The following story reported by Fox News gets my Orchid of the Day and results in my Question of the Day.
A no-hitter by Ensworth Tennessee high school pitcher Connor Cobb resulted in a forfeited loss, and it was his own head coach, Jason Maxwell, who caused it to happen by reporting to the Tennessee High School Athletic Association that Cobb exceeded the 120 pitch limit by one pitch.
Cobb, a Vanderbilt commit, had a fantastic outing in a must-win game against Father Ryan High School. His outing would have tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece, but there was just one catch. The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association rule book states that an athlete must not throw more than 120 pitches in one day. Cobb was over that limit by just one pitch at 121. The pitch count rule initially allowed the pitcher to finish facing the batter at the plate, but that changed after one year.
Cobb ended up striking out 16 batters in his no-hitter. The Class of 2024 right-hander announced his commitment to Vanderbilt, a college baseball powerhouse, in August 2021.
Based on my experience as a high school umpire, the above violation was most likely discovered long after the game was completed and both teams had vacated the field. It took the integrity of coach Maxwell to acknowledge the violation when it was otherwise unnoticed by the players and fans of both teams.
Orchid of the Day: Coach Maxwell
Question of the Day: What would you have done if you were in Coach Maxwell’s position?
As I have talked to other people about the above story, I have received an array of opinions of whether Coach Maxwell did the right thing or not. Here are some of the opinions.
“He should have ignored the violation. It is not his responsibility to report it.”
“Once the players and umpire left the field, the violation should have been ignored.”
“He deprived his team of a victory that they earned on the field”
“Baseball has a culture of “if you are not cheating you are not trying” and Coach Maxwell violated that unwritten rule”
“He was being self-righteous at the expense of his players.”
“He was like the kid in the TV commercial who told the referee that the ball was off him, when the referee ruled it was off the other team. It was the right thing to do.” See my Video of the Day.
As I have had time to evaluate Coach Maxwell’s decision to report the violation, it is my opinion the members of his team will remember the lesson he taught them about integrity for the remainder of their lives. As the players age, they will appreciate the lesson more and more.
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Quote of the Day: “Integrity is doing the right thing when no one else is watching?” A wise person.
Onion of the Day: The former president, who today was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages.
Video of the Day: Integrity: Pass it On.