This is exactly what I hoped would happen. Inner city baseball has been dropping off for years (mostly because equipment is much more expensive than a basketball), but a story like Mo’Ne’s and the Taney Dragons is getting kids interested again. Hallelujah!
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Taney Dragons baseball team is playing their 2nd game in this year’s Little League World Series at 7pm Sunday against Pearlman, Texas.
The Dragons and their star pitcher Mo’Ne Davis are inspiring a lot of kids from the Delaware Valley to get out and play some baseball.
On most Sunday afternoons 12-year-old McKie Walker is usually at home watching TV or playing video games, but this week he’s with a few of his buddies at Fairmount Park sharpening his baseball skills.
“I’m inspired to play better, so I can try and make it to the Little League World series,” he said.
McKie says his extra jolt of motivation comes from Mo’Ne Davis and those Taney Dragons. “She inspires me to throw better pitches than I can do,” he said. “I’m learning how to throw a better curve ball, because I see she’s getting a lot of strike outs throwing gas, curveballs and changeups.”
But the coach of the team Taney beat for the state championship is filing a complaint that Taney broke the Little League rules. He says Taney has an “unfair advantage” because they can draw from the entire city.
Man. When I think of the resources suburban Little Leaguers have as opposed to the city (here, they have to travel to different crappy playgrounds and no, their parents don’t normally send them to summer clinics with former MLB stars), I just have to laugh. Hell, they didn’t even have real uniforms.
No crying in baseball, fellas!
Some teams have an “unfair advantage.” Take Puerto Rico for example where no 11 to 13 year old kid on the island is less than 6′ tall or weighs less than 160 lbs. Or Japan where no 11 to 13 year old runs the 100 yard dash in less than world record time. Or the United States where every 11 to 13 year old girl can play baseball better than any 11 to 13 year old boy. Unfair advantage indeed.
Wasn’t it Taiwan where every 12-year-old player was at least 16 years old?