Daryl,
I guess the way I look at it is that I would be inclined to not award bases to the offense, even if the ball was not stuck in the pitcher's glove.
As I understand the rules regarding illegal use of detached equipment, they penalize the defense for such use in gaining posession of the ball. Doing so is explicitly attempting to gain an advantage not intended by the spirit of the rules. Once the defense has gained posession of the ball, they are actually disadvantaging themselves if they choose to transfer posession of the ball by throwing the mitt holding the ball rather than just the ball itself (assuming it's not "stuck" in the mitt). So, I don't see how it's appropriate to "reward" the defense with base award(s).
However, if I thought the defensive player was "showing up" his opponents in throwing the glove, I would have no qualms about deeming this "unsportsmanlike conduct". Absent any indications of "hot-dogging", I would be inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the defense that the ball was stuck at the time the player started to remove his glove, even if the ball was "loose" in the mitt after the play.
JMO.
JM
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