Not giving a baseball to a kid... ok or not?
Deadspin describes the people in this video as the “worst people ever.”
What do you think? Should a kid be given a caught baseball, or is this just an opportunity for a children to learn that they can’t always get what they want?
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30 Answers
Spoiled little shit.
Now, if it had been a struggle, like the other recent video I saw that involved a little girl, I’d say definitely give it to the kid…but that wasn’t even close. It was so un-close that the catcher didn’t even notice the kid was upset. Absolutely not. Learn now that you don’t always get what you want. He even reached his hand out and looked at his parents as if they were denying him! Ugh. B-R-A-T.
I am on the same wavelength as @FutureMemory. I don’t think the people that caught the ball even noticed the child; they seemed too excited and elated that they got the ball. Maybe they heard the kid but just thought it was “another kid crying” about whatever.
What I found more disturbing was the commentary by the sportscaster. I think he should have been more professional and mature in this case. He is not there to be the moral judge of the audience. He outright vilified the people that caught the ball without knowing the full situation. Very unprofessional and careless in my opinion.
Lord no. The last thing we need is yet another kid to be taught that all he needs to do is cry to get what he wants. I’m glad his parents didn’t make an issue out of, it. It may have been a bit unnecessary to take the picture in that way, but over all…meh.
Kids that little probably shouldn’t be subjected to the length of time required to sit still for a ball game. Nor should everyone else be subjected to his screaming. Some events really should be considered “child free”.
And yeah, the commentator should have kept his opinions to himself. Let him catch a foul ball and decide to give it away if he wants. He has no business deciding what someone else should do with their souvenir. Dick.
@Plucky The announcer’s reaction was what made me think about this. My initial reaction was “aw, poor kid.” Then I realized that it was no contest- that couple caught it fair and square. The announcers saying the couple was rubbing it in the kid’s face was so gross to me! Adults can be excited about stuff too. But I wondered if there was some kind of unofficial rule or standard about balls being given to kids.
I didn’t think the kid is necessarily a brat though. Kids that age cry, and cry often. His parents handled it well, I think.
@Trillian You really think a ball game, with the beer, the noise, and the action should be child free? It’s not the symphony…
No, it isn’t the symphony, but it really is too long a time to expect one that little to sit still and not start the inevitable fussing. I know I don’t want to listen to it, any more than if I were at a movie. I don’t pay my money to listen to someone else’s kid scream.
I’ve never been to a pro game, how long are they?
Listen, this is the ridiculous thing called spectator sports, so there is practically nothing that happens in this context that isn’t embarrassingly-stupid. Adults pay tons of money to sit around watching grown men in costumes throw and hit a ball around. The fans might even choose to dress up like their favorite man child.
However, this is particularly disgusting. Sure the kid’s a spoiled little shit. But guess what? He’s a toddler. That’s expected of him. The commentators were being little shits as well, and they sound like they’re in their 50s. Stupid game. Stupid people. Why do the parents who dragged their poor kid get that ball? Your kid needs to be holding a ball to avoid an international incident? Pack him a ball. Shit-tards. Ok, I’m done.
I’m going to make “shit-tard” a part of my everyday speech from now on!
@zigmund I believe my learned and esteemed colleague was asking about the average time span of a game. How many hours, on the average, does a game last?
@FutureMemory the shortest game on record was 51 minutes in 1919. The longest on record was 4 hours 45 minutes in 2006 for a 9 inning game. Average is just over 3 hours.
I have not seen the video so I will withhold judgement on this particular case.
As a rule if the fielder indicated the kid was to get the it and then threw the ball, it should belong to the kid as the player made it clear he wanted him to have the ball.
If he just threw it up without looking, or saying anything I would consider the ball to be fair game.
Of course it is OK. Not good public relations to be sure, but OK nevertheless. But, why not just give every single kid in the stands a free baseball, paid for by increasing adult ticket prices, and be done with silly emotional debates like this once and for all?
@josie they do that every once in a while, not just with balls but with bats and gloves and towells. But an 81 game home season would make it almost impossible to do it every day and still break even.
Something I haven’t seen mentioned.
Players generally toss balls to kids in the stands if they can find one. Good chance the ball was being thrown with the kid as the intended recipient.
