Cheating at Little League is Unfair for all
[I got this via a comment on my old post about Little League. I really can't believe people actually cheat at Little League, so I figured I'd repost it - Mark]
To whom it may concern, 7/4/2011
Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Humility, Gratitude and, above all, Service to others, are the values I aspire to instill in every child. If these are the core values of our future generations, we have tremendous hope for the future. Living our lives as examples of these, regardless of what has happened in the past, is the only example we can share that will have a profound effect on the children that we coach.
I trust in God
I love my country
And I will respect its laws
I will play fair
And strive to win
But win or lose
I will always do my best
For those who have never encountered these words before, they are Little League pledge and these words represent a conscious effort to maintain the integrity of a game that is played by children and instill the core values that make this world a better place.
A little over 8 years ago my wife and I saw a sign on the side of the road for our local Little League, Four County, from District 2 in Maryland. At the time my twins were three and we had the good fortune to be indoctrinated into a Little League T-Ball Clinic program by a manager that was enthusiastic and loved to teach. As we moved through the ranks my daughter lost interest but my son continued to love the game and played every spring & every fall. We joined the community of Little League Baseball. I personally have embraced the values and taught the most important lessons that we can teach every child. My son Christopher loves the game as I do.
Today we have encountered first hand the dark side of youth sports. As I have been appointed by our local board to be the manager of the 10/11 team, I have been tasked with assembling a team of All Stars to compete in the MD District 2 tournament and all the responsibilities that go along with that title. Those that are involved give their time to youth service freely. Many who serve on other youth related boards understand the differences between teaching competitive desire and core values. Little League is one of the organizations that holds closest to those values and my son is a better person because of it. Part of the responsibilities of being selected Manager is to assemble a tournament affidavit with proof of age and residency for all participants. This is a time consuming part of the process that is designed to maintain the integrity of the tournament.
Yesterday we encountered a breakdown in the process that followed with the investigation of the book of another team in another game yet this influenced the outcome of our game. A league in our district was found to have had a 12 year old player playing on the 10/11 team. This team had a victory in their first game after a first round bye. It was then discovered that the team had an ineligible player in their second game and they were required to forfeit the game they were currently playing. This team by virtue of its first round victory had found itself in the winner’s bracket while the team that they first played was sent to the loser’s bracket. All this transpired within the framework of the last 2 days. During the course of this discovery, the team that had lost to the team with the ineligible player was notified that a ruling was being made and the game that was in progress was to be suspended until it was sorted out. This suspension of play occurred during the 4th !
inning. After a delay of not more than 5 minutes the teams were told to resume play. The team that lost yesterday was my team and if everyone had followed the rules we would be rightly eliminated from the tournament.
Youth sports are reliant on trust between the organizations and the parents that register their children. Honesty is a law written into the fabric of all that we encounter and when deception, whether intentional or accidental, is discovered, the effects of the action have already begun to change the intended course of outcomes.
This brings us to what would be considered fair and equitable. Our team pulled a challenging draw at the formation of the tournament. We have a five team bracket and we drew the play in game. In order for our team to advance to the finals we would need to win 3 games in 3 days while the top of the bracket had one day off for the winner. As transpired our team won its first and then lost the second to the team that fielded the ineligible player. We then moved to the loser’s bracket where we played yesterday and had our game suspended in the 4th inning to determine the outcome of the ineligible player incident.
As the manager of this team and a believer & teacher of the core values of Little League Baseball, I respectfully request the consideration of reinstatement into the 10/11 Maryland District 2 All Star tournament by virtue of a won loss record of 1-1. It is my humble opinion that the game between Westminster Optimist Little League and Four County Little League should be nullified thus sending our team into the finals of the loser’s bracket against Thurmont Little League on 7/6/2011.
Eric Reese
Majors Division Director
T-Ball Clinic Director
10/11 All Star Manager
Four County Little League, Mount Airy, MD
Post appeal update: The ruling of Little League was upheld today 7/5/2011. Westminster Optimist Little League is still playing in the 10/11 All Star tournament even though they played a game with an ineligible player, that was 12 years old, on their team on Saturday 7/2/2011. That game has been upheld and recorded as a win for Westminster Optimist Little League and Four County Little League has been eliminated from the tournament.
While Little League from the district standpoint is a volunteer organization, it must be remembered that the truth is the truth and living by any other means is detrimental to any organization, rules not withstanding.
Mark,
Thanks for posting. It seems our culture is accepting of this behaviour and therefore the interest does not exist.
It is interesting to come across this post. The accusation of cheating denotes by definition:
1: to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud
2: to influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice
3: to elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting
The situation in question met none of these requirements and was certainly a tragic event. As with every child who participates in little league all-star tournaments there is a requirement to provide proof of residence, proof of age and many other element to assure there is no wrongdoing. The player in question had never played little league baseball before and his parents provided all of the documentation. As most people know “league age” is different from real age and everyone has to rely on the officials to determine eligibility. In this case mistakes were made by the local little league and the district reviewers, but there was no intent to defraud. The child was listed as 11 in the draft package, they were listed as 11 on their team roster and were assumed to be 11 when determining the 10-11 all-star team. Once the birthdate was determined to be (3 days) past the cutoff the player and the league did everything appropriately. They removed the player from the team and notified the District that there had indeed been an error in calculating the players “league age”. Had the District determined that all games he participated in were to be forfeit then the league would have accepted that without appeal or complaint. The parents were informed of the issue only after all of the information was examined and reviewed.
I am not the parent of the child in question and actually believe the team should have been required to forfeit their position in the tournament but not because they cheated…because it would have given the players and parents the opportunity to learn that even honest mistakes have consequences, not to only the person making the mistake but to others as well.
It saddens me to think that you felt this issue was in any way intentional or an intended to somehow deprive your players of a fair opportunity to compete. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the end we all fall under the authority of others, whether the law of the United States or delegated authorities such as the District commissioners or even the umpires in a game. Learning to respect their decisions, even when we disagree with them, is another key lesson we could learn from youth athletics.
We just finished the Nevada state tournament where the team that won used and ineligible catcher in one game, played a radio at all games for walk up music, finally where made to stop during the championship game. Then the coach did not honor his suspension from a previous game and was using his cell phone to call in directions to his coaches. They had a parent keeping score outside the dugout who talked to them through the fence at every game. Then during the championship game they batted out of order not once but twice. Now this team is representing Nevada at the regional tournament. The other teams who followed the rules are sitting at home. What does this teach kids? It was sad to see better teams lose because adults felt they needed and could break rules to win. What is even crazier is they clam they did nothing wrong.
Hi folks,
First let me say, I was and am the president of Four County Little League one of the leagues involved.
I want to say for the record I feel as Jim Ridgely did in his post and that we all learned something. I do not agree with the original person who made the comments. This is not a situation where the league cheated. There was a breakdown in the process and that is what needs to be fixed. I can tell you that the incident was not fun for me and I’m sure not fun for the other leagues, but we did learn to make sure we take care in all that we do.
Again, and I said this at our first board meeting after this event, I do not believe they cheated. The opinion expressed was that of one person and not the league.
Thanks for reading.