I checked a younger guy for bat flipping in beer league softball.
By @milook2 · Sports
A nineteen-year-old sub hit a home run against an out-of-shape rec team and taunted their dugout, so I told him to sit down and stop acting like it was game seven. His brother-in-law says I ruined the kid's confidence and should've let him have his fun.
The full story
I play in a casual rec softball league with a bunch of guys from local job sites. We pay twenty bucks a season, grab cheap beers in the gravel lot afterward, and nobody is scouting us for the majors. We're thirty-something tradesmen trying not to tear a hamstring on a Tuesday night. Last week one of the guys brought his wife's younger brother along because we were down a body. Kid is nineteen, works out constantly, and shows up in full matching eye black and custom cleats. During the fourth inning, we're up by six runs against a team of guys in their forties wearing cargo shorts. The kid hits an absolute bomb over the left field chain-link fence. Instead of just jogging the bases, he stops at home plate, does a full aggressive bat flip toward their dugout, crosses his arms, and yells at their pitcher to watch the tape. It sucked all the air out of the field. The other team was dead quiet, looking completely miserable, and the rest of us were just standing there cringing into our gloves. When he got back to our bench looking for high fives, nobody moved. I looked him dead in the eye and told him, 'Put the bat away and sit down, man. You’re playing rec ball on a dirt field behind an elementary school, not game seven.' He went completely silent, packed his bag, and sat by his truck for the rest of the game. Now his brother-in-law is texting me saying I embarrassed the kid in front of everyone over harmless excitement, and that I should've just let him have his moment.
How people voted
- Side A — 24% (7 votes)
- Both — 34% (10 votes)
- Side B — 41% (12 votes)
Readers are split: “Side B” leads with 41% — 29 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@edieactually — Did the other dugout actually say anything first or are you leaving that out?
@finny — I would make him wear a high-vis vest to play next Tuesday just so he remembers what league he's in.
@reallytho — tell him to do a backflip next week
@brynnforsure — Yelling watch the tape at a forty year old in cargo shorts is truly cinematic.
@maraok — Why didn't his brother-in-law pull him aside quietly before you had to say anything?
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