Kid Steals Home - inattentive catcher/pitcher during LLWS 2016 

It is cheap when your team is up by more than 9 runs. It could be argued that you will see "cheap" bases less frequently at higher levels because the dumb players do not make it through playoffs. Personally, in a game where one run decides the winner versus loser, I love manufactured runs. Creates excitement and wins.

Can't even count how many times when I got walked and ended up just jogging to first then just sprint to second. Never got thrown out

The only people calling it cheap are the losing coaches, who are butt hurt.

it's not cheap baseball everybody on the field needs to be aware of the runners and as a runner needs to be alert on what's going on around the person

stealing bases is apart of the game

You are dead-on, man. Those who call this cheap baseball are ones I would assert are not real baseball lovers. It is precisely this sort of heads-up, wily, athletic play that I find most exciting. One such daring, alert move is far more interesting and exciting than 98% of all home runs in the same circumstances.

Agree with you. The dissenters have no idea how to prepare kids for the higher level. They are teaching that "everyone is a winner".

I played organized baseball for most of my childhood and on into my 20s. We were taught base stealing. We were taught to study the playing habits of the other team. Stealing bases is totally good heads up baseball. If there is a coach that would sit a kid for aggressive base running he is an idiot and needs to be replaced. He doesn't know the game.

It's baseball period... learn how to play, if this bothers you

that's a bunch of baloney cheap baseball! that's how you win baseball!

Everybody is a winner “if your on the winning team”

how is stealing a base "cheap" baseball? its part of the game... if the pitcher/catcher isnt ready, who cares?

Manufacturing runs = cheap baseball. Gotcha. Footwork and head movement is cheap boxing. Boxing out under the boards is cheap basketball. Dinking and dunking is cheap football. Pulling guard and working for submissions is cheap MMA. Killing the clock with a lead is cheap hockey. Blah blah blah blah. The scorecards don't have opinions on technical victories.

To borrow a line from you, “Aggressive base running WINS the game”.

Is it cheap to bunt to third base when the third basemen is out of place/sleeping? What about outfield moving in or out based on a batters previous at bats? What about when a person making an attempt at second and the fielders forget about the guy standing on third? Is it cheap when he scores because the other team was sleeping?

Aggressive base running is fun to do and to watch. Get to the next base at any opportunity.

It's smart baseball, I once did that in a game and it caught the pitcher off guard by a mile.

I 100% agree with you. Being aggressive on the bases is important at all levels. At younger levels it teaches the runners how to look for openings, and teaches the D that you have to be alert. I've seen it happen in many higher level games, where the D just went to sleep, and a runner took advantage. This is part of the game.

It's not against the rules so why is it Cheap

You want your kids to be alert, and look for the opportunities, but you also want to be strategic about when you take those opportunities. Doing it in an early season game where you're winning or losing 8-1 isn't the time to do it. Remember the tendencies of the team and take advantage when the run has meaning, and surprise. What you don't want to do is teach an opposing team their shortcomings in a meaningless game so that they learn the lesson and don't repeat it.

Back when I coached my son in little league we were facing an undefeated team halfway through the season. We were playing at home, my son was on third, it was the bottom of the 6th, the game was tied and I was coaching third. I noticed that the pitcher nor the catcher weren't paying any attention to my son after the pitch. I whispered to my son "next pitch steal home". He looked at me like I was crazy and I told him to just try it. There as only 1 out so we didn't have much to lose. Needless to say, my son got the game ball that game as we handed the undefeated team the only loss of the season that year!

LOL...I coached Little League and tournament baseball for around 10 years and I had the boys running those bases like wild horses....We scored so many freaking runs that way and the boys just absolutely loved doing it.....I did get a lot of crap from the other coaches and parents who were getting schooled.....I loved it even more when they tried to pull the same crap on my team....When I taught the boys how to run those bases I also taught the defense how to defend against it....Man that was such a great time in my life....Don't regret a single moment of it.

