T-ball safety question

[Warm4chine]

I'm new here and am seeking help in a potential safety risk that came up this weekend in my son's t-ball preseason tourney. 

The team that we played, and beat, for the championship produced a very odd situation that I've never seen in baseball. 

The the opposing team had a very fast, quick, big and aggressive kid playing pitcher. F1. 

F1 was a one man show that was chasing down almost every hit and making play after play. I've never seen a child this fast and aggressive. 

F1 had no problem chasing down runners for outs and would slide into the bag on force outs instead of making the tag on runners resulting in several collisions that could have been avoided. As well as 2 situations where f1 did not get to the force out in time but still slid into the occupied base, taking out the runner that he was just behind. Bang bang plays. 

I had my fill and asked the ump to get control of the situation because f1 had hurt a few of the runners making these plays, and the response was that he was making a legal play. 

 

Is is this correct? If not, what rules are being missed? I dont want to hinder a kid because of his God given ability but I also don't want injuries to occur from what i view as excessive contact. I apologize for the length of my post but wanted to capture the scenarios and am concerned not only about the safety of our kids but f1s as well. Thank you in advance.

 

 

[Umpirechick1]

Coming from an area that Tball is taken seriously (yes, it's true) we have several rules in place to keep this kind of thing from happening.  Our kids are 5 and 6.  These rules help to develop all of the players, not just the "circle" position.  Some examples are:  F1 position must start with both feet inside the circle.  If he/she fields the ball, it must be thrown to a base for an out.  There is no F2 position, so F1 can run home to make a play at the plate.  Some leagues have an "imaginary line" that goes from home to 2B.  The circle position player is not allowed to run across that line in order to make a play - ball must be thrown.  This keeps the F1 player from chasing the kid all over the bases for an out.

Other rules include: If an outfielder fields the ball, it must be thrown back into the IF.  They cannot run it in.  And OF are not allowed to come in and make a play on the IF (tagging a base or runners).  It sounds weird, but it helps to develop the kids as fielders and not just runners.  Once these rules were developed and put into place, it made a big difference.  A lot of them were for safety reasons like you describe and others were to keep it from being a "one player show".

And yes, we use umpires in our Tball leagues - most games get 2.  They are usually very young or guys who don't want to put on gear as they get older.  It sounds crazy, but the parents, coaches and grandparents are the real crazy ones.

[Majordave]

Never heard of that.  Never seen it.  You did a great job describing it.  That is probably more of an issue for the board of directors and coaches to address then inform the umpires.  I coached T-ball a few years, more than twenty five years ago and we were pretty ad-hoc with our rules.  Kind of made them up as we had situations arise as T-ball isn't really baseball.  Sorry, the umpires probably did not know what to do there.  I would be surprised if your T-ball umpire had any training or rules knowledge testing whatsoever.  What I would do is address it with the league administrators, board of directors, coaches in the league. 

[maven]

You have umpires in T-ball?

[Warm4chine]

You have umpires in T-ball?

We did in our preseason tourney. Haven't started league play. 

[siz]

You have umpires in T-ball?

​^^^^^  THIS!!!

[Warm4chine]

Never heard of that.  Never seen it.  You did a great job describing it.  That is probably more of an issue for the board of directors and coaches to address then inform the umpires.  I coached T-ball a few years, more than twenty five years ago and we were pretty ad-hoc with our rules.  Kind of made them up as we had situations arise as T-ball isn't really baseball.  Sorry, the umpires probably did not know what to do there.  I would be surprised if your T-ball umpire had any training or rules knowledge testing whatsoever.  What I would do is address it with the league administrators, board of directors, coaches in the league. 

Thank you for the response! I will do just that. Have a great day! 

[basejester]

Can I ask what ages these players are?

 

[Warm4chine]

Can I ask what ages these players are?

 

They are 4,5 and 6 year olds. 

[johnnyg08]

My honest answer would be to not have umpires for t-ball.  Just let the kids play.

This whole thing sounds weird to me, but not illegal.  

