Jimmy was born on December 30, 2006. When he suits up for next year's Little League season he'll be 8 years old. But as far as Little League is concerned he is 9. Bella's birthday is May 2, 2005. She'll turn 10 years old during the 2015 season. Bella is 20 months older than Jimmy, but Little League says she is also 9.
Welcome to the Little League 2015 age change.
This is the extreme, though real example that is the result of a change in the determination of the Little League age long in the making at Little League headquarters, but short in guidance as to how the change would be implemented. That was until the organization's formal announcement on November 18th that spelled it out once and for all while at the same time blindsiding parents, local Little League officials, some District overseers, and likely many others up the Little League food chain who didn't attend the most recent Little League International Board of Directors meeting. What was short on guidance is now short on notice, and there are a lot of upset parents of children like Jimmy who were born between May and December, 2006 and are now considered the same league age as players who are almost two years older.
A little over a year ago there was much fuss and focus throughout the Little League universe on proposed rule changes to be considered at the 2014 Little League International Congress that would convene in Minneapolis in April. Every four years, delegates representing Little League districts from around the world gather to consider the adoption of a variety of proposals and amendments that affect rules and regulations governing all local Little Leagues. Whether it be something as trivial as deciding the catcher's chest protector no longer needs to include that nifty little doodad that extends below the waist to protect the family jewels (it was apparently determined that the incredibly uncomfortable protective cup does a nice job on its own) to a rule requiring the batter to keep one foot in the batter's box between pitches (that one failed). None of the proposals drew as much attention as the change in age determination. As originally written, the proposed rule, if passed, would be dramatic and would impact every player in Little League whose birthday fell between May and December.
The proposal in theory was straightforward. The implementation of it was not. That may explain why Little League headquarters struggled with, and backtracked from, two previous versions of ambiguous guidance before this month's final edict.
For the past several years the age for Little League (and PONY) was determined by the player's age as of April 30th of the year in which the season was played. For example, last spring a child born between January and April, 2002 played as a 12 year-old. Players who turned 12 between May and December of 2014 were league age 11. And so on down the line.
The new age determination as originally proposed for the 2015 season would be the age a player would attain during the calendar year of the season being played. For many, the question wasn't, "How old are you now?" It was, "How old will you be before the end of the calendar year?" The goal was to complete a three year transitional implementation of the rule and be fully effective on January 1, 2018.
Sensitive that a rigid and abrupt implementation of this change would prematurely end the Little League careers of older players (which indeed would have been the case for that 11 year old in the example above), the initial proposal included a grandfather clause for the 10, 11, and 12 year olds born between May to December that would allow them to play out their full Little League careers.
However, when the Little League Congress ultimately convened last April the delegates came away with a different plan after passing an amendment that called for the new rule to simply go into effect on January 1, 2018. No transition. Just three years to prepare. Until then, it would be status quo.
However, when the Little League Congress ultimately convened last April the delegates came away with a different plan after passing an amendment that called for the new rule to simply go into effect on January 1, 2018. No transition. Just three years to prepare. Until then, it would be status quo.
The problem with that scenario was that players would lose a year of eligibility in Little League's most visible age group of 10-12 year olds. Consider a player born between May and December of 2005. He or she would be league age 9 in 2015, 10 in the 2016 season, 11 in 2017, and then in 2018 that player would suddenly become league age 13 and would lose the opportunity to play his or her 12 year old season of Little League. That proved undesirable and unacceptable to many, and to Little League's credit, this latest and final version of the implementation of the new age rule was devised, accomplishing the most important goal that no player lose a year of eligibility as a 10-12 year old. Only it just got real crowded in that 9 year old group.
Take a look at the new age chart below and note the highlighted players deemed to be league age 9:
Now that's a lot of 9's!
The "Jimmys" of the world in the row of players born in 2006 get the worst of it. Many of these kids were league age 7 last season and are now league age 9. While the rest of the younger ages also become older by a year, there's only one row for each age and they all move up together. For the younger 9's it's like taking the 2nd graders and telling them they're all going to skip a grade, join the 3rd graders and go through school together the rest of the way until 6th grade.
Another negative result for these younger 9's is what the age change does to their chances of participating in Little League All-Star play. Except for a couple of outliers in the younger group, most of the "new" 9's will miss out on that, having to compete for slots on a team with players as much as 20 months older. And that won't change for the next four seasons.
The "Jimmys" of the world in the row of players born in 2006 get the worst of it. Many of these kids were league age 7 last season and are now league age 9. While the rest of the younger ages also become older by a year, there's only one row for each age and they all move up together. For the younger 9's it's like taking the 2nd graders and telling them they're all going to skip a grade, join the 3rd graders and go through school together the rest of the way until 6th grade.
Another negative result for these younger 9's is what the age change does to their chances of participating in Little League All-Star play. Except for a couple of outliers in the younger group, most of the "new" 9's will miss out on that, having to compete for slots on a team with players as much as 20 months older. And that won't change for the next four seasons.
That was confirmed when Little League, noting some confusion stemming from the November 18th announcement, issued a much better explanation and a couple of easier to understand age charts in a follow up email the next day.
Everybody born before January 1, 2006 continues to use the old age determination the remainder of their Little League careers; everyone born on or after January 1, 2006 now uses the new age determination all the way through.
