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1.05 Home base shall be marked by a five-sided slab of whitened rubber. It shall be a 17-inch square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8½ inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. It shall be set in the ground with the point at the intersection of the lines extending from home base to first base and to third base; with the 17-inch edge facing the pitcher’s plate, and the two 12-inch edges coinciding with the first and third base lines. The top edges of home base shall be beveled and the base shall be fixed in the ground level with the ground surface. (See drawing D in Diagram 2.)
So there are no vertical sides of the plate. So if the player doesn't step on a portion of the 216.75 square inch surface area, he technically did not touch home plate. Now since our fields are not maintained by MLB crews we see all kinds of anomalies the cause us to umpire, I would like to see dirt between the plate and the foot before I call it.
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