Detached Equiptment

[dan_renninger]

Here's a new one on me:

I was the PU in a game and had the following situation come up. We are in the 2nd inning with a runner on 2nd base. The batter hits a soft line drive that is fielded by the LF;R1 comes around 3rd looking to score, and when he makes his turn the catcher takes his headgear off and throws it up the 3rd base line so that it is sitting in he middle of the foul line. The runner stayed at 3rdso the gear never became an issue, but I thought to myself that it was weird for the gear to end up 15 feet up the 3rd base line.

In the 3rd inning we had a similar situation on the base paths, and once again the catcher's helemet ended up in almost the same position. Now I'm thinking that there is more to this than blind luck, but I don't say anything. When it happens a second time in the same inning I feel like someone is playing me and i feel that something needs to be said. I call time to clean off my plate, and as I am sweeping I tell the catcher that his helemet needs to stay off the foul line and needs to be deposited in a safer area. The catcher doesn't say a word and the inning ends uneventfully. Between innings the catcher goes back to his dogout and tells the coach what I said, and then the coach comes out and reads me the riot act. He says that there is no rule stating where that helemet can end up, and that by saying that to his catcher I am taking his team out of the game. I told the coach that it was a safety issue and it btter not happen again. He wanted to continue the argument, but I finally told him to sit down.

Now, have any of you come across this situation, and what exactly do i have, if anything?