Confused Pitching Penalty

[Cubbies87]

I was watching the Boston v. Toronto game today and saw a ball called against the Toronto pitcher for licking his fingers within the 9ft radius of the pitching mound. A ball was immediately awarded to the opposing Boston batter. This is consistent with OBR 8.02a

However, I then went to check my FED rulebook for its ruling on the play. While I knew that if the hand was distinctly wiped off prior to stepping on the rubber or touching the ball it was legal, I wasn't sure what the penalty was for NOT distinctly wiping it off.

FED rule 6-2-1: Illegal acts include: e. bringing the pitching hand in contact with the mouth without distinctly wiping off the pitching hand before it touches the ball
PENALTY: For defacing the ball (a-e), the ball is dead immediately. The umpire may eject the pitcher. If such defaced ball is pitched and then detected, it is an illegal pitch.

FED Casebook 6.2.1 Situation A references that it IS legal if F1 wipes his hand. Situation B states that if F1 is wearing a bandage of some sort on his hand that it must be removed prior to the pitch without penalty.

My question is, if F1 licks his fingers, and does NOT distinctly wipe his hand, and there are a) no runners on b) runners on, what is the penalty? Is it just telling F1 to wipe his hand? I don't think I can award a ball to the batter without runners or balk the pitcher with runners if he doesn't pitch the ball, because according to 6-2-1 it is not an illegal pitch until the defaced ball is pitched, and if I'm calling it on the lick, I'm calling it before the pitch. The rule states that the umpire MAY eject the offender, but I know I would not eject on the first occurence of such a subcionscious act. If the action was repeated it would have to be dealt with accordingly, but for a first occurence, what's appropriate?

[DG]

Very interesting question. According to the FED rules quoted the ball is dead immediately. The penalty is that the pitcher could be ejected, but since the ball is dead nothing else happens. More likely the umpire would tell the pitcher to stop doing that. Only if the pitcher were to actually deliver the pitch would an illegal pitch exist, which would either be a ball, or a balk. But since the pitch was dead, can this happen? It appears, that in FED this is a dead ball, no penalty, unless the umpire thinks the pitcher should be ejected.

However, this is another one of those rarely complained about rules that I don't watch very closely unless someone complains (amateur level).

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Cubbies87
My question is, if F1 licks his fingers, and does NOT distinctly wipe his hand, and there are a) no runners on b) runners on, what is the penalty? Is it just telling F1 to wipe his hand?

Yes -- that's the penalty. It's a "don't do that."

If, somehow, F1 pitches before you do that (or otherwise defaces the ball), then it's a different situation.

[ozzy6900]

In FED the ball is dead and it's a "don't do that with or without runners on base. If the pitcher should deliver the ball, it's still dead so whatever happens is negated. The ball is dead the moment the pitcher puts his unwiped finger on the ball.

In OBR, as you saw in the MLB game, it is a ball (with or without runners on base) if the pitcher puts his fingers to his mouth any time he is on the dirt. (youth ball umpires, are you paying attention here????????)