TROUT JOINS SOME GOOD COMPANY From Elias: Mike Trout hit a home run on his 21st birthday in the Angels' loss to the A's. Trout is only the fifth player in major-league history to homer on his 21st birthday. The others were Ted Williams (1939), Frank Robinson (1956), Alex Rodriguez (1996) and Jason Heyward (2010).
Hell half the players in baseball probably have birthdays out of the season and for them it would have been impossible.
Speaking of birthdays....60 minutes did a piece on "Redshirting your 5 y/o". I was aware that some kids get held back an extra year in middle school/Jr High for athletic purposes. Jimmy Clausen was held back. But this was the first I'd heard of redshirting a 5 y/o but apparently it's a big deal. Basics are that if your school district says that at 6 by Sept 1 you have to go to Kindergarten and your kid is 6 Sept 2 then he/she will be disadvantaged the rest of their school career by always being the youngest, smallest, behind in maturity, etc...they never catch up. Better to hold them back and have them be the oldest/bigger/more mature. The one thing that was interesting is they pointed out the a youth hockey all-star team and virtually all the kids were born in Jan/Feb/Mar and they said that the same is true of the NHL, all the stars are born in those months. The advice was to have your babies in the winter. Any of you guys have this issue with your grandkids? I think its somewhat new.
Well since everyone is born at different times.....someone will always be the youngest, smallest, least mature etc. I was always among the youngest in my class when growing up and as far as I recall it was handicap in getting my drivers license and drinking legally in HS (NY was 18.) We did have some kids who were "redshirted" by the school. They were the oldest and biggest. They also were the dumbest since they'd been left behind. :lol:
Holding kids back a year from the "traditional" ages that we knew (5 for KG, 6 for 1st grade, etc.) has been replaced by an extra year of pre-K, giving them another year to be emotionally and mentally ready for full-day school. Both of my kids with school age children have done it for what I consider to be the right reasons relating to education and without regard for athletics. I'm sure other parents have done it based solely on their athletic hopes for their children, which IMO is a mistake, even though both groups end up in the same place. As a grandparent with 9 grandkids currently active in sports from age 15 down to age 6, I've observed mostly smart, committed, realistic parents. However, I've seen several instances of parents who don't get it, who don't understand that what their kid does at age 6, 8, 10, even 12, has nothing to do with the type of HS athlete or beyond that he/she ultimately will develop into. Fortunately, these misguided parents are in the minority of those I've observed. I can't comment on the timing during the year of birthdays. My observation is that it hasn't made a difference. In age group sports, e.g., swimming, winter birthdays are bad for winter swimming because of the necessity every other year to move up an age group in the middle of the season, thus going from the top of the age group to the bottom. In team sports, it might make a difference at younger ages, but IMO that difference disappears post-puberty and in high school. I believe that to say otherwise is baseless speculation. The hockey study, to me, is nothing more than a confluence of coincidence.
Sid and JO'Co are trying to sensationalize this topic and Gipper is lawyering them to death. We can't handle the truth!