MLB Pitching Regulations

[tballump]

Keep checking. You can check immediately as he is going to the mound or you can check after 3 or 4 warm-ups while you are checking out his pitches. If the ball is OK let him use it. You are just checking to make sure it is not a new ball that got all scuffed up while he was warming up in the bullpen.

I would assume at the amateur level, cost is the reason they hate to see the baseballs removed from play. I'm not saying that is good reason not to toss a few every game, but to be as thorough as MLB may not quite be the way to go unless you are doing D1.

In the old days, the umpires themselves rubbed up the baseballs (5-6 dozen) to take that slippery shine off the ball. Each ump had their own way of rubbing up the baseballs. Some spit on the dirt in their hand and some poured water in the can of dirt. I imagine some of the baseball's had some good chewing tobacco mixed in.

Today, the baseball's are rubbed up by the clubbies, and may not be done very well and get thrown out. But, the majority of the time, there is probably some type of scuff mark.

Calvin Griffith is the one that had the rule put in, to limit the distance pine tar could be applied to the bat. He whined that pine tar was costing him an extra $500 a year, because the umps would throw a foul tipped pine tar scuffed ball out.