[Volokh] Eugene Volokh: "9-Year-Old Boy Told He's Too Good To Pitch":

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Posted by Eugene Volokh:
"9-Year-Old Boy Told He's Too Good To Pitch":
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_24-2008_08_30.shtml#1219773332


   [1]Instapundit and [2]James Joyner (Outside the Beltway) point to
   [3]this story, apparently condemning the league's actions:

     Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good,
     it turns out. The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at
     about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of
     New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more....

     "I think it's discouraging when you're telling a 9-year-old you're
     too good at something," said his mother, Nicole Scott. "The whole
     objective in life is to find something you're good at and stick
     with it. I'd rather he spend all his time on the baseball field
     than idolizing someone standing on the street corner."

     League attorney Peter Noble says the only factor in banning Jericho
     from the mound is his pitches are just too fast.

     "He is a very skilled player, a very hard thrower," Noble said.
     "There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league.
     This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the
     sport."

     Noble acknowledged that Jericho had not beaned any batters in the
     co-ed league of 8- to 10-year-olds, but say parents expressed
     safety concerns.

     "Facing that kind of speed" is [frightening] for beginning players,
     Noble said....

     "You don't have to be learned in the law to know in your heart that
     it's wrong," [local attorney John Williams] said. "Now you have to
     be punished because you excel at something?"

   Now it's hard to tell for sure how justified the league's action is,
   especially given the allegations that "Jericho's coach and parents say
   the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an
   invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored
   by an employer of one of the league's administrators" (something that
   the league denies). There are also follow-up problems stemming from
   the team's refusal to abide by the league's rules, and alleged
   excessive reactions by the child's parents. I also can't speak for
   sure about just how much better Scott is than other players in the
   league. And I should also stress that I have no personal experience
   with competitive athletics (as opposed to some competitive nonathletic
   games), so that's one more reason for me to be tentative in my
   thinking here.

   But setting this aside, it seems to me that this doesn't quite deserve
   to be tarred with the [4]Harrison Bergeron brush that some seem to be
   using (unlike, for instance, [5]this incident from two years ago).
   Competitive sports, especially but not exclusively among children,
   generally works best when the players have roughly the same ability.
   Including players who are much better than others tends to make things
   less fun for other players, for spectators, and sometimes for the much
   better players themselves. And it also makes things less educational
   for other players and for the much better players.

   True, there might be some educational benefits, such as learning to
   deal with adversity or fear, learning how to lose gracefully, and so
   on. But on balance it seems to me that at some point the ability
   differential sucks too much fun and educational value out of the
   experience, at least for many of the other players and maybe for the
   much better player himself. And the whole point of youth sports is
   precisely fun and educational value, not simply determining who the
   most excellent player is.

   We see this reflected in many situations -- basketball leagues that
   are only open to players six foot and under, sports teams that have
   upper limits on player age, boxing events open only to participants
   under a certain weight, and the like. Here the league's action seems
   to be more focused on a direct measure of the player's ability rather
   than on a proxy such as height or age; that could be better, because
   it focuses on ability, or worse, because it's more subjective, but in
   principle it seems to be the same idea.

   Players who excel far beyond their age group should of course still be
   playing. They just should be playing against others who are roughly
   their equals in ability. It sounds like the other players in New Haven
   Youth Baseball are literally out of Scott's league -- and they should
   indeed be in different leagues. (If the next higher league doesn't
   allow Scott because he's too young, even if he's good enough, then
   that should be the target of criticism, it seems to me, and not the
   actions of the Youth Baseball league.)

References

   1. http://www.pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/023424.php
   2. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2008/08/jericho_scott_pitches_too_good_/
   3. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080825/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bby_too_good_to_pitch;_ylt=ArmmuyWElzQOab4AiEEoQ1Os0NUE
   4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron
   5. http://www.volokh.com/posts/1150350236.shtml