If you’ve ever played little league baseball, or even Major League Baseball, you know that baseball players are a superstitious bunch.
Don’t step on the lines, rally animals and caps, all kinds of “rally” materials really… players will do anything for a rally.
Exhibit A:
And unfortunately for some youngsters from Iowa, they didn’t think about the optics of their latest move.
A video from one little league baseball team has recently stirred a lot of controversy, after it showed a young black player sitting on the bench with his teammates pulling the cotton out of what appears to be a door prize stuffed animal, and sticking it in his hair.
It’s not hard to see why that would make folks watching say… what the hell?
Needless to say, tons of people have spoken out about how this appears to be a pretty racially charged move, with others saying that these are just 10 -12 year old kids having fun in the dugout.
With that being said, officials from the Little League World Series have released a statement saying that there was no “ill-intent” behind the incident, according to Philip Lewis of the Huffington Post.
After talking with the coaches and parents, including the kid’s mother, they assured the Little League World Series that the move was not racially motivated.
“During the broadcast of the MLB Little League Classic, a Midwest player was show with filling from a stuffed animal given away at the game on his head. After speaking with the team, reviewing the photos, multiple players on the Midwest Region team were taking part in this while enjoying the game.
As only one player appeared on the broadcast, Little League International understands that the actions shown could be perceived as racially insensitive.
We have spoken with the player’s mother and the coaches, who have assured us that there was no ill-intent behind the action shown during the broadcast.”
Yeah, definitely not a good look…
However, another camera angle caught a different player with cotton on his head as well:
I hope this helps. They were all just having fun copying Lindor’s mohawk. The TV cam just caught it at an ironically bad time. Adults twisted this into something sinister, not the kids. pic.twitter.com/FXMWtJMoMS
— Stephen (@shoff901) August 23, 2022
The team was based out of Davenport, Iowa, representing the Midwest Region, and was eliminated by the Southwest Region team out of Pearland, Texas last night.
