Distracting gear?

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kindle.a,

A baseball pitcher does not release the ball next to his pants. ?He releases it out away from his body. ?

 

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i really hate it when im up to bat and the pitcher has a bright green jersey on. i just try and focus on the ball as much as i can. afterwards, all i see is bright green spots. lol.

 

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I'm totally not a fan of those crazy, neon colors anyway! ?I can understand the 8U & 10U wearing lime green & hot pink, but as the girls get older, they really need to ditch the super brights (which they usually do)!
?To each his own, I guess.

 

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There are a couple of teams that still have these at older levels of play.
We faced a team like this in the summer. Ladies had a hard time picking up the ball, but we won. Not sure what the idea of a neon greenish-yellow uniforms is. I agree they are annoying and ugly. :-/ :-/

 

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Our 14U team had a pitcher with one of those kneepads and it depended on the umpire at the tourney if she had to pull it up or not. The sparkley headbands; they are a fad, they will go away.

The team with the neon green/yellow uniforms--we played a team with that same color in Florida and in the bright sun, they burned your pupils! Not only were they the same color as the ball, but it was hard to look at the girls on the field with the sun. I wouldn't want my kid in that color because I'd never be able to watch her play ;D
They were distracting.........but good players can overcome anything and our team won!

There does seem to be some inconsistency from ump to ump about all of the above--sometimes they can wear the kneepad, sometimes not; some umps don't care about the headbands, some do--unless it's a specific rule on the books, it will be subjectively interpreted.

 

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A NON-ISSUE!
I teach our girls when batting to focus their eyes on the pitchers hip, where the ball will be released from...if she does this the pitcher could have an actual ball on her knee and a focused batter would not even see it. If something 8-12 inches away, or on the pitchers head is distracting the batter she is not focused enough especially with her eyes.

 

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Thanks for the common sense answer, turbocoach! When my DD was younger, she played middle school basketball. Now, you want to see something hilarious, go to a middle school gym, and see how quiet it gets during free throws! You'd think Tiger Woods was preparing to make a putt to win the Masters! Quite different than the noise in high school basketball.

Give me a break! I taught DD to focus on the rim, and the rim ONLY. I would wave my arms, say "miss!", etc. trying to distract her. Nothing obnoxious, just minor distractions, like talking to her while she was shooting. I'd tell her, "Now this is a REAL important shot, if you miss, I'll win, so reaaaalllly keep your focus!"

Soon, she just ignored the old man - nothing I did would bother her. Then she started beating me at free throws!

A unique twist on this would be for you coaches to wear one of those obnoxious neon green shirts the next time you throw batting practice. If you've really got guts, wear the green shorts too! Moral to the story - the kids who've been exposed to less than ideal conditions will have a decided advantage over the kids who have not.

 

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Boy, to get blasted by The Ringer and taking days to respond--I better get a different occupation-oh wait-that's another thread. I don't think you all have seen the sliders with the ball on th inside. It is designed to be seen when the slider is rolled down, as some pitchers wear them when ptiching. When the pitcher is pitching with one of these sliders on the "pretend" ball is just below the knee. I am telling you--they look real. Now, I'm not saying that the player realizes what is going on but perhaps the parent or coach understands the "gamesmanship". Or, is everyone finally ralizing that all parents and coaches merely play by the rules and no one tries to push the limits?

 

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I have seen these sliders...they are the slider of choice for my girls...almost all of them have them. Not my doing just what is cool and so they are popular. We had one umpire all year who said our girls had to keep them up even on defense...his reason was that they might be mistaken as the ball by the umpires on a close play!!

I kept my mouth shut but have the same theory for umpires..if you are hustling and are focused on your job you won't mistake a yellow replica on a slider as "the ball" and miss the call.

Good analogy on Tiger Woods and the free throw practice...Tigers' dad used to play loud music and try to distract him while he was learning the game, especially when putting...I use air horns when my girls are batting and fielding.

Hitting well in fastpitch is not easy, but one of the elements that should be taught is to not have an excuse for poor performance at the plate...it takes focus and discipline.