UPDATE: This is no longer the case. In early December, Little League published another version of the age chart and accompanying narrative, and specifically noted that the 9s born between May and December, 2005 will lose their 12 year old year of Little League and become league age 13 on January 1, 2018. Click here to read more about this.
UPDATE #2: As of August, 2015, rumors abound that LL will tweak the age determination yet again to a cutoff of August 31. Click here to read more.
Everybody born before January 1, 2006 continues to use the old age determination the remainder of their Little League careers; everyone born on or after January 1, 2006 now uses the new age determination all the way through.
UPDATE: This is no longer the case. In early December, Little League published another version of the age chart and accompanying narrative, and specifically noted that the 9s born between May and December, 2005 will lose their 12 year old year of Little League and become league age 13 on January 1, 2018. Click here to read more about this.
UPDATE #2: As of August, 2015, rumors abound that LL will tweak the age determination yet again to a cutoff of August 31. Click here to read more.
Hence the crowd in the middle with that new cluster of league 9's.
The announcement of the new age chart and its immediate implementation caught the leagues in warm weather states off guard. Those leagues are already weeks into the spring registration process where online systems calculate league age using the then prescribed league age determination which, until a few days ago, was April 30th. Now it'll require either a quick fix by the online registration providers, or a plea from league officials to identify and recruit volunteers who are whizzes with Excel data filters and pivot tables to help figure out how old these players really are. No small feat for those leagues that would have appreciated a heads up that this development was coming down the 'pike.
One Southern California Little League with nearly 800 players had projected approximately 85 league age 9's would register to play for the 2015 season. With news of the age change, the projected number of 9's could reach 160! That's a challenging number in just one age group to manage when contemplating division alignment, never mind figuring out field availability.
The obstacle to providing earlier notification is a function of when the Little League Board of Directors meets. In November. That's when these important final decisions are often reached ahead of the upcoming season, only they seemingly forget that it doesn't snow much in SoCal, the South, etc., where many of these leagues are deep into the planning stages.
This isn't the first groundbreaking announcement over the years that came at the eleventh hour causing leagues and families to scramble. New rules governing the baseball bats were announced November 2, 2011. Many players had already purchased and used a new bat after the new models of bats were released in September. Many of those bats turned out to be illegal two months later, so parents had to eat the cost of a $200 bat they could no longer use in a Little League game. And others who hoped to get a couple of seasons out of a bat had to buy or borrow a new one that met the new standards.
Then there was last year's new rule allowing players attending school within a league's boundary to enroll in that league even if they don't reside within those same boundaries. That announcement came on November 26, 2013 after players had already registered in some leagues.
One Southern California Little League with nearly 800 players had projected approximately 85 league age 9's would register to play for the 2015 season. With news of the age change, the projected number of 9's could reach 160! That's a challenging number in just one age group to manage when contemplating division alignment, never mind figuring out field availability.
The obstacle to providing earlier notification is a function of when the Little League Board of Directors meets. In November. That's when these important final decisions are often reached ahead of the upcoming season, only they seemingly forget that it doesn't snow much in SoCal, the South, etc., where many of these leagues are deep into the planning stages.
This isn't the first groundbreaking announcement over the years that came at the eleventh hour causing leagues and families to scramble. New rules governing the baseball bats were announced November 2, 2011. Many players had already purchased and used a new bat after the new models of bats were released in September. Many of those bats turned out to be illegal two months later, so parents had to eat the cost of a $200 bat they could no longer use in a Little League game. And others who hoped to get a couple of seasons out of a bat had to buy or borrow a new one that met the new standards.
Then there was last year's new rule allowing players attending school within a league's boundary to enroll in that league even if they don't reside within those same boundaries. That announcement came on November 26, 2013 after players had already registered in some leagues.
You may wonder why this whole age change thing came about in the first place. We may never know the full list of reasons, though Little League has cited a main reason being its effort to conform to the age determination used by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and USA Baseball.
Little League also acknowledged the desired result from the age change that should, in 2018, eliminate the appearance on ESPN of a 6'5" bearded beast of a 13-year-old pitcher (league age 12) throwing 72 mph BB's to a 4'8" 11-year-old second baseman from a mound just 46 feet away. Or equally unnerving, that same 6'5" "kid" smashing a sizzling line drive back to the pitcher standing that same 46 feet away. That's a welcome result by most accounts. After all, puberty has no place on a Little League diamond.
Little League also acknowledged the desired result from the age change that should, in 2018, eliminate the appearance on ESPN of a 6'5" bearded beast of a 13-year-old pitcher (league age 12) throwing 72 mph BB's to a 4'8" 11-year-old second baseman from a mound just 46 feet away. Or equally unnerving, that same 6'5" "kid" smashing a sizzling line drive back to the pitcher standing that same 46 feet away. That's a welcome result by most accounts. After all, puberty has no place on a Little League diamond.
Little League deserves credit for addressing this and taking action. No matter which version of the age change rule the organization ultimately implemented, some age group was going to be affected more than others. Little League determined the lesser of the evils was to draw the line at the 9's. Imperfect, though probably the best decision under the circumstances if the goal was to have this fully implemented in 2018 while preserving the Little League careers of the 10-12 year old age group. It just would have been better if they figured this out a little sooner. Little League may want to think about holding future annual board meetings in September.
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