Posted on 07/15/2005 7:53:16 PM PDT by nypokerface
PITTSBURGH - A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.
Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.
Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and didn't play, police said.
"The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."
Downs has an unpublished telephone number and couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
He was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges including criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and corruption of minors. He was released from jail on an unsecured bond.
The alleged assault happened June 27 in North Union Township, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, authorities said.
The boy's mother asked state police to investigate her son's injuries because she suspected Downs wanted to keep the boy off the field, despite a league rule that required each player to participate in three innings a game, Broadwater said.
Eric Forsythe, the president of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, said Downs had two daughters on the T-ball team.
League organizers investigated accusations against Downs before the T-ball season ended earlier this month but could not prove that he did anything wrong. If Downs is convicted of any crime, he won't be allowed to be a coach next year, Forsythe said. The league is not affiliated with Little League International.
He should've paid the kid who performed the hit another $25. to be quiet.....
Hahahaha ... my first thought too!!!
Unnngh.
Too many 'Burgh Ping Things tonite.
This "coach" is a double wide sphincter
That coach is a balless idiot.
The parents of the disabled child
should get 50 throws of a hardball
at this guys head and what is left
of him, lock him up.
Send him to Iraq to teach ball.
This is deplorable. The coach is not only over-competitive, he's a bully and a coward.
Throw him in jail without protection from the other inmantes.
speechless. This is beyond disgusting.
I coached soccer and take a bit of pride in the fact that our team never won a game.
We came close a number of times against even the best teams.
Because I was new to the league, I got a lot of younger and "special" kids dumped on me.
At the beginning of the season, I measured multiple metrics to evaluate the kids performance at kicking, dribbling, shooting, blocking, etc and recorded them. At the end of the season, I measured them again and every single kid improved. I gave each child a document showing their starting and ending performance levels with graphs and analysis.
Every game, every kid played.
It was the best experience I ever had and the kids, now full grown, still see me in the grocery store or at a movie and say "Hi Coach!" with a smile.
Don't be so smug...losing isn't everything!
:-)
Jail is too good for this "coach".
Now is the time for the Keyboard Commandos to talk $#!T. It is appropriate here.
I also coached youth soccer for several years. My favorite memories include the first time my 5-6 year olds actually made a pass (My buddy and I were so excited about it that the kids stopped trying to score goals and passed the ball around), and the first time I got a kid to take a shot on goal in a 9-10 year old league and he discovered he liked offense!
I coached in AYSO a fine organization that does not place the emphasis on the winning but on the learning of the game. To this day I couldnt tell you our win loss records but I can tell you that my last team won the best team spirit award at the end of year tourney that we placed 3rd in.
This coach is a disgrace and should be jailed for this. I worried about making sure everyone played and that I didnt play the skilled players any more than the kids just having fun. I used to tell them that winning was more fun and important, but it in no way measured their efforts on the field accurately.
What the freak is T-ball? Is that like a Calvin and Hobbes type of game?
bump for later.
T-Ball is baseball for 6 year olds. Instead of a pitcher the ball is set on a tee. A kid swings at the ball and when, and if, he/she connects all hell breaks loose. The six year old generally starts running up the 3rd baseline while all the parents are shouting for him to run the other way.
The ball, by now, has rolled through the legs of the second baseman and has come to rest two feet behind him. The second baseman doesn't know why all the parents are screaming at him to pick up the ball, so he flops down in the dirt and begins sobbing. The left fielder has run in to pick up the ball. He throws it on three hops to the first baseman who misses it.
The batter has now found his way to first base and the parents are screaming at him to go to to second. The kid takes off for second while the third baseman chases down the ball behind the first base bag. He picks it up and throws it over the shortstop's head into short left field, etc, etc.
Most balls hit off the tee travel 20 feet, and the batter generally makes it around the bases without getting tagged out.
I've two sons playing college ball. One is playing on a semi-pro team for the summer. They started out in T-Ball.
It's quite thrilling....
it's for 5 and 6 yr. olds. Ball sits on a stand, about 3 feet high, no pitching. It's been around for quite some time. My son was in it when he was 6, which was 16 years ago.
must be reading the thread at the same time....
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