 

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"No excuses for poor performance" - That's it in a nutshell, turbocoach! Another "excuse" I used to hear a lot was "I can't hit slow pitching!". I gues the reasoning was that after facing a very fast pitcher in one game, they had trouble timing up a slower pitcher the next game. That may have been the case, but it was nothing more than an excuse. GOOD hitters CAN and DO adjust to different speeds, distractions, and ANYTHING that may attempt to shift their focus. GOOD hitters - dedicated kids who work on their game - DO NOT make empty excuses. They figure out their weaknesses and work hard to improve, without shifting blame to someone or something else. If a team is not violating the rules, they are playing fair. YES - there is the sportsmanship issue, but more often than not, that's also an empty excuse. Umpires are there for a reason. PLAY BALL!!

 

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The bottom line is weather the gliter head bands, the yellow ball slidding pads or any other distraction... should be removed if it is considered a distraction weather it is done on purpose or not....

what is so hard to understand about this....its a rule.....

It is a judgement call by the umpire. Rules are not always made for a specific incident(gliter head bands) however there has to be a rule to guard against any type of situation that may tip an advantage towards one team or another.

 

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IMO, the glitter headbands are also a non-issue. They are all the rage with college girls now. They don't seem to be bothered by them. Simply expose kids at a young age to these "distractions", and it's amazing how soon they just learn to ignore them. It's all in the training and discipline.

 

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I as an umpire have no problem with the glitter bands. I have not been distracted by them at all when I'm behind the plate.

 

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The bottom line is weather the gliter head bands, the yellow ball slidding pads or any other distraction... should be removed if it is considered a distraction weather it is done on purpose or not....

what is so hard to understand about this....its a rule.....

I'll go easy on you, since I like your anti-Michigan flag!

To which rule, and for which rule set, are you referring?

 

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bretman, would not unsportsmanlike conduct apply?

 

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I think that unsportsmanlike conduct would be a stretch. A looooong stretch!

Generally, unsportsmanlike conduct is referring to a willful physical action committed by a player, not to an article of clothing she may be wearing.

Most of these issues are covered in the rules governing uniforms and equipment. Unless any of the items are specifically banned, or treated as illegal by a certain rule, the implication is that they are allowed.

That was the intent of my "show me the rule" comment. Here on the internet we have a luxury that isn't normally afforded on the field of play. We can check the rule book or case book, dig for an answer and kick it around without the need for an immediate ruling to keep the game moving along.

If your contention is that "it's a rule", you have all the time in the world to look it up and post it here. Show me the rule and you've made your case.

The only rule mentioning an item as being "distracting" is the rule about what a pitcher can wear on her throwing hand, arm, fingers or wrist. This rule makes no mention of any players other than the pitcher, and certainly no mention of headbands.

As an umpire, if you decide to arbitrarily ban a given item, you really need to be prepared to back it up with a specific, written rule. The rules covering uniforms allow headbands and make no mention of an image of a ball appearing on the uniform as being illegal.

 

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knee pads- last year not only did they make our pitcher turn hers so you saw only black, but they made the whole infield do the same... the ump claimed it a distraction, but it wasnt that big of a deal.

head bans- we usually didnt let our pitchers wear them while they pitched. ?but when ever we faced a team with a pitcher that had one a player would usually say something to the ump.

uniforms-the neon green/yellow uniforms are very distracting. ?someone once told me that they have a rule that says you arent allowed to wear white uniforms so it wouldnt be distracting with the old white ball. but when the sanctions decided to start using yellow balls they never changed the rule about uniforms along with it... don't know if its true or not but thats what someone told me.

 

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My DD was pitching in a tournament and the umpire would not let her use her glove. It is black and has the company name in yellow stitching. She had been using the glove for a year and no other umpires had ever said anything. She ended up using the coaches glove.

 

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My DD was pitching in a tournament and the umpire would not let her use her glove. ?It is black and has the company name in yellow stitching. ?She had been using the glove for a year and no other umpires had ever said anything. ?She ended up using the coaches glove.

Did the umpire have a relative on the team you were playing? That just sounds ridiculous.

 

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bretman.....

ASA...Rule 6 Section 6b

"A pitcher shall not wear any item on the pitching hand,wrist,forenarm or elbow or thighs which may, in the umpires judgement, be distractingto the batter.Batting gloves may not worn on the pitching hand"