# 2019 Little League World Series **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 17, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774 "2019-08-17T00:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/1 "2019-08-17T00:51:26Z")
In a first round game, a pitcher for Rhode Island gave up a two run home run to Virginia. As the batter rounded third base, the pitcher high fives him. He has been lauded for sportsmanship. However, a significant number of comments were critical. One example was a person who suggested that if it were their son they would have pulled him from the field and made him take off the uniform because of his loser attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/2 "2019-08-17T01:21:33Z")
Lots of people are assholes. Sports parents are much more likely to be assholes. People who invest their emotions in sports are more likely to be assholes. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/3 "2019-08-17T02:55:05Z")
The problem I see with this is, it makes it look like the pitcher may have intentionally thrown an “easy” pitch. Okay, in Williamsport, it’s not likely to happen, as these kids have already spent most of their summers having to play baseball, but it is the kind of thing you might see a kid who doesn’t want to spend the rest of his summer in strangers’ homes (they still have “host families” for tournaments, right?) do in an earlier round (why, yes, I do watch _South Park_…). Edit: it turns out it wasn’t in Williamsport, but in one of the regionals (where the winners go to Williamsport), and it was because the home run was, for lack of a better word for it, massive - it was over a rather large scoreboard behind the center field fence. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/4 "2019-08-17T06:03:54Z")
Many parents of such kids are living their own never-happened sports dreams vicariously through their kids, and get upset when their kids don’t do what THEY (the parents) would have done or have wanted to do had they been on the field. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/5 "2019-08-17T13:05:05Z")
This is the first team from Virginia to make it to the LLWS in 25 years. Hope this and other controversies don’t overshadow the accomplishments of these teams. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/6 "2019-08-17T17:28:34Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > In a first round game, a pitcher for Rhode Island gave up a two run home run to Virginia. As the batter rounded third base, the pitcher high fives him. He has been lauded for sportsmanship. However, a significant number of comments were critical. One example was a person who suggested that if it were their son they would have pulled him from the field and made him take off the uniform because of his loser attitude. I know who’s got a loser’s attitude, and it’s not the kid. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/7 "2019-08-17T23:00:08Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > This is the first team from Virginia to make it to the LLWS in 25 years. Hope this and other controversies don’t overshadow the accomplishments of these teams. It wasn’t the Viriginia team that hit the home run - it was the Massachusetts team, that ended up losing to Rhode Island in the New England regional championship. Virginia did play Rhode Island in the first round of the LLWS tournament at Williamsport, and that made its own headlines when three Virginia pitchers combined for a no-hitter. (They used three pitchers because of Little League’s pitch-count rules; in tournament play, a pitcher can throw 35 pitches a day and come back after one day of rest. Note that, in “ye olden days,” the only rule was, no one could pitch in consecutive tournament games in the same tournament level.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/8 "2019-08-17T23:27:57Z")
The high-fiving pitcher kid sounds awesome. I hope his parents were proud. He had two choices in the situation… Blame himself, be dejected, and lose confidence in himself. Or, appreciate the awesome accomplishment of a rival and join in the celebration. Which is more constructive? ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/9 "2019-08-18T01:45:58Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > It wasn’t the Viriginia team that hit the home run - it was the Massachusetts team, that ended up losing to Rhode Island in the New England regional championship. > > Virginia did play Rhode Island in the first round of the LLWS tournament at Williamsport, and that made its own headlines when three Virginia pitchers combined for a no-hitter. (They used three pitchers because of Little League’s pitch-count rules; in tournament play, a pitcher can throw 35 pitches a day and come back after one day of rest. Note that, in “ye olden days,” the only rule was, no one could pitch in consecutive tournament games in the same tournament level.) I haven’t watched all the games but this is home run by the Virginia team: [link](https://nesn.com/2019/08/new-england-little-league-pitcher-shows-great-world-series-sportsmanship/) The Regional games with Rhode Island vs Massachusetts had controversy with accusations of stealing signs. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/10 "2019-08-18T19:50:41Z")
I’lladmit That i’m only following this because the Virginia team is from an adjacent county. They had a second consecutive no-hitter, beating Minnesota 11-0 in 4 innings. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/11 "2019-08-18T20:17:43Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/12 "2019-08-19T00:47:34Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > I haven’t watched all the games but this is home run by the Virginia team: [link](https://nesn.com/2019/08/new-england-little-league-pitcher-shows-great-world-series-sportsmanship/) Ah…got it. Note that the two home runs were off of different pitchers from that Rhode Island team, so it wasn’t just a case of one kid doing it by himself. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2019-little-league-world-series/838774/13 "2019-08-19T01:20:35Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > He had two choices in the situation… Blame himself, be dejected, and lose confidence in himself. Or, appreciate the awesome accomplishment of a rival and join in the celebration. Third choice: smile calmly and tell himself “Good batters do that - all part of the game. Better be a tad more careful with the next one.” For the record: It wasn’t a high five - more like a fist bump with glove on. And I don’t think it signifies a loser’s attitude.