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Coach's complaints about glove and/or shoelace distractions are bull crap. A batter should be coached to pick up the ball as soon as the hands separate and focus on finding the ball off the hip as soon as possible. By time the ball is released, the glove hand is up and away from the release point.
Imagine a coach that complains that his batter's eyes are being distracted and are following the glove instead of the ball. After momentarily choking on my smirk or laughter, I may or may not have a comment about his coaching ability, but we are going on with the game. With the glove; with or without the coach.
There isn't an umpire on this board that will call interference on a runner that passes in front of a defender fielding a ground ball. You would tell the fielder to keep her focus on the ball and not be distracted by the runner. On a major issue like that you are not going to allow a distraction complaint, then why do so for a spot on the glove.
Successful pitching, like the leadership positions in other sports (point guard, quarterback, goalie) tends to be more mental than physical. Coaches know that, and if they can get you to hear them out and even talk to the pitcher (about gloves or IP's or ponytails, or whatever), they have gained a little victory in distracting the pitcher. I don't need a coach telling me what is wrong with a pitcher. If there is a real problem, I would have already taken care of it. When the coach comes out, he is going back in a hurry cause I don't want to talk about it.
WMB
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