A Baseball Thread about Starting Back

Having a no-steal from 1B rule would eliminate a lot of contact.  I know it's heresy but you did say it was rec players.

I would honestly ask all participating parents first about what they think. If they don't care, and they shouldn't right now, I wouldn't be enforcing any social distancing stuff with players, dugouts, etc. Fans sure if you want to. There is no science that shows anything mentioned would transmit outside (on balls, equipment, etc). There is no proof that any potential case could be tracked to an exact date and time at a ballfield. So I don't think there is any liability to worry about. I would guess if you told the organization "we're playing baseball like it always has been", everyone will jump to do it. 

My son's summer team started back to practice last week.  The coach asked each player/parent to sign a waiver acknowledging the risk, and assuming responsibility for the risk.  Practice is limited to 6 players per session, and they are keeping a distance.

I’ve heard of each team having their own set of balls. So Team A never touches Team B’s baseballs other than with their bat.  Cuts down the number of possible cross?  
maybe consider staggered time of arrival.  I think key is minimizing contact at bottlenecks (parkinglot etc). 
My LHP is a finger licker big time. He doesn’t like to have dirt on his fingertips at all for certain pitches.  We’ve been talking about ways he could “de-dust” his hands this summer if we get to return to play.  Maybe a microfiber towel to wipe the fingers off kept in the back pocket?  I honestly don’t know. 

Your list seems reasonable and easy to follow. You could probably add no seeds or gum. 

Which state are you in? Did they just open it up completely or were there restrictions?

Sounds like it is local in nature... encourage no car pooling.  Limit mound visits and make it coach and pitcher only with distancing.  Address food/snack situation... maybe suggest sending kids with snacks in bag and no concessions or post-game gatherings.

"No good deed goes unpunished" - Oscar Wilde

Before you do anything make sure you can be insured adequately for managing a team or having event insurance.   Years ago, I used to manage and coach and I know insurance was part of the gig.  At that time, I was concerned about teeth, concussions, etc...   Today, you have much bigger issues with a virus that has the potential to kill people.    You don't want to be in a position where you are responsible for others irresponsibility especially around Covid-19.   Before doing anything associated with players and parents, I would talk to the insurance carriers to make sure you can be covered and what those details include and not include. 

As always, JMO.

No spitting

@LousyLefty posted:

I’ve heard of each team having their own set of balls. So Team A never touches Team B’s baseballs other than with their bat.  Cuts down the number of possible cross?  
maybe consider staggered time of arrival.  I think key is minimizing contact at bottlenecks (parkinglot etc). 
My LHP is a finger licker big time. He doesn’t like to have dirt on his fingertips at all for certain pitches.  We’ve been talking about ways he could “de-dust” his hands this summer if we get to return to play.  Maybe a microfiber towel to wipe fingers off kept in the back pocket?  I honestly don’t know. 

When I talked to mine about the rules he went dead I can’t pitch without licking my fingers.  He may have a tough time this summer if college summer league gets going.   I think everyone will have that rule to some extent 

Mine is a little simpler than others. We are taking 24 players so we are limiting the pool. We will pick teams each week to make sure the teams stay equal and to allow for vacations and hopefully stop blowouts. I have done this in the past and it somewhat keeps the level of competition but stops a lot of the win loss controversies. The good part is I’m only dealing with 24 sets of parents and not a big league. My main intent was to help our JV program which is 7th through 10th grade.  I would love to do varsity but our field is only 280 and there are houses sitting around the field and I don’t want to have to pay for windows or cars.   I’m hoping if the South Carolina high school league allows players to go back to school on facilities that we can start a varsity league on our high school field

This was posted by the USABL - they run the summer leagues here in NJ - and has a Dr and her opinion on this topic.

https://www.facebook.com/USABL...eos/467172670748484/

A hitter gets ready in the on deck circle. He goes to the plate. He’s sweating. Obviously his hands/gloves are on the bat. He hits a stand up double. Who picks up the bat? 

in every scenario I’ve been in there are two processes. A little brother is the bat boy or the next hitter tosses the bat towards the on deck circle, the on deck batter flips it to the edge of the dugout. Someone in the dugout grabs it.

