Angry Parents Turning Little League Baseball into Battlefields of Poor Sportsmanship  

Can You Believe It?

The uptick in abuse against umpires and referees in youth sports, including Little League baseball, continues to have a dramatic impact.  There is a nationwide umpire shortage. Many umpires retired during the pandemic, but others have just had enough.  

“It is extremely sad to see because it takes away from the game. It is something children should not have to see. And it sometimes makes the kids emulate their parents’ aggressive action on the playing fields,’’ said Horton Webb, a retired 20-year veteran of youth sports from Waynesburg, Pa. “It is just not safe to be an umpire or referee in any youth sport right now,’’ said Webb, who suffered a broken jaw last summer from an irate parent before quitting. 

Since  2017, the number of baseball and softball umpires in the Babe Ruth youth baseball and softball league has been in decline – with 6,229 in 2017 falling to 4,995, according to the National Umpire Association. Between 2018 and 2022, youth sports lost nearly 20,000 umpires at the high school level, according to the National Federation  of State High School Associations.  

 Videos of parents and coaches verbally and physically assaulting umpires have gone viral. In one Little League game in Alabama, a coach is seen grabbing an umpire and throwing him to the ground, with children looking on in disbelief. 

Another video shows Texas parents aggressively yelling at an umpire, who ended the game early over the disruption.  And a recent survey of youth sport officials by the National Federation of State High School Association, found that 59 percent of umpires and referees don’t feel respected by parents and spectators.  During a recent youth baseball game in Lakewood, Colorado, parents disagreed with an umpire’s call and stormed the field. Parents and spectators starting punching each other as 7-year-old players looked on.   The association also predicts that 82 percent of current umpires will retire or quit because of  unsafe working conditions. 

Tim White of Taunton, Mass., said parents threatened to beat him up in a parking lot after a Little League game.  “It is simply out of control,’’ he said. The parents disliked his home plate call. 

“These acts of violence should not surprise us,’’ said Paula Calabrese, a Pittsburgh-based  consultant.  “People are angry; it’s life on high volume,’’ she said.  “We need to communicate acceptable standards of behavior and be responsible for our actions,’’ said Calabrese.  

Already a handful of states, including Florida, Delaware, Hawaii, Georgia, California and Illinois, have established laws to protect umpires.  And Little League Baseball and Softball updated the Child Protection Program prior to the 2022 season, which includes an added section on bullying and emotional wellness. The policy was updated to provide guidance to leagues on how to prevent bullying in their program while promoting emotional wellness for players. Little League has zero tolerance for the following behaviors: physical bullying, verbal bullying,  emotional bullying, social and cyber bullying, harassment, and hazing.  

Any individual that engages in any of the above behaviors or commits violence should be prohibited from participating in Little League.  This includes player-to-player, player-to-adult, adult-to-player and adult-to-adult interactions. And if a situation occurs at a Little League event, including practices  and games, both parties  should be removed from the games until the issues are resolved, according to the Little League Child Protection program..  

Kelly Cooke said Little League baseball has been an excellent experience for her 11-year-old son, Malachi. “He is learning leadership skills and self-discipline," said Cooke, whose son often plays pitcher and catcher with the Squirrel Hill Little League team in Pittsburgh, Pa.  

“We are a closely knit group with no tolerance for violence,’’ Cooke said. “Kids will be benched if they do not follow good sportsmanship rules,” she said.  

With two  million active players annually, Little League baseball is the largest youth sports organization in the world.  There are more than 200,000 Little League teams nationwide.  

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