I've been umpiring LLB for 9 years,as an umpire I love aggressive baseball,when tournaments starts you see first hand the teams that are really good,it's usually the teams that love CHEAP baseball.

I love this. Cheap baseball? No such thing! Ha! Just kidding. Stealing and aggressive base running IS youth baseball. My 14U team is painfully aware of how to pay attention always, but especially between 3rd and home. They also watch for the pitcher and catcher who are not looking down third or who have too much routine. It's a risky move and there is a fine line between aggressive and risky. :)

I play just like this I steal every pitch lol

Please name the idiots that said they would bench their kids for doing this, said upper leaguers never do this, and called it "cheap baseball" so we can be sure never to let our kids play for their teams. They are utterly wrong on all three counts and should not be teaching the game if they feel this way. I'd love to see them argue with Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, or Ricky Henderson that you shouldn't take advantage of lazy or inattentive fielders.

In a broader sense you're teaching young players to be aware, look for opportunities and/or tendencies. These may seem fairly obvious on a youth baseball level, but as they face steeper competition, it's more of a level playing field. Therefore, Practicing to keep on the lookout for any small advantages could come in handy.

Don't let anyone tell you this is cheap - this is part of the game. Part of baseball is knowing when you can sneak another base - just like you can trick runners into taking extra bases and then picking them off, the more these kids learn when they're younger - the better they'll be as they grow up.

Whenever runners are on base, you must keep an eye on them no matter what. This is a great video. People who say it is cheap baseball are just mad that they got caught being either stupid, inattentive, or lazy. Once again, this video is great.

2:13-2:14 OOH HE NEED SOME MILK

The issue I see is in the youth levels where- in bases loaded situations- R1 and R2 are practically 2/3's to their next base. It's all with the goal to catch the defense to make a mistake, and disappears as soon as you get to 90 foot bases. Why coaches teach this is incredulous, as is the same reason it mystifies me why coaches will spend 2 hours of a practice going through defensive signals and schemes with runners on 1st and 3rd, all with the hope to 'catch' the runner at 3rd making a mistake. Here's the breakdown based on seeing this 100's of times: 10 out of 20 times, R1 takes second base anyway. 8 out of 20 times, the defense screws up and R3 scores. 1 out of 20 times, both runners score! and 1 out of 20 times, the defense gets an extra out. Why coaches insist on teaching this at the youth level when by 90 foot bases you just let them have second base is perplexing! The time would have been so much better spent focusing on fundamentals.

Who ever complained about aggressive base running was probably a participation trophy winner. My coach would have me running laps if we sidnt

I had a grand slam but it wasn’t it was a double with an error, I got to two when I saw the pitcher didn’t know what just happend because I just cleared the bases and the third basemen was far from third so I ran and the pitcher quickly threw and missed I ran home, the other team were dumb and thought we all were cheating, our side just knew we had good base runners, our whole team were, then when we were fielding an a possible double play the second basemen got the force but couldn’t throw because the runner didn’t slide, this was a rule break and made the double play anyway(we still would’ve had it) I think the other team should work on base running cause they clearly don’t know anything about or how to do it😔

Moral to the story, ignore stupid comments from people with no clue. This is the way the game should be played. I guess some folks just want to sit in the stands and see participation prizes handed out.

Anyways if it was cheap baseball I would care cause it works what ever gets me the win I will do it

It's legal, but sooooo bush league. You're just admitting your team can't score or advance in conventional methods.

In Tennessee middle school based are now 90 feet and pitching is 60. Its crazy far for middle school

had a kid I played with in little league that, when walked, would routinely run to first and go right around and straight to second.

i think the nature of the league makes a difference. if it is a recreational league, this sort of thing *is* cheap because in such a league the technical skills of throwing and catching are modest. If it is a competitive league, however, all bets are off.

It isn't cheap baseball, it's SMART baseball!! I would award a kid that is smart on the base path

baseball is a game meant to be fun and for entertainment. Aggressive base running is fun (if you can get away with it) and it certainly is entertaining.

