You're allowed to imbibe.

[Baseball_North]

Call me a rebel, but I throw my water bottle or gatorade up against the fence behind me. Not directly behind me, a little bit off to the side.

The chances of the ball hitting it are slim. I am not going to put it out of play or in a dugout.

[WindyCityBlue]

Rebel.

Yes, chances are slim, but what are you going to do when the ball hits it and deflects away from the player or out of play?

[jxt127]

Baseball North lives in a very nice city in Canada where no one would even dream of arguing with an umpire! Why we had a team from there come to a tournament here last summer and the coaches were sooo polite we considered asking one to move here (had to bring the team too). He was even calm and polite while arguing heatedly.

Why Tueday night I was coaching and the ump calls 5 runs (max 5 runs per inning). Kids rush to change sides as I go to have a little talk with the PU and scorekeeper.

Coach: It's only 4 runs
SK: No coach it's 5.
Coach: Who was the 5th run ?
SK: Nathan
Coach: Nathan is my 5th batter and is on 3rd base.
(all look towards the now empty bag at 3rd)
SK: No he scored on that last hit.
(I look out at the other team's coach who is now laughing at me)
Coach: Well if you absolutely insist we will take 5 runs!

When it comes right down to it there is nowhere else to put a water bottle at most parks. At the 60' and 70' fields I put my bottle on top of the equipment box beside the visitors bench. It's close enough to keep an eye on and handy too. On the main 90' field I put it at the edge of the backstop well towards the bench. Theres no gate, nowhere to use other than that or in the home dugout. If a ball hits it there well tough. Theres at least 40' from plate to backstop. The other 90' field has about 10' to the backstop so putting a water bottle there is looking for problems.

What my wife suggests is having the backstop build with a little enclosed shelf and door.

[Baseball_North]

I wish we didn't have any hot-head coaches up here.... but some of them get pretty heated at times.

If the ball hits my water bottle (I usually only take a 300 mL bottle), then I doubt it will go very far anyway.

If it does somehow, I might have a minor argument.... we'll see.

[WindyCityBlue]

Just water,
Where's the jelly donut and back bacon sandwich, eh?

Good luck with the remainder of the season!

[DG]

I hang my water bottle on the backstop about head high, near one of the dugouts. I have never had a ball hit it, but if it does it will be no worse than hitting a post. The water bottle is in play as far as I am concerned.

[WindyCityBlue]

Of course it is in play...it is on the field and declared dead during the pregame. The problem is that YOU put it there!

You will take heat if the waterbottle causes the ball to deflect out of play. You cannot assume that it would have caromed that way, if it wasn't there. Now, I realize that it is a million to one shot that it could happen, but I've seen those plays happen. I don't want to be the umpire that has that happen in a tie game of a conference championship.

Finally, when the final out is made, get off the field. Toss the balls towards the dugout and get out of there. Let's say it was a nail biter and one team thinks you kicked the winning run at the plate. You now have to go to the back stop and unclip your bottle in order to leave. That's just ugly.