Although I never played baseball, I was very familiar with the game. Because of age restrictions I played a lot of fast pitch softball. My neighbor Bob across the street came over to talk little league with me. It seems that his two boys were both on little league teams but spent all their time riding the bench. I realize there are rules covering this, but rules I guess were written to be broken.
I was very familiar with this as my son had a similar experience with Little League. He spent the season as a pinch hitter. At the end of the season, they had a team picnic. This was to include a dads against the kids softball game. The coach announced for us to play our son’s position. My son said very loud and clear, “Dad go sit on the bench!” However, since I had actually been a fast pitch pitcher I was relegated to that position. This probably explains why my son only played one year of Little League and went to soccer.
Bob had this idea to get a team made up of the players who were mostly bench riders. I thought this was a great idea. He said he would take care of the recruiting and paperwork if I could help with on field practice and games. I immediately said yes.
We put together the group and named them the Rockford Nightmares. We had regular practices emphasizing basic skills needed. We instructed all the parents that their job was to sit in the stands and applaud their kids no matter what happened. We played the entire season and never won a game. However, due to the practices and encouragement these boys were able to join and contribute to other teams.
My son became a very good soccer player.
Jill Smith
Soccer is better anyways, LOL.