Flipping out over bat flips

That’s kind of what Little League International is facing as a ruling made during a tournament game in New Jersey has put the organization in the spotlight.

Of course the parents have filed a court injunction to have their child reinstated after he was suspended for a game for, ostensibly, flipping his bat following a home run during his team’s championship win in the section playoffs that advanced it to the state tournament.

But there is no specific rule against flipping a bat following a home run in the Little League rule book. Nor is there any rule about the throwing of a bat, unless it impedes a defender from making a play.

The umpire who ejected the player reportedly used a “no horse play” “or unsportsmanlike” rule to make the subjective decision to kick the player out of the game.

And therein lies the biggest problem: allowing a rule so subjective to be interpreted. If it was clearly delineated in the rule book, one that describes the violation and the punishment, there really could not be any argument.

Which is what happened with the San Mateo National 11s All-Star team. It had a player and the team manager ejected from a game in the Section 3 tournament for an illegal bat violation.

Until this season, the rule stipulated only that the bat was removed from the game and any advanced runners go back to the previous base.

But the rule was changed this year to the ejection rule that was used in the San Mateo National case. Clear cut.

But the situation in New Jersey doesn’t fall under that. With no rule specifically banning the action, it is left to an umpire, on any given day, to make a ruling. And it doesn’t help that any cursory internet search of “Little League World Series bat flips” collates a slew of videos from over the years and not one player is ejected for flipping his bat.

So Little League either condones it or … it doesn’t?

A seasoned, nuanced umpire may have discreetly, or loudly, issued a warning. This Jersey kid had apparently bat flipped several times previously — along with many others — and had never been reprimanded before.

Now suddenly, not only was there no warning, but went right to ejection? Seems harsh.

Some diehards will say none of this — the jewelry, the overt bat-flip celebrations, the dancing on the bases — belongs in the game. These baseball fans adhere to the old adage of, “Act like you’ve been there before” and believe it is incumbent on the parents and/or coaches to keep these kind of antics out of the game.

But it’s a whole new baseball world. This generation of Little Leaguers have grown up on a diet of blinged-out ball players at the Major League Level. While bat flips still carry some consequences at the professional level, the college and travel/club game, especially, is awash in these antics.

And many of these Little League all stars also play club and travel ball in many cases and see it at these youth tournaments across the country: the dripped-out kid with the designer bat backpack with a pair of $600 bats stuffed on either side; who wear the “war paint” eye black and celebrate every single accomplishment on the baseball diamond.

Making it the Big Leagues has always been called making “The Show.” Now it has become a show on the way to Bigs.

But Little League does not run its program that way. It is the “old-school way” of playing youth baseball, one where respect for the game in as tantamount to the game as the play itself. And it’s perfectly acceptable to run its program the way it sees fit.

But it really needs to get ahead of these kind of issues we’re seeing unfold in New Jersey. Make bat flips legal, make them illegal, whatever. But pick a stance and then explicitly state it in the rule book.

While the youth-sports sphere has been rumbling over this story, what many fail to comprehend is that this New Jersey player’s season is not over. Because his team won the Section 4 tournament, it advanced to the four-team, double-elimination New Jersey state tournament. So if the suspension is upheld, he will only miss his team’s tournament-opening game, but would be eligible for a second game, win or lose, and any subsequent games going forward.

Personally, I think it’s all over the top. The bat flipping, especially, can be a little aggressive and it does show up the other team, never mind any kind of safety concerns when propellering a metal bat through the air.

There is a rule in the Little League rule book that cover an umpires’ responsibility to the game, section 9.01(c): “Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules.”

While I get the rule book can’t possibly think of everything that could happen in a baseball game — as I’ve said in this space before — this seems like one of those things that can easily addressed: bat flip equals ejection or it doesn’t, but Little League should pick one.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.