First off, I have to congratulate the Japanese Little League World Series team for capturing the World Series crown. They were a talented group that played well.
This post is not meant as a shot at the Japanese team, but did you notice when, at a crucial point in the game, the runner at second was telling the hitter where the catcher was setting up. I understand that the runner may be trying to be a good teammate, as I discussed in my previous post. But there is a line of sportsmanship, fair play and competition that was crossed.
The beauty of baseball is that it is a team game, but at the same time, is a series of individual battles. In this case, it was pitcher versus hitter. But the hitter was getting help from the Japanese runner at second base.
Do you ever why you do not see players at the Major League level doing the same actions? Well the answer is simple. If a runner is caught giving away signs, this typically results in someone getting hit with a pitch.
I am not going to discuss if it is appropriate for a pitcher to ever intentionally throw at a batter. But I think that you can learn what poor sportsmanship is through the Japanese player.
By the way, the batter made an out. This goes to show that even when the hitter knows where the pitch is being thrown, hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things to do in sports.
www.tothetopperformance.com
No comments:
Post a Comment