Has Anybody Read.....

[MajorDave]

Jim Porter's article on the paid side of the site today? The subject of the article is inspecting the field prior to game time. I will admit that I have never inspected a field before a game other than a casual look as we walk on before the game and if I am the plate man, before the first pitch of the game, I will scan from left to right field then first base to third base then third base dugout and first base dugout then, if all is well, point to the pitcher and say "play". I have never measured a mound or looked for holes in the fence anywhere myself. I have never walked the outfield looking for stray balls hidden in the grass or dangerous situations lurking out there. Jim admits never doing so in his article but tells us why we should. Experience is the best teacher. Experiences of others, if we can remember them, is a distant second.

My question and specific commentary relates to the mound. Around here in Central Kentucky I know of at least a dozen pitcher's mounds that tower somewhere between 15 inches and two feet above the rest of the playing surface. No one ever complains. I have never measured one even though I know some of them are way too high. I have built mounds in my coaching days so I know how tall they are supposed to be and what they look like when they are the correct height.

Has anyone ever rejected a mound or reported a mound that is obviously too tall to meet the rule? I have treated it like the white on a pitcher's glove rule in FED, if no one complains, I don't call it. So far, so good. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this because some of the mounds I have seen are ridiculous.

[JugglingReferee]

What happens if you play a game on a mound that is too tall?

Does the game's result become invalid?
Was your insurance actually voided in that game?
Does your association lower your ranking for post-season assignments?

For a "rule" to have any real significance, there has to be a penalty. In Canadian football, the rulebook states that the field shall be 65 yards wide. But are we not going to play because a field is 68 yards wide? Nope. And there is nothing that either team can do about it, either. Our insurance stays valid, too.

Like I said, there has to be some sort of effect other than "so what" in order for it to matter that a mound is too high.

[Tim C]

To correctly measure a mound you need engineering tools. Slope of field and other oddities can cause a "mound" to look taller than it is. You may consider yourself an "expert" since you once coached I would suggest otherwise.

In the Portland area we had a school that "everyone" complained about the mound height. The OSAA and the league the team played in hired an engineer and the mound was found in compliance with the rules.

As an umpire it is not your responsibility to decide if a mound is legal or not.

Simply tell the offended team to file a complaint with the league.

You have enough real issues to deal with.

Regards,

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

What happens if you play a game on a mound that is too tall?

Does the game's result become invalid?
Was your insurance actually voided in that game?
Does your association lower your ranking for post-season assignments?

None of the above. Once the team(s) start playing, they have "accepted" the field.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Tim C

To correctly measure a mound you need engineering tools. Slope of field and other oddities can cause a "mound" to look taller than it is. You may consider yourself an "expert" since you once coached I would suggest otherwise.

In the Portland area we had a school that "everyone" complained about the mound height. The OSAA and the league the team played in hired an engineer and the mound was found in compliance with the rules.

As an umpire it is not your responsibility to decide if a mound is legal or not.

Simply tell the offended team to file a complaint with the league.

You have enough real issues to deal with.

Regards,

Yup, some mounds just appear to be higher cause the hill itself is smaller than at other fields. I've never given this a second thought.

I have walked a field before an important game at an unfamiliar field before. Playoffs, unfamiliar crew, we'll do it as part of our pregame, sometimes before we change into uniform.

Funny, in football, we walk the field 30-45 minutes before every varsity game as a matter of course. I walk with the umpire in one direction, and the line judge and linesman walk the other. Of course, we have other duties to perform along the way, but I couldn't imagine not doing this before a game.

[MajorDave]

I'm not looking for trouble. As most of us know, it finds us wherever we are. I also did not wish to imply that I am some kind of expert but there is a level of experience I have reached in field maintenance having built, from scratch, and re-built pitching mounds on several fields. But, if you guys could see some of these mounds.... nobody complains about them so I don't really care. If they did complain, I would do what you suggest... tell them to complain to the KHSAA(appropriate local rules body) since it is high school ball I am speaking of.

I also coach HS football and as related in that post, I see the referees walk the field off as a part of their pre-game activities and wondered why we never do it in baseball.

Jim's article made me think about that question again, so I asked.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Funny, in football, we walk the field 30-45 minutes before every varsity game as a matter of course. I walk with the umpire in one direction, and the line judge and linesman walk the other. Of course, we have other duties to perform along the way, but I couldn't imagine not doing this before a game.

Good point, of course it isn't too unusual to find the yard markers right on the sideline and the pylons in the field of play so this is mostly a CYA measure for us. I'm sure its not too different there.

[wmblue]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

None of the above. Once the team(s) start playing, they have "accepted" the field.

Exactly. The other night I had an a manager complain that the right rear corner of the plate was sticking up to the point of being a danger.

In my opinion, it was not, there was no imminent danger by anyone sliding over it.

He started in on me about it and I responded with at the pre-game conference there was no mention of this issue, therefore he agreed to the field conditions without exceptions as they were at the start of the game (the plate has been like this for weeks)

[greymule]

There a still-unresolved lawsuit around here stemming from a plate that had a corner sticking up. Not that anyone got hurt by the plate, but a runner halfway home tore up his knee when he tried to reverse direction and retreat to 3B.

He claims that on the way home, he remembered that the plate had a corner sticking up and, not wanting to be injured by the defective plate, tried to turn around and slipped on the wet grass.