Dirt and the ball

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by ASA

Why would we consider dirt, something common to the ground, a” foreign substance”?

[trolling]
So, what if F1 picks up a generous portion of the chalk from the pitcher's circle and lays it all over that beautiful optic yellow orb obliterating some of those lovely red stitches?

Is the chalk a foreign substance? or is it common to the ground?
[/trolling]

[BretMan]

When the rule book talks about foreign substances, it isn't refering to substances that are foreign to the field. Sure, you'll find dirt on any field- lots of it. It's refering to substances that are foreign to the ball.

The field might have dirt, mud, grass, clay, chalk, spit or pine tar on it. There's no rule about any of these getting on the ball by chance, through normal game play and use. It's not a rule violation until a defensive player intentionally applies the substance to the ball.

I think that is the distiction that causes so much confusion. People have a hard time wrapping their mind around the concept of something common to any field being interpreted as a foreign substance. A common argument from someone that doesn't get this is, "Are we supposed to call an illegal pitch everytime the ball gets batted through the infield or a pitch bounces in the dirt? After all, the ball has dirt on it and if you consider dirt a foreign substance, that's illegal".

No! The dirt wasn't intentionally put on the ball by a defensive player!

The ASA ruling clarifies that dirt on the hand is treated the same as any other approved drying agent. A pitcher can apply powdered resin to her hand and then grab the ball. She cannot apply the resin directly to the ball. It's the same with dirt.

To the best of my knowledge, NFHS has not issued a similar interpretation for their games. To me, if a pitcher rubs the ball in the dirt I would treat it as a defensive player intentionally applying a foreign substance to the ball.