I think it is cheap baseball at the 7-9 age range when kids are just learning to pitch, catch and learn situations. It's very frustrating to watch a 7-8 year old game that ends up with time limit being called in the 2nd inning and the teams are scoring 10+ runs by primarily just stealing bases. Kids at this age are just trying to learn the fundamentals. However 10+ I say it's perfectly fine.

Anyone calling it "cheap" is just mad their kids cant do it lol.

um look at the shortest guy in the MLB, he steals bases like crazy.

Paying attention is as fundamental as it gets. Being creative with fundamentals can be difficult to teach sometimes, without this kind of visual aid. Thanks.

Cheap baseball?? Maybe it's just lazy coaches.

There's nothing cheap about being the better player

If it's in the rule book, it's not cheap.

My LL coach permanently benched me for refusing to stop stealing bases/home. Not when we were winning, either; we lost almost every game in an effort to show good sportsmanship. I stopped playing baseball.

2:20 incorrect, it is because the bases are 90 feet in higher level baseball. Also that kid would have got him out if it weren't for his extra step and hesitation.

The only way that stealing a base is “cheap baseball” is if the game is lopsided and you continue to run up the score. My rule of thumb is that if a league has a mercy rule it’s fair game to play hard until you’re ahead by that amount of runs, then you back off the aggressiveness.

That kid needs to learn how to SLIDE. He started to slide like half a foot from home plate.

take full advantage of every opportunity

Then isn’t stealing a base also cheap baseball

In high school, the baseball and softball coaches told us if you go for the steal, you better be fast enough to have it.

The other reason it is more difficult at higher levels is because of the increased distance between bases. In Little League the bases are only 60 feet apart. And a fast player can cover that distance pretty quickly. When you factor in the reaction time for a pitcher/catcher to realize what is happening it becomes difficult to throw out a surprise stealer. At higher levels the reaction time for the pitcher/catcher is the same, but the distance to cover for the base runner is much longer. So it is harder to catch a pitcher/catcher by surprise.

the Myers video only wprks cause the pitcher completely zones out... if that kid had to run another 5, 10, 20 or 30 feet, he was about by a mile... the pitcher needs to be completely out of it for that to work

Don't forget the 2015 MLB playoffs when Daniel Murphy noticed nobody covering 3rd and took off

What's cheap is someone that would bad mouth a team for being a team of aggressive base running. To think taking advantage of another team for not paying attention to the game they are playing is cheap? You can't be serious. This is part of baseball. I've played ball and coached at different levels most of my life. I'm telling you now that teaching ball players to be alive on the bases is part of the game. Be alert and watch the other team for mental lapses. Take advantage of these lapses. As a base runner to have to be active. We had coaches that taught base running and that's all they coached. The purpose of the game is to win. We didn't give out awards just because a player showed up. I guess some of you don't watch MLB because the winning teams are aggressive and they do steal bases and they do take advantage of mental lapses. RU-vid has several videos that demonstrates just that at the MLB level.

Im 17 and coached 11-12 year olds and we ten run ruled every team we played this season cause of aggressive base running

It’s not cheap it’s smart

People call it "cheap baseball" because they don't see this type of base running at higher levels. But the REASON they don't see it at higher levels is that the defense is always alert and they have antidotes for base running gimmicks. If the fielders are not alert nor have been trained to defuse some of these base running gimmicks - they will continue to fall victim to them. Once they demonstrate that they are not easily fooled, the gimmicks stop. Classic example: In youth baseball, with runners on 1st and 3rd, it is a very common "trick" to have the runner on 1st leave early while the pitcher is still in the set position. Of course, their obvious intent is to distract the defense enough to allow the runner from 3rd to score. It often works. But why is this almost never done at higher levels? It's because those fielders are alert enough and have the arm strength to zip the ball anywhere they it need to be in an instant. They may even get BOTH runners out. Runners don't pull these stunts at the MLB level because they are trying to avoid playing "Bush League" baseball. They don't do it because they don't work at that level. Believe me, if those stunts typically worked, they'd do it, too.

