Cathcher's mitt

[trueblue]

Lat night I worked a JV game. The quality of play was sub-par to say the least. I don't think many of those kids, for one of the teams, had ever played baseball in their lives. I had to stop the pitcher and tell him that he has to engage the rubber when delivering a pitch, which he did not understand. He was straddling the rubber. I told the coach, and he did not do anything to coach his young pitcher, and the catcher looks up at me and tells me that this is his first time pitching with a big grin on his face.

To speed the game along, my partner, the BU had to go and instruct the pitcher as to how to deliver a legal pitch, something the coach should have done in practice.

Anyways, as I look down at the catcher, I notice that he is wearing a fielders glove to catch with. I mentioned it to him, and he promptly went and received his catcher's mitt.

My question is, I know that under FED, that the catcher's mitt may be of any size, but does that include the option of wearing a fielder's glove?

[blindumpire99]

As long as the glove meets the legal measurements as dictated in the book, I say OK..Now, if he was using a mitt, it could be any size...

You game sounded to me like, the kind you pray for rain in the first inning..

[widac]

As long as the glove meets the legal measurements as dictated in the book, I say OK..Now, if he was using a mitt, it could be any size...

You game sounded to me like, the kind you pray for rain in the first inning..

What's the difference 'tween a glove and a mitt?

[Umpire in Chief]

The glove has individual pockets for the fingers, a mitt doesn't.

[trueblue]

Thats the thing, under FED it states that the catcher's mitt can be of any size. I have never seen anyone, through many years of playing baseball, other than sand lot, using a fielder's glove to catch with...with safety being the number one concern, I am suprised that unlike in little league, it is not explicitly illegal

And yes, it was one of those games. The final score was 16-6, with less than a handful of base hits. Most runs were scored on walks, HBP, errors, passed balls (which hit me quite often), and wild pitches...oh, quite the game

[Stan W.]

I have umpired in rural areas where I have ignored many "items" to get the game in....

I have umpired games using PONY league baseballs (that I supplied) since neither team thought to bring any new baseballs....and I had a JV catcher come out and try to catch using a brand new (still had the tag on it) catchers mitt.......after basically using it as a shield for half an inning and not catching a single pitch, he caught the rest of the game using his fielders glove.....

I've umpired games where both JV teams had multiple uniform combinations.....they did not have enough varsity "hand me downs" to dress a full JV team in one color........

Ive had games where the catchers shared equipment and players left their gloves in the field for the other team to use.........(just like we did as kids)

you do what you have to do....

[BrianC14]

I had a catcher the other day where a 48" mitt wouldn't have helped.

That kid would've missed pitches with a *^($&*@ butterfly net! :home:

[scobes7]

I had a catcher the other day where a 48" mitt wouldn't have helped.

That kid would've missed pitches with a *^($&*@ butterfly net!

OUCH!!!!

[BrianC14]

OUCH!!!!

Yes. The bruises remain, all in areas not covered by the CP. :WTF

[MO-Ump]

Had a lefty catcher in a varsity game the other night. A little different. I had to back up a little. Felt like I was going to get hit everytime he threw.