Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve
I reminded them of the earlier years, when the legal arc was different heights, and even unlimited for a while; and that they teach the strike zone as a column of smoke, and if any part of the ball touched any part of the smoke, that was a strike. Well, it was on three sides with this rule (left, right, and back), but NOT if it hit the front edge and then touched the plate.
They could give camps, clinics, and schools, but realized they couldn't affect the absolute inconsistency. And the one symbol of inconsistency was an inability to make people understand that a pitch with a reasonable arc could be at the knees at the front of the plate and still hit the back of the plate and be a strike, while other pitches that hit the plate were balls. For the good of the game, they dealt with the one thing they could; any ball (even a strike!!) that hit the plate would be a ball by rule.
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While we are walking down memory lane with Merle & Henry, lets continue in the PLATE and the edging. Steve's assessment above is the same here. Standard response to a question concerning the beveled edges of the plate were like the hands to the bat issue: If you pick up the plate, does the beveled edge come with it?
The issue with the plate was confounded by the fact that while all home plates had a given dimension, there were quite a few different designs and models. They come with no beveled edges, separate footing with the edges into which the slab of white rubbers fits, solid white rubber plates with beveled edges outside the dimensions and some where the beveled edges were included in the dimensions, plates with a sharp angled edge and plates with soft angled edge. Some of the edges were only 1/2" outside of the plate, some were more than an inch outside of that footprint. Even saw plates made of wood (tournament in RI) with no edging.
Then you have plates plated in the ground, attached to a wood/concrete box under the surface, hammered into the ground or just laid on top of the dirt. Some where the edges are covered, some where they are not.
IOW, the plate itself lacked consistency and with most of the angles on the edges, if the umpire could tell the whether the ball hit the black or white part or the top of the plate or beveled side, s/he shouldn't be umpiring, but working for NASA, calibrating the Hubble Telescope.
And now, with stealing in slow pitch, some of these pitches shoot in every which direction and the catcher wouldn't have a prayer of holding the runners.
So, for a matter of consistency and giving catchers a chance, any ball hitting
any part of the plate, EVEN IN FP, the ball is dead. The weird part is that all those who complained about that 20 years ago are now cheering it because, as Steve noted, with the mat, it is a strike. I know of pitchers which practice their effort to hit the front edge of the plate for a strike
