2019 Little League World Series

[SunCoastBlueHen]

Is stealing signs really cheating? Come up with better f-ing signs if you don't want them stolen.

Yes, it's specifically forbidden in LL. RI had their whole team coached up to steal the catcher's pitch signals.

That's a bunch of crap. Teach the catcher to give better signals instead. The art of covert communication is very much a part of the game of baseball.

[UNI88]

Yes, it's specifically forbidden in LL. RI had their whole team coached up to steal the catcher's pitch signals.

That's a bunch of crap. Teach the catcher to give better signals instead. The art of covert communication is very much a part of the game of baseball.

Smart kids are going to steal signals but it's not a good thing for coaches to teach kids how to steal signals when it's specifically against the rules.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

That's a bunch of crap. Teach the catcher to give better signals instead. The art of covert communication is very much a part of the game of baseball.

Smart kids are going to steal signals but it's not a good thing for coaches to teach kids how to steal signals when it's specifically against the rules.

I'm questioning the rule, not excusing the coaches.

[UNI88]

Smart kids are going to steal signals but it's not a good thing for coaches to teach kids how to steal signals when it's specifically against the rules.

I'm questioning the rule, not excusing the coaches.

Valid question.

[GannonFan]

Smart kids are going to steal signals but it's not a good thing for coaches to teach kids how to steal signals when it's specifically against the rules.

I'm questioning the rule, not excusing the coaches.

Hey, in MLB, I'm right with you. Heck, in college and high school baseball I'm right with you. But these are 12 year old and younger kids (remember, no 13 year olds anymore, and the average age of a kid playing little league baseball is 9 or 10, so this is the culmination of all of those years). There's plenty of time to start playing cutthroat baseball later on. Just play the game, respect the rule, and move on. Heck, I'd rather the kids learn how to hit a pitch they don't know coming rather than get a leg up at this age - that's a lot more useful later on.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

I'm questioning the rule, not excusing the coaches.

Hey, in MLB, I'm right with you. Heck, in college and high school baseball I'm right with you. But these are 12 year old and younger kids (remember, no 13 year olds anymore, and the average age of a kid playing little league baseball is 9 or 10, so this is the culmination of all of those years). There's plenty of time to start playing cutthroat baseball later on. Just play the game, respect the rule, and move on. Heck, I'd rather the kids learn how to hit a pitch they don't know coming rather than get a leg up at this age - that's a lot more useful later on.

This is right in line with, "everyone gets a trophy" to me.

"Coach, he's stealing my signs!"

"Well, that's not very nice, little Johnny. There should be a rule against that."

"Thanks, coach! I feel better now".

Teach the kid the proper way to give a sign so that it is not stolen or for God's sake have the coaches show some kind of creativity to present the signs. It's part of the game at any level.

[Chizzang]

Hey, in MLB, I'm right with you. Heck, in college and high school baseball I'm right with you. But these are 12 year old and younger kids (remember, no 13 year olds anymore, and the average age of a kid playing little league baseball is 9 or 10, so this is the culmination of all of those years). There's plenty of time to start playing cutthroat baseball later on. Just play the game, respect the rule, and move on. Heck, I'd rather the kids learn how to hit a pitch they don't know coming rather than get a leg up at this age - that's a lot more useful later on.

This is right in line with, "everyone gets a trophy" to me.

"Coach, he's stealing my signs!"

"Well, that's not very nice, little Johnny. There should be a rule against that."

"Thanks, coach! I feel better now".

Teach the kid the proper way to give a sign so that it is not stolen or for God's sake have the coaches show some kind of creativity to present the signs. It's part of the game at any level.

[CAA Flagship]

Hey, in MLB, I'm right with you. Heck, in college and high school baseball I'm right with you. But these are 12 year old and younger kids (remember, no 13 year olds anymore, and the average age of a kid playing little league baseball is 9 or 10, so this is the culmination of all of those years). There's plenty of time to start playing cutthroat baseball later on. Just play the game, respect the rule, and move on. Heck, I'd rather the kids learn how to hit a pitch they don't know coming rather than get a leg up at this age - that's a lot more useful later on.

This is right in line with, "everyone gets a trophy" to me.

"Coach, he's stealing my signs!"

"Well, that's not very nice, little Johnny. There should be a rule against that."

"Thanks, coach! I feel better now".

Teach the kid the proper way to give a sign so that it is not stolen or for God's sake have the coaches show some kind of creativity to present the signs. It's part of the game at any level.