@PitchingFan posted:

When I talked to mine about the rules he went dead I can’t pitch without licking my fingers.  He may have a tough time this summer if college summer league gets going.   I think everyone will have that rule to some extent 

If you figure something out let me know. I am going through this with my 15 year old lefty also. We went and threw a bullpen this past Saturday at our team facility. Know there was going to be other kids there and possibly using a ball that was previously used, I told him on the car ride in that there was no licking his fingers. You would have thought I took away his Playstation. I had to explain to him why I told him that and that he was going to have to get used to it because when we start playing I am pretty sure that is not going to be allowed. I had to tell him that if he does it for grip, then he needs to get used to a rosin bag. 

@RJM posted:

A hitter gets ready in the on deck circle. He goes to the plate. He’s sweating. Obviously his hands/gloves are on the bat. He hits a stand up double. Who picks up the bat? 

in every scenario I’ve been in there are two processes. A little brother is the bat boy or the next hitter tosses the bat towards the on deck circle, the on deck batter flips it to the edge of the dugout. Someone in the dugout grabs it.

May not make a big difference, but may have to tell the people who are picking up the bat, to pick it up by the barrel and not the handle. 

Or maybe like you said, there is a designated person who picks up all bats. ESPN2 had on live cornhole yesterday, LOL, and it was a total of 6 people at the match. The 4 players and one person seated 6 feet behind each board. Those two guys had on gloves and would pick up the bean bags and separate them into the appropriate pile after each turn was over. 

Not sure why everyone has listed "concessions" as a no-go. Everybody in the country is picking up carry-out (mostly inside the restaurant while maintaining distance) or having food delivered. Is it because you can see the person preparing the food? So now you REALLY know where your food is coming from?

As far as liability is concerned, I am sure you are only as liable as the gov't restrictions dictate,  e.g. did you follow the mandate?

By the way, nobody arrives at the grocery store or home supply store in a staggered format so why should they do that when arriving at a baseball game? We ARE social-distancing at all times when entering the store, correct?  

Sorry, there I go again with that common sense stuff...

Of course I think all of this is totally ridiculous but of course I will have to comply in order to see some baseball.

Which just makes me angry.

@ABSORBER posted:

Not sure why everyone has listed "concessions" as a no-go. Everybody in the country is picking up carry-out (mostly inside the restaurant while maintaining distance) or having food delivered. Is it because you can see the person preparing the food? So now you REALLY know where your food is coming from?

As far as liability is concerned, I am sure you are only as liable as the gov't restrictions dictate,  e.g. did you follow the mandate?

By the way, nobody arrives at the grocery store or home supply store in a staggered format so why should they do that when arriving at a baseball game? We ARE social-distancing at all times when entering the store, correct?  

Sorry, there I go again with that common sense stuff...

Of course I think all of this is totally ridiculous but of course I will have to comply in order to see some baseball.

Which just makes me angry.

By everyone I don't mean anyone on this site. I've seen it mentioned numerous times in plenty of other articles/news.

PitchingFan,

Thanks for starting this thread. I saw a few other people's posts today on this site talking about baseball starting up and I was going to start one as I am curious to see what everyone else is doing. 

Some local collegiate-leagues will be starting up around the country and I want to know what to expect!

I can deal with just about everything mentioned--for FANS--not players and umpires.  Sure, take some precautions like not sharing equipment, etc., but all of these should be things we should be doing on our own--like washing hands and flushing the urinal in the public restroom! 

Umpiring behind the mound may be fine in youth-leagues but kind of tough in a collegiate-league. I guess players need to be very aggressive at the plate!

I'm for protocols in place for fans and concessions (if you MUST). Nothing for players or the game itself. Until science shows it's affected, don't change the game or the experience. Once we start going that way it's going to be hard to get back. 

 

By the way, nobody arrives at the grocery store or home supply store in a staggered format so why should they do that when arriving at a baseball game? We ARE social-distancing at all times when entering the store, correct?  

Sorry, there I go again with that common sense stuff...

 

Because, as someone who works with 7th & 8th graders, common sense isn't exactly full capacity at this age group.  If he is following most states guidance (per CDC) temperatures will be checked as they come enter the field (now if you consider this the ballpark entrance or the gate to the field might change things) that is a bottleneck and players who haven't learned to recognize personal space yet are highly unlikely to observe a 6ft guideline.