrong because in today’s youth sporting world it is only about the winning and not trying to teach our youth that actions have consequences.  And in my opinion, it’s time the courts need to stop getting involved in these matters and let the rules of the organizations stand.  Now, before I go any further, I am once again going to state, I am not a Judge, Attorney, nor was I in the courtroom when the case was argued, so what I am writing is strictly my opinion of the incident from the youth sports point of view.

            Now, for those of you who may not have heard about this incident here is a brief recount of what happened.  The child (I am not going to name the child, or the town he was playing for due to the fact that he is a minor and in my opinion was just a pawn in this incident) was playing in a Little League state tournament game and following his hitting a home run he proceeded to do a “bat flip.”  Now, for those non-baseball fans, a bat flip is done after a player hits a home run.  The batter usually throws his bat into the air before circling the bases.  This is usually done to show up the pitcher and in some cases leads to the pitcher retaliating by hitting another batter possibly leading to fights breaking out.  Following the bat flip the umpire ejected the child from the game for, according to The Associated Press, actions that were “unsportsmanlike” and “horseplay.”  Appendix B of the Safety Code for Little League states, “At no time should ‘horse play’ be permitted on the playing field.”  So, the umpire followed the rules and ejected the child from the game.  Harsh, maybe but following the rules of Little League.

            What happens next seems to be the way of the world now, run to court.  The child’s father stated that he tried to resolve the incident with Little League International and when they could not do so they ran to court to initiate legal action.  Dad’s argument was “he’s played Little League his whole, life, and his dream is to make it to the World Series in Williamsport.  We’re in the state finals and are a couple of steps away and now they tell him he can’t play.”  Further, one of dad’s arguments was Little League openly promotes “bat flipping” on its website. Now, I looked at the Little League website and could not find ONE bat flipping video.  In court, the suspension was overturned by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge who stated Little League had not been clear or consistent about its stance on bat flipping” and that if you are going to have rules and enforce them, they cannot be enforced arbitrarily and capriciously.” 

Of course, dad cheered the ruling and stated “win or lose, you know it’s about teaching my son and my family a lesson that sometimes life isn’t fair – and when it’s not fair, there is recourse for you.  If you believe in something, you fight for it.”  Oh, I forgot to mention that dad is an attorney, albeit real estate attorney, but an attorney nonetheless, so my question is did he represent this son in this matter, is he in a partnership/law firm where someone took this case on either pro bono or at a reduced rate?  The crux of the problem for me is what does the child whose parents do not have the means to run to court to get an umpires decision overturned do? Do they have to live with the consequences of their actions and sit out the game because they do not have the means to run to court when their child breaks a rule and suffer the consequences?

On the other hand, Little League, to their credit, while disappointed with the Judge’s decision, stated that they would respect the decision.  They stated “while we continue to follow any orders governed by the court of law, Little League is extremely disappointed that time, energy, and attention were diverted away from our volunteers and communities who are creating positive experiences for all players and families throughout the International Tournament. Trusted by parents and communities around the world, Little League holds the integrity of the game, respect for game officials, and sportsmanship of teams as core tenants of our program. We expect all players, coaches, and staff to uphold these values at all times.”  The lawyers for Little League also argued that this case would create a “slippery slope” where parents could run to court every time they disagreed with an umpires call.

I am in TOTAL agreement with Little Leagues last statement.  Whether the “bat flip” should be interpreted in the “horse play” part of Little Leagues rule as an ejectionable offense can probably be left to interpretation (I would agree horse play could cover a large swath of behaviors, especially for 12-year-old boys), and this umpire interpreted the bat flip to be horse play and ejected the child….harsh, maybe, following the rules, probably, a reason for daddy to run to court, in my opinion, NO.  I am just waiting for the first time a coach, parent, league organization runs to court to argue that a game official “blew a call” causing their team to lose and looking for the court to redress the situation.  In my opinion, the courts are opening this slippery slope by hearing these cases.  Part of dads argument was that there would be “irreparable harm” if his son was suspended for this game because it would possibly be his last game.  His sons team was playing in a double elimination tournament, meaning that even if they lost game one, he would have had a second game play in so in my opinion (again, I am not an attorney), no “irreparable harm” that would have been caused if his son was suspended for the game.  I would think that a Superior Court Judge would have realized this and again, in my humble opinion, he; along with other decisions like this, have opened the door for coaches, parents and organizations to run to court to seek redress because they are not happy with a rule/call in a game.

In my last blog I spoke about an article “How America Sold Out Little League Baseball” by John W. Miller and how Mr. Miller stated that Little League baseball is becoming a “white elitist sport.”  Now that article revolved around travel/elite/select teams and how Little League is becoming “pay to play” and while this incident is not a “pay to play” situation, it is, in my opinion, a person of privilege, using that privilege to ensure that he gets his way, while another child in the same situation, without privilege would have been stuck with the suspension.  Finally, I hope that Little League closes the loophole in the “horse play” rule and clearly outlaws “bat flips” so they do not have this situation going forward.