Westfield 12 Year Old Ruled Too Strong To Pitch For His Little League Team

WESTFIELD – At first glance, Tanner Beebe looks like any other ordinary 12-year-old, not the subject of a controversy that has engulfed Little League baseball in a city with a passion for the sport. He stands 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 90 pounds, a healthy, but not physically imposing, youngster. But there is power in his right arm – too much power for some parents in Westfield and for the rules makers of Little League, Inc. “I’m getting in trouble and being punished because I’m too good,” says Beebe, who continues to play on his team in the city’s “minor league,” but was banned from pitching after doing so in two games. In the Westfield case, Tanner was the beginner. He was in full compliance with a local rule that, unbeknownst to him, conflicted with a national rule. He was also a 12-year-old who was playing in a division of almost entirely younger players, some as young as 9.

Well talk about a misleading headline here.  I mean if you told me when I first got emailed this story and read the headline that I’d be on the Little League’s side here I would have told you that you are nuts. But this is as black and white as it gets. Hey kid it’s not that you’re too good.  It’s that you’re beating up on 9 year olds.  You’re pitching vs. kids half your age. Get over yourself. There is no doubt in my mind this dude sandbagged tryouts so he could play vs toddlers. So cry me a river that you can’t pitch. No shit you can’t pitch. You shouldn’t even be allowed to play. 12 year olds shouldn’t be allowed to play in the minors period. Go be a 2 inning guy in the majors.  The fact that Tanner and his dad even spoke to the media is mind boggling.  If MassLive calls for a quote you should hide under your bed. Don’t start thumping your chest and say it’s because you’re too good when the reason is clearly age.