[Tru_in_Blu]

In my area, we have several fields that have a wide open dugout. Some have a cement slab with a dugout built over it with steel posts in the front supporting the roof. Others are just a bench along either of the foul lines which help demark dead ball territory.

We have had some bucket-huggers who think they can give their pitchers signals from live ball territory. Those have to get into dead ball territory.

At one National that I attended, the UICs allowed the bucket-huggers to have their buckets on the cement portion of the dugout and their dangly feet to rest in live ball territory. The logic given was that they could move their feet out of the way if a ball came in that direction. I don't necessarily agree with that argument, but it's what we were told.

I have no problem with someone standing in a dugout opening that is defined by fencing or other construction material. Seems to me like much ado about nothing.