When Little League Games Become Big League Idols
Musings on Recent Little League Scandal
The human heart is a factory of idols, or so says John Calvin. We are ever creative at taking what God has created for good and distorting it into a god that should control us and will ultimately destroy our lives.
As we come to the very end of summer, the Little League World Series is about to kick off. A glorious gift from the Lord is seeing kids enjoy a wonderful game. There is something good about watching children play baseball, compete, work hard, learn to win and lose, and enjoy the abilities that God has given them. But with any good gift, this can be distorted. James reminds us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Baseball is a good gift. Competition can be a good gift. Watching our children succeed can be a good gift. But good gifts make terrible gods.
This year, in the Southwest Region, there have been major accusations of cheating. Now this isn’t the cheating of the adult sports world with performance-enhancing drugs, tactical espionage, doctored equipment, or money laundering. This is far more insidious because these are adults who are supposed to be teaching children how to play a game, but more importantly, they are supposed to be teaching children right from wrong. Currently, these are all allegations, and we should be careful not to declare anyone guilty before the facts are established. But if even a small fraction of them prove to be true, then they are horrendous.
The story coming out of the Southwest Region this year is almost unbelievable. Tulsa National defeated Louisiana 3-2 and appeared to have advanced to the regional final. Then they were disqualified because of an alleged ineligible player. Suddenly, Texas West and Louisiana were playing what was effectively the regional championship. Texas West won 4-1 and believed they were going to Williamsport. Then everything changed again. A temporary restraining order reinstated Tulsa and required Texas West to play Tulsa for the regional championship. Texas West had already burned through its pitching because they believed the tournament was over, and some players and parents were already on their way home when the announcement came.
Then the allegations became even more serious. The protest against Tulsa National reportedly includes allegations that the league manipulated the Challenger program, a Little League division specifically designed for children with disabilities, in order to establish player eligibility. There are also allegations that GameChanger records were deleted or changed after the original protest, potentially making it more difficult to determine who actually participated during the regular season. Again, these are allegations, not proven facts. But if they are true, this isn’t simply a technical violation of a Little League rule. It would mean adults used a program intended to serve children with disabilities in order to gain a competitive advantage. That is an inexcusable moral failure.
And that is what bothers me most about this story. This is not a one-off, but a result of years and years of moral decline connected to youth sports. I was a teenager when this world began to develop. Parents began to realize that for children with a slightly elevated skill level to face more difficult competition, it would require traveling outside of their region to compete. This has exploded into a multi-million-dollar industry with travel sports, training camps, equipment, private coaching, and tournaments. And while in and of itself there is again nothing wrong with seeking stronger competition and growth in an athletic competition, the twist comes when the pursuit of that good thing begins to control everything else.
The first thing to be sacrificed for many was the normal rhythms of the family. Then came the normal rhythms of community. For believers, one of the first things on the chopping block was Wednesday Night Church, and then Sunday Morning Worship. We begin telling ourselves that this one tournament is important, so church can wait. This one game matters, so family can wait. This opportunity may never come again, so everything else has to move out of the way. Eventually we aren’t simply arranging our lives around baseball. Baseball is arranging our lives for us.
Paul tells Timothy that “bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way” (1 Timothy 4:8). Notice that Paul did not say bodily training has no value. It does. There is value in discipline, hard work, training, and competition. There is value in learning how to work toward something and how to handle both success and failure. But Paul is reminding Timothy that something matters more. There is something that lasts longer than a championship and matters more than a trophy.
This vicarious desire for glory and placing our children and their achievements in the role reserved for God damages not only the moral compass of those involved but also the children themselves. We tell ourselves that we are doing it for them. We tell ourselves they have an opportunity that we never had. We tell ourselves they are talented and that we don’t want to waste their potential. But there comes a point when the child ceases to be a child and becomes a vehicle for the parent’s ambitions.
That is where I think the real danger is. The child becomes the thing through which we are trying to find our own glory. Their success becomes our success. Their failure becomes our embarrassment. Their achievement becomes a statement about us. What started as a love for baseball can become something much darker without us even realizing it.
Jesus asked, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). We usually apply that verse to money, fame, or power, but the principle reaches much further. What does it profit our children to become great athletes if we have taught them that their value is found in what they accomplish? What does it profit a child to make it to Williamsport if getting there required his parents to teach him that winning is more important than telling the truth? What have we really gained if our child learns how to win but never learns how to worship?
I have watched it happen on a small scale, and I can guarantee you that the children of this Oklahoma team have been failed in a multitude of ways if these allegations prove to be true. That doesn’t mean those children are bad. They are twelve-year-old kids who are caught in the middle of decisions made by adults. They didn’t create the rules. They didn’t determine their eligibility. They didn’t decide what records should be entered or changed. They are simply kids who want to play baseball.
And they only get one chance to be twelve.
That is what makes this story so tragic. If adults manipulated eligibility, falsified records, or otherwise cheated to get these children to Williamsport, they didn’t simply break a baseball rule. They potentially robbed other twelve-year-old children of their one opportunity to experience the same thing. The teams Oklahoma defeated in the state tournament will never know what might have happened if the rules had been followed. Those players don’t get another year at twelve. They don’t get a do-over. Childhood doesn’t come with a replay button.
So I don’t think we should simply look at this as a captivating sports story. We ought to look at it and ask what it says about us.
As a parent, have I placed my children and their success on an altar or pedestal they were never meant for? Am I willing to sacrifice their health, their image, their relationships, or even their childhood on the altar of my worship? Am I more concerned with my child becoming a great athlete than becoming a faithful Christian? Am I teaching my child that winning is important, or am I teaching them that Christ is more important than winning?
Paul gives us the proper perspective when he says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). That includes baseball. It includes Little League. It includes the Little League World Series. The answer is not to keep our children away from sports. The answer is to put sports where they belong.
Baseball is not God. Our children’s accomplishments are not God. Their opportunities are not God. And our desire to see them succeed cannot be allowed to become more important than our responsibility to teach them to love Christ, tell the truth, love their neighbor, and walk faithfully before the Lord.
Every good gift becomes dangerous when we ask it to give us what only God can give.
The human heart is a factory of idols. As parents, we need to be very careful what we put on the altar.