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Interference Caused by Equipment in On-Deck "Circle"


Guest Rock Bottom Mike
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Guest Rock Bottom Mike

I haven't been able to find this covered in the rules.  Is there any penalty if a fielder, when attempting to field a pop foul ball, trips over a batting donut, extra bat, etc., that is left in the on-deck area?  

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During one of my son's 50/70 games, the umpire (usually does D1) told the coaches during the plate meeting. "There's not much room for an on deck circle, so let your players know to keep it clean or somebody could be going home early." 

I asked him about it after the game and he said, he doesn't like to eject anybody at this level, so if it's a problem, he'll approach the coaches and say, "Either you respect my wishes, or I leave." He only had to say that once.  

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OBR -- No penalty.  Play around it.  MLB does have limits on what can be in / near the on-deck circle.

 

FED -- Umpire can decide, I think (I can't remember if that's just for a ball hitting loose equipment that prevents the ball from entering DBT, or if it applies here as well)

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From the 2016 Baseball Rules Differences by Carl Childress (section321, p. 213):

OBR Official Interpretation: Wendelstedt:  Equipment used by on-deck batters is on the field legally and cannot create interference.

Case Play:  The batter pops up. The ball is coming down close to the on-deck circle. As the catcher goes to field the ball, he runs into a bat leaning against the backstop. The ball drops in front of the catcher. Ruling:  The umpire should signal that it’s nothing. This is simply a foul ball.

 

To reinforce this here is what the Jaksa/Roder manual says about equipment in the on-deck circle:

“Bats and accessories used on the on-deck circle should be localized, and minimized in number, during a team’s at-bat, and removed to the dugout (or other DBT) while that team is on defense.

“There is no interference (assuming no intent) if a live ball strikes or touches equipment on LBT. Also, there is no interference if a fielder is unable to make a play due to contact with an inadvertently placed piece of equipment on LBT.”

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1 hour ago, Mister B said:

During one of my son's 50/70 games, the umpire (usually does D1) told the coaches during the plate meeting. "There's not much room for an on deck circle, so let your players know to keep it clean or somebody could be going home early." 

I asked him about it after the game and he said, he doesn't like to eject anybody at this level, so if it's a problem, he'll approach the coaches and say, "Either you respect my wishes, or I leave." He only had to say that once.  

How is he justifying an ejection there?

 

There's a difference between a bat or two and 20 in the on-deck circle. Some teams (men's leagues are bad at this) bring a small RV out there.

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He's not ejecting anyone, he's walking out of the game. Many of these fields don't have an on-deck circle, so they are warming up in foul territory, which is usually all of 12 feet wide. He just doesn't want to see anybody get hurt. 

He did a couple travel ball games where one of the teams would show up with 3 bats per player, 20 different donuts, cleat cleaners, etc. and the ball would usually end up in that mess at least once an inning. It's not worth the headache in the lower levels. I appreciate him because we can get thru a 7 inning game in under 2 hours. Helpful when you're playing a double-header. 

As for the higher levels, ymmv. 

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55 minutes ago, Mister B said:

He's not ejecting anyone, he's walking out of the game. Many of these fields don't have an on-deck circle, so they are warming up in foul territory, which is usually all of 12 feet wide. He just doesn't want to see anybody get hurt. 

He did a couple travel ball games where one of the teams would show up with 3 bats per player, 20 different donuts, cleat cleaners, etc. and the ball would usually end up in that mess at least once an inning. It's not worth the headache in the lower levels. I appreciate him because we can get thru a 7 inning game in under 2 hours. Helpful when you're playing a double-header. 

As for the higher levels, ymmv. 

I don't get why he'd walk out of a game for that. 

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5 minutes ago, udbrky said:

I don't get why he'd walk out of a game for that. 

He's there to call the game, not deal with drama. I'm guessing that he's done this enough to just set some ground rules early and it works great for him. 

I worked a LL majors game and the visiting team has a history of arguing judgment calls. My partner stated very clearly that as soon as that starts, the game ends. It never started. 

There's many fields that have ample space for an on-deck area. We don't play there. Just an example of how somebody deals with it. 

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5 hours ago, LRZ said:

There are less drastic (and rule-based) ways to address on-deck messes and argumentative teams.

Totally agree. It sounds like maybe he shouldn't take these games if he's on the verge of walking out. He should be able to deploy some game management before it gets to that point.

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6 hours ago, Mister B said:

He's there to call the game, not deal with drama. I'm guessing that he's done this enough to just set some ground rules early and it works great for him. 

I worked a LL majors game and the visiting team has a history of arguing judgment calls. My partner stated very clearly that as soon as that starts, the game ends. It never started. 

There's many fields that have ample space for an on-deck area. We don't play there. Just an example of how somebody deals with it. 

Well, the truth is that he's there to call the game and deal with drama. It's part of the job. That's why he's paid. He can't choose to leave over something this petty and expect to keep getting assignments. Walking out for something like this is inexcusable. Making the statement that he'll leave is making the situation about him, and that's never a good thing for an umpire to do. 

If this level of "drama" breaches his limit, it's time for him to hang it up.

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