Fed - Speed Gun
 

If this has come up before I apologize. I haven't seen it. This came up in our Rules Clinic this evening.

1. Is it legal for a coach to use a speed gun on the field during play?

2. Is it legal for a coach to use a speed gun off the field and directly behind the catcher?

3. In 1 & 2 is it legal for the coach to call out the results for all to hear?

4. Is it legal for a fan to use a speed gun and call out the results for all to hear?


Thanks all.

Rule 3.13 says they cannot use electronic communication, television monitoring or replay equipment for coaching purposes during the course of the game.

A speed gun would not fall into that category so yes they can use it.

As long as they aren't distracting the play I won't have a problem with it. Some might because they would have to leave the confines of the bench area. Most guns I've seen can be used in the bench area.

Not sure if it's illegal but I wouldn't allow it.

See above.

There are no rules about what spectators can say, even "safe" when the throw clearly beats the runner, or ...

I would not allow a speed gun on the field of play.

Nor would I.

OK, but is "Rule 3.13 " or the parallel in any book the only basis for disallowing?

Without a specific rule, you would waste the "God" rule on this? What unfair advantage is gained by knowing a pitch is 56 mph, versus 53? Do the batters then have a dial up swing speed to unfairly compensate?

I suppose you could; and you do have that authority. I think it would be an abuse of that authority, personally.

I wasn't anywhere close to using the god rule, let alone wasting it (I wasn't aware it was a consumable).

I don't give a rat's behind who is using it or what for, just not on the playing field. NFHS 3-2-14. I don't allow cameras on the playing field, either, unless in an approved media area or specifically approved by the school admin.

It is not playing equipment. It is (relatively) large. It is an unnecessary risk. Get it off the field.

I wonder about the accuracy of the readings those guns give. At the Iowa state fair many years ago, when I still possessed something resembling an arm, I threw some baseballs into a canvas tarp while a guy "clocked" the speed with a radar gun. The fastest I got was 63 mph. I told the guy he was nuts, since that's about the speed at which the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher. All he said was, "Well, that's what the gun says." But then he added, "You're still the third-fastest I've had all day. Two pitchers from Iowa State University each hit 64 this morning."

A friend of mine later explained to me that the reading a radar gun gives is the fastest speed at which it clocks the ball times the cosine of the angle of the ball at that moment. Since the ball cannot speed up in the air, the figure produced is the speed of the ball when the gun first picks it up, times the cosine of the angle. Therefore, you have to divide the registered speed by the cosine of the angle to get the true speed.

If the gun is straight on, the registered speed is the true speed (divide by 1.000). If the gun is at a 90 degree angle, the speed will always show as 0 mph. But at, say, a 45 degree angle, a reading of 64 would indicate a true speed of over 90 (divide 64 by 0.7071). The guy with the gun was indeed off to the side, but trying to guess the angle when the gun picked up the ball is pure speculation, and according to my friend, might have changed dramatically depending on how the guy had aimed the gun.

But this was years ago. Maybe the guns have advanced since then and somehow compensate for the angle.

An umpire could always mention to the guy with the gun that police in Connecticut (a state notorious for speed traps) stopped using radar guns after some physicians suggested that the groin cancer an officer suffered might have resulted from his habit of holding the radar gun in his lap between "zaps" of vehicles.

Florida has ruled as a state, that all speed guns are disallowed.
Personally, off the field, I could care less.