Quote:
Originally Posted by DRJ1960
"My" "association" "was" 'Split" "on" "this" "issue" .... some still arguing that no player could ever touch the ball with impure hands.....  |
We have had this discussion on this board before. While the NCAA codifies a requirement for the pitcher to wipe after touching literally anything before handling the ball (yep, wipe that now dry hand on the wet uniform because you touched the rosin bag to
dry your hand), neither NFHS nor ASA have ever had a rule in place, nor an approved ruling, nor a case play ruling that required wiping after anything
but after going to the mouth.
Apply no foreign substance (directly) to the ball doesn't mean wipe your hand if you touch the field. If the ball has a substance foreign to the field, and you saw the pitcher (or any other defensive player) put it on, you have a violation. If the ball has dirt or chalk on it, they are substances part of the field, not a foreign substance. If the pitcher applies something directly to the ball, that is defacing the ball, and that violation applies.
These approved rulings finally state more specifically what has been said before, although the nonbelievers continue to want it how they did it before. The fact that NFHS had to make these approved rulings without changing anything in the rule only points out that so many people ignored the correct application before.
It is clear what the NCAA rule is; it should be equally clear that the NFHS and ASA rules are NOT the same, and should not have ever been treated the same.