No more T-Ball

[Nolefan23]

My 4 year old daughter is playing T-Ball for the first time this year. Get to practice and realize it’s actually coach pitch. After 3 pitches you can hit it off the tee. Wha??

Now, we toss to her at home, so I’m sure she will be ok. But what the heck is going on? Why are we rushing into this arms race of baseball/softball? There’s 15 kids on each team. Know how long it’s going to take to watch them miss 3 pitches then hit it off the tee? Know how long 4 year olds can focus in the field and in the dugout? Awful.

Anyone experience similar?

 

[BelemNole]

I think our 6U does that, we don't have 4U...

 

[OrlandNole]

Oh, just wait until the first kid gets hit by a pitch and charges the mound. It could get ugly, especially if they skipped their nap that day.

 

[DFSNOLE]

I'm old enough that there was no T-ball when I was a kid. Started right in at 8yo with the kids pitching.

 

[squiffynole]

Good grief, pitching to 4 year old kids teaches failure.

 

[RunRonnieRun]

I'm old enough that there was no T-ball when I was a kid. Started right in at 8yo with the kids pitching.

What did you do from ~5-8? No organized ball?

I'm 37, and we started with tee ball at 4, then coach pitch 5-6, then regular baseball starting at 7.

 

[DFSNOLE]

What did you do from ~5-8? No organized ball?

I'm 37, and we started with tee ball at 4, then coach pitch 5-6, then regular baseball starting at 7.

I'm 57. There was no T-ball or coach pitch back in the mid 60's in our area. Little League was grouped in ages 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 for Babe Ruth League.

Kids younger than that just played ball in the neighborhood.

 

[Cribbs]

My son played two seasons of tee ball and the first season the 3 pitches then hit off he tee was implemented but not the second season.

It wasn’t a big deal at all and some kids actually hit better from pitching than the tee. My kid hit better off the tee but wanted to be pitched to. The second season he was completely bored when they didn’t pitch at all.

 

[Manch.]

Manchester has hosted Babe Ruth World Series and have been to numerous others, and this past year, there was no league due to lack of interest. Sad.

When I played Little League, we started at 8 and there was no tee ball.

 

[SeaPA]

I'm 57. There was no T-ball or coach pitch back in the mid 60's in our area. Little League was grouped in ages 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 for Babe Ruth League.

Kids younger than that just played ball in the neighborhood.

I'll be 55 next month; it was the same for us. Little League started at age 8. Most of the 8 & 9 year olds, and about half of the 10 year-olds, played pitching machine. The better 10 year-olds played with the 11 & 12 year olds in live pitch (some of the 8 & 9 year-olds did, too; it was more based on skill level than solely by age).
The only other organized league we had for younger kids was basketball; same ages, 8 to 12. We didn't start playing organized, tackle football (with pads) until 8th grade. Of course, we all played in the neighborhood, just playing sandlot ball.

 

[Semiologist]

Good grief, pitching to 4 year old kids teaches failure.

For who? The kid, or the parent trying to throw an easy toss into an Eddie Gaedel sized strike zone?

 

[DFSNOLE]

For who? The kid, or the parent trying to throw an easy toss into an Eddie Gaedel sized strike zone?

When I was coaching my son in coach pitch, I was never the one on the mound. The only way I could throw half way consistently was by throwing too hard for them to hit. Then all I did was worry about plunking one of them.

 

[BOwens21]

My son (just turned 5 last week) played t-ball last year as a very young 4 year old. They do coach pitch. He hit much better with a pitch than off the tee. He's a lefty so sometimes would hit a ball directly to the first baseman, and about the only time he hit off the tee was in a close game a couple times they put him off the tee and aimed him more toward third base. But he could also hit the ball off the 8u pitching machine throwing 45 mph. He didn't hit it hard but he could put it in play at 4 years old.

There were some kids on his team that hit off the tee every time because the coaches knew they couldn't hit a pitch.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

The first time I hit off a tee, it was on a road cone and it went backwards over a fence and hit Bart Johnson's mom on the head.

 

[dmm5157]

What did you do from ~5-8? No organized ball?

I'm 37, and we started with tee ball at 4, then coach pitch 5-6, then regular baseball starting at 7.

Same here.

 

[Seminolejon78]

Tallahassee had Atom and Cub leagues even back in the 1960s but there was no T-ball or coach pitch.

 

[Zeek99]

The first time I hit off a tee, it was on a road cone and it went backwards over a fence and hit Bart Johnson's mom on the head.

That's talent to hit a stationary ball backwards.

 

[goldmom]

I'm old enough that there was no T-ball when I was a kid. Started right in at 8yo with the kids pitching.

