CATCHER'S CUP PUTS GIRL PLAYER ON BENCH; 12-YEAR-OLD WON'T WEAR BOY'S GEAR.Byline: Karla Schuster Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Melissa Raglin was a starting catcher in the Boca Youth Baseball League, until she questioned an umpire's call. He wanted her to wear a protective cup. She refused, got benched, and what started out as playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. baseball has turned into political football that drew scores of cameras, league officials and the National Organization for Women to Tuesday night's game. ``I want to change this rule because I really want to play baseball,'' Melissa, a Boca Middle School student, said before the game. ``And I don't want to wear something that's made for a boy.'' So on Tuesday night, after sitting out two games for not wearing the cup that's required for catchers by league rules, Melissa, 12, donned the protective gear - on her right ankle. She played one inning in·ning n. 1. a. Baseball One of nine divisions or periods of a regulation game, in which each team has a turn at bat as limited by three outs. b. innings (used with a sing. before league officials stepped in, demanding that coach Don Solomon and the plate umpire A person chosen to decide a question in a controversy that has been submitted to Arbitration but has not been resolved because the arbitrators cannot reach agreement, or one who has been chosen to be a permanent arbitrator for the duration of a collective bargaining agreement. find out exactly where Melissa was wearing the cup. After several minutes of pacing, cellular phone calls and hushed hush v. hushed, hush·ing, hush·es v.tr. 1. To make silent or quiet. 2. To calm; soothe. 3. To keep from public knowledge; suppress mention of. conversations behind the backstop, Melissa got benched for the second time in less than a week. ``If it's on her ankle, then it's not doing any good,'' said league President Laura Kaufmann. ``And she was flouting the rules.'' Apparently Melissa, her coach and most of the other league umpires didn't even realize the rule applies to girls. Until May 15, Melissa suited up as the team's catcher, sans cup, without anyone ever asking her the question required by league rules. ``When the ump asked me if I was wearing a cup at the beginning of the second inning, I took my helmet off and said, `I'm a girl,' '' she said. Melissa is one of only two or three girls who play in the league, which has about 240 players. Coaches scrambled to find her a cup and came up with an old one borrowed from a member of the opposing team - a move Solomon now says was probably insensitive. ``I had never even thought about the rule until Melissa was asked that first time, and it was the playoffs, and the adrenaline adrenaline (ədrĕn`əlĭn, –lēn): see epinephrine. was pumping, and I didn't want to lose my catcher,'' he said. ``Unfortunately, I think Melissa is the victim of a rule that really hasn't caught up with the times.'' Not so, say Babe Ruth League Babe Ruth League is a youth baseball program. The organization's headquarters are on Lawrence Township, New Jersey, United States. In 1951, a group of men dedicated to the youth of America met in a suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, and formed what became the very first Babe national officials. ``We certainly don't want to see anyone embarrassed, but it's for her protection,'' said Jimmy Stewart, the league's national commissioner for the Southeast region. ``A blow there to a young girl could have devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. long-term effects. It's no different than her mask.'' But Melissa's parents, Patricia and Michael Raglin, and the president of the South Palm Beach County chapter of NOW say it's unnecessary to require her to wear a cup and unfair to keep her from catching if she refuses. ``The fact that (league officials) didn't say anything all season and now it becomes an issue makes me think that this is harassment Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Nevada I recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. and humiliation, rather than a safety concern,'' said NOW chapter President Linda Bliden, who handed out fliers supporting Melissa at Tuesday night's game. Patricia Raglin said she had spent days trying to find some kind of protective cup made for girls, without any luck. ``If something was made for a girl, we'd have gotten it and she'd been wearing it,'' Raglin said. ``But she's not going to wear a boy's cup over a penis she doesn't have.'' The South Florida Diamond League - the women's amateur baseball league for Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties - doesn't require protective cups for its catchers. Neither does national Little League, which is run under different rules from the Babe Ruth League. Nor does the city, which runs T-ball, roller hockey roller hockey n. Hockey played on a hard surface in which two opposing teams of roller skaters, using curved sticks, try to drive a ball into the opponents' goal. and flag football leagues. ``I've never heard of protection like a cup made especially for women, and we've never used more than the chest protector protector /pro·tec·tor/ (-tek´ter) a substance in a catalyst that prolongs the rate of activity in the latter. and mask for our catchers,'' said Esther Surujon, president of the South Florida Diamond League. ``And my girls are pitching a lot harder than those little boys.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Catcher Melissa Raglin, 12, has been benched for refusing to wear a protective cup. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. |
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