Registration fees and Little League Baseball

Interesting opinion piece in Saturday's New York Times by Joe Mathews. I always enjoyed Joe's reporting at the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times. Before that, Joe spent a short time at the Baltimore Sun when I was a reporter there.

Joe combed through Little League Baseball's rulebook and found a section that says no child should be excluded from a local league for lack of money. His research indicates that few Little Leagues grant free registration, and fewer seem to be aware of the obligation.

I wonder if this is a barrier for many kids. A shame if it is.

Joe mentions that some leagues, including one he coaches in out in SoCal, hold fundraisers to balance their budgets.

Reading this, I flashed back to "Tag Day." In the 60s, we'd fan out all over town in our uniforms collecting coins and - jackpot time - dollar bills. Each donor received a tag. Inexplicably, I still have one. Displaying the tag protected the wearer from getting hit up another 10,000 times before the fund-raising weekend - mercifully - came to an end.