Foul ball, dead ball. Pitcher recieves a new ball. While off the rubber, goes to his mouth, then directly to ball, then engages the rubber. PU then says 'play'.
Do you have anything?
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Did he rub down the ball? Did he wipe his hand on his pants? Was he on the dirt circle?
All have a bearing on what could/should be called. Unless it is agreed upon by "Both" parties "Prior" to the game that the pitcher may blow on his hands to warm them...It should be an illegal pitch.
All have a bearing on what could/should be called. Unless it is agreed upon by "Both" parties "Prior" to the game that the pitcher may blow on his hands to warm them...It should be an illegal pitch.
Fed rules:
You're missing my point/question. What he's doing is illegal. My question is, is it still illegal because the ball is dead and time is called?
Would it be proper to call an illegal pitch when the PU puts the ball back in play?
Again try to picture this play:
Foul ball, dead ball. Pitcher recieves a new ball. While off the rubber, goes to his mouth, then directly to ball, then engages the rubber. PU then says 'play'.
Do you have anything?
You're missing my point/question. What he's doing is illegal. My question is, is it still illegal because the ball is dead and time is called?
Would it be proper to call an illegal pitch when the PU puts the ball back in play?
Again try to picture this play:
Foul ball, dead ball. Pitcher recieves a new ball. While off the rubber, goes to his mouth, then directly to ball, then engages the rubber. PU then says 'play'.
Do you have anything?
With a dead ball the umpire should not put the ball in play until the pitcher wipes his hand off. The only way you would get an illegal pitch would be if he refused to wipe, but I don't see that happening. There is no way an illegal pitch can occur during a dead ball.
I should have prefaced this with the fact that I'm a coach and not an umpire, but this would be the way I would expect it to be handled.
I should have prefaced this with the fact that I'm a coach and not an umpire, but this would be the way I would expect it to be handled.
The umpire should never put fthe ball in play in this situation. What he is seeing is the pitcher gets the ball, wets his fingers and goes straight to the ball. At that point he should come out, take the ball back, give him another and warn not to go to the ball without wiping.
If he didn't see it to take it away then he wouldn't see it to call an illegal pitch.
If he didn't see it to take it away then he wouldn't see it to call an illegal pitch.
I believe the NFHS rulebook discusses that, I also believe it doesnt matter if the ball is dead or not. Once he goes from mouth/hand/ball the ball is removed and penalties are assessed as needed.
If F1's hand goes to his mouth then to the ball before he engages the rubber, he can request a new ball to correct his mistake and avoid a penalty.