I agree. It takes a lot more time to learn how to throw a curve ball than it does to develop a system of signs that can't be stolen. It's really not that hard. It can be done in a matter of minutes.
I would love to be the coach of a team that the signs were trying to be stolen. It would turn into an advantage.
1st pitch: Batter thinks a curve ball is coming. Fastball
2nd pitch: Batter thinks a fastball is coming. Curve ball
3rd pitch: Batter is pissed he is getting bad information. The anger consumes him. He sees the runner on second signalling to him He's debating to believe it or not. He's a dead man.

And it only takes that one time early in the game to thwart future attempts.

[CAA Flagship]

Minnesota 2 Kentucky 1 - Final

[SunCoastBlueHen]

This is right in line with, "everyone gets a trophy" to me.

"Coach, he's stealing my signs!"

"Well, that's not very nice, little Johnny. There should be a rule against that."

"Thanks, coach! I feel better now".

Teach the kid the proper way to give a sign so that it is not stolen or for God's sake have the coaches show some kind of creativity to present the signs. It's part of the game at any level.

I agree. It takes a lot more time to learn how to throw a curve ball than it does to develop a system of signs that can't be stolen. It's really not that hard. It can be done in a matter of minutes.
I would love to be the coach of a team that the signs were trying to be stolen. It would turn into an advantage.
1st pitch: Batter thinks a curve ball is coming. Fastball
2nd pitch: Batter thinks a fastball is coming. Curve ball
3rd pitch: Batter is pissed he is getting bad information. The anger consumes him. He sees the runner on second signalling to him He's debating to believe it or not. He's a dead man.

And it only takes that one time early in the game to thwart future attempts.

My brother is 12 years younger than me and I coached his teams from the time he was 10 until the time he was 15. I also had a paying job while in college coaching a close by middle school team.

At all of those levels, pitches were called from the dugout and I had a very simple system that even a ten year old could understand. I wore a watch. I would flash a sign with each hand, the watch hand was live. After a little while, I would move the watch to the other hand. Nobody ever caught on and I got a lot of joy out of hearing the other dugout yell "curveball" shortly after a switched the watch to have a fastball go by the batter. After that, they are second guessing and the whole "stealing signs" things has been turned to your advantage.

BTW, I can't take credit for this simple sign system, it was used by one of my coaches when I was a kid. A little creativitiy goes a long way. It's not rocket surgery.

[Chizzang]

I agree. It takes a lot more time to learn how to throw a curve ball than it does to develop a system of signs that can't be stolen. It's really not that hard. It can be done in a matter of minutes.
I would love to be the coach of a team that the signs were trying to be stolen. It would turn into an advantage.
1st pitch: Batter thinks a curve ball is coming. Fastball
2nd pitch: Batter thinks a fastball is coming. Curve ball
3rd pitch: Batter is pissed he is getting bad information. The anger consumes him. He sees the runner on second signalling to him He's debating to believe it or not. He's a dead man.

And it only takes that one time early in the game to thwart future attempts.

My brother is 12 years younger than me and I coached his teams from the time he was 10 until the time he was 15. I also had a paying job while in college coaching a close by middle school team.

At all of those levels, pitches were called from the dugout and I had a very simple system that even a ten year old could understand. I wore a watch. I would flash a sign with each hand, the watch hand was live. After a little while, I would move the watch to the other hand. Nobody ever caught on and I got a lot of joy out of hearing the other dugout yell "curveball" shortly after a switched the watch to have a fastball go by the batter. After that, they are second guessing and the whole "stealing signs" things has been turned to your advantage.

BTW, I can't take credit for this simple sign system, it was used by one of my coaches when I was a kid. A little creativitiy goes a long way. It's not rocket surgery.

My dad was our third base coach and base running / batting coach when I was in high school
He was a master at signs
we did it by innings - even innings right hand right side of his body - odd innings left hand left side

I enjoyed the hell out of that
and he'd always announce the inning loudly

[CAA Flagship]

Hawaii 5 Louisiana 2 - Final
New Jersey 6 Oregon 2 - Final

[CAA Flagship]

My brother is 12 years younger than me and I coached his teams from the time he was 10 until the time he was 15. I also had a paying job while in college coaching a close by middle school team.

