[LIUmp]

Originally Posted by Manny A

C'mon folks, there is ZERO, NOTHING, NADA, that says umpires are forbidden from talking directly to a player. I challenge anybody to find specific language in a rule book or umpire manual or anywhere else that makes this a directive.

If you don't want to do it because your association tells you not to, you personally feel it's inappropriate, whatever, that's fine. I don't have a problem doing it, and will continue to do it until I see something in writing telling me I cannot.

I'm not saying I will carry on conversations with players. But what's the big deal with a subtle, "Hey batter, you need to take that baggy sweatshirt off before you bat," or, "Hey pitcher, you need to wipe your fingers when you adjust your mouthpiece"? Do you really need to call Time and go tell the coach to take care of the issues?

The two cases you posed are not like the situation where someone will be restricted to the bench. A sweatshirt? Wiping off fingers....You're not restricting here. Same idea with telling the batter to keep one foot in the batter's box. The penalties are insignificant compared to a girl not abiding by the jewelry rule.

Get the coach involved. Specifically because you ASKED him/her to verify that their team is legally and properly equipped and the response was YES. Now, you want to tell them otherwise.