[ZebraStripes]

My three year old was the same way when I coached her team....well she didn't go to the bases, she just ran them down and tagged them.  I haven't seen umpires in T-Ball since I was playing it 30 years ago.  I don't believe any rule was broken by sliding into the bag.

[maven]

And yes, we use umpires in our Tball leagues - most games get 2.  They are usually very young or guys who don't want to put on gear as they get older.  It sounds crazy, but the parents, coaches and grandparents are the real crazy ones.

​2 umpires for T-ball. I learned something today.

Are the umpires 9? That would be fun!

[ZebraStripes]

2 for T-Ball just blows me away.  And I'm only one county up from you.

[Warm4chine]

My honest answer would be to not have umpires for t-ball.  Just let the kids play.

This whole thing sounds weird to me, but not illegal.  

I don't have a problem with not having umps but that's not my choice. I agree that it doesn't sound like he is doing anything illegal, because what he's doing isn't covered in any rules I have read.

My only problem is this kid wiping out base runners trying to make a play when they are just trying to figure out what's going on. 

And yes It's very weird. I played from t-ball all the way through high school ball and some adult leagues and have never encountered anything like it. 

[ZebraStripes]

Even the kid that is bigger than the others is still trying to figure it out in a sense.  

[ricka56]

Maybe youth football would be safer for your kids.

I think that you should address the rough play with the kid's coach. The umpire can't call unsportsmanlike conduct on a legal play attempt.   

Edited April 27, 2015 by ricka56
cause I thought of a good wise crack...what's it to ya.

[Umpirechick1]

This is where all of the young rookies start - at 16.  I'm telling you... coaches screaming, arguing calls, grandmas climbing the backstop fence (yeah, that was a fun game), and lots of crazy antics.  My main concern was always player safety, so if I saw this kind of thing happening as described in the OP, I'd have to figure out a way to keep everyone safe.

[Warm4chine]

Coming from an area that Tball is taken seriously (yes, it's true) we have several rules in place to keep this kind of thing from happening.  Our kids are 5 and 6.  These rules help to develop all of the players, not just the "circle" position.  Some examples are:  F1 position must start with both feet inside the circle.  If he/she fields the ball, it must be thrown to a base for an out.  There is no F2 position, so F1 can run home to make a play at the plate.  Some leagues have an "imaginary line" that goes from home to 2B.  The circle position player is not allowed to run across that line in order to make a play - ball must be thrown.  This keeps the F1 player from chasing the kid all over the bases for an out.

Other rules include: If an outfielder fields the ball, it must be thrown back into the IF.  They cannot run it in.  And OF are not allowed to come in and make a play on the IF (tagging a base or runners).  It sounds weird, but it helps to develop the kids as fielders and not just runners.  Once these rules were developed and put into place, it made a big difference.  A lot of them were for safety reasons like you describe and others were to keep it from being a "one player show".

And yes, we use umpires in our Tball leagues - most games get 2.  They are usually very young or guys who don't want to put on gear as they get older.  It sounds crazy, but the parents, coaches and grandparents are the real crazy ones.

 

Maybe youth football would be safer for your kids.

I think that you should address the rough play with the kid's coach. The umpire can't call unsportsmanlike conduct on a legal play attempt.   

Ricka, thanks for the response. 

Umpirechick, 

thank you very much for that. Those rules sound like they would be very applicable in this scenario. Once again thanks for sharing.

[basejester]

Maybe the aggressive players needs to move up a division.  You might suggest that to a league official.

 

[Warm4chine]

Maybe the aggressive players needs to move up a division.  You might suggest that to a league official.

 

Possibly. I don't mind him being here, iron sharpens iron, but it's a shame to see a kid lead wrong. As the lady stated earlier, the rules they've put in place seem like they will help tremendously with player development and completely do away with most collisions. 

[Richvee]

Tee ball umpires? (TWO no less), pre season T-Ball Tourney? Pre-K (4 YO) kids playing in an officiated tourney?..."Player development???" 

 

[Umpirechick1]

@‌Richvee, yes player development.  I'd rather the kids be taught to play when they start to play, rather than 2 years down the road when they're 7 & 8 and only the "circle" player learned to play ball at their previous level.  Like I said, they take baseball serious in our area.