The following is excerpted from today's Houston Chronicle:

March 23, 2004, 10:52PM

Two-tone glove costly for Austin vs. Clements
By MK BOWER
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

SUGAR LAND -- Perhaps Fort Bend Austin pitcher Jason Troth could have kept his perfect record had he not walked six batters -- or needed six outs to escape a bizarre first inning.

In what was a half inning one had to see to believe, No. 4 Clements scored four unearned runs off Troth in the top of the first and cruised to a 7-1 District 20-5A win at Austin.

With Anthony Odem on first with no outs, Troth (3-1) caught a bunt attempt by Rangers right fielder Glen Sharrock and threw to Brian Rike at first to double off Odem. But when Clements coach Herb Espinosa alerted the umpiring crew that Troth was using a two-tone glove, Sharrock was awarded third base and Odem home plate on a three-base error.

"It's not like I was abusing the rule, but it is a rule," Espinosa said. "And it only goes into effect if the pitcher actually fields the ball with that glove. That's the ruling, (and) that's a situation where you feel like you've got to do something like that."
. . .

Zach Gardner reached on a passed ball after striking out and, all told, Odem became the sixth out when he grounded to third base to close the first.
. . .

For the complete article see http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2464978

My question: Was this rule applied correctly? Is a two-tone glove illegal for a pitcher-come-infielder? Or is it only illegal while he is a "pitcher"? It seems to me that the only reason for this rule is to prevent a pitcher's fancy glove from distracting the batter. Once the pitcher becomes a fielder (on a batted ball, for instance), the question becomes moot. I would not have applied the illegal glove rule in this circumstance. I would simply have had the pitcher use a one-color glove to pitch the rest of the game. I can find nothing in either Jaksa-Roder or BRD that applies to this situation. How about some guidance on this one?

This is the incident alluded to in the ongoing thread "pitcher's illegal glove".
http://www.officialforum.com/thread/12862

For this reason, I'm closing this thread.

--Rich