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Batters boxes?


CEJ1972
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Umpires like it when the lines aren't there. At that point it becomes a "judgement" call for the plate ump. Judgement calls can't be argued or appealed. At that point, the ump can let the game be played without having to worry about the feet in addition to; balls, strikes, leaving base early (softball), balks, illegal pitch (softball), catcher obstruction, HBP, batter/coach calling time, foreign objects (stray balls) on the field or any of a number of things that the home plate ump has to watch for in that 3 second period of time between wind up and completion of pitch.

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You start that and then 15 mins before game time a team realizes that they're out of chalk/paint, what do you do then?  Force a team to forfeit? Wait til someone goes to a hardware store putting you back 30-45 mins at a minimum with a JV game to follow? It'll happen. 

 

I agree teams SHOULD have boxes, but if you say you can't start a game without them then you're in for trouble in some of the lesser funded areas.

You must have the lines painted or chalked for football games so why not baseball?
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At Riverdale we paint lines and boxes before each game.  Just want the yard to look at as good as it can.  We have a great template for the batters' and catcher's box from Southern Athletic.  

 

Funny story about batters' boxes:

 

Years ago we were playing in Cookeville. BIG District Game. In the bottom of the first, their first batter struck out on 1 pitch, their second batter on 2 pitches and their third batter on 3 pitches including one ball outside.  How?

 

Every time the batter stepped out of the box to get the sign from Coach Chaffin the home plate umpire called a strike.

 

Coach Chaffin was not pleased :)

 

The next night, they came to our place.  We painted the largest batter boxes in history prior to Cookeville arriving for the game.  We told Coach Chaffin he should be able to give signs without costing his hitters a strike now :roflol:

Edited by davidlimbaugh
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Guys lets also keep in mind that if a coach has an issue with the field they have the opportunity to bring it up at the plate meeting. Once the plate meeting breaks then the coaches have consented to play on the field and they lose the right to take issue with something like the batters box.  

 

I realize these aren't coaches replying to the thread, just a group of dads and fans who have something new to complain about.  But if you think you're team is put at a disadvantage some how by there not being a batters box, then talk to your coach about it.  I'm sure he'll love to sit at length and listen to you complain about him not doing his job by bring it up at the plate meeting.  

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The reason you dont see it called very often is because it really doesnt happen that often, at least not at this level. I mean the ENTIRE foot has to be COMPLETELY out of the box..

 

Actually the only time I have ever called it, there were no boxes. Needless to say the coach wasnt exactly happy.

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I always took the stance that if the foot has to be completely out of the box, the box has to be pretty well defined.  I've seen umpires redraw the front of the batter's box with the bat.  I've seen coaches and catchers obliterate them while taking infield.

 

There's not a time when this call is not a judgement call, but I always had bigger fish to fry when I was behind the plate than to watch a kids feet.  The other thing to note is the contact is all that's required for the out to be called.  A kid that bails out and swings or incidentally makes contact can be called out foul or fair.

Edited by ksgovols
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The only advantage I saw was the batters were scooting up in the box. Sometimes they even had their back foot from the middle to the front of the plate. I think they were doing it because they were trying to get to the breaking ball before it broke. They had problems with it in the contest before. We don't have anyone throwing in the 90s so moving up wasn't a problem.

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