i stole home once in 90ft baseball. The pitcher/catcher didnt care at all that i was on third. So i led off halfway to home and took off as soon as the catcher threw it back

I was the fastest kid on my team and stole bases all the time and not once did my coach get mad! That coach that said he would bench his player is full of it 😄

Good vid as usual, bro. :)

Great commentary. videos are well done.

bush league

I think one of the other reasons is because the basepath when you get older is 90ft

there's NOTHING wrong with that.. if anything this is a GREAT lesson for the players.. ALWAYS keep your eye on what's going on.. watch your runners, make clean throws.. AND ASK YOURSELF.. What will I do if the ball comes to me? AND What will I do if the ball DOESN'T come to me? This is heads up running by the baserunner.. and sloppy play by the pitcher/catcher. They got to comfortable, instead of being ready N on their toes. I can remember baserunners on first taking a lead, pretending to slip on the dirt to force a throw from the catcher, in hopes that the catcher would make a bad/rushed throw to first . Allowing the baserunner to advance to second or third. Baseball is a game of creativity.. nothing wrong with throwing some curveballs into the routine.. so to speak.

agree...there is a lot to learn from playing sports other than the game itself...here the kids learn to pay attention and develop good habits...hopefully they won't grow up stupid now, like so many other people...they might actually become useful to the world...who knows?

thats exactly the problem I had with "just for fun" baseball. when you remove the rules "just for fun" who teaches what in the next level? to make yourself FEEL good you rob an education in fundemental baseball from young people...but what does it matter...you feel good?

LLWS in generall isn't real baseball lmao. They're playing softball more than anything. And they're 13 like wth? By the time I was 8 I was playing completely full baseball rules minus some safety rules like being required to slide. By the time I was 13 I was playing on almost full size fields and these kids hit like 250 ft home runs? Give me a break

What the poster misses is that the competitiveness of a baseball game depends on the offensive and defensive being more or less balanced. E.g., if you have major leaguers playing little leaguers, the majors always win, and the game is no longer interesting. With major leaguers, the offensive and the defensive--basically hitting and running vs. pitching and fielding--are close to balanced: hitters can get hits, but it's not easy, and most innings end without scores--but not so many that the games are so low scoring as to be boring. It's just a fact, proved by experience, that kids are better hitters and runners than they are fielders; their ability to hit the ball and run fast both develop faster than their ability to throw very accurately and catch reliably when fielding. Hence, contrary to what the poster says, it's NOT just a matter of the pitcher, catcher, etc. not playing attention to base runners; even if they paid all the attention in the world to the runners, the runners could steal very successfully on even the best little league catchers because very few of them can throw a ball from home plate to second base like Johnny Bench--i.e., very fast to knee level right over the bag, and very few of them can reliably catch the ball thrown that fast and make the tag. Imagine a major league pitcher and a little league pitcher each attempt to pick off a runner on first; do you really think the chances of the ball getting loose are the same in both cases? Of course, not. The little leaguers are much more likely to throw it away. But given that the ball gets away, the chances of the runner, either little leaguer or big leaguer, getting to second are about the same. Why? Because the gap between adult ability and kid ability is much bigger in fielding skills than in running skills. Kids aren't adults, and their ability levels don't track adult ability levels. Hence, it doesn't make sense that kids play the game with the same rules. If you allow stealing in little league under the same rules used in the majors, you get situations where any above average runner who gets to first will be on third in three or four pitches, and that just unbalances the game in favor of the offensive. That's why it makes sense to prohibit or limit stealing in little league.

