Jul 10, 2012 11:18 AM
Glove rules
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Wondering what the rule is on length of leather strings from fielders gloves. Had a player with about 6" of string hanging from his glove.
I have seen the kids picking this up from their MLB stars. Although I have not seen anything 6 inches long. Maybe the pinky leather ties undone and both hanging at 3 inches each? I do nothing here.
If it were 6 inches long as you say, I could adopt the "distracting in any manner" clause in the rules. 1.15 (a)
Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! ![]()
There is no rule on the allowed length of loose laces on gloves. As NELL_blue mentioned, it's simply a matter of umpire judgment whether or not it becomes distracting. And quite frankly, I can't imagine that a 6" length of lace is distracting to anybody but the opposing manager.
This post jumped to my mind last night, as I was at a District game. The 2nd pitcher on the home team had on his glove the pinky retention leather straps were untied and dangling free.
At the wind up, and the set position they were not visible to the batter as they were laying against the glove. When they became visible was when he pushed the glove toward the plate, and at that time a batter should be looking at the release point of the other hand, or looking for it. So after watching for 2 innings last night, I think that there was no distraction. BUT, these were not 6 inches long, nore like one was 3.5" and the other 3". I wouldn't waste my time with this as being a distraction.
Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! ![]()
I've seen things on pitchers that would constitute more of a distraction than loose glove laces. They include flourescent-colored shoe laces, long flowing hair (had a kid on the mound of the 9-10 game I did last night who had bleach blond hair down to his shoulders), multi-colored jerseys, etc. All of those are perfectly legal, so I don't buy how loose glove laces are distracting.
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