Color/Distraction Rule

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I have seen several umpires this season tell pitchers that neon/distracting colors on their mit will not be allowed per ASA this year. They sugessted tape or coloring over the "M" logo on a certain Mizuno glove. Makes sense, you do what you have to do.
Here is the big "but".....If this is new and a rule, why are teams allowed to where those same colors? I would think neon pants/shirts etc would be more distracting and give a pitcher an edge. Making it more difficult to pick up the ball off a pitchers hip. Yellow ball off neon yellow pant...and also some umpires dont even enforce this.
Interested to hear others thoughts and experiences with this so far this year.

 

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Don't believe it is a new rule but either way it doesn't make any sense to say you can't have the color on your glove or knee slider but you can have your whole uniform the color. I'm guessing it's a matter of the size. Something small that would be about the size of a ball is more distracting to a batter then something huge like uniforms.

 

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With respect to the pitcher's glove, this is not a new rule. The rule states that the pitcher's glove may be multi-colored, as long as none of the colors are the color of the ball. The rule was changed to reflect this back in 2007.

ASA addressed the color of uniforms recently on their website. During the season, they publish a montly list of plays and rule clarifications (not many people realize this and, unfortunately, few umpire I speak with realize it either). Here is a link to the page:

Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA)

In March of 2012, this point was covered.

PLAY: (JO Fast Pitch) The defensive team in the field has optic yellow shorts on, including the pitcher who also has optic yellow knee pads covering her knees.

RULING: Legal. We do not control color of uniforms or of knee pads in any classification of play.

It does seem kind of contradictary, but that is their rule. I can only imagine that pitcher's glove not having optic yellow on it has more to do with the pitcher appearing to have the ball in her glove for the Look Back Rule, rather than being distracting to the batter.

 

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With respect to the pitcher's glove, this is not a new rule. The rule states that the pitcher's glove may be multi-colored, as long as none of the colors are the color of the ball. The rule was changed to reflect this back in 2007.

ASA addressed the color of uniforms recently on their website. During the season, they publish a montly list of plays and rule clarifications (not many people realize this and, unfortunately, few umpire I speak with realize it either). Here is a link to the page:

Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA)

In March of 2012, this point was covered.

PLAY: (JO Fast Pitch) The defensive team in the field has optic yellow shorts on, including the pitcher who also has optic yellow knee pads covering her knees.

RULING: Legal. We do not control color of uniforms or of knee pads in any classification of play.

It does seem kind of contradictary, but that is their rule. I can only imagine that pitcher's glove not having optic yellow on it has more to do with the pitcher appearing to have the ball in her glove for the Look Back Rule, rather than being distracting to the batter.

Stupid Rule...you would think the people that write the OHSAA rules have no common sense..we are he only state that has the dumbest rules....unless someone knows different?

 

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They are talking about an ASA rule not OSHAA but OSHAA is stupid anyway. ha

 

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Stupid Rule...you would think the people that write the OHSAA rules have no common sense..we are he only state that has the dumbest rules....unless someone knows different?

Well, it's not really the OHSAA that writes the playing rules. High school ball in Ohio (and almost all of the fifty states) play under National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) rules. The NFHS publishes their own rule book that is a national publication, not something tailored for each individual state.

Each state does make their own rules about things like eligibility and coaching. Some of those in Ohio might seem kind of dumb...but not especially dumber than what you might find in any of the other fifty states.

Personal opinion here...every sanctioning body has their share of "stupid" rules, be it ASA, high school, NSA, USSSA or whatever. But if you agree to play under a given sanction, then you are agreeing to abide by their rules. And if you have agreed to officiate their games, then you are bound to enforce their rules- no matter how much you might not like the rule or how "stupid" you think it might be.

I think that most of the rules about what glove a pitcher can wear, no matter which sanctioning body you're talking about, are on the stupid side. But rules don't evolve in a vaccuum. Even the stupid rules were put in place because somebody, somewhere, had some perceived problem with one side or the other gaining some kind of competetive advantage.

Could a small logo on a glove, that just happens to be optic yellow, really provide the pitcher some sort of competetive advantage? My own opinion is, no, it cannot. But someone must think that it can! For a rule to be changed in the ASA rule book, it has to go through several steps to be approved, then pass through a vote at their national convention. They don't just randomly add stuff at will (though sometimes it seems like it). Apparently enough people thought this was an issue that they went through all of the trouble of proposing the rule, passing it through the rule committee, then voting on it. And it passed!

