Last year, I ran into this issue again. Unpires in our area tend to ignore this during the regular season. Here come the playoffs and umpires who have never worked together ask if this should be called.
I tend to enforce the batters box issue, but not to speed things up. I don't like to have some snot nose seventeen year old take a called strike and then step out shaking his head and adjusting his gloves. Then the magic sign machine begins and his skipper tells him to ignore pitches like that. Great, two more and Junior is picking splinters out of his kiester.
I do take issue with the thought that keeping one foot in the box speeds up the game. That's BS - the signs still take just as long if Junior is straddling the box or bothe feet are just outside. Remember, if he swings he can take a walk, regroup and then start the signs. I've known many a batter that gets a series of signs, then asks for the coach to roll through them again. I've mumbled, "He just signalled to not let another good one go by."
How many layers are you wearing right now? I still have my winter pounds so I can get away with only three!
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"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers.
You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
~Naguib Mahfouz
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