Letter to the Editor about June 3 baseball story

Thursday, June 9, 2005

Brett and/or Editor:

McCook Legion baseball has enjoyed a great deal of success against Imperial over the years. They should. McCook is roughly four times the size of Imperial. I understand McCook had approximately 40 boys try out this year. Your town has a terrific organization for kids.

After reading your June 3 article concerning the FCB Juniors' loss to Imperial on June 2, I had a few concerns about the coach's quotes and the implications you made.

The fact that Imperial has no senior team has nothing to do with the quality of the junior team. Your article leads an uneducated reader to believe Imperial plays 18 and 19 year-old boys on their junior team. They don't. I did a little research on the Imperial Junior Legion team for you:

There are no tryouts. Fourteen boys went out. All are on the roster.

The average age is 15 years, 7 months, including five 13 and 14 year olds.

Only two players will reach their 17th birthdays before the district tournament.

The "ace" pitcher is 14, the youngest pitcher on the team. (Your article insinuated McCook was at a disadvantage due to their young pitchers.)

There was also an implication that somehow being the home team gave Imperial an advantage in hitting the holes. How can that be? In reality, Imperial only had six hits. Timing made the difference in the game.

It was a well-played game by both teams. Toss the excuses aside, congratulate all the players for their efforts and wish them good luck the rest of the season.