Lacegate
 

Was watching the Brewers-Nats game on Friday night on the flatscreen. Late in the game, two Nats relievers had long laces cut off of their gloves before they were allowed to pitch. The announcers speculated that it was gamesmanship on the part of the Brewers manager, and at one point they commented on how the Nats skipper was glaring at the Brewers dugout. I thought the same thing.

Well, during the next evening's telecast, one of the announcers stated that the lace-cutting incidents from the previous game had nothing to do with gamesmanship. He said that there was an MLB memo put out that, because of the use of super-slo-mo instant replay, the suits didn't want a situation where a replay of a disputed tag shows a fielder actually making contact of a runner with the laces of the glove.

Really? Did I just hear that correctly? Or was the announcer just trying to be humorous?

I am not surprised at all. In fact I'd never thought about it until you wrote that piece above. On replay, how could you call a runner safe if legally tagged with part of the glove?

ô!ô
 

And, as we know, in NFHS rules that if a shoe string (tied or not) touches a base in a force out that counts and the out stands, we also know that even a long lock of hair touching a base is as good as stomping on the bag.

Tee

I guess this is MLB's way of nipping a potential problem in the bud, since they don't have a rule or definitive guidance on how long laces can be on a glove. The only concern with laces is how they may be distracting.

Honestly, though, who would have thought to look at this as a potential problem under the new replay rules, and actually come out with a memo to address it? Shall we stretch the realm of the possibility even further?

How about not letting base runners wear those protective gloves that I saw Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper wear when they returned from the DL. After all, they could be longer than the runner's fingers and give them an advantage in reaching a base that could be captured with the X-Mo technology. Should we even think about forcing runners to trim their nails? Geez...

How about the baserunner who sticks his batting gloves in his back pocket and gets tagged on fingers that are hanging out? "Replay!" I can hardly wait until replay begins it's long trickle-down...

JJ

Why only pitchers? I think there is a cite somewhere that laces hanging from a pitcher's glove can be distracting. I think it was all about gamesmanship.

What other reason would a pitcher use extra long laces on his glove?