[lex24]

When I played the zone was armpits to top of the knee. In college you could win by pitching to spots if you couldn't throw extra hard. In pro ball you could also pitch inside without some brain dead hotshot rushing the mound or giving you the hate look to show he was a "Man." We had a brushback sign and nobody took offense. Most of the field fights I was involved in occurred because of a high spike except that Dirty Al could get you into a fight by just showing up.

Shoot, we had the brushback sign in Little League.  I recall playing against a team with a very wild pitcher, who hit three of our batters in the first three innings, including me and my best friend on the team.  When that pitcher came up, I was catching, and I gave our pitcher the sign by patting the inside of my knee.  Our pitcher (who our star, and who was Lee Mazzilli's nephew when Lee was 19 and in the midst of his rookie-A Ball Mets season), drilled him in the back.  Murmurs of appreciation went up among the fathers, and none of the mothers said anything.  

Boy, how times have changed.

Ha ha Mick, I had much the same experience.  Bobbk might remember this -- at the level of Little League I played in, 12-yr-olds were not allowed to pitch.  This was called the "Richie rule" after this gigantic obnoxious kid who wore the original coke-bottle glasses and threw flaming heat but was so wild that not even he had any idea where the ball was going.  No one wanted to face Richie.  One game he plunked the first 3 batters with his first 3 pitches, squinting and sneering at them as they hobbled down to first.  The next kid up was the manager's son.  The manager immediately ran out and told the ump his team was forfeiting the game.  The next week, another manager did the same thing before Richie even got to throw his first pitch.

The next year, when Richie turned 12, the managers apparently met with some parents and passed a rule prohibiting any 12-yr-old from pitching at that level.  I was 11 that year and, without the fear of retaliation from Ritchie, had the great pleasure of sending him sprawling in the dirt with a high hard one behind his shoulder blades.  Sure, it was Little League but from 45 ft away we all looked like Koufax.  Every other 11-yr-old pitcher in the league took a revenge shot at Richie that year.  And the so-called "protective headgear" we had back then was more like a pair of plastic ear muffs than anything else.

I did get beaned once -- in practice.  Our manager was throwing BP and told me to stand in there and not move because he was going to throw a curveball that would break over the plate.  That was the last time I trusted that idiot.

Well, maybe this sounds wimpy but I’m thinking ending bean ball wars in LL is probably a good thing.

I don’t remember our league having that issue.  But I did bean a third baseman once.  Maybe the hardest ball I hit all year hit him square in the forehead. Ball caromed to right center and rolled under the fence. He dropped like a stone. Scared the hell out of me.  He was fine, of course.  Even my hardest hit ball lacked exit velocity.  Classic contact hitter…..

[lex24]

When I played the zone was armpits to top of the knee. In college you could win by pitching to spots if you couldn't throw extra hard. In pro ball you could also pitch inside without some brain dead hotshot rushing the mound or giving you the hate look to show he was a "Man." We had a brushback sign and nobody took offense. Most of the field fights I was involved in occurred because of a high spike except that Dirty Al could get you into a fight by just showing up.

Shoot, we had the brushback sign in Little League.  I recall playing against a team with a very wild pitcher, who hit three of our batters in the first three innings, including me and my best friend on the team.  When that pitcher came up, I was catching, and I gave our pitcher the sign by patting the inside of my knee.  Our pitcher (who our star, and who was Lee Mazzilli's nephew when Lee was 19 and in the midst of his rookie-A Ball Mets season), drilled him in the back.  Murmurs of appreciation went up among the fathers, and none of the mothers said anything.  

Boy, how times have changed.

Ha ha Mick, I had much the same experience.  Bobbk might remember this -- at the level of Little League I played in, 12-yr-olds were not allowed to pitch.  This was called the "Richie rule" after this gigantic obnoxious kid who wore the original coke-bottle glasses and threw flaming heat but was so wild that not even he had any idea where the ball was going.  No one wanted to face Richie.  One game he plunked the first 3 batters with his first 3 pitches, squinting and sneering at them as they hobbled down to first.  The next kid up was the manager's son.  The manager immediately ran out and told the ump his team was forfeiting the game.  The next week, another manager did the same thing before Richie even got to throw his first pitch.

The next year, when Richie turned 12, the managers apparently met with some parents and passed a rule prohibiting any 12-yr-old from pitching at that level.  I was 11 that year and, without the fear of retaliation from Ritchie, had the great pleasure of sending him sprawling in the dirt with a high hard one behind his shoulder blades.  Sure, it was Little League but from 45 ft away we all looked like Koufax.  Every other 11-yr-old pitcher in the league took a revenge shot at Richie that year.  And the so-called "protective headgear" we had back then was more like a pair of plastic ear muffs than anything else.

I did get beaned once -- in practice.  Our manager was throwing BP and told me to stand in there and not move because he was going to throw a curveball that would break over the plate.  That was the last time I trusted that idiot.

Well, maybe this sounds wimpy but I’m thinking ending bean ball wars in LL is probably a good thing.

I don’t remember our league having that issue.  But I did bean a third baseman once.  Maybe the hardest ball I hit all year hit him square in the forehead. Ball caromed to right center and rolled under the fence. He dropped like a stone. Scared the hell out of me.  He was fine, of course.  Even my hardest hit ball lacked exit velocity.  Classic contact hitter…..