Arm Band on Glove hand of pitcher

[RandyinSac]

What do you think of an arm band on the glove hand side of a pitcher. It seems to be legal by the rules that I can find but if the opposing coach wants it removed whats the call. Same color as the glove (black) but has white lettering on it. It is not a foriegn object attached to the glove.

[bob jenkins]

It's your judgment as to whether it's distracting.

[largeone59]

Yeah bob's got it. There's no rule prohibiting these following common "pitcher uniform infractions:"

-Batting glove under glove
-Batting glove hanging out of back pocket

Commonly, the guideline for enforcing the following two would be "if the coach *****es, then have them removed."

The only rules the pitcher has is that his sleeves may not be white or gray, and that his glove has to be uniform in color and not white or gray. Or if in your judgement, he's wearing anything distracting, you can have him take it off.

[ChapJim]

Turn in inside out if that makes the white go away.

As Bob Jenkins said, for FED, it is umpire's judgment whether it is distracting.

[Huskerblue]

In FED, aren't armbands considered jewelry? I think they are. Take em off!!!

[Rich Ives]

OBR from the MLBUM

2.13 WRISTBANDS
No player is permitted to wear white wrist bands or bandages because of the difficulty in
discerning the white of the baseball and the white of the wrist band. Colored bands are permitted,
but a white band with a colored stripe is still considered a white band and is prohibited.

Also:

2.10 PLAYERS WEARING GOLF GLOVES
A pitcher is not allowed to wear a golf glove while pitching. Other defensive players may wear a
golf glove on their glove hand but they shall not rub the ball with the golf glove on their hand.

[Tim C]

"In FED, aren't armbands considered jewelry? I think they are. Take em off!!!"

No "cloth" wrist bands are clearly legal in Federation baseball. They are not considered jewelry.

We also have the following two issues:

A "wrist type" cloth band worn around the bicep is also legal according to Federation. There is no ruling as to what part of the arm the "sweat band" can be worn.

Another issue is we have found that players are placing their "sweat bands" over Livestrong Type braceletts. Again nothing can be done until (or if) you see the secondary bracelett.

Finally, we would be all better off if we worried about balls/strikes, safe/out and fair/foul.

Don't pick up the stick . . .

[Huskerblue]

My bad. I thought we were referring to the Live Strong, et al armbands.

[DG]

Interesting item for rules differences. In FED the umpire must decide whether a glove or arm band is distracting. In OBR, gloves are not permitted and arm bands may be if not white or with white stripes or logos. Before this post I had not thought much about it, but in actual practice I have ALWAYS asked pitchers to remove arm bands on the arms and have allowed arm bands on the glove hand if a dark color and near the glove (ie wrist). I have NEVER asked them to remove gloves, or arm bands near the wrist, unless a complaint is registered by the offensive team (OBR or FED).

Also, in actual practice I seldom have to think about this issue, because pitchers go to the mound with no arm bands, and only occassionally a batting glove.

I also ask the pitcher to tuck his batting gloves in his back pockets and put his shirt tail in. I have NEVER had a complaint from anyone about any of these requests of the pitcher.

[largeone59]

Originally posted by DG
In OBR, gloves are not permitted and arm bands may be if not white or with white stripes or logos.

DG, can you point me to a rule supporting this? Not trying to be smug... just curious.

[akalsey]

Rich posted this ruling from the MLBUM a few posts up.