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You might hurt the other team's feelings. Do they have a safe zone on ball fields now? Look this is great baseball. Who ever said this is not real baseball never played baseball. It's more real than a bunch of grown men playing a little boys game for millions of dollars. At Little League, Babe Ruth and college level is where ball players still have hustle and play hard. Not like the pros who don't work up a sweat. Watch a pro game if you can stay wake. It's the slowest baseball game ever. The players are in slow motion 50% of the time. I loved baseball but I can not watch it anymore. A baseball game should not last 4 or 5 hours unless it's extra innings.

funny....I did this often..20 years ago and was soundly told it WAS cheap baseball...I disagree...UNTIL one coach set us up and had his pitcher ACT as if he was lazy and caught us in the act....9 out of ten coaches had a good laff at it

Hi

Anyone notice the strike call on the first pitch of the video? WOW. Literally in the LH batter box. That is awful. The catcher literally lines up off of the plate - completely. Just bc pitch hits the glove a strike is called? This is a great example of poor umpiring before we even get tot he play in question. No attention paid by HPU prior to pitch. No attention during pitch. Hard to miss that ball/strike call not even close

Kids don't face aggressive baserunning because Little League's rules baby them. In Pony, at 9 (but maybe 7?) we played with real baserunning rules, not this going back to the bag and not leading off BS.

Had the same comments back in the 90's when I coached 12 under..other coaches didnt like 10 stolen home plates during the season until in the playoffs another coach did his homework and caught us..best years of my life

Normally, I don't comment, I just like or dislike a video for its content. I have to make an exception here. The folks on here calling it bush league or poor sportsmanship to teach aggressive base-running, I'm sorry, you either had poor coaching as a youth or don't understand the mental part of the game. I've coached select and in-house youth teams, high-school and even college baseball. Good base-running is how a team who might be weak in other areas such as fielding can make up for that weakness by being a good base-running team. I don't care what sport you play, if you can find a weakness against your opponent then you must exploit it. Obviously, you don't do this at at T-ball level I am talking 5th grade and up. Yes, the method of watching the pitcher or catchers being lazy and making lazy throws is something you can steal on. My players have done it at every level. We actually work on it at practice and teach them what to look for and how to exploit it. I also teach them how to defend against it too. Because yes, if you are a good coach, you should know how to defend against a good running team. The ones complaining here. Read up and learn and do more for your players than yell at them and blame other coaches for your short comings. Because its not about you its about teaching them correctly and having fun while doing it. If you win great, if you lose, at least if wasn't because they weren't prepared.

+John Davis must also believe in the "Participation Trophy" and be happy that his team gets one every year! I'm glad my kid doesn't play on his team, where "mediocrity" is probably coached.

For development and house leagues where it really is just for fun, I hated to see the uber competitive coach run up the score, time limit a game or mercy because you can. One coach in particular came to mind and reminded me of the a-hole coach from Bad News Bears. Sure, his team won every season but the boys on his team really didn't enjoy it either although the egomaniac parents loved it. If you have a travel or tournament team, that's different. Yes, base running is a skill and a strategy for this age level but that quickly changes around the varsity high school level where only the fastest and most astute base runner could pull this off. I will point out that some kids physically are superior at the short fence/short base path level but still qualify because of age. They literally dominate the level and have huge stats. This changes drastically at the very next level with 335' left field fences, 90' base paths and 60'6" mound.

I would agree that for really young kids it's cheap baseball, because they're still learning. That's why most little leagues disallow leads and only allow kids to take bases on passed balls for U10 divisions. For U12 and above, however, leads are allowed as are steals, and I agree with @MJH-Baseball that at those levels it's smart baseball.

So, the cheapness is because at such s low level, there are lots of players who don't have the skills to catch and throw and make outs. So a runner gets on first and can just run around the bases without getting out a high percentage of the time, and that's really poor base running. You also have coaches who don't explain the rules well to the kids, or don't know the rules. These sorts of steals where the pitcher or catcher are just not paying attention are fine, but what MLB catcher is going to wander off without time? But that's because this likely happened to then in little league. So the cheap baseball is when runners go on low percentage situations in higher skill leagues, but have high percentage results due to low skill fielders.

