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Two questions:

I am playing an away game against a private school who is not a TSSAA affiliated school.  On my way to the dugout from 3rd the umpire hands me a ball and asks if I have any more game balls because the ones he has are pretty rough.  I look at the ball and it has a nasty scuff from a line drive off the left field fence.  I notice it is a Wilson A1030 with no NFHS stamp.  I look at the ball and look at the opposing coach and shake my head.  I'm not going to say this is the case BUT they're field is 300' and being they are a young team the thought did cross my mind if they were playing with this ball to even the playing field to keep balls in the park, and that is ignorantly supposing that the A1030 has less pop than the A1010.  I had 6 brand new A1010 (with NFHS stamps) that I keep in my bucket and almost gave them to them but thought with my luck it would come back to haunt me so I did not.  I gave the ball back to the ump and told him I was playing under protest.  He looked at me wide eyed and I told him I was joking.

Fast forward to the top of the 7th inning, I'm down 8-6 with one out. Their pitcher is on the mound in the stretch.  Take the sign from the catcher, LICKS HIS FINGER and starts his wind up and pitches.  Batter grounds out on a breaking ball to 2B. I call time and approach the HPU and tell him to which he responds he did not see it.  What the...seriously man, you have one job!  It is what it is but what should be the call in that situation?  He also would take the ball and rub it in the dirt on the mound, legal?

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Good question.  While some smart folks are crafting an answer, I was wondering if it is legal to rub the ball against your uniform.  I thought the only legal thing was to run in your bare hands (once the sheen has been removed before being introduced into the game).  Saw a kid once that would run one spot on the ball for a good 3-4 seconds while looking in.  He probably was not trying to gain an advantage, but I though the ump would say something.

6-2-1 ART. 1 . . . Illegal acts include: a. applying a foreign substance to the ball; b. spitting on the ball or glove; c. rubbing the ball on the glove, clothing or person if the act defaces the ball; d. discoloring the ball with dirt; e. bringing the pitching hand in contact with the mouth without distinctly wiping off the pitching hand before it touches the ball; f. wearing any items on the hands, wrists or arms that may be distracting to the batter; g. wearing or placing tape, bandages or other foreign material (other than rosin) on the fingers or palm of his pitching hand that could come in contact with the ball; h. wearing a glove/mitt that includes the colors white or gray; i. wearing exposed undershirt sleeves that are white or gray. NOTE: Under umpire supervision, the pitcher may dry his hands by using a finely meshed cloth bag of powdered rosin. He may rub the ball with his bare hands to remove any extraneous coating. PENALTY: For defacing the ball (a-d), the ball is dead immediately. The umpire may eject the pitcher. If such defaced ball is pitched and then detected, it is an illegal pitch. For infraction (e), a ball shall be awarded each time a pitcher violates this rule and subsequently engages the pitching plate. For infraction (f-i), the infraction must be corrected before the next pitch. In (f), the umpire has sole authority to judge whether or not an item is distracting and shall have that item removed.

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