Are they horrible people? No. It’s just etiquette. No one can know all the rules. Maybe they hadn’t been to many games?
It’s not the kid’s fault either, kids cry.
Definition of “Lady” – a : a woman of superior social position b : a woman of refinement and gentle manners.
So…. female semi evolved simian, yes. Lady, no.
If the ball catcher notices, the ball should be given to the kid. However, those people did not seem to see the boy crying when they got the ball. I feel sorry for them about all the bad publicity.
Kids are so entitled. Why should they be handed everything in life while everyone else has to work for it. I am sick of child-privilege. I don’t get things just cause I cry and I am a lot worse off than some random kid at a baseball game I can’t even afford to go to.
@hug_of_war Maybe you’re not trying hard enough! Next time, throw a tantrum. Scream, cry, get down on the floor and kick. Really get into it. Flail your arms and legs, when someone tries to pick you up, go all limp and boneless. Take a video of it and post it here. We can all line up and rate it!
That would shake this site up and give us more fun than we’ve had around here in a long time.
We could even invent categories, like originality, commitment, decibel level, etc.
I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and issued the challenge. Who will pick it up?
The child is three years old. He thought he was going to catch the ball.
I don’t think the people who DID catch the ball should be considered unfair at all. They caught it. Their ball. They didn’t push him out of the way.
I don’t think we should be too hard on a three year old that cries because he didn’t get what he wanted either.
Now this is a spoilt brat
There was a huge media kerfuffle about the teenager missing out on Novak Djokovic’s shirt. People were very insulting towards the woman who caught the shirt and demands were made that she hand the shirt over to the teen. This was definitely a case where the ‘child’ should have been told to suck it up!
I just watched that video, I would be embarrassed if it were my kid throwing a fit because he didn’t get a ball. And I would hate to have been sitting beside a guy with a kid on his lap for the whole game. You pay big bucks for a good seat and they are so small you can barely move. When there are 2 people in the seat beside you, even if one is a child, it is not comfortable. It happened to me at a basketball final. We decided to splurge and get really good seats. Guy comes in with a little kid, still in diapers and sucking on a bottle so pretty young, plops down with diaper bag, bottles etc. He was not a little man (read grossly overweight) and with a baby. It was a terrible time. The kid was bawling and the man was bouncing him, so then he spewed and almost got me, then he obviously needed a diaper change so the fumes were a bit overwhelming. I don’t think children should be allowed unless you buy them a seat.
Back to the ball game, I probably would have caved and given the kid the ball just to shut him up, wasn’t a home run ball or anything exciting.
My buddy and I actually saw that vid online last night and discussed it. We both agreed that we would have also kept the ball, and this was a perfect opportunity to de-spoil a spoiled brat
Strange that there is some animosity towards the kid here. Is this just shorthand for condemning the entire attitude of the tv commentators and the parents of that poor toddler?
The people that caught it should keep it. Too many children have entitlement issues, simply because they’re children.
@tom_g I don’t exactly blame the kid. If the child is spoiled, that would be the parents’ fault.
@Plucky – It’s a toddler. There is nothing rational or sane about these little creatures.
The couple in question are getting married this weekend and together have 7 children. They say they didn’t realize that the kid was crying over the ball and all of their friends have stated that they would have given the ball to the kid if they had known.
The couple of the child crying has even stated that the couple did not know the child was crying over the ball. The announcer was out of line using his platform to call out a couple he knows nothing about without giving the couple an equal platform to explain their side of the story.
Yet another way to ruin America’s favorite pastime.
@tom_g I know, I was not disagreeing. As I said, it’s the parents who are to blame if the child is acting out in a spoiled manner.
I think blaming the parents for a child that young crying over not getting his way is totally ignorant. That’s how kids that age act because they aren’t mature enough to control strong emotions. If it was an older kid then I could see people using words like entitled or spoiled brat, but calling such a little boy those kinds of names just shows how little people who don’t have kids actually know about kids. His parents did the right thing which is not give in which means that kid probably won’t grow into a child who is entitled and spoiled. I hope no one blamed my mom and dad for all the dumb things I did when I was too little to control myself.
But as for the question, no, I don’t think the people who caught the ball should have handed it over. It was pretty clear to me right from the start that the only person out of line here was the commentator.
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