It is my believe, (and I read part of it somewhere in this thread) that the 'fists together' is only done at lower end slowpitch, and it is normally only done when that 12" or 11" sucker hits the ground and edge of plate simultaneously, thus still causing a bounce. If it is straight edge of plate then it slides or spins to the ground. Certainly in ISF and I believe in ASA this is not the norm for the umpire to assist the pitcher, but it is infact the catchers duty to inform the pitcher. We do not have signs for inside / outside, so why a ball on plate. Let the catcher at least do something in slowpitch than just throwing it back to the pitcher after every ball! Well, okay, they also cover 1st after a hit!!! The point is that you will never see it for obviuos reasons in fast or baseball ... And if that young man has never seen the signal after 1000 games pitching and umpiring then all I can say is WOW ...
