NFHS Equipment Inspections
 

Please comment regarding NFHS only:

Rule 3 Section 2 Art 15 states: "ALL EQUIPMENT SHALL BE INSPECTED BY THE UMPIRE, AND IS TO BE PLACED OUTSIDE THE DUGOUT/BENCH PRIOR TO THE START OF THE GAME."

​This mean ALL bats and helmets. Many of the girls have more than one bat. Some may leave them in their equipment bag in plain sight in their bench/dugout area. They must place them outside the dugout to be inspected or they will be removed from the dugout and placed where they cannot be accessed during the game. Do NOT let them tell you, "Oh, I'm not using that bat." Do not let them keep them in the dugout.

​It's simple: if their bat is a legal bat, then there should be no issue with them placing them outside the dugout even if they don't plan on using it that particular game. If they are illegal, then the umpire must remove the bat and have it secured so it can't be accessed during the game. It can be returned to them following the conclusion of the game.

​If they don't comply with your first request, it's a team warning. If they don't comply on your 2nd request, then the head coach will be restricted to the dugout - and yes - that means he/she will be restricted before the game has even started. (of course, allow the coach to attend the plate meeting!)

That is pretty well the way I understand it. Have work 5 games so far, and it has not been an issue.

Here in my area we have an Email chain going that tells all of our members what bats and equipment was removed for non-Compliance with NFHS rules.

I'm sure you will believe the coach that say's his players bat has never been removed by any other umpire :eek: right. LOL

When the coach is informed that the bat was removed from game such and such they are like :confused: :( :mad: an we tell them it will be removed from every game.

I'm going to check the bats that were put out, then ask the coaches at the pregame if players are properly equipped. Thats it.

Way to avoid doing your job. Good luck not getting caught.

It's my job to inspect the equipment. It's the coach's job to make sure it's all placed outside the dugout.

But that aside, what method do you suggest to insure that there are no hidden bats somewhere in the dugout?

What's your method for complying with our instructions to "remove them from the dugout" if they don't put them out for us?

I admit that if someone's actively hiding something, I'm unlikely to see it ... but if it's in the dugout, it needs to be brought out for inspection.

It is a remarkably stupid requirement for us to "Inspect" the equipment. I think it places undue liability on the umpires. How are we qualified? I can look at a bat list, but I am not going to memorize it.

I do what I am supposed to do-everything outside, etc.

However, I am of the opinion that this should be 100% on the coaches.

Even if the equipment is illegal (and not just uninspected), by what rule are you going to confiscate it and secure it for the duration of the contest.

I'm skeptical about this too. By rule, the only way you have this option available to you is that you've ruled this either failure to remove illegal equipment (which I thought meant take it out of the game not dugout) or to rule this minor unsporting conduct. I don't think it's unsporting conduct but if it is it seems serious enough that telling him to go sit by the illegal equipment seems off.

Finally, I don't see how he can attend the plate meeting, you restricted him to the dugout. :D

"getting caught"? teams are REQUIRED to put equip outside the dugout ... we inspect it with the assumption that what they are planning on using is there to be inspected ... we ask the coaches if teams are properly equipped ... job done.

well said ...

Not my rules, something I read. Someone might be applying college rules to high school.

Wait, so this (removing bats from the dugout for NFHS) is an assumption based on "something you read"?

I believe that Cecil was posting what he read to get our take on whether it was right. In my opinion, it isn't a very justifiable interpretation. (And I agree this is NCAA thinking leaking in).

I'm pretty sure the idea was to keep the umpire out of the dugout and equipment bags.

As a bemused baseball umpire, with no responsibility to inspect anything, why, based upon the rule wording, do you have to wait untill everything is put outside before you inspect? Maybe a caseplay makes that clear but otherwise it is not.

Basically they do not want male umpires inside the dugout with female players.

Why don't they say that? Why should female umpires have to wait for the equipment to be put outside?

Hope that works out for you. In my area, you wouldn't be assigned many games when word got out, you only do half your job.

If I'm checking equipment and see a bat or helmet in the dugout, I'm just going to point it out and say, "I think you forgot one".

I can't imagine anyone refusing to get the piece of equipment and set it out. On the oddball chance that they did refuse, then we can start thinking about warnings/restrictions/ejections...but I really can't picture it ever getting to that point.

Good read, sir!

Not a gender issue as much as logistics, time wasted, fraternization, perception of others, and just getting it right.

teams are REQUIRED to put equip outside the dugout ... we inspect it with the assumption that what they are planning on using is there to be inspected ... we ask the coaches if teams are properly equipped ... job done.

Then, IMO, your area has OOOs.

From the NFHS comments on 201 rule changes:

I was just getting ready to post the same things. Well done. Seems you always beat me to it, even when we both take off massive amounts of time from the forum! :D

Well, at least I woke up the two of you. :D

That rule wording does say "to be inspected" as if there is a choice about which equipment. And 10-2-3 just say "Inspect equipment" w/o specifics.
Does that imply selectivity by the teams? I didn't find any interp or clarification.

Ha ha... Cecil woke me up in the nick of time! :D

Sorry I'm late for this party, but it seems pretty clear in 10-2-3a that the minimum requirement for equipment inspections is spelled out right there, where it says "including batting and catcher's helmets, [and] bats."

I suppose one could include everything that is listed in Rule 1 of the book that is not specific to the field. That would include gloves, mitts, catcher's protective equipment, and fielder's face masks. There's also Rule 3-2-11 that says shoes are required equipment. I would never go that far, but if one wanted to, there's really nothing that precludes the inspection of all those items.