At all of those levels, pitches were called from the dugout and I had a very simple system that even a ten year old could understand. I wore a watch. I would flash a sign with each hand, the watch hand was live. After a little while, I would move the watch to the other hand. Nobody ever caught on and I got a lot of joy out of hearing the other dugout yell "curveball" shortly after a switched the watch to have a fastball go by the batter. After that, they are second guessing and the whole "stealing signs" things has been turned to your advantage.

BTW, I can't take credit for this simple sign system, it was used by one of my coaches when I was a kid. A little creativitiy goes a long way. It's not rocket surgery.

My dad was our third base coach and base running / batting coach when I was in high school
He was a master at signs
we did it by innings - even innings right hand right side of his body - odd innings left hand left side

I enjoyed the hell out of that
and he'd always announce the inning loudly

Yeah, there are many ways to do it.

So if a pitcher has three pitches, (1=fastball, 2=curve, 3=changeup), the catcher will flash 3 or 4 signs with a runner on second. The real sign can be either one of the four flashed signs and it is determined before each batter. I know a team that used colored cards that they would post in the dugout. Each color represented which sign was real (example: red for the first sign, white for the second, blue for the third, etc.). They even had decoy colors that defaulted to the first sign.

I've heard some teams go to a +1,-1 system where on a +1, a fastball (1) would be a 2 (1+1). A 3 would be a fastball as 3+1 would wrap around to the 1. The -1 would be the reverse. It's simple math but it seems that might cause some mistakes.

[CAA Flagship]

Rhody (1-1) eliminates Kentucky (0-2) 6-1

Canada sends Wops home 7-0. Wops lost 20-0 and 7-0.

[93henfan]

Rhody (1-1) eliminates Kentucky (0-2) 6-1

Canada sends Wops home 7-0. Wops lost 20-0 and 7-0.

Bad pizza in Williamsport.

[UNI88]

Rhody (1-1) eliminates Kentucky (0-2) 6-1

Canada sends Wops home 7-0. Wops lost 20-0 and 7-0.

New Jersey had a team in the llws?

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[CAA Flagship]

Rhody (1-1) eliminates Kentucky (0-2) 6-1

Canada sends Wops home 7-0. Wops lost 20-0 and 7-0.

New Jersey had a team in the llws?

Yes, but they are Puerto Rican.

[CAA Flagship]

Virginia (2-0) beats Minnesota (1-1) 11-0 in 4 innings. Virginia has yet to give up a hit through 2 games.

[UNI88]

New Jersey had a team in the llws?

Yes, but they are Puerto Rican.

How can you tell the difference?

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[GannonFan]

Good time in Williamsport on Saturday. We actually did the Little League Museum at the top of the hill - I hadn't done that since I was a kid. Worked out nicely because it was sunny and hot on Saturday so getting out of the sun for an hour was nice. We got there early enough that we finally got good seats on the hill - just at the crest of the hill so anyone in front of us was much lower than we were - made for good views. Got in the stadium to see the Canada/Italy game - the Italians were the smallest team I think I've ever seen at the LLWS - I'm not sure all of them were 12 years old. I know sometimes it's hard for teams to be formed in places where baseball isn't ubiquitous, but they weren't even very good from just a normal team standpoint, let alone a team that somehow got to Williamsport. We ended up leaving around 7PM because of the weather (never actually rained, but there were a lot of storms circling around the area). Went into Williamsport the town and found a really good brick oven restaurant for dinner. Good times.

Oh, and there are 4 legit teams in this tourney - Hawaii, Virginia, South Korea, and Japan. Everyone else is just happy to be there (except the New England team, they're just pissed they can't find another way to cheat in this tournament - quintessential New Englanders indeed).

[CAA Flagship]

Yes, but they are Puerto Rican.

How can you tell the difference?

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Sauce stains on the front of the shirts of the Wops.

[CAA Flagship]

Hawaii (2-0) beat New Jersey (1-1) 6-0

[dbackjon]

How can you tell the difference?

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Sauce stains on the front of the shirts of the Wops.

Both have sauce stains - Marinara on the Wops, Salsa on the Ricans

[UNI88]

Sauce stains on the front of the shirts of the Wops.

Both have sauce stains - Marinara on the Wops, Salsa on the Ricans

Isn't Salsa a dance to the Ricans? Maybe Rum stains?

[CAA Flagship]

Sauce stains on the front of the shirts of the Wops.

Both have sauce stains - Marinara on the Wops, Salsa on the Ricans

Don't push me.