MLB umpire has friendship bracelet removed
 

Saw that. Stupid. No one complained, just an OOO.

How has he managed to make it through 15+ starts w/o any other umpires enforcing the rule. This makes that paticular ump look bad but he's just doing his job. I'm wondering though what is acceptable accessories at m.l.b. level? Just about every player wears some type of Phiten necklace or other type of necklace, multiple wrist bands. Are accessories restrictions only enforced on the pitchers?

And which rule may that be?

There are rules in amateur play that restrict what a pitcher may wear on his arm, wrist, etc. I can't find anything similar in straight OBR.

I'm wondering why, if 15 umpires have ruled one way, and one a different way, you're assuming the 1 is right and the 15 wrong, and not the other way around.Dang near anything that isn't reflective or deceptive that makes it harder to pick up the ball quickly (like a white glove for example).

My first thought is that if one guy makes a different call after it had been allowed all season, then the umpires were probably instructed to put a stop to it. We'll know who was right at his next start.

I have an incredibly hard time believing a big-league umpire would pick this booger of his accord. An article I saw says it didn't come from visiting manger, but may have come from the front office.

My understanding is that it was an MLB directive recently sent out.

Not only do I think the league said something to the umpires, I doubt there was not a complaint by someone on a team at some point.

This is pro ball, there is interaction between the officials/umpires and the league office as to what is acceptable.

Peace

"It wasn't La Russa, and it wasn't Reds manager Dusty Baker, either. Crew chief Jim Joyce told Collins that the league is cracking down on minute uniform violations."

Wait a minute. The league allows all kinds of chains, necklaces, etc that actually *could* be distracting to a batter, but won't allow a tiny piece of string tied around a pitcher's wrist? On the *glove* hand, yet??

C'mon, man.

Remember they cannot fire those guys. So whatever he was told they can do whatever they like.

Peace

I'd like to see the league fine guys for not wearing their hat straight.

Sure, the league can make any policy it wants to. Doesn't mean it makes good sense, though.

It is a business, they can do whatever they want in their business. If leagues can tell players what they can or cannot wear out of uniform, then baseball players can be told what they can wear while in uniform. This is not nearly as restrictive as other pro sports. They can get over it.

Peace

Wonder if the MLBPA will include friendship bracelets in their next contract negotiation.

Absolutely they can... doesn't make it less stupid.

Well that is an opinion and a subjective one at that. And I doubt honestly they care what we think anyway.

Peace

As we are "consumers" of MLB, they are certainly concerned. Who do you think pays their salaries?

I do not think if a player has a friendship bracelet or not is going to make people in droves start or stop going to games or watching on TV. So I am sure they are not concerned with the public on this very specific issue if they have a rule or not.

Peace

And I am just as sure that if the viewing public perceives MLB to be as stupid in other, more important areas as they are in this specific instance, ratings (and thus advertising dollars) will decline.

Personally, I boycotted my favorite team's telecast last Thursday because of this very issue. (The fact that they played on the West Coast & it was past my bedtime anyway had nothing to do with it!)

Considering that I have not heard one person outside of this forum even discuss this situation, I doubt seriously it is that big of a deal. It is a bigger deal to us because we umpire and deal with certain rules. To the rest of the public, they probably did not even know this happen and baseball anyway does a bad job marketing their sport anyway and this is not going to change as a result of someone wearing or not wearing a bracelet.

Peace

"If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves." -- Emily Dickinson

I doubt it was a directive from the front office or it would have taken place earlier in the game. This incident took place in the second inning, a full inning after Dickey had already pitched with the bracelets on!

This was something that was done by the umpire crew at that specific game. I just wish they'd spend as much time scrutinizing the outs calls they've been making when the player doesn't even have the ball!

This situation reminds me of the umpires that said they would carry magic markers to blacken out the label of a glove to cover up the white so it wouldn't be an "illegal" glove. Overkill to the max.