As far as the extra gear I happen to see in the dugout, which is almost always invariably bats that are sticking out of bat bags, I tell the coach those need to be put out as well. I can't recall anyone giving me grief about it. But if they do, then, yes, I would say that we are within our authority to warn and then restrict for failing to respond to my request. IMO, I can use 3-6-1, and claim that until I inspect those bats, I will consider them illegal, and that if the coach doesn't allow for them to be removed or made legal (by allowing me to inspect them), then the Penalty allows me to warn and eventually restrict to the bench. I can't imagine a coach would take it that far.

I can't imagine a coach would take it that far, either, but that does not mean you are not overstepping your authority.

You reference 3-6-1, well, that rule says, in part, "Team personnel shall wear or use legal and/or required equipment."

Wear or use

It does not say anything about hanging in a bag in the dugout, nor does it say that all equipment not intended to be used in the game must be kept out of sight.

This came up last weekend...

Doing equipment inspection and see a half dozen bats in the dugout.

Me: Coach, you need to get all of your bats out here.

Coach: We only put the bats we use out here.

Me: (Pointing to bats in dugout) If I can see it, then we have to inspect it.

Coach gets the other bats...

I'm about a dozen games into the high school season and, so far, I have heard some variation of this phrase from three or four of my partners: "We're not allowed to go into the dugouts anymore".

The rule says that the umpires aren't "required" to go into the dugouts to check equipment. Somehow that's getting translated into "dugouts verboten!". I haven't seen anything that makes a dugout off limits to us.

Well, I look at it as preventive umpiring. If it's in the dugout, there's the very real possibility that a player will use it. Otherwise, why bring it into the dugout in the first place?

What do you do when you find a piece of illegal equipment? Do you allow the team to keep it in the dugout? The rule book says that equipment shall be removed. I interpret "removed" as out of the dugout so that it doesn't make its way into the game. So under that authority, I will ask that bats not intended to be used in the game should also be removed.

We have a lot of fields where the only way in is through a dugout, so of course the rule is not intended to keep them off limits to us. Just do what you are required and keep it moving

The rule change really just allows for expediency in doing the job of checking those hats and bats. Often in the past, teams would put out their equipment in all sorts of different storing configurations. These things were especially a pain in the ass because stuff would fall on the ground as we went through looking at the gear.

https://www.dugoutmanager.com/wp-con...irls-img11.png

There were also helmet bags where the helmets would fit snugly, and as you pulled helmets out, batting gloves would fall to the ground. Another pain in the ass. Then, as others alluded, it got a little crowded in that dugout to check gear while the girls were in there.

This is a good example of something a coach may say that a good official simply can "fail to hear". With the equipment inspection taking place outside the team area now there is very little reason for us to be in there anyhow. Outside of sitting in an empty dugout waiting on team playing on another field or the occasional field that requires passing thru the team area to exit the field why would you need to go in there? And since you don't need to go in there why let it be a thing with a coach. That just starts the game off on edge for no reason.

Whoops!

Brett I just reread your your post and realize you said partners were saying we are not allowed in the team area. I thought you were talking about coaches saying we are not allowed. I don't expect coaches to know the rules, then I can be pleasantly surprised by the ones who do! :D

{/QUOTE} If they are illegal, then the umpire must remove the bat and have it secured so it can't be accessed during the game. It can be returned to them following the conclusion of the game.

​If they don't comply with your first request, it's a team warning. If they don't comply on your 2nd request, then the head coach will be restricted to the dugout - and yes - that means he/she will be restricted before the game has even started. (of course, allow the coach to attend the plate meeting!)[/QUOTE]

Cecil, we talked about this tonight at our association meeting. Where in the rule book does it say the bat has to be removed from the dugout? Plus where does it say it is a warning? The bat hasn't been used yet.

If they are illegal, then the umpire must remove the bat and have it secured so it can't be accessed during the game. It can be returned to them following the conclusion of the game.

​If they don't comply with your first request, it's a team warning. If they don't comply on your 2nd request, then the head coach will be restricted to the dugout - and yes - that means he/she will be restricted before the game has even started. (of course, allow the coach to attend the plate meeting!)[/QUOTE]
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Cecil, we talked about this tonight at our association meeting. Where in the rule book does it say the bat has to be removed from the dugout? Plus where does it say it is a warning? The bat hasn't been used yet.[/QUOTE]

I have no idea, mainly why I posted it.

Ahhh...now your reply makes more sense! :D

Prime example of why you insist ALL of the bats be out for inspection. 2nd round of state playoffs yesterday, inspecting equipment and I see 4 or 5 bats still in players backpacks hanging in dugout. I tell coach they have to come out for inspection, she tells me they arent being used. I tell her they either come out for inspection or they leave the dugout for duration of game. She brings them out and sure enough 2 of them are broken. One has a spiral split of the barrel and the other has 2 cracks running up from the joint in handle. I tell coach they have to be removed from dugout and as she is locking them in storage room I overhear the owner of one of the bats say something about she was still using the bat even though it was broken. How many officials before me just accepted the "we arent using those" excuse and didnt inspect them?

Apparently, all of them.

According to Virginia per our Association we are not to ask for the bats to be removed form the dugout. I don't agree but that is their ruling.

"Bat Checks: EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY any bats that were not put outside the dug-out to be inspected prior to the start of the game, do NOT need to be removed from the dug-out. This was a preventive umpiring technique that isn't supported by any rule book or umpire manual."