 

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Say what you want>>>any SANCTIONING BODY ITS A STUPID RULE! We dont CHOOSE Bret! which body we play under if its OSHAA and we are a high shool team.

 

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My dd has said Mizuno glove and is also a pitcher. I am aware of the rule and have been but when my dd decides she wants a certain glove, there is no changing her mind. We haven't had an issue yet but we carry around electrical tape and a sharpie just incase.

I agree with you Jaime. What's more distracting......the full neon uniforms where the optic yellow ball is coming off of a solid neon yellow background OR a small neon green M on the glove that is on the opposite side of the body as the delivery of the ball? Hmmmmm, that's a tricky one.....

 

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FYI - If your kid is NCAA college bound as a pitcher, you might consider the NCAA rules before buying that "new" glove for college play:

NCAA pitcher's glove rules:
"The pitcher's glove and it's lacing shall be tan, brown, grey, white or black, or any combination of those colors. The manufacturer's logo is not considered a glove color."

Interesting that the NCAA does not care what color the logo is. However, glove colors are bland and extremely limited. DD was considering a red glove (like some MLB gloves), but the NCAA rules clearly say that's forbidden.

 

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Yeah neon pants have to be a distraction!? Although my DD plays against a team several tournys this yr that have that color pants. She never said its an issue. So maybe im figuring wrong here?

 

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Say what you want>>>any SANCTIONING BODY ITS A STUPID RULE! We dont CHOOSE Bret! which body we play under if its OSHAA and we are a high shool team.

You do have choices. If your kid is a pitcher, you can choose to buy her a glove that conforms with the rules.

And then there is the ultimate choice. Last time I checked, participation in a sport was voluntary.

 

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You do have choices. If your kid is a pitcher, you can choose to buy her a glove that conforms with the rules.

And then there is the ultimate choice. Last time I checked, participation in a sport was voluntary.

Bretman beat me to it with his answer. Participation in school sports is voluntary and a privilege, not a right. Playing ASA over USSSA is a choice. The comparisons go on and on. I've never argued much about NFHS and realistically, they follow suit of decisions made by ASA and USSSA.

The OHSAA is a different topic. lol. In my opinion while the other sanctions stay focused on the game, OHSAA gets involved with politics and family choices, trying to control areas of life rather than stay focused on the game and the season end tournament format. Unlike school district rules where you could always move across town to attend another district, the OHSAA follows you wherever you go like a dark cloud-----unless you go to another state!!! lol.

Back on topic, we agrued the uniform color thing for years now. We've even questioned why a company would come out with a uniform using the colors. The answer was always the same, because somebody will buy it and they're in the business to make money. The next question is who would buy it? Well, I have to admit I don't believe back in the day it was done on purpose to distract the opposing team. It's more likely rooms full of parents and kids thought they'd look cool. Do they still say "cool?" While I championed at the time to have the colors found illegal, I soon discovered the teams wearing them were getting beat more often than I'm sure they liked. Were these uniforms really a distraction or was I making more out of it than I should? While the male gender coaches could clearly see many reasons the uniforms shouldn't be allowed, the girls were playing right thru it. It leaves me wondering, why should I continue the fight if the kids weren't saying anything about it? The bottom line; it's their game."

I still believe there are issues just as I believe pitchers wanting knee protectors with softballs on them are wearing them thinking it gives them an edge. They want to push the envelop back as far as they can. I believe if any of it is a true distraction, umpires should declare this and order the items covered or removed.

A note to teams buying the uniforms; now that you know they are being viewed in dim light by the softball world, are you still going to buy and wear these colors in a game? If you do, you can expect more grief in the future over this issue.

 

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My DD pitches, and has the Mizuno mitt also. She finally, at the suggestion of her HS coach, took a black marker to it. Bothered her while she did it, but has since forgotten about it. Not a big issue.

 

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We haven't had an issue yet but we carry around electrical tape and a sharpie just incase.

We had our first ump complain a couple weeks ago....The electrical tape only lasted 3 pitches, we then used the sharpie on the Mizuno Logo....

 

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You do have choices. If your kid is a pitcher, you can choose to buy her a glove that conforms with the rules.

And then there is the ultimate choice. Last time I checked, participation in a sport was voluntary.

Your right Bret...I just felt like disagreeing with you since most wont on here.