Fastpitch Pitcher's Rule Proposal

[ukumpire]

A few more points to ponder:

1. One objection that I've heard several times has to do with player safety. Specifically, there are concerns about the pitcher hurting herself if her stride ends up on the rubber. How do you get it through someone's head that, if you do things that violate the rules, you'll likely put yourself in harm's way? You're not *supposed* to step onto the rubber! I would argue that the same (or greater) risk exists for baserunners, who are required by rule to step on/touch the bases and home plate. We don't seem to have much concern for that aspect of player safety, so why should we worry about potential injuries incurred from an act that violates the rules?
2. Concerns about holes/trenches... They already exist today, and nothing you do will change that. If anything, the proposed change probably makes things *better* for everyone because the final trench (the one just behind the rubber) will be in the same spot for everyone.
3. Not having a rubber to push off... Seriously, how many pitchers do you see who actually push off the rubber any more??? More often, they have the heel of the pivot foot barely in contact with the front edge of the rubber prior to the start of the pitch, and then they slide it forward even more during the delivery.
4. Unfairly penalizing tall pitchers (i.e., the Yao Ming analogy)... When Yao shoots a free throw, is he allowed to take advantage of his height to get him closer to the basket at the time of release? Can he take a long stride and release the shot just before landing? No, and no. Why? Because the rules say the shooter has to be behind the free throw line at the time of release and can't step on or across the line until the ball strikes the rim. He *can* shoot the ball as hard or as softly as he wants, he *can* release the ball from anywhere inside the semi-circle, and he *can* jump as high as he wants before releasing the ball. What he *can't* do is shoot from closer than 15 feet. That's the rule, and it's the same for everyone, regardless of how tall or short he is. Nothing wrong with that, is there...?

As somebody has already pointed out, anything that you can do to minimize the need for judgment by the umpire can only have a positive effect on the game. More Consistency + Fewer Arguments = Much More Enjoyable Game for Everyone.

And finally, an amusing anecdote. Several years ago, there was a young woman who pitched for a D-III college in the Northeast. She was notorious as a "leaper." Sometimes she got away with it, and sometimes she didn't. One thing was always certain, though - there was *always* controversy when she pitched, and as an umpire, you knew what you were in for before you set foot on the field. Evidently, *she* finally had enough of it, too, and decided to try to eliminate the controversy at the start of her final year of eligibility. Her strategy? Every inning after taking her warm-up pitches, she would carefully construct a 6-inch high mound of loose dirt just forward of the pitching rubber. Can't very well call an illegal pitch for leaping if the toe is kicking up dirt, right? True story...