Thoughts...
 

Jake Cave: Appeal denied, Kecoughtan's Jake Cave will miss Monday's Eastern Region tournament game against Great Bridge - dailypress.com

This was my old association, same commish who took me off championship game for tossing the HC, at his request.

My main thought was "man, that's old," since I'd already seen this article last year in the DP, and even participated in the forums. (I lived in W'burg last year, and umpired on the Southside.)

The real problem is there's too much disparity in the stories from all sides. Cave was allegedly (or never) warned, depending on who you believe. And there are a lot of locals there that definitely feel stars should be treated differently than other players.

But between Cave copping attitude, and getting warned previously during the game, then I would think he needed to go.

In over 30 years, I have never tossed a player for jewelry. I tell them that when they go back in the dugout, make the necklace (or whatever) gone so I do not see it again. Only once, I had to refer to a coach to take care of the problem.

Yes, I know that it is a safety issue but I am not ejecting a player for it. I will just make sure that the offending material is either gone or invisible.

Ozzy,

But that's the thing: from what I can remember of the story and some of the other commentary, this player was told more than once about the necklace, and yet came back out on the field. (And from some accounts, the player in question is one of those who feels his excrement does not smell, in a manner of speaking.)

So the ump in question dumped him. From what you wrote, that's the point where the coach would have been called into it. Don't know if his coach would have done the right thing, or decided to "fight for his player," or what.

This was a game from where I lived, but not where I umpired, so I can't anything from personal experience about the player or the umpires in question. But it certainly caused a stir.

I quietly tell them to take it off and they do. If I see it between innings as they come off the field I tell the coach to take care of it.

If the field ump told the player and did not make it official by telling the coach then I don't see how this could be ruled a correct ejection, since rules procedures were not followed.

I have never seen an ejection for jewelry, by anyone. I also don't see the safety issue.

Maybe not, but I sure as heck don't want to work games with players wearing a Mr. T starter kit.

A ring caught between a fastball and the bat can be pretty ugly. And we all know getting hit in the "jewels" really hurts.;)

Do a Google Image search for "degloving."

That is exactly right, this is where the coach would come in. When coaches have to come in to handle piddly a$$ crap like this, they usually rip into their player like no tomorrow.

Over the last couple of days, I've talked to members of my association (all of which have 20 years plus on the board). None of them have ever ejected a player for jewelry and usually use the quiet method to get the players to comply.

First game of DH today, catcher is wearing a phiten, I tell him to take it off, he does and puts in his back pocket. No big deal, he says he is sorry.

Second game of DH today, F5 is wearing a tiny gold chain, I see it from C. I tell him to take it off, he does and asst coach runs out from 1b dugout to get it. I wish he would have just stuck it in back pocket, but still, no big deal. Must have been real gold.

No more issues, either game, with jewelry.

And this happens with a phiten or Livestrong how?

With a Livestrong it's probably hard to deglove, but defiantly possible to constrict, tourniquet style. I've seen some crazy stuff on ambulances...

Plus, do you really want to get into large lists of what kinds of jewelry's are legal and aren't. It'll be like the bat lists. If it's plastic and 1" it's okay, 2" it's not, get out your ruler. Just say none, makes life SO much easier.

No, I would rather just forget about jewelry as a rule to enforce.

If reducing injury is the ultimate goal, then all players must wear cups, face masks are required on batting helmets, bats would be wood, no sliding is allowed, metal spikes are borbidden, and pitchers who hit a batter must be removed. These "rules" would provide infinitely more safety to players than banning jewelry.

I don't know too many players that don't wear cups.:confused:

Visible chains can reflect sunlight directly into a batter or fielder's eyes and can lead to not seeing a ball heading directly at their noggin.

I don't do cup check so I have no idea who is or is not wearing, but I have my suspicions. I never wore a cup when playing and I was a middle infielder, all the more incentive to get glove on the ball. My sons always did but they were catchers and if not catching they could be soon.

I give up on the jewelry discussion. I don't think phiten, Livestrong or little gold chains are the least bit hazardous, but I can certainly see Mr. T attire blinding the batter when sun reflects off of it, as can the sun.