Coolest thing I've seen this year on the field.

[guyinaredhat]

Had a JV DH today,  last rounds of a tournament.  I was fortunate to have the championship game, a really excellent 1-0 game.  The HT had a combined 1 hitter, and there was a  total of 5 hits for the game. 

    But the coolest thing  was the winning pitcher , kid went 5 2/3 allowed 0 runs.  He had 1 arm, or more specifically no forearm,  nothing from the elbow down.   He worked  it Jim Abbot style, smooooooth, pitched well, and even picked a kid off.   Good way to end a long day. 

[maineump]

I played in HS against a 1 armed pitcher - same thing had 1/2 arm that he held his glove with. He was a great pitcher and was tough to hit. He was quick enough to knock down or catch a hit back to the box.

He also was a great football player, and now coaches HS football.

He was a great guy back then and is a great coach now.

 

For the last couple of years we have a HS kid that pitches and plays 1B with an artificial leg. Looked odd pitching, but very effective. His coach had to carry a letter from his Dr and the State to state he was OK to play and his leg was legal.

 

One thing I noticed, their drive to be good was higher than anyone else on the team - these guys are real gamers.

[bam]

For the last couple of years we have a HS kid that pitches and plays 1B with an artificial leg. Looked odd pitching, but very effective. His coach had to carry a letter from his Dr and the State to state he was OK to play and his leg was legal.

 

One thing I noticed, their drive to be good was higher than anyone else on the team - these guys are real gamers.

Serious question - Does he need to wrap the leg with high impact foam or other such padding?

 

2-1-8:

 

ART. 8 . . .

 

 

 

Hard and unyielding items (guards, casts, braces, splints, etc.)

must be padded with a closed-cell, slow-recovery foam padding no less than 1/2"

thick. Knee and ankle braces which are unaltered from the manufacturer's original

design/production do not require any additional padding

[24sdad]

For the last couple of years we have a HS kid that pitches and plays 1B with an artificial leg. Looked odd pitching, but very effective. His coach had to carry a letter from his Dr and the State to state he was OK to play and his leg was legal.

 

One thing I noticed, their drive to be good was higher than anyone else on the team - these guys are real gamers.

Serious question - Does he need to wrap the leg with high impact foam or other such padding?

 

2-1-8:

 

ART. 8 . . .

 

 

 

Hard and unyielding items (guards, casts, braces, splints, etc.)

must be padded with a closed-cell, slow-recovery foam padding no less than 1/2"

thick. Knee and ankle braces which are unaltered from the manufacturer's original

design/production do not require any additional padding

Bam, legit question.

 

This rule seems a little goofy to me.  Certain items need to be enclosed with foam padding, but a knee brace (which i envision with two hard metal hinges on either side of the knee) seem to be ok as long as they are OEM.  Maybe they are only referring to the slip on elastic knee brace?

 

As far as the kid's artificial leg, that is one booger I am not gonna pick.  His Dr and Assoc say he is good to go, but I am sure that is only related to his ability to participate.  If some jackass did make an issue of it, I guess you would have to determine if it was "hard and unyielding" and go from there.  Interested to hear from anyone who actually had to deal with this. 

[mstaylor]

We had a kid some years back that only had one leg and was a starting F3 at varsity. The conference agreed to allow him a runner once on base. Only strange thing I saw was he was late coming out on defense once, his manager asked where he was. A bench player said his leg fell off going to first and had gone to the bus to put it back on. 

We also had an one armed pitcher. He had no stump so he used a padded hook on his belt. He would throw, put his glove on, catch, throw the ball up, drop the glove, catch and throw the ball. He played third when he wasn't pitching. He still plays SP softball and he was an Asst HS coach. 

[mstaylor]

The best idea if a player has a special need is to get the state to decide on the provisions and carry that letter. 

[maineump]

The state, our association and the AD all agreed that the leg was fine without padding. We treated it like a knee brace. It was below the knee with a slightly hinged ankle. Looked real except the rod at the ankle. (He could even lock it to pitch - very cool set-up)

He was treated as any other player, and expected to be. Uusually the used a DH for him, as I would imagine that sliding would be a trick.

The AD and HC had a file that traveled with the team. it had all of the permission slips needed. Above and beyond what he had from the state and Dr - the school's insurance required a special letter signed by the parents and studen as well.

It was pretty simple after you see the paperwork.

The kid wanted to play ball, everyone made it happen and he was just another key part of the team.

 

Bottom line, as long as the school and the state are good with it then he plays - just make sure someone sees paperwork on your board and the word gets passed on to the crew doing their games.