Good video. Unfortunately you are picking on Maine who just doesn't have the same baseball IQ as the rest of New England. Portland area is competitive and that's about it!

I think one of the dumbest comments on the other video was the one saying a pitcher would retaliate by hitting the next batter. The ONLY TIME that would ever happen is if a team was way up but with the mercy rule nobody gets really WAY UP in little league anymore.

Hey, if the kid can steal, and it's not to the point of excessive unsportsmanlike conduct (i.e. It's young kids with a lead of double 15+ and you are guaranteed to win for example), then steal

When I was in little league baseball the bases was froze when the pitcher was in the pitching mound didn't have to be on the plate on the mound it's self. Every league is different but you couldn't steal unless the pitcher was throwing. Plus you couldn't lead off any. I feel some of these leagues try to play to much like MLB. Let the kids have some fun and not worry about being professionals.

wtf, lmao stealing home is NOT AT ALL "CHEAP BASEBALL" how can you say it's cheap to play "heads up baseball"?!

It's clever that you show these things and always have video evidence of counter arguments for morons that disagree with you. Some of your commenters clearly either don't know baseball or just want everyone to have a trophy if this is considered "cheap" baseball. Cheers.

I have stole home on a high school field. Who ever said that it can't be done I have done it. Also there are many pro players that have stole home as well

When you don't let kids lead off you teach complacency on defense. This is why PONY creates superior players to Little League.

I do think it's cheap baseball. The coach is the one outsmarting 12 year old kids to get the bases. If the 12 year old base runners were watching and figuring out the timing on their own that would be different. An adult standing there looking for weaknesses in a 12 year olds game and then telling his player exactly when to run in the moment is not the same as the 12 year old base runner doing it on his own. Coaching the kids to watch for things is one thing, but telling them in the moment when to run is not the same.

Always run the bases aggressively when on offense. Just don't run yourself out of the game. Basics and more basics will work. Aggressive defense works just as well. Keeps the other team out of the batters box. I used to get a kick when I would see other little league coaches having batters practice on the first or so practice. Kinda knew right there what was coming in the season. Kinda like Pop Warner Football. Every kid wants to be a defensive star. Sure we would let them too. Right after they could contribute to the offense. Unless they were backs then, not much glory there. Back when the entire D line could crash the center on the snap. Or in baseball when the catcher was the anchor. My age is showing.

The more aggressive team in any sport usually wins. In basketball you'll get more foul calls in the paint. Baseball you'll move runners and score more often. Of course you'll pay the price at times but its always worth it. Especially at lower levels.

" Cheap baseball " sounds like bad coaching. Seeing, and taking advantage of opportunities is what makes baseball fun to watch and fun to play.

1:01 Watch the first two pitches, first pitch in left hand batter's box, rightfully called a ball. Second shown pitch, which appears to be 3rd pitch in the at bat, shown from overhead, is in the left hand batter's box as well and is called a strike. I know that is OT from the intent of the video, but that ump is bad.

The only reason this is cheap baseball is becuase you dont really get multi-games/mound cam/ and the actual ablity to detect a patern generally speaking, when you are on third base you get to see 5 pitches tops, in little ledge, for the less amount of foul offs and more hits you also dont really pay attention to that stuff in the dugout as well becuase most kids think that baseball is a talkive game for example the steal of home during the postseason, was well planned, nobody was ready, the runner saw I think over 14 pitches, and then realized that he was a fast runner plus if you steal home A. the manger takes the game more seriously and puts a good guy on the mound or B. the pitcher, and the team, is more aware, more pick-offs, more caught stealing, and less suprise bunts either ways its a dumb move to restrict that rbi goal for a risky move back to the post season, there was two outs, most likely he wasnt going to score, and with a low scoring game he set the mood for the rest of the game, which they won

When I payed Baseball as a pre teen our school ruled! ... when I got a first base only hit ... I routinely stole ALL the bases and got home ... sometimes I'd get first base and just calmly walk to second as the pitcher was setting up for the next batter.