Made a man out of you, too!

 

[Semiologist]

The first time I hit off a tee, it was on a road cone and it went backwards over a fence and hit Bart Johnson's mom on the head.

That's a live ball in Cricket.

 

[montconole]

Baseball coaches are weird people. I had a coach tell me I needed to get my son into travel as soon as possible to expose him to HS scouts so he could get a good scholarship. I asked if he really though the he had the skills to earn one of the eleven scholarships to a D-1 Program and he said he was tracking in that direction. My next question asked whether he realized my son was just six years old.

 

[BelemNole]

I'm 57. There was no T-ball or coach pitch back in the mid 60's in our area. Little League was grouped in ages 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 for Babe Ruth League.

Kids younger than that just played ball in the neighborhood.

I'm a little less than a decade younger and I played t-ball but I think it was brand new as I have a newspaper clipping showing me hitting off a tee and the headline was something about "it's a game called T-ball!"

 

[mcgrawfsu]

With the LL age change, we have 3 year olds playing tee ball. Then they want their kids to play up because they've already played tee ball for 2 years. Everyone is in a race to move kids up to coach pitch, then kid pitch. The first year of kid pitch is SO boring its crazy.

Some of the tee ball coaches will underhand toss to the kids, which wastes a bunch of time. I don't care if they want to do it in practice, but by wasting time they are taking away extra opportunities to hit and field..

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

When I was coaching my son in coach pitch, I was never the one on the mound. The only way I could throw half way consistently was by throwing too hard for them to hit. Then all I did was worry about plunking one of them.

Never yo early for brush back pitches. Lol

Problem with coach pitch is most coaches compensate by moving closer to home plate. Kids that age just can't see the ball and get the bat around fast enough.

Better to back up a bit and let their brains have time to process the ball and actually swing.

 

[GwinnettNole]

What is worse in youth baseball?
a) the coaches in a travel league
b) the parents

 

[BelemNole]

What is worse in youth baseball?
a) the coaches in a travel league
b) the parents

Trick question - the worst parents in youth baseball become coaches in a travel league.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

Trick question - the worst parents in youth baseball become coaches in a travel league.

Great response. I started coaching because my son ended up with a cruddy coach 2 years in a row. Then was coerced into starting a travel team. After one season we tried several times to hire a coach that didn't have a kid on the team, but it didn't work out. So I was stuck coaching it for 4 seasons. I'm happy to say our last season ended in December and he will be moving to a 13u academy team in the fall.

Too many guys get into coaching because their kid wasn't being given a "fair shot". So now their kid plays every inning and bats leadoff, and some other kids are now getting shafted.

 

[ohio#1nolefan]

Good grief, pitching to 4 year old kids teaches failure.

What's the problem with it?
My kid as well as others on here, hit the thrown ball better than hitting off the tee.
Should kids be taught everything is a success?

 

[sunset30a]

I'm 57. There was no T-ball or coach pitch back in the mid 60's in our area. Little League was grouped in ages 8-10, 11-12 and 13-15 for Babe Ruth League.

Kids younger than that just played ball in the neighborhood.

Yep, and we kept score

 

[MIKE_G]

45 and there was no t-ball where I grew up in NY. Little League started at 8 and you had Minors, Intermediates, and Majors. Kids pitched from the get-go. We had tryouts and if you were good enough you got “called up” during the season. I played I believe one year of minors and one year of intermediates and got the call to go up to majors but turned it down. I remember walking by the majors game that I would have been playing in seeing the kid that was probably the one who replaced me shaking like a leaf standing in the batter’s box against some kid who looked to be already shaving throwing heat from the mound.

 

[wbnolefan2]

Can you complain about "rushing into an arms race" while also having a 4 year old playing?

 

[Nolefan23]

Can you complain about "rushing into an arms race" while also having a 4 year old playing?

Having a 4 year old play T-ball? I don't see the connection. But solid troll.

 

[62Nole]

I've told my age in other posts so I won't go there, but baseball had not been invented when I was small.

The first quasi-organized ballgame was at Holiday Park in Ft. Lauderdale circa 1950. We lived in Pompano so I had to walk the 7 miles, bare-footed in the snow to the park. But like someone said earlier, most of our ball at that time
was with a tennis ball in back yards. No parents. No fans. No umpires.
Just a bunch of kids having fun and learning to settle arguments on our own.

Oh!! I would suggest that those 4 and 5 year olds go ahead and have Tommy
John surgery now before they get in school. Beat others to it and it will be cheaper now than 10-15 years from now.

 

[cfbfan23]

If you're pitching, make sure the kids get a little chin music.