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What should have been a light-hearted beginning to the most important week of the year for Little League Baseball, instead began with an unnecessary controversy.
In one of those deep sigh kind of "what now?" moments, Little League President and CEO Stephen Keener was forced to address accusations of sign-stealing by New Hampshire manager Pat Dutton. The New Hampshire Union Leader published a story Monday with Dutton accusing New England Regional champion Barrington, Rhode Island, of stealing signs during Saturday's regional championship game in Bristol, Connecticut.
"You can see (runners on second base) leaning in, looking in and they're doing hand gestures to their kid (at the plate) indicating what kind of pitch it is and where it's located," Dutton said to the Union Leader. "You can do that in big league ball, but in Little League it's unsportsmanlike, it's dishonorable, and it's disgusting. They did it the whole tournament and got away with it, and now that's what's representing New England in the Little League World Series. It's just a bad look."
Dutton, the manager for Goffstown, New Hampshire, reported the sign-stealing to the home plate umpire during the course of Saturday's regional championship game. And when a Rhode Island player appeared to signal to his teammate at the plate, the home plate umpire called timeout to speak with both officials at the scorers' table and Rhode Island manager Chris Promades to indicate the stealing of signs is illegal. Promades had a brief discussion with his runners on base at the time and both held an incredulous look as Promades walked back to his spot in the first-base coach's box.
Rhode Island won the game, 6-4, and is the New England representative at this week's Little League World Series in South Williamsport.
Little League added sign-stealing to its rulebook prior to this year in part because of incidents in the past. Keener said Thursday prior to the start of the tournament the umpire handled the situation exactly as they are taught. Although being caught stealing signs or relaying pitch location can be punished by ejection and a one-game suspension for both the player involved and the manager of the team, Keener said Thursday "nobody wants to see a kid thrown out of a Little League game."
"The umpires are instructed to say you have to be 100 percent sure that that's what they're doing if you're going to enforce the rule," Keener said. "If you think they're doing it, you go to the manager and say this is what I think I'm seeing and I'm basically giving you a warning and if I see it again, then I'm going to have to enforce the rule. That's the appropriate way to handle the rule and that's how they handled it up in Bristol."
This controversy should have died Saturday. Never should a word have been spoken of it again. Dutton saw what he saw, reported it and put the information in the hands of the umpires to make a rules decision.
Instead, Dutton decided to whine to the local newspaper. If he was so convicted about what he saw, he should have played the game under protest when the umpire chose to issue warnings to Rhode Island. But he did not, telling the Union Leader he knew playing under protest wouldn't change the result of the game.
Promades denied the allegations in a story by Eric Rueb in the Providence Journal, saying "Ninety-five percent of the time when we give them signs from the dugout or third base, they miss them."
He further told WPRI earlier this week, "It's a shame and a disgrace that 11 and 12-year-old boys are being depicted as cheaters and sign-stealers," Promades said.
Sigh ...
That it's come to this is a nightmare. It's a nightmare for those from Barrington who should be able to enjoy their spot at the Little League World Series without having to answer questions about the situation. It's a nightmare for Keener and Little League who had to put out a statement Wednesday defending the actions of the umpires and their handling of the situation.
It's a story which should have died Saturday, but instead Dutton has fanned the flames. When Promades denied the allegations, Dutton emailed numerous media outlets, including Rueb at the Providence Journal to say, "Why does Little League have rules if we don't need to adhere to them? Why say the Little League pledge before every game if it means nothing? The 13 kids on my team are okay with losing, RI played better than we did as was already mentioned, but trying to explain to them why there were no consequences for the rules being broken on multiple occasions is where the clarification needs to be."
OK, if we're going to talk about the Little League pledge here, let's also talk about the Parents/Volunteer Pledge, specifically that part which reads "I will respect the decisions of the umpires."
Where's the thinking emoji when you need it?
I don't fault Dutton for bringing what he thought was a rule violation to the umpires. But what are you accomplishing by continuing to complain about the issue publicly? Let it go, man.
It appears Dutton has lost a little bit of perspective of what Little League is supposed to be about. As someone who is not afraid to criticize Little League when I believe they're wrong, this is not one of those times. And I feel for Keener for having to spend even a sliver of his busy week dealing with this issue.
It's an unnecessary controversy.
Keener believes sign-stealing has no place in Little League baseball. Readers of the story of Dutton's accusations claimed sign-stealing is just part of baseball. Which it always has been. But part of the reason Keener and Little League decided to add its abolition to the rulebook this year was to avoid the self-policing which comes along with the unwritten rules of the game at higher levels.
"There's no room for self-policing in Little League either," Keener said. "We're trying to stop it before it happens. Therefore, the rule. And if we have to, we'll enforce that rule."
That explanation isn't likely to satisfy Dutton. But really, who cares? He got to speak his piece. He got to make his mountain out of a molehill. And for what?
Just remember what Bob Lemon once said, "Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up."
Pretty wise words to remember for the next 11 or so days.
Mitch Rupert can be reached at 326-1551, ext. 3129, or by email at mrupert@sungazette.com.