Dave how old are you? You describe professional baseball from the 70s. You can’t even slide into a force play with spikes up anymore per NFHS rules. If it’s not intentional it’s a double out of it’s intentional it’s an ejection. The kid never sees another pitch to retaliate. Plus it’s high school. Most arms are lower to mid 80s at best. The kid you try to hit just moves or enjoys getting a HBP because it doesn’t hurt bad enough to send a message. 90+ is a different story but there’s not a lot of those arms running around. 82 poo tries to retaliate with a ball in the ribs and the kid moves 4 times and you got a walk. Yeah makes sense.

It’s even easier at the middle school or JV level. Come on man get with the times.



This is it. No big deal. Most kids I coach or umpire are just having fun and the other team don’t take offense. It’s kinda like an offensive player giving the first down sign every time they run for a first down in college football. Who freaking cares?