White sleeves

[Guest Mike]

I can't find a specific rule in OBR that says a pitcher can't wear white/gray sleeves. Is it discussed in an interpretation manual? 

[Jimurray]

55 minutes ago, Guest Mike said:

I can't find a specific rule in OBR that says a pitcher can't wear white/gray sleeves. Is it discussed in an interpretation manual? 

There isn't a rule or an interp that I know of. If a team all is wearing solid color white undershirts the pitcher can have one. The ump still can rule something distracting. OBR says "solid color" for all players. NCAA says "solid color other than white" for all players.

[Senor Azul]

From the 2016 BRD (section 575, p. 373): 

OBR Official Interpretation:  Fitzpatrick:  The pitcher may wear white undershirts if everyone on the team wears the same color undershirt.

Note 540:  Though white undershirt sleeves are not prohibited by rule or official interpretation, most amateur players and coaches using OBR rules believe a pitcher cannot wear them. Lou Piniella in the 2001 playoffs made that complaint. BRD recommends:  Short of professional play, decide that a pitcher’s white sleeves are “distracting” and have them removed if the opponents coach complains.

OBR Official Interpretation:  Wendelstedt:  The umpire has the authority to have a pitcher remove any items or equipment that he believes is distracting. He may do so on his own initiative or at the request of the offensive team. However, a request from the offensive team does not compel the umpire to remove the item or equipment. That is still left to the judgment of the umpire.

In the 2017 Jaksa/Roder rules interpretation manual it says, “an umpire must pay particular attention to the pitcher when enforcing uniform and equipment regulations.” OBR rule 3.03 is the rule that governs what can and cannot be on a player’s uniform and Jaksa/Roder says, “an umpire should give exceptional scrutiny to the pitcher regarding these prohibitions.”

[Replacematt]

3 hours ago, Senor Azul said:

Note 540:  Though white undershirt sleeves are not prohibited by rule or official interpretation, most amateur players and coaches using OBR rules believe a pitcher cannot wear them. Lou Piniella in the 2001 playoffs made that complaint. BRD recommends:  Short of professional play, decide that a pitcher’s white sleeves are “distracting” and have them removed if the opponents coach complains.

Another part where BRD is incorrect. Unless it is actually distracting, I'm not rewarding the manager trying to mindF*#K his opponent.

[jonathantullos]

16 hours ago, Senor Azul said:

OBR Official Interpretation:  Wendelstedt:  The umpire has the authority to have a pitcher remove any items or equipment that he believes is distracting. He may do so on his own initiative or at the request of the offensive team. However, a request from the offensive team does not compel the umpire to remove the item or equipment. That is still left to the judgment of the umpire.

So, am I reading this correctly: Whether or not the undershirt is distracting is completely at the umpire's judgment even if the opposing team complains? And am I also correct in that there is nothing in OBR to this day that mandates no white undershirts?

[Rich Ives]

1 hour ago, jonathantullos said:

So, am I reading this correctly: Whether or not the undershirt is distracting is completely at the umpire's judgment even if the opposing team complains? And am I also correct in that there is nothing in OBR to this day that mandates no white undershirts?

Correct - for OBR

LL bans white or gray sleeves. 

Check with your local league for their rules.

[beerguy55]

1 hour ago, jonathantullos said:

So, am I reading this correctly: Whether or not the undershirt is distracting is completely at the umpire's judgment even if the opposing team complains? And am I also correct in that there is nothing in OBR to this day that mandates no white undershirts?

Yes, however many leagues and tournaments will have a statement in their own rules/bi-laws.

And then I have also run across silly softball leagues and tournaments that ban white sleeves, even though they mandate yellow balls (and allow yellow sleeves).

[jonathantullos]

1 hour ago, Rich Ives said:

Correct - for OBR

LL bans white or gray sleeves. 

Check with your local league for their rules.

Thanks. I know FED also bans but just assumed OBR did. Interesting.

 

1 hour ago, beerguy55 said:

Yes, however many leagues and tournaments will have a statement in their own rules/bi-laws.

And then I have also run across silly softball leagues and tournaments that ban white sleeves, even though they mandate yellow balls (and allow yellow sleeves).

Wow, that is pretty silly... Have you ever been given an explanation of that?

[beerguy55]

5 minutes ago, jonathantullos said:

 

Wow, that is pretty silly... Have you ever been given an explanation of that?

It's a case of having rules because they've seen the rules in other places, or blindly reusing rules that had been created many years prior when they made sense, and not understanding why the rules were actually made...and then being too stubborn to realize they screwed up.

[Richvee]

Funny though, WHEN MLB had that silly weekend with all black and all white uniforms, the white team’s pitcher couldn’t  wear the all white hat. I wonder who had the final say on that. 

[Senor Azul]

I had managed to forget all about that horrible weekend until now. So, thanks for reminding me of those infamous monochromatic uniforms, Mr. Richvee. To answer your question about who had the final say, I cannot state categorically. But there is a great article in Wikipedia titled Players Weekend that gives us a pretty good clue. Here is an excerpt from that article--

The league did prohibit the use of white as a color for the batting gloves, wristbands, and compression sleeves, since it might interfere with umpires' ability to judge a play.

For 2019, MLB mandated that all uniforms and caps be either all-white or all-black, with the home team getting the first choice of color and the visiting team wearing the other color option. Batting helmets would be either matte-black or matte-white, depending on the color the team has chosen. The one exception to the monochromatic uniform look was the pitcher on the "white" team, who wore a black cap with his white jersey and pants in order not to obstruct hitters from seeing the ball...

Even though the special weekend is supposed to be a cooperative venture between the MLB and the players union (the MLBPA), it would seem the league does have final say in this matter. And here’s further evidence of that when the Cubs tried to defy the edicts of the league--

The Cubs eschewed the idea altogether, with the entire team wearing their standard blue caps while on the field. The Chicago Cubs let MLB know their dissatisfaction with the uniforms by wearing their traditional royal blue caps on the first day of Players Weekend. However, MLB let the Cubs know they did not approve of this decision, and the team wore the designated